i think one of my favorite things about emily henry’s writing (specifically in beach read and pwmov bc that’s what i’ve read so far) is the way she allows her characters to engage with and heal from their core childhood wounds, because it’s such a beautiful and deliberate way of saying that love heals without pushing that too far. love heals, but you have to be capable of and willing to change. love heals, but it’s not on any one person to fix you. it doesn’t make any of the problems you’re running from go away. if anything, it makes it harder to run, because the things you’re running away from are often the reasons you haven’t been able to give all of yourself to the person you want.
her characters have secrets they keep from themselves and others, and they miscommunicate out of fear and lack of understanding, which is everywhere in romcoms, but her writing is so grounded in reality. the stakes feel so high because they are to these characters. every setback feels so necessary and real because the conflict doesn’t just revolve around the will they/won’t they of it all, but rather what uncomfortable truths people are willing to face and overcome in order to be together. it’s about how far you’ll go to fix yourself for love that made you feel safe enough to consider that, at some point, healing became an option.
IF U ENJOYED THIS POST I AM BEGGING U TO READ BOOK LOVERS. EMILY HENRY I AM KISSING U ON THE MOUTH
Not just because Charlie and I are so similar, but because he’s right: we belong. In a way I don’t understand, he’s mine, and I’m his. It doesn’t matter what the last page says. That’s the truth. Here, now.
I read once that sunflowers always orient themselves to face the sun. That’s what being near Charlie Lastra is like for me. There could be a raging wildfire racing towards me from the west and I’d be straining eastward toward his warmth.
“you don’t start anything you can’t finish. you’re not the person who buys the stationary bike as part of a new year’s resolution, then uses it as a coatrack for three years. you’re not the kind of woman who only works hard when it feels good, or only shows up when it’s convenient. if someone insults one of your clients, those fancy kid gloves of yours come off, and you carry your own pen at all times, because if you’re going to have to write anything, it might as well look good. you read the last page of books first—don’t make that face, stephens.” he cracks a smile in one corner of his mouth. “i’ve seen you—even when you’re shelving, you sometimes check the last page, like you’re constantly looking for all the information, trying to make the absolute best decisions.”
“That’s life. You’re always making decisions, taking paths that lead you away from the rest before you can see where they end. Maybe that’s why we as a species love stories so much. All those chances for do-overs, opportunities to live the lives we’ll never have.”
That’s the thing about being an adult standing beside your childhood race car bed. Time collapses, and instead of the version of you you’ve built from scratch, you’re all the hackneyed drafts that came before, all at once.
i’ve put so much time and distance between myself and that lonely girl, and what does it matter? here is a piece of my past, right in front of me, miles away from home. you can’t outrun yourself. Not your history, not your fears, not the parts of yourself you’re worried are wrong.
@storyseekers event 15: character that i relate to — january andrews, beach read
“it’s not about what’s happened. it’s about how you cope with things, who you are. you’ve always been this fierce fucking light, and even when you’re at your worst, when you feel angry and broken, you still know how to be a person. how to tell people you- you love them.”
“That’s life. You’re always making decisions, taking paths that lead you away from the rest before you can see where they end. Maybe that’s why we as a species love stories so much. All those chances for do-overs, opportunities to live the lives we’ll never have.”
Does anyone know why Emily Henry’s books have different endings depending on if it’s a UK or US version? Does it happen for Book Lovers too? Because I am reading the US one and it seems people tend to prefer the UK endings :( But WHY???
