Shauna Robinson’s debut, Must Love Books, tackles the dilemma of balancing personal fulfillment, career stability, and paying your rent.
ARC provided free by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Sometimes the dream of working in publishing looks difference once you’re on the inside. In Must Love Books, Nora is 5 years into a career as an editorial assistant, at a publisher in economic straits. Teams have been gutted and merged, and now Nora is covering almost 20 business titles with no raise and no title change. And in fact her pay gets cut!!
Must Love Books dispels the glamorous, romantic notions a lot of people have about working in publishing. The truth is, most corporate environments have A LOT in common. It’s a perfect book club read to spur conversation about the role of work and career in our lives, and what that means at 25-35-45.
I worked in PR in SF & LA just as the dot-bomb was happening in the early 2000s and a lot of what Nora was going through was super familiar. From the downsizing to doing the work of several people to senior level folks who can’t /won’t do simple admin tasks.
As Nora works to figure out how she’s gonna keep paying her Bay Area rent, she makes some incredibly bad, ethically-questionable professional decisions. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop from about page 60. It was almost like watching a horror movie, where you KNOW what’s coming and you’re yelling “Don’t go in there, don’t do it!!”
I liked this one a lot, despite not being a Millennial, and found Nora totally relatable. She’s also biracial but it really doesn’t play into the story in any significant way beyond her commiserating with one of her authors (who’s Filipino) about being the only people of color in very white spaces.
The one thing that bothered me was how Nora’s suicidal ideation was treated. She brings it up out of nowhere and then eventually mentions it again toward the end. Was it just jamming mental health in there in some way, or was it how Nora (and other people) really experience it? I’m still not sure.
Overall, an entertaining, thought-provoking read about the nature of work and happiness, especially for young Millennials.
Final note: I just saw this on a list of romance books for 2022, and that Amazon has marked it “Best Romance.” THIS IS NOT A ROMANCE. Nora gets involved with someone, but it’s not a romance novel.
CW: Suicidal ideation
GET MUST LOVE BOOKS by Shauna Robinson from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | IndieBound | Amazon | Apple Books
