This was such a delightful book. The premise was unique and as an avid romance reader, it warmed my heart. Elsy was a relatable character and Anders was a lovable grump. The description of the setting really made me feel like I was in a quaint little town. I recommend this to anyone looking for a heartfelt story with a touch of magic.

This didn't have the same magic of the previous two books It wasn't necessarily a BAD book, it just didn't wow me in any way, shape, or form. Sadly, one of my biggest issues was the romance. There was no chemistry between the main characters and their romance just didn't convince me. Also, *SPOILER*the breakup at the very end of the book seemed extremely out of place? Third act breakups in general are annoying but the last chapter?*END SPOILER* If it wasn't a romance book it wouldn't bother me but it IS a romance book. It honestly left a bad taste in my mouth.</spoiler> I also found the magic aspect of this particular book to be completely lazy compared to the other two. Granted, some suspension of belief is necessary but here it either made no sense or was super confusing.

Just when I think Ashley Poston cannot write any better she does! I absolutely adored this book! I love when authors have really well fleshed out side characters and she really did a great job of making me feel connected to all the other couples in town. I'm a huge fan of the grumpy x sunshine, enemies to lovers tropes, so I was really glad to find some of that with the main couple, Eileen and Anders.

I was content with giving this 3 stars and then about 89% I had to drop my rating. The ending of the book and how some things were handled rubbed me the wrong way and took from everything that we built up to.

Before I get into my issues, I have to admit that Poston can write a dreamy atmosphere and knows how to immerse a reader in a story. I liked the world of Eloraton. I can see how it would be a good town for a book series.

My biggest grief would be Elsy’s character and the way the story ended. Elsy was self-deprecating. I get her heart was broken 5 years ago, but the way she clung to that was a bit much. Yes, she eventually got to the root of it, but going through the flashbacks and eternal monologue was a chore. It’s kind of like whiplash because at times she was a ray of sunshine and then we would snap right back to woe is me.

As far as Anders is concerned, I liked him up until we found out his backstory. I mean, (view spoiler). Along with that, (view spoiler) tarnished any kind of want that for a relationship between him and Elsy. Made it seemed like he came back because it didn’t work, and Elsy was second choice. Honestly, this story could have benefited with Elsy ending up with no one and using the experience as a way that helped her move on from her dragged out heartbreak.

Overall, the choices made by the characters pissed me off and dragged my rating down. After DNFing The Seven Year Slip, I think I have to admit that this author might not be for me.

I know it's hard for some booklovers and readers to understand that not everyone wants to hear about your fandom loves. While this was an intriguing premise, I had to DNF because I couldn't figure out what this was or why I was supposed to also care about a fictional world that I have never heard of before.

The premise of this book is completely original. Eileen has been burned by men in her past, and she decides that she’ll hole up with her books and stay safe. On her way to a cabin where she’s spending time alone, her car breaks down.
She makes her way to the nearest town, and can’t believe her senses when everything and everyone in town seems very familiar. She realizes that she’s in a town that only exists in books, Eloraton, and the inhabitants don’t know. Except for one, Anders, who runs the bookstore.
I enjoyed this book so much! The interplay between Elsy and the now
very real fictional characters is fascinating, and I liked the way her relationship with Anders progressed. 4.5 stars.

From the Publisher:

Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. At home. Which might be why she’s so set on going to her annual book club retreat this year—she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures—no matter what.
But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel…
Because it is.
This place can’t be real, and yet… she’s here, in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series…It’s perfect—and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley, I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

**Many thanks to Berkley and Ashley Poston for an ARC of this book provided via NetGalley!**

"I know you
I walked with you once upon a dream" - Once Upon a Dream, Sleeping Beauty

A charming and soothing blend of fantasy, fact, fiction, and ALL of the feelings, A Novel Love Story will have you twirling around the room like Sleeping Beauty herself (well, maybe minus the group of cheerful animal companions!)

Eileen (better known as Elsy) Merriweather looks at her romance books as more than escapism; reading them and getting immersed in those worlds is a way of life. Books are ALREADY her profession, as she teaches literature, but when she and friend Pru took a chance on joining a virtual book club with other romance read fanatics, she truly found her PEOPLE, in every sense of the word. So much so that the group not only meets online, but has a retreat at a cabin once a year where the boxed wine is a-flowing and they get to gush over their favorite literary boyfriends and girlfriends AND ponder the fate of the couples in the next book to come...and after having her heart broken in real life, Elsy needs the retreat more than EVER. The group is still mourning the passing of their favorite book series author, Rachel Flowers, and want to honor her in the best way they know how: discussing plot points and cherishing the characters she brought to life so she won't be forgotten. When her friends bail on the trip this go-round, Elsy is STILL determined to make it to the cabin and spend some time alone with her wine, her books and her broken heart.

But on the way to the Catskills, Elsy's car breaks down...and things only get stranger from there. While she doesn't know where she is at first, the tiny town she finds herself in feels VERY familiar...eerily familiar. After poking around a bit, she notices buildings that look familiar, the sweet tang of taffy in the air, and a certain bookstore that brings this overwhelming sense of deja vu to an entirely new level. And then it hits her: the reason everything seems so very familiar is that she HAS been here, many times before. The town is Eloraton, the setting from Rachel Flowers books...and she is now the main character in this magical, cozy town that has come to life. It's a bit odd to walk up to the characters she's only dreamed about so far and know EVERYTHING about them, but Elsy is full to the brim with joy and this journey has helped her forget her troubles and immerse herself FULLY in the world that has saved her, time and time again.

There's one character, however, that she DOESN'T recognize...a blond, green-eyed bookstore owner named Anders who she thinks has a Need for Tweed...and smells like smoke and black tea. Although Elsy's first encounter with him is less than ideal (as she almost ran him over) she can't help but feel a bit woozy in his presence, and despite his gruff exterior, Elsy is intrigued. The other odd part of his presence in Eloraton is that Elsy can't remember his character from ANY of Rachel Flowers' books...so what exactly is he doing here? Who is supposed to be finding their happy ending now....and why exactly does a book have ELSY'S name in it? And is Anders desperate to keep Elsy away from the hauntingly beautiful Quixotic Falls at the town's center AND to keep her from 'finishing the book?' And can Elsy find her way out of Eloraton and back to the life she left behind...or is the chance to live in Eloraton for good just to magical to give up, no matter WHAT the consequences?

Ashley Poston is one of those romance authors I've heard buzz about for YEARS at this point, but I'll be honest...I was a bit apprehensive starting this read. Despite gushing reviews detailing her ability to take romantic magical realism to another level, while I quietly added her books to my TBR, I never felt a compulsive need to grab any of them immediately, most likely due to the fact that magical realism itself can be a very hit or miss genre for me, not to mention as a former YA writer, I didn't have any clue of how young Poston's adult books might read...and I was prepared to be let down, to say the least.

But like that moment in every rom-com where the leads look at each other with that "Where have you been all my life?" sort of smile...Poston's brand of cozy, charming, cheery fiction was nothing short of ENCHANTING...and I was all too willing to give into its spell!

First off, I absolutely loved Elsy and found it easy to bond with her. Having a heroine in the book space already who not only works with books but also has taken the opportunity to step outside her comfort zone and connect with other bookish friends? Talk about a role model! Although I can't say I am currently surrounded by books and bookish chat all day long, it's always nice to step into the shoes of a MC who gets to live out this dream...and Elsy in many ways was doing just that. The idea of a book club that started online (and mostly stayed online) but with an occasional wine-fueled weekend of Smutty Book Club fun? Again...INSTANTLY appealing. We are only given little snippets about Elsy's failed relationship and the pain that she is contending with at the beginning of the book, but details are filled in quickly enough and I found myself JUST as fascinated and giddy about Eloraton as SHE was and ACHING to get lost in that sort of small-town idyll. There are a fair amount of characters here, but at the same time, we are given just enough context to see how and why they matter to Flowers' books AND to Elsy herself, so the narrative never got too bogged down, which could easily have happened...so 'Flowers' to Poston for that!

And as for Anders...well, I can see why other readers have slight issue with this character and the way he is written: for lack of a better way to put it, he's sort of written as a one-note Darcy-esque bookish dreamboat. Unfortunately, much of his characterization revolves around three things: his minty green eyes, smelling of black tea, and his golden locks. Not only are we reminded of these traits over and over again, but it just seemed like a way for Poston to avoid dipping deeper into Anders' psyche...UNTIL the end of the book where one whopper of a twist gives us a bit more context. The funny thing is that as irritating as I found this repetition and as much as I WANTED to know more about Anders in some ways...I also just didn't really mind NOT knowing. In my opinion, this book really IS about Elsy at the end of the day, and as fun as it was to read about her butterflies for Anders, this wasn't the sort of book where I believed the two leads necessarily NEEDED to end up together. Granted, I was rooting for it at times, but as my mind was sort of speculating where we would end up by the conclusion of the book, there was a version of this story that had Elsy and Anders nowhere NEAR one another...and I could still see it as a fitting ending. (No spoilers here, of course, but if you aren't speculating while reading at least a LITTLE bit in a story like this, that's a bad sign!)

The true beauty of this one, however, was the pure pixie dust that Poston sprinkled over the town of Eloraton throughout. This is the sort of immersive cozy read that would feel just at home poolside while basking in the sunshine as it would on a rainy afternoon on the couch with a cozy blanket, or on a bitterly cold winter's day with the snow swirling outside a nearby window. This book brings the sunshine and the warm fuzzies with it, and therein the magic lies. While I felt the plot was clever and surprising, what touched me most about this read was apparently how desperately I would love to live inside some of MY favorite fictional worlds. And in this way, A Novel Love Story is sort of brilliantly meta: our experience mirrors Elsy's experience. We want to live in the fictional world of the very book we are reading while she simultaneously wanders through the world of her dreams. This not only enticed me to grab Poston's next book, but to ZIP through her back catalog ASAP!

There's a certain immersive feeling you get from watching one of your comfort shows over and over....whether you feel like cozying up at a table at Central Perk, strolling through the gazebo in Stars Hollow, or even settling down with a cup of coffee at Cafe Nervosa. (From the worlds of Friends, Gilmore Girls, and Frasier, respectively.) It's not something you can put into words, necessarily, but as much as these places were all fictional, they BECAME home. And it's no wonder that A Novel Love Story gives the reader that well-worn, enveloping blanket of comfort: as Louisa May Alcott once penned, "Some books are so familiar that reading them is like being home again."

It's NEVER felt so great to be home.

4.5 stars

4.5 ⭐️ (Rounded down) Ashley Poston has a way of making unique stories and plots that just instantly pull me in. One thing I love about her books, and it follows in this one, is that she doesn’t just focus on the romance but also character development. She chooses to write about characters who are stuck, whether it’s in grief, life, career, romantically, etc.

I think she did great with this book! I personally did feel like the romance was a bit quick, and not as strong as The Seven Year Slip. But I still loved the story itself and the journey the FMC took.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This wasn’t terrible, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I was expecting another book like The Dead Romantics, but this was more like The Seven Year Slip which I thought was just ok. I actually don’t think it was the book’s fault either. More like magical realism as a whole.

OK so the thing that got me about this was I was thinking she was going to be in the novel and have the love interest and do the things that the original FMC was doing. But this was way less exciting. Idk it was just kinda plain. I wanna say it was because I hadn’t read the books so I wasn’t super attached to these characters like she was. So basically I was just reading about these people that she was swooning over and I was having trouble trying to figure out which character was doing what.

The romance was ok, but the twist made it weird for me. Since she wasn’t the original FMC and the whole thing happened, I felt bad that he was still grieving. And I know that he took a break before the end. That actually worked best for me because that break was what made me feel like it was genuine and ie wasn’t like them saying he was all better. And we’re not going to talk about the enemies to lovers, we know how I am about that lol

The magical realism was what still made this for me. But even then I had some questions. Like how was she the only person other than him to find it? Was it because she was a kindred spirit? Was she a lot like the author? Idk, but I wish I knew. Magical realism is better for me than fantasy because it makes there doesn’t need to be as much world building, and that’s where I always struggle with it. But this one didn’t exactly have all the questions answered, soooooo yeah.

Other than that, it was just okay. I didn’t hate it. I love Ashley’s writing and I liked the plot, but I wanted this to be more like Dead Romantics but it leaned more toward Seven Year Slip and that’s what made me feel eh about it. Did I love Seven Year Slip? Yes. But Dead Romantics was the reason I read her entire back catalog and I wanted to be made into a series. So yeah, part of this is my fault and I’ll take that. But if you’re like me , I’m telling you now so you aren’t lol

Ashley Poston is the queen of magical realism. I absolutely adored the SEVEN YEAR SLIP - one of my favorite reads of 2023. I was so excited to dive into A NOVEL LOVE STORY as the premise sounded so unique. this one is definitely for those who love coming of age moments, books about books, and great character development. the pacing of the book held it back a little bit - there wasn’t much of a side plot and i would’ve LOVED a POV from Anders. the ending saved it for sure - shed a few (a lot of) tears!

Ashley Poston will always be an auto buy author - can’t wait to see what she does next!

Ashley Poston has become a quick favorite for me! I can pick up any novel of hers and be certain that I will have a good time.

A Novel Love Story is the perfect escape for all of us who don't really want to be in the real world for a while but instead bask in the glory of a fictional setting. A handsome hero, owning a bookstore... what more could you want?

I love that Poston can make you laugh one scene, swoon the next, and three pages later, cry. I've never been more willing to have my emotions played with.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Ashley Poston can do no wrong. While this didn’t hit me in the gut like The Seven Year Slip, I still loved it. This read like a fairytale in some ways, because it’s set in a fairytale world. I loved that writing style for it. I loved the characters in Eloraton, and I loved seeing the relationship grow between Anders and Eileen. But what I loved the most is that this was a love story to romance books. That was the real HEA here, that romance stories are a universal language and have stood the test of time for all humanity. Her authors note at the end made me cry, as all authors notes are prone to do to me.

This story is an ode to book lovers everywhere and I absolutely loved this premise.

Imagine being able to visit the setting of your favorite book. To meet the characters and sit next to them. To bring to life what you imagined in your head. I just could not get enough!

Poston effortlessly blends magical realism and romance and has become an autobuy author for me. I wish I could live in her brain for a day! I loved the characters of this story especially Elsy. I loved the small town vibes and the little mysteries of what has happened there, the descriptive writing, and


I loved how much Poston made me think and reflect while reading this story. I loved the themes of self discovery and personal growth. I love that I am a romance reader and that was celebrated with this story. I also really enjoyed thinking about what an author goes through once they publish a book.

“I argued, often, that once a book was done, once it was written and published and sent out into the world, it was no longer yours. It turned into ours-together. You, telling the story, and us, interpreting it.”

I think as readers we can really forgot that a book is often so personal and important to the author and the story and its characters should be handled with care.

If you love romance, your book club, and have favorite characters you wish could be your best friends- read this. It will definitely be a favorite of the year for me and one I recommend to everyone I know.

What would you do if you found yourself in the world of your favorite book or favorite book series? Would you be able to play it cool? Where would you be?

Like Ashley Poston's other books, this is a magical realism contemporary romance story. It's got a grumpy sunshine slow burn romance and plenty of easter eggs for bookish readers. I didn't love this one as much as I did her other two books, but it was still a cozy cute story. I look forward to what Ashley does next. I'll for sure read it!

Thank you Berkley Publishing and Netgalley for the electronic copy.

this book was so whimsical & wholesome & just a genuine entertaining, sweet, quick read!! i had theories while reading the story & none of my were on the nose! i loved how the story really captured what it feels like to be completely transported into your favorite comfort read or series! this book is made for the hopeless romantic & romance readers! also, the banter & relationships amongst all of the characters was top tier!! i wish i could say so much more, but i do not want to spoil anything! i definitely would recommend for you to read this book!!

What a lovely sweet story. I loved the concept of a romance reader getting stuck in the small town her favorite book series was set in and Ashley did not disappoint. I loved how relatable Eileen was because of her love of romance books and her perspective of the world as a hopeless romantic.

While I enjoyed the first half of this book I think what really stood out to me was the second half. I did see the twist but I guessed it slightly wrong since I though Anderson would be related to the author but not engaged to her. I also really liked her friendship with Pru and how they opened up their own bookstore in the end. With a really sweet and tender love confession this book was truly lovely and fun.

This is the third book I've read by Ashley Poston and I will keep reading her books. There's some magical realism in each of them. In this one, Eileen is on her way to a solitary book retreat week and gets caught in a storm. She gets off the highway and finds herself in the town of her favorite series with all of her favorite characters. This is less love story and more a reflection on life, especially when we're feeling stuck or frozen. It's also a reflection on the importance books and stories can play in our lives. I went into it open-minded and really loved the story, the characters, the grumpy/sunshine romance (yes, there is a romance!), and the stories within the story. I'll be thinking about this one.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This is a sweet love story, while not a favorite for me, I think those who love the Seven Year Slip will really enjoy this book.

what a cute plot! it's a book lovers dream! who wouldn't want to go to their favorite town with their favorite characters? I don't think I'd leave! This is hopeless romantic approved :)

this one was pure delight. despite loving Seven Year Slip, the way I felt about Dead Romantics had me a little bit apprehensive of this one. of her three novels, this is the one whose premise called the most to me but I wasn't sure if it would hit the way Seven Year Slip did. and this one was a bit of a different beat imo but it worked. it was incredibly sweet and while the magic didn't make sense, it also required less explanation than some of her other work. for me, the highlight was the way Poston was able to write about the dynamics of getting older and you're friends being in a different place in life than you and feeling left behind without being reductive. I think it's easy to oversimplify that to being selfish or scared but Poston wrote it with nuance and grace, holding space for emotions versus logic.

my only complaint was the overuse of "minty" in describing Anders's eyes. we get it.