Emily Henry’s Books Ranked
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Who is Emily Henry?
While we all anxiously await the release of Emily Henry’s next novel, Happy Place, on April 25, 2023, I am taking a look back on her first three books. I know lots of us are already completely in love with Emily Henry’s writing. On the off chance, you are not already familiar with Emily Henry, she writes romcoms. They all contain a medium level of “spice,” meaning there is a sex scene or two but they aren’t super long or graphic. And if you’re dying to read Happy Place as much as I am, use this link to pre-order it from bookshop.org. Without further ado, here is my definitive ranking of Emily Henry’s books thus far.
Emily Henry’s Books Ranked
# 3 People We Meet On Vacation
To be clear, all of Emily Henry’s books are absolutely wonderful so being ranked last doesn’t mean the book is bad. People We Meet On Vacation is a about Poppy and Alex, two friends who have taken a vacation together every year for last ten years until two years ago when everything changed. This book is a friends to lovers romance which I personally am a fan of. The reason I ranked it last is because miscommunication trope drives me a little crazy. I wanted to shake Poppy and Alex and yell at them, “Just talk! Communicate!!”. Having said that, I enjoyed that Poppy is a travel writer, the characters are likable, and the payoff of the premise of the book was satisfying. The banter in Emily Henry’s other books is better than the banter in this book however, I still cared about the characters and their story. If the miscommunication trope isn’t your thing skip this one.
# 2 Beach Read
Beach Read was Emily Henry’s debut novel and wow is it good!! It has been optioned for a movie and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it works out and we all get to see Beach Read come alive on our screens in the near future! Beach Read is about January Andrews, a romance writer who has lost her belief in love, and Augustus (Gus) Everett, an acclaimed literary fiction author known for his dark novels that is stuck in a writing slump. They are living in neighboring beach houses for the summer on the shores of Lake Michigan and decide to try to rid themselves of writer’s block by trading books with each other and seeing if they can write each other’s genres. I loved the setting, the characters, the romance, and the writing nerd in me couldn’t get enough of all the author talk. The humor in this book shouldn’t be overlooked - the banter between January and Gus is my favorite aspect of this book. The minor characters in this book were also quite likable and each had their own distinct personality. The only reason Beach Read didn’t get the top spot is because Book Lovers is just so good and has a subplot that clinched it that top spot.
# 1 Book Lovers
As already said, Book Lovers squeaked Beach Read out of the top spot. Book Lovers is about Nora Stephens, a cutthroat literary agent, who gets talked into visiting a small town with her little sister, Libby, where she is shocked to see big time book editor, Charlie Lastra. Nora and Charlie have met before back in New York and it wasn’t pleasant. Now there is no escape from each other in the small town of Sunshine Falls. The premise of Book Lovers is to flip the Hallmark movie script of big-time New Yorker falling in love in a small town and leaving the big city and their workaholic girlfriend/boyfriend behind on its head. Nora is the ruthless, workaholic New Yorker that gets dumped in those movies and Charlie certainly isn’t a small town charmer. Emily Henry tells the other side of the script with humor and she expertly crafts an enemies to lovers romance that sizzles. Nora and Charlie both have a satisfying arc of personal growth through the novel as well. Also, just like in Beach Read, the banter is delicious and humorous. All of that in and of itself is enough to make a great read but Emily Henry takes it a step further and has a beautiful sub plot of Nora and Libby’s relationship with each other and how each of them must reckon with their upbringing. The two sisters have such a sweet relationship and this is yet another book that makes me feel so grateful for my own sisters.
Romance Novels to Read if You Love Emily Henry
There it is! That is my ranking, now in the comments tell us if you would rank Emily Henry’s books the same way. Bonus: if you have read all of these books already and haven’t checked out Emily Henry’s website yet, you need to go do that. On her homepage she has an extended Beach Read epilogue that ties all of the couples from all three novels together. After you do that. don’t forget to check our our bookshop.org list of unputdownable romance novels you will like if you enjoy Emily Henry!