Implement @hlissner's suggestions

modules/lang/latex/+latexmk.el

@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 ;;;###if (featurep! +latexmk)
 
 (def-package! auctex-latexmk
-  :defer t
   :after latex
   :init
   ;; Pass the -pdf flag when TeX-PDF-mode is active

modules/lang/latex/+ref.el

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 ;;; lang/latex/+ref.el -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-
 
 (def-package! reftex
-  :defer t
   :hook (LaTeX-mode . reftex-mode)
   :config
   ;; Get ReTeX working with biblatex
@@ -36,8 +35,7 @@
   (set-company-backend! 'reftex-mode 'company-reftex-labels 'company-reftex-citations))
 
 ;; set up mode for bib files
-(def-package! bibtex
-  :config
+(after! bibtex
   (setq bibtex-dialect 'biblatex
         bibtex-align-at-equal-sign t
         bibtex-text-indentation 20)

modules/lang/latex/config.el

@@ -37,8 +37,7 @@
   ;; set-up chktex
   (setcar (cdr (assoc "Check" TeX-command-list)) "chktex -v6 -H %s")
   ;; tell emacs how to parse tex files
- (add-hook! 'tex-mode-hook
-           (lambda () (setq ispell-parser 'tex)))
+ (add-hook! 'tex-mode-hook (setq ispell-parser 'tex))
   ;; display output of latex commands in popup
   (set-popup-rule! " output\\*$" :size 15)
   ;; Do not prompt for Master files, this allows auto-insert to add templates to
@@ -47,7 +46,8 @@
                                          (cl-find-if #'byte-code-function-p find-file-hook)
                                          'local))
   ;; Enable rainbow mode after applying styles to the buffer
-  (add-hook! 'TeX-update-style-hook #'rainbow-delimiters-mode)
+  (add-hook 'TeX-update-style-hook #'rainbow-delimiters-mode)
+  (add-hook 'TeX-mode-hook #'visual-line-mode)
   (when (featurep! :feature spellcheck)
     (add-hook 'TeX-mode-hook #'flyspell-mode :append)))
 
@@ -55,9 +55,7 @@
 (def-package! tex-fold
   :hook (TeX-mode . TeX-fold-mode))
 
-(def-package! latex
-  :defer t
-  :config
+(after! latex
   (setq LaTeX-section-hook ; Add the toc entry to the sectioning hooks.
         '(LaTeX-section-heading
           LaTeX-section-title
@@ -72,7 +70,6 @@
 
 ;; set-up preview package
 (def-package! preview
-  :defer t
   :hook (LaTeX-mode . LaTeX-preview-setup)
   :config
   (setq-default preview-scale 1.4