I really liked the premise of this one and thought how the author took a typical small town romance story and flipped everything upside down was not only adorable but also clever. I adore both small town romance movies and books so many of the references made me giggle in appreciation. Small town life does not always mean cute little festivals, insta love and quirky neighbors and that’s more than apparent in Pleasant Hollow. It was a really unique take on the genre and I totally appreciated reading something fresh. I found Adi to be very relatable, she was fun and witty and said so many things that made me laugh. Finn as a sort of anti hero was still charming in his own right and I believed their relationship story as well as their chemistry. I think the narrator, Emily Lawrence was great too, she made listening an enjoyable experience. Overall a fun and light read that will be perfect this summer.

I really couldn't get into this book, and there is a chance of the wrong book, at the wrong time here. Unfortunately, the MC felt a bit too immature for me. Perhaps I will try again in the future.

2/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Not for me. The general premise was promising, and I love the cute small town vibes. But I didn’t care for the love interest, and things got sexy too fast, so it felt awkward.

DNF @33%

This book was so promising! I loved the premise of a city girl going to a small town to chase her Hallmark movie love story (so basically the reverse character goals of Book Lovers by Emily Henry) but the execution leaves something to be desired. The characters are one dimensional and lacked depth. Adina drove me crazy as she not only expected every townsperson to immediately become her best friend but would actually get mad or upset when they didn't act like they were on the set of Gilmore Girls.

I really loved all the nods to some of my favorite romantic comedy movies and TV shows, but I needed Adina to have a bit more of a dose of reality--it felt like she was 15, not 25. The Jewish representation and reality being an adult with a degree who still had to work several side jobs to make ends meet was excellent and I'd love to see this in more books. This one just didn't quite work for me.

As Seen On TV
by Meredith Schorr
4 stars
Adina is a struggling journalist just trying to get a full-time job, as she pitches different stories for TEA an online magazine. She finally lands one about a real-life small town Hallmark movie. When she visits Pleasant Hollow the small town that drew the inspiration nothing goes according to plan she has to change up her story and her views.

This book for me was just slow at first which, I think all of the books I have been reading are a slow build for me. Adina is obsessed with Hallmark movies which I am to a point but she has too much hope for a small town being more Hallmark than they ever actually are. Adi has always thought her parents had the perfect marriage, so when she finds someone that catches her eye and makes her heart flutter she thinks it should be all bliss. It does take a while but she finds out that you have to learn to accept and you have to put in the effort for relationships to last and work. It ended on a cute happily ever after note that just took longer to get there than what I felt necessary.
Thank you, Net Galley, and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the eArc for an honest review.

I didn’t really love this book. I liked the idea of visiting a small town and seeing what made it special, but it just felt like the redeeming qualities of the town and why people liked it should’ve been highlighted a little more. I do feel like Adi expected a lot and they acknowledged that it was unrealistic but she came off as very rude. I was also confused by her relationship with Finn. I didn’t get the feelings of love at first sight or a really strong relationship I just thought they had slept together a few times so to hear her saying she was in love with him was confusing to me. I also think the things she said about Finn after he said nothing to support her would not be forgotten so quickly. Just like I don’t think Finn’s dad could realistically go from where he was with grieving to sober and nice 6 months later. I also don’t think their tumultuous love story makes sense as a TV adaptation…

This is a perfect novel for anyone spends December binge-watching made-for-TV movie featuring 90s sitcom stars traveling to quaint and quirky small towns to fall in love with plaid shirted woodworkers. As Seen on TV is, itself, binge-worthy. I definitely sat down with this and didn't get up until I was over 200 pages in.

This book upends all the classic finding-love-in-a-small-town tropes, throwing in a splash of Gilmore Girls vibes, as Adina chases down a story that she hopes will launch her journalism career...only, the town doesn't quite cooperate.

I always like protagonists who don't quite have their shit together professionally. Adina is kind of subverting that classic Hallmark trope, too: the city woman chained to a lucrative-but-soulless job. Instead of discovering love with a handsome, gruff diner owner, she finds herself falling for a fellow New Yorker.

I loved all the little asides and references to Hallmark movies. Adina and Finn definitely felt like people with actual chemistry. This was a total pleasure to read and would also make a perfect gift for that friend who always tells you which holiday romances to watch or skip.

I enjoyed the opening scene and the idea behind the book. After a few more pages it lost my attention and felt boring. DNF


*************I received an ARC for my honest opinion from NetGalley.****************

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ 35%.

I really hate DNFing books, especially ones in my favorite genre, but I found myself actively disliking it by 20%. I thought the premise was cute: girl goes in search of her own Hallmark story only to find love in unexpected places. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy how it was implemented.

The MC was very immature for a 25-year-old, and her overconfidence annoyed me. She had very little chemistry with the love interest from the get-go—I heard a lot about how he was hot but didn’t FEEL it.

The story could have taken many different directions, and I just didn’t happen to vibe with the direction it took—which is fine! I’m sure someone else will love it.

I was really excited about this rom com, and wanted so badly to like it, but the main character was just so immature, I couldn't believe anyone could possibly be that dumb. Adina is a young journalist from New York who adores Hallmark movies and is convinced that all small towns are like Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls; she pitches a story to go stay in a small town in Westchester and write about how it's just like small towns are portrayed in Hollywood. Although Adina did no research beforehand, she hangs her career on this piece, so she finds herself stuck when the town is nothing like she envisioned. Rather than admitting to her editor that her idea didn't work, she casts around for other story ideas, even trying to manufacture them herself (e.g., trying to convince the local brewery to organize an Oktoberfest). This plot reminded me of a Sophie Kinsella book, where the heroine gets caught in a lie and tells bigger and bigger lies to try to cover it up, but while Kinsella's main characters are covering up their insecurities, Adina seems to have a huge head and is convinced her way is always the right way. I did read through till the end, getting more annoyed with Adina as the book went on, but overall, I was disappointed in this one - it felt like a young adult novel targeting much younger / immature readers.

The perfect combination of hallmark movies and reality!

I'm a huge fan of small town romances and although this one subverted that trope and showed us some of the realities of small towns, I still enjoyed it and had a fun time reading it. I felt like I was the main character, starry-eyed and ready for a small town romance, only to be disappointed every time reality came knocking and showed what small towns can be like. But at the same time, I was really happy to see the realistic but still adorable romance between the main character and the love interest, with real conflicts and no over the top cheesy cliques and lines.

Also this book had a lot of Gilmore Girls references and I lived for them!!! Makes sense because it's a romance based in a small town and Gilmore Girls is literally a comfort show about small towns and book lovers like Rory. If you're a fan of Gilmore Girls, go read it!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever/ Grand Central Publishing for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

As Seen on Tv is a charming romance book! I like the plot, how Adina finds herself in a small town not quite like the Hallmark small town movies. I enjoy the writing of the author, despite being frustrated at times with Adina’s character. I like the character developments in this book. I’m looking forward to the future works of Meredith Schorr.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for the eARC.

I loved the idea of this novel and went into it expecting a light-hearted Hallmarkian romance based on the description, but I found that I just wasn’t able to connect with this story or the characters.

This will definitely find its audience and I plan on revisiting this one again, I just don’t think I was in the best place to enjoy this when I read it.

Lovers of Gilmore Girls and Hallmark romance movies are going to LOVE this book! Freelance writer, Adina, lives in New York City, but has always dreamed about finding love in a small town like all the great romances she watches on the Hallmark channel. When she finds out about the plans to build luxury apartments in a small town a few hours away, she immediately knows that she has found a story that could rival any Hallmark movie. When she gets to the small town, it isn't at all like she's seen on television, except for the handsome young man she meets in the local Bed & Breakfast. Could this be her 'as seen on tv' romance that she's always waited for?

I loved all the references made about Stars Hollow, and the many small towns portrayed in tv romances. I especially enjoyed that Adina learns firsthand just how wrong those sterotypes of the idyllic small town can be. I feel like we've all been where Adina is at some point, wanting the beautiful town, and the perfect guy who is waiting there for us. Meredith Schorr does an amazing job of showing us the reality behind those perfect love stories, and that maybe there really is no place like home.

Thanks to Forever Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

New Yorker Adi jumps at the chance to write an article in Pleasant Hollow, a small town with a big construction project.m underway. Not only does it give her a chance to solidify her career as a journalist, but it will give her a break from the city. Secretly, she loves Hallmark movies set in small towns and romanticizes the town before she even gets there. What she finds is basically the anti-hallmark movie town, but she does meet a very cute guy.

I can relate to Adi’s love of what she sees in Hallmark movies and craving the small community she thinks she’ll find. What she actually finds is kind of adorable in its own right. I admired her determination on not giving up finishing her story, and not settling. This was a light, pleasant read. Thanks to Netgalley, Grand Central Publishing and Meredith Shorr for the ARC.

“As Seen on TV” releases June 7th! This review will be shared to my Instagram blog books_by_the_bottle shortly 🙂

Thank you NetGalley and Forever Publishing for providing me with this ARC!

As a huge Gilmore Girls fan and a semi fan of hallmark movies, I was pretty excited to dive into this book.

Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me. With all the Gilmore Girls references, I just wanted to love it but it felt a little forced. I found myself annoyed with the main characters child-like view of idyllic small towns that tend to really just be on TV.

When she travels to a small town, “Pleasant Hollow,” she is frustrated because it’s not full of people dancing and singing around her, wanting her to join their little town. Instead, it’s filled with normal, everyday people.

As a journalist, she should be reporting the truth or find a different story when that one is not working out. Instead, she tries to force the town to change their ways so it’ll fit into her story narrative. Ugh.

I understand where it was trying to go, but it just fell flat for me. I wasn’t able to connect to the characters and I wasn’t a fan of the romantic interest. 🤷‍♀️ Maybe if the MC wasn’t so naive or the TV references weren’t so heavily forced, it would’ve been better.

This was a cute small-townesque story about Adi, trying to find a journalistic point of view in this small town when there wasn’t much to go on.

It’s a quiet romance between Adi and Finn but their dynamic worked. Cute quick read for the beach, a car ride or if you’re looking for a romance.

Things I liked:
- mom & daughter dynamic
- Kate, Adi’s best friend
- the Jewish rep of Adi and her mom

There were a few cute romance parts in this book but over all it just wasn't very good for me. The characters annoyed me & the plot in itself wasn't good for me. I am not a big Hallmark movie fan, so I found it cheesy and unbelievable.

This book had a lot of the expected elements of romance genre novel. I found Adina to be a compelling protagonist, though was frustrated frequently with her naive attitude and ignorance. The main romance was also compelling, but in general I felt dissatisfied by the quality of the novel and found it quite predictable.

In order to secure a full-time position at an online magazine and help her mom with finances, Adina pitched a story comparing Pleasant Hollow to a Hallmark small town. Unfortunately, Adina discovers that they are nothing alike. The townsfolk are all for gentrification. They have no carnivals, small town activities. The choices of bars and restaurants are lacking. And, the first hot guy she meets is not even a resident of Pleasant Hollow. How is she supposed to land this gig?

Comparing a small town to a fictional Hallmark movie town was cliche, BUT what made it brilliant was the fact that the small town was absolutely nothing like what small towns was thought out to be. The whole quirky festivals, etc did not exist, and the valiant efforts Adina made just to mold the town into a story she wanted to tell contributed to the brilliance. The romance was sweet, and I loved Finn’s lack of emotional availability. And, the grand gesture, too of course. So funny how the story gave me such NEVER BEEN KISSED vibes… and it could just be a wild coincidence but Drew Barrymore played Josie Geller and the main character in this book was Adina Gellar! Haha. Overall, I enjoyed it!