i feel like a lot of my fondness from this book can be reduced to the way emily henry's protagonist here, nora stephens (named after thee nora ephron!), a cutthroat literary agent, describes the city of new york. for one, because it particularly speaks to my fifteen-year-old self, who desperately wanted to live in new york city when she was in her twenties and lead her life like a nora ephron protagonist who work at The Arts. any art would have sufficed. nora loves new york, she thinks the city is magical, and she describes it with so much love, that every snippet of the city she gives us through many memories of a lifetime in manhattan feels like i am watching a scene play out from one of my favorite nineties romcoms: when harry met sally, one fine day, serendipity, picture perfect, you've got mail, how to lose a guy in 10 days. it just immediately hooked me and i could fully get behind it for the ride, down to the pop culture references it chooses to use.

besides that, the chemistry between nora and charlie is electrifying from the get-go, and the ups and downs of the sisterly relationship just finish carrying this. also, it bears saying: it's funny. it's really funny. thank you for remembering there's supposed to be com in the roms. mostly, i think i'm going through a particular time in my life where, mentally, i'm having too many doubts and fears about the future, and the hopeful tune of book lovers has managed to uplift my spirits after weeks of sourly ignoring projects i could be working on. i don't think the book ends up being fully perfect, but it was a very, very fun and addicting reading experience, and instantly became my favorite emily henry i've read yet. it's definitely earning a high spot in my heart.