"On a cool December evening in New Orleans, the romance writer Emily Henry sat in a black S.U.V., waiting to meet her public. She'd arrived at the Prytania Theatre for the début fan screening of "People We Meet on Vacation," a new adaptation of her best-selling book of the same name. The hundreds of people filing into the small brick theatre had no idea that she was there; Netflix, which had produced the film,"
"Henry, a BookTok phenomenon whose works have sold more than ten million copies, talks about "the readers" like a Beatle might talk about "the fans." She was anointed by Reese Witherspoon's book club; five of her six romance novels have been optioned, one of them by Jennifer Lopez's production company. The way these particular stars have aligned might seem like a cosmic sign. Once, in a golden era anchored by the girl-next-door charms of Reese and J. Lo, rom-coms reigned at the box office."
"By the twenty-tens, such films began to disappear from the big screen-but Henry brought her love for the genre to her own medium. In the car, she noted that she hadn't read any romance novels when she started writing her first, "Beach Read," nearly a decade ago. "I was playing with the sensibility of a rom-com movie, because that was what I was more familiar with," she told me."
Emily Henry arrived in New Orleans for a secret fan screening of the Netflix adaptation of People We Meet on Vacation, feeling anxious and a little carsick. She has sold more than ten million copies and became a BookTok phenomenon with endorsements from Reese Witherspoon and interest from Jennifer Lopez's production company. Henry brought rom-com film sensibilities into her novels, drawing on influences like Nora Ephron and naming a heroine Nora. She had not read many romance novels before Beach Read and deliberately wrote with cinematic rom-com arcs, nostalgic beats, and emotional humor.
Read at The New Yorker
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