This is fantasy come true. And MC have my fantasy job of teaching English lit and bookstore owner. It had grip on me from the start…it was so much fun tandem reading-listening! It came with me everywhere.

I have heard such good things about this author's previous books that I was excited to get my hands on this one. The synopsis of the story seemed very intriguing, so I was ready to dive in. I just wish I loved the story as much as I was hoping I would. I didn't feel the connection between the two main characters, and the story was very slow going. I didn't even feel a connected to the side characters. I did feel that the FMC had more of a connection with her best friend then she did to the MMC. I still look forward to reading the author's previous books, since I have heard how much people love them, but this one wasn't my favorite. Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for this ARC.

a beautiful love story with a hint of fantasy! ashley poston does it once again! i love her writing so much and will always pick her books up

4.5 stars

“My story wasn’t that interesting, anyway. A three-star read at best. I could imagine the trade reviews – Though she tackles the mundane of her life with aplomb, nothing happens to Eileen Merriweather. Angst-ridden backstory told in deeply regrettable prose. An utterly skippable read.” This passage right here. This is everything. How many people have been in their own heads and thought this exact same thing? I know I have, too many times to count.

Eileen (Elsy) has been going through the motions. She is at a job that she doesn’t like, her fiancé dumped her a week before their wedding, everyone around her seems to be moving on. An annual book club retreat is the one thing she is looking forward to and now everyone seems to be cancelling at the last minute. Elsy is determined now to go anyways, even if she is alone. Losing her way in a terrible storm finds Elsy in her favorite fictional town of Eloraton. With a car needing repairs that could take a few days, Elsy is not mad at the prospect of having to stay.

But Eloraton seems to be stuck where the author has left them, except for the grumpy bookstore owner Anders. Perhaps he is the new character in Rachel Flowers unfinished fourth novel. The weird thing is that he actually knows this town is fictional, and is not happy that Elsy is affecting the town in little ways. Excitement doesn’t begin to cover how Elsy feels. She wants to see and do everything, meet every one of her favorite characters. And now that Elsy is here, things start to move forward and change a little. So does Elsy.

I loved watching her introspection and discovering things about herself. And the attraction to Anders was warm and slow. You can’t help root for them. This ran my emotional gamut, it has everything you need. I highly recommend this.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A NOVEL LOVE STORY
.
How many times as readers have we wished we could jump into the world of our favorite book and characters?!?
So often!
That’s exactly what happens to Elsy in A Novel Love Story. After getting lost on her road trip, Elsy finds herself in Eloraton, the setting of her favorite book series. She immediately meets the grumpy bookseller that does t want her in town….
.
what I liked:
📔Magical realism
💕Book within a book
📔Character growth
💕grumpy x sunshine trope
.
What I wanted more of:
The romance: I felt the main characters were lacking chemistry and I didn’t love the ending.
3 ⭐️
.
Thank you Netgalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was a charming story, filled with heartwarming characters. Eileen’s favorite book series doesn’t exist in our world but, through Eileen’s eyes and emotions, I could feel the coziness of her beloved novels. I love the friendships she formed, and the romance that crept up on her. I will always read Ashley Poston’s books after The Dead Romantics. There’s even a little reference to it, which I adored!

4 ⭐

What to expect:
• Magical realism
• Finding yourself in your favourite book
• Cozy summery small town setting
• Grumpy bookstore owner MMC
• Befriending your favourite characters

Sometimes these ‘right person but there’s an impossible catch’ romances can make me nervous but I trust Ashley Poston after reading The Dead Romantics.
I adored the lush and whimsical atmosphere and setting of this book, and I fell in love with Eloraton and the characters that lived there just as much as Elsy (our FMC) did.
The feeling of being surrounded by your favourite story, being part of the town you’ve only dreamt and read about and becoming a part of the community was so beautiful and cozy to read. And I couldn’t put the book down, I had to find out how the threads and mysteries of Eloraton all tied up! And I felt like all of this was resolved really well.
Elsy and Anders' chemistry was more subtle, but I truly fell in love with them together. And the last quarter of this book had me sobbing, I was just so emotionally attached!

This book felt like a perfect five star read for me, until I read the ending.

My feelings on the ending (SPOILERS)

I loved the bittersweet reveal about who Anders actually was. And although I wanted them to stay in Eloraton so badly, I was happy and understood them leaving together after they both had learnt so much about themselves.
But my heart felt ripped out when, after a perfect scene, HE STAYS AND SHE LEAVES!! And just so he can chat with another woman!!
I felt so betrayed, and even after all of that the ending only really felt like a HFN.


I did love this book and Ashley Poston’s writing is incredible, but I didn’t find the ending satisfying which is such a shame.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley and for this ARC

I really enjoyed this book. It is my first Ashley Poston book and I definitely will be reading her others. I loved the characters, especially Elsy, and the author painted such great pictures of the settings and it was just a really happy story.

OH MY HOPELESS ROMANTIC HEART!!!!!! A Novel Love Story written by Ashley Poston wasn't perfect, but it was SO FREAKING CUTE. I absolutely loved and adored The Seven Year Slip by this author, so when I saw this stunning cover I knew I had to get my hands on this book immediately. Ashley Poston never fails to amaze with her beautiful writing, magical story telling, and relatable characters. Ashley, thank YOU for writing this book for all of us. A Novel Love Story is for all of the book girlies who want to escape from the real world and live in the fictional world, who fall for the fictional boyfriends, who want to feel seen, and those who dream of owning their own bookstores. The twists and turns were so unpredicatable, I didn't see them coming at all. I went into this book completely blind, and honestly I recommend doing that because it makes the reading experience so magical and you will be completely surprised. I laughed so much I had tears streaming down my face, I smiled a numerous amount of times while reading this beautiful book. The butterflies in my heart and my stomach were fluttering. I can't recommend this book enough, so please do yourself a huge favor and grab a copy of this book immediately on June 25th, 2024.

THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY AND BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP FOR AN ARC OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW!!!!!!

First off, I would like to thank my girl, Jess for buddy reading this beautiful and magical book with me. I had the best time swooning and sharing my thoughts with you. You made this reading experience a thousand times better because we got to fangirl together over these fictional characters.

"I looked forward to a week where I could shuck off my professorial robes and disappear into the twisting roads that hugged the soft hills of the Catskills, and read about impossible meet-cutes and grand romantic gestures, and no one would judge me for it".

"I needed to get drunk on cheap wine and cry over happily ever afters".

"I knew that feeling-being frozen because you hurt too much to move. Life just felt easier when nothing changed, but that was only because you'd grown numb to the world around you".

"If you loved something-someone-sometimes you had to let them go. And if they loved you too, they'd come back. Love-true love- always came back".

Eileen Merriweather is a part time English professor that loves to get lost in a happily ever after. But only the fictional kind, anyway because imaginary men from books don't leave you standing at the altar. Eileen feels safe reading her books at home, which might be why she's so excited on going to her annual book club retreat this year. Eileen and her best friend Prudence are in a book club with a bunch of other book lovers called the Super Smutty Book Club and each year they all take a trip together to read and discuss their favorite book. The Super Smutty Book Club was brought together by Rachel Flowers, an author that wrote their favorite book series. Rachel suddenly passed away and left the series unfinished. Everyone made excuses to back out of this trip, Prudence was getting engaged and the others made lame excuses not to go, but Eileen was dead set on going. When Eileen's car unexpectedly breaks down on the way there, Eileen finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it's right out of a novel, well that's because it is. Eloraton, New York is the town in which Eileen's favorite series takes place. Rain always comes in the afternoon, the local candy stores honey taffy is always sweet, and the local bar's burgers are always a little burnt, it's like it's almost too good to be true.

In Eloraton, Eileen meets a fictional book character that she almost runs over in the pouring rain. Anderson Sinclair has minty green eyes and he's a grumpy bookstore owner that owns Ineffable Books. Eileen is in Eloraton to finish the last book in the series, but Anderson "Anders" doesn't want her to finish it. As Anders and Eileen spend time together, they talk about their lives and want it means to be a fictional character. Anders has a cat named Butterscotch, oh my gosh, he was just the cutest little fur baby who had a mind of his own, he was grumpy just like his grumpy owner, Anders. I absolutely loved and adored watching Anders and Eileen form a bond, it was just so cute to witness, their banter was just top tier and absolutely hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing. When Anders and Eileen were visiting Quixotic Falls, a magical waterfall, I just wanted to jump into my kindle and visit this magical and beautiful place. I loved the idea of the Super Smutty Book Club, in all honesty, it makes me want to start my own book club, it's almost like a dream come true. Eileen is such a relatable character, she's basically living the dream so many book girls dream of happening one day. I absolutely loved and adored all of the side characters, they were so welcoming with open arms to Eileen, ugh it was just so bittersweet and so memorable to witness.

This book was very cute! I liked the magical realism and found myself able to suspend disbelief enough to enjoy this story. Cute concept of a book within a book!

This book was written for the book lovers who always desired to enter the setting of their favorite books. Ashley Poston is one of my favorite authors, one who I’ve adored since my youth with her YA novel, Geekrella, and I’ve loved her latest romance novels. While I did overall enjoyed her newest novel, A Novel Love Story, I was left wanting more and I thought that the execution was not what I was hoping for.

I did find myself struggling to get through the first 50 pages, but after that, I was instantly grabbed.

Nevertheless, I was left feeling off in reading Elsy and Anders’ relationship, which I won’t go into because of spoilers. However, I will say that it felt off-putting to read on the foundation in which they were falling in love.

Despite these criticisms, Ashley Poston’s writing is like a warm blanket. It is comforting and warm that you can’t help but just enjoy.

Leave it to the writing wizard, Ashley Poston, to create another masterpiece in the magical realism romance genre. Because I already know I will love anything Ashley writes, I went into this book completely blind, and wow did my jaw drop when I figured out our fmc was placed into her favorite author’s fiction town of Eloraton! It’s definitely my dream to stumble upon a town created by my favorite small-town romance authors, like I’m still super jealous of Elsy.

It was really great/kinda sad to read about an fmc who is in her 30s and feeling lonely. Elsy knows she has amazing friends but still feels like every one of them has someone more important than her in their lives and GIRL, I feel that. And when she realizes that she just kind of went along with everything her ex wanted cause she felt like she needed to be accommodating for him to still like her? FELT THAT.

Then comes Anders, who challenges her and gives her butterflies after not feeling anything for anyone in so long! And y’all, Anders is just the perfect amount of grumpy and sexy wrapped into a cute glasses-wearing blonde boy. Honestly the perfect storybook boyfriend.

I also gotta give it to Ashley Poston for being a superstar when writing about grief. I have cried reading every single one of her books when it gets to the part of the plot where the characters tackle their grief. She just knows exactly how to tug on my heartstrings and articulate the feeling of longing for people we love who have left us.

Thank you so much to Berkely for the gifted copy!

Ashley Poston’s "A Novel Love Story" is a delightful escape into a world where fiction and reality intertwine in the most charming and unexpected ways. This book, with its unique premise and engaging narrative, offers a refreshing take on the romantic comedy genre.

The protagonist, Eileen Merriweather (Elsy), is a relatable and endearing character. Her love for happily-ever-afters in books, contrasted with her real-life romantic disappointments, sets the stage for an intriguing journey. The plot kicks off with Elsy's car breaking down on her way to an annual book club retreat, leaving her stranded in the quaint and seemingly fictional town of Eloraton.

Poston’s creation of Eloraton is nothing short of magical. The town, with its candy store’s sweet honey taffy, slightly burnt burgers from the local bar, and predictable afternoon rain, feels like stepping into a beloved novel. The whimsical details and the concept of a town stuck in an unfinished story are brilliantly executed, making the setting a character in its own right.

The storyline takes an interesting turn with the introduction of a mysterious character, the grumpy bookstore owner. His mint-green eyes and irritatingly sexy demeanor add a layer of tension and intrigue. The slow-burning romance between Elsy and this enigmatic figure is beautifully developed, filled with witty banter and palpable chemistry.

One of the book's strengths is its exploration of themes like self-discovery, the power of storytelling, and the importance of closure. Elsy’s mission to help the town reach its happily-ever-after is a metaphor for her own journey towards healing and finding love again. The interplay between Elsy’s reality and the fictional world she inhabits raises thought-provoking questions about the nature of happiness and fulfillment.

However, the story does have a few pacing issues. Some parts of the middle section feel slightly drawn out, and the resolution, while satisfying, could have been more tightly woven. Despite this, Poston’s writing is engaging, and her ability to blend humor with heartfelt moments keeps the reader invested.

"A Novel Love Story" is a heartwarming read that will resonate with anyone who has ever sought solace in the pages of a book. Ashley Poston has crafted a story that is both a love letter to romance novels and a testament to the transformative power of love and imagination. It’s a perfect pick for those looking to get lost in a charming, bookish adventure.

Overall, this novel is a delightful blend of romance, fantasy, and self-discovery, earning it a well-deserved four stars.

Thank you to PRHAudio for a #gifted ALC and to Berkley Pub and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I found this book delightful. I think every romance reader has that one small town that they would love to visit. I love how Ashley Poston took us there and the magical realism she always includes in her books.

Elsy is headed off for her yearly book club trip. She's down because she is the only one attending this year. Her bestie is off on an oversees trip to get engaged and no one else can make it.

Her car breaks down and she finds herself in a charming town. She almost runs into (literally) a grumpyish bookstore owner with mint eyes and is a bit smitten. The longer she is there, the more she feels she knows this town.

I enjoyed every minute of this one! The narration was amazing and made the story even more delightful!

Thank you Berkley Romance for the free book and PRH Audio for the complimentary audiobook. These opinions are my own.

This book is absolutely unique and yet also so clearly a book by Ashley Poston. Eileen (Elsy) is an English professor. She and her book friends from online meet once a year for a romance retreat in the Hudson Valley of New York, near where their favorite romance series was set. This year, everyone else cancelled, but Elsy decided to go anyway. And a wrong turn actually took her into the pages of her favorite series. This was literally like stepping into a magical small town romance series.

The book club felt so true to my experience of reading romance novels and talking about them as friends. They liked some books in the series more than others, and found that some that just fit different moments of your life.

The book was so thought provoking, examining the whole genre of romance and small town series from a high level. It looks at what it means to be a main versus secondary character, wondering if reading romance is a good escape, and who owns a story, the author or the readers or some amalgam of the two.

I was kept guessing throughout. My emotions were fully engaged, and the story made me tear up and cry more than once. And yet, as is the case with romances, I still knew there would be a happy ending and that it would be one that celebrates the romance genre.

Dorothy Dillingham Blue was an excellent narrator for the audiobook. And the author herself narrated the end material, an essay called Books and Their Readers. It further explored the idea of who owns a book after it is published.

Honestly, this book left me unsure how I felt about the story. Getting lost in your favorite novels imaginary town and finding romance sounded intriguing, yet I was left want something a bit more.

Poston's writing is basically a love note, but this novel didn't make the connection like her previous works. The story struggled between women's fiction and a romance, and I wanted more romance.

Overall, I enjoyed the small town, the unique premise, but yearned for more of a love story.

Thank you, Berkley Publishing Group

Synopsis: Elsy has had a rough few years, but her favorite romance series and her book club has gotten her through it. When she is the only member of book club who can make it to the annual retreat this year, she decides to go alone. Her car breaks down on the way, and she finds herself in the middle of a storybook town.

Thoughts: I don’t know what Ashley Poston puts in her books, but I am addicted. I love Ashley’s writing and her ability to realistically weave in magical elements to her stories. The fictional town of Eloraton is brought to life so perfectly, and getting lost in a storybook romance town was so much fun. I related so much to Elsy and her love for escaping into books. Yes, there is a sweet romance component to the story, but the real love story is between books and readers. This book is basically a love letter to your favorite romance novels and happily ever afters, and I am here for it.

Read this if you like:
📖 magical realism
📖 books about books
📖 slow burn romance
📖 grumpy sunshine
📖 small town
📖 found family

3 ⭐️ I love this premise but it didn't live up to my expectations


"A) I was in the imaginary town of my favorite romance series. Or... B) I had hydroplaned off the road and was currently dying in some ditch in nowhere New York."


WHAT TO EXPECT:
✨ small town romance
✨ magical realism
✨ falling into your favorite story
✨ she’s an english professor
✨ he’s a bookstore owner with a cat
✨ blond MMC
✨ grumpy x sunshine (who lost her shine)
✨ a not so meet cute
✨ forced proximity
✨ banter
✨ .5/5 🌶️ (open door till the actual sex, then it's closed door)
✨ "sweetheart"
✨ healing journey / finding yourself
✨ cozy and whimsical
✨ single POV (first person)
✨ HEA

My Thoughts:

I want to start by saying I love the charming small town, the side characters, and poetic prose. As Always, Ashley's writing is a breath of fresh air and easy to follow. And the premise is fantastic. For the last 15 years, I've been dreaming about reading a book like this. I've always thought it would be such a fun story if the main character was dropped into her favorite story and what would happen if she fell in love with one of the characters. How would that play out?? And lo and behold, Ashley Poston goes and writes this exactly!

However, I think I like the premise of the story more than the actual execution because I never felt captivated in the way I was hoping. Honestly, it started off strong. For the first 50%, it was a 4 star read. But then, I started noticing things that bothered me and they were repetitive throughout the story so my interest sort of fizzled out to the point that by the last 20% I was skimming to get to the end.

Here were my biggest issues . . .

I didn't feel the chemistry between the MCs, Eileen and Anders. I really wanted to love their romance too because, I mean, a bookstore owner and an english teacher who both like to read romance?! That's the most perfect pairing ever! But here's my issue. Eileen seems to spend more time with the characters from the book than Anders overall, and once thing's start to become romantic between them, it doesn't unfold naturally. When Eileen bops into town, Anders is a jerk to her right off the bat. And honestly, there was no reason for it and it's not really explained why he was so mean. I guess it was because he wanted her to leave the town and not mess up anyone's story. BUT this wasn't really made crystal clear. He apologizes by 43% of the story but then one chapter later they're kissing and he's calling her sweetheart. It was so abrupt. We were being set up for an epic dislike to love romance, but they barely even had time to develop any sort of relationship and there was no juicy tension or longing leading up to that kiss. Their relationship basically got physically and emotionally intimate too fast when they really didn't have enough vulnerable moments between them for this type of connection. They fell in love in 5 days while disliking each other for 1.5 of those days, and that was just too fast.

There was a heavy focus on the storyline and characters from Eileen's favorite book where it started to overshadow Eileen's own story and the romance. Since this is a standalone, we are first introduced to Eileen, so we need her background story and insight into her character. Then when she shows up to this fictional town, there's an entire world of characters that we are unfamiliar with, so again, we need a lot of information to follow along. But it felt like once we were in Eloraton, there's nonstop info dumping about the town and the characters. And there was such a focus on those people finding their happily ever after, that Eileen's own romance didn't get enough screen time. It was there, but it needed a lot more screen time to develop in a believable way.

I also really wasn't a huge fan of the conflict at the end. I did see it coming, and the third act breakup had me fuming. I was a bit less angry once he explained himself, but that was pages later and by then, I was just so over everything.

I love Ashley Poston's writing - The Seven Year Slip was beautiful and one of my favorite stories from last year. And while there were a lot of wonderful sentences in this story as well, there were some parts of her writing that left me perplexed.

First off, there was wayyyyy too much inner dialogue about Eileen's emotional state. Of course, this is expected to happen a lot in the first few chapters because the character is being set up. But these things were still being heavily discussed till the very end of the story to the point where it felt like we were beating a dead horse. While I appreciate depth of characters, I don't want to feel like I am trapped in a loop inside their head.

We were also CONSTANTLY being told that Anders' eyes were minty and green, he smelled like black tea, and he had white-blond hair. I counted that she described his eyes as mint, minty, or green 42 times!!!!! That's 40 too many. Perhaps it needed more editing, and since this is an ARC I get that, BUT I've been fortunate to receive ARCs from her previous two books and none of them had this level of repetitive descriptive words to describe a character. I also noticed this happened during the last 50% of the book so maybe they didn't quite get around to editing the last half or maybe Ashley Poston struggled with this last half. I don't know.

3.5

<b>"Because a romance isn't supposed to be realistic. If it was, every story would end with everyone dying alone in an old folks' home."
"Wow, Elsy. Tell me how you really feel."</b>

the edge-of-your-seat magic of ashley poston! a novel love story reads like chick lit with a hint of romance.

✨THINGS AND STUFF✨
-small (fictional?) town
-romance reader book club
-grumpy x sunshine
-loathe to love
-forced proximity
-a magical waterfall
-honey 🍯
-MTB
-peas & carrots
-#IsThisAKissingBook open door. “those awful, wonderful kisses”

thank you berkley romance for the free book! #berkleypartner

A Novel Love Story was a fun read full of Poston’s charm and signature unique magical realism. I loved the concept of a book coming to life and finding yourself among its pages. This was a quick, charming read, but for some reason, it didn’t click or connect with me as her other adult romances have—but it still made me smile and warmed my heart!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*