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Must Love Books - Shauna Robinson

 

Description

‘A heartfelt and exciting debut . . . a wise and honest story of how it feels to be a young woman in search of yourself’

Taylor Jenkins Reid, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Meet Nora Hughes – the overworked, underpaid, last bookish assistant standing. At least for now.

When Nora landed an editorial assistant role at Parsons Press she thought it would be The Dream Job. But after five years of admin and taking lunch orders, Nora has come to the conclusion: Dream Jobs do not exist.

With her life spiralling and unable to afford her rent, Nora does the only thing she can think of and starts freelancing for a rival publisher.

But when Andrew Santos, a bestselling author (who also happens to be quite attractive), is thrown into Nora’s life, she must decide where her loyalties lie, and whether she’s ready to choose herself and her future over her job…

Your next book club read touching on mental health, happiness and the ups and downs of being a young woman trying to figure it all out.

Review

I've really enjoyed being a part of the #MustLoveBooksReadalong with @onemorechapter this week, thanks for the invite.

This is not your usual romcom read. It's so very down to earth - in the main - and has some very real and relatable characters, especially in the office.

We join Nora recruiting a new member of staff. This gets her thinking about her own journey into publishing, and the not so rapid ascent within it. She's been at the publishing house for 5 years and is still taking lunch orders while all around her people are being laid off and she's lumbered with some of their work. She has an idea to get her ahead and stay afloat by working for two publishers at the same time. This had the makings of a disaster written all over it and I could hardly bare to read, waiting for a car crash. Actually it worked pretty well until it didn't! Can't say more on that one.

With witty repartee between Nora and one of the authors and some great friends (if only she realised) the book bounces along nicely in between the fractious thoughts of how Nora is going to get promoted, find her life purpose and pay the rent.

Nora has a lot going on in her head and part of that is a reoccurring thought that she might not need to live anymore. I was really willing Nora to hang on in and find someone who she could really connect to and help her through all her issues. The ending wasn't one I was expecting, but it's maybe the right one considering how complicated Nora and her life choices are.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley and onemorechapter for the ARC to review.

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