Ashley Poston with another banger!!! 4 stars! If you love a cozy small town a la Gilmore Girls, and if you love romance novels (which you obviously do) - plzzz pick this one up!! I liked it not quite as much as the Dead Romantics but more than the Seven Year Slip.

Some small quibbles - the middle felt a bit repetitive and I felt we needed more of the MC"s background earlier to really be attached to her. Her backstory felt a bit contrived.

However, I could not put this down and it gave me many feelings!!!!!

I just love Ashley Poston. The possibility of stumbling into a fictional town!!??? Who wouldn't want to do that on a vacation?! Especially if it your all-time favorite series. (Give me a day with Stephanie Plum, I may not survive, but I bet it would be fun!) I loved how Eileen began to see her great qualities, how she took back her life. And the swoon worthy men of the town!!! Loved it!!

As much as I've enjoyed Ashley Poston's other works, the premises have always been a bit...odd (but really enjoyable!). This one was no exception, but it is now my favorite of her works. I loved reading about Elsy's journey through Eloraton and can't wait to suggest this one to a book club in July!

Ashley Poston is the queen of contemporary romance with a touch of magic. I loved The Dead Romantics and The Seven Year Slip, and now A Novel Love Story,
Elsy finds herself lost on a roadtrip and ends up in the world of her favorite book series. She knows all of the people, the locations, but she has no idea how she got there or how it was even possible. This is a love story, but it’s not heavily focused on romance, there is a lot of self discovery. I loved this book.

If you could spend time inside your favorite romance book, what would you do?

Elsy is a literature professor whom loves a happy endings. Her best friend Pru, convinced her to join a smutty book club, that turned into yearly in person meetings with her bookish friends. This year’s meeting is looking different, as everyone has other plans, but Elsy still wants to drive up to the cabin and spend time with wine and her books. She has some car trouble that causes her to arrive at a small town. Shortly after she realizes, that she’s inside her favorite book.

Ashley Poston’s books feel like a warm hug with a cozy blanket. She knows how to write fiction with a sprinkle of magic. The way she handles heartbreak and grief is so heartfelt.

I had so many feelings while reading this book. I felt so seen as a book lover, when talking about finding your people in the book community. I loved how she touched on the topic of the romance genre in the publishing industry. I loved Elsy’s self exploration and that it’s ok to not know if all endings will be happy. I actually got teary eyed a few times.

I feel like this book is more fiction than romance. The romance part lacked a bit for me. Anders’ and Elsy’s chemistry didn’t fully bloom until the last 30% of the book.
I did find some terms repetitive, like mentioning Anders’ minty eyes and the way he smells like tea.

I had really high hopes, as I adored The Seven Year Slip. It was an overall enjoyable read. The cover is stunning.

Thank you Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is like living in a warm cup of black tea ☕️ I didn’t know what to expect and I absolutely was swept away in Ashley’s lyrical and poetic writing. There’s books, romance, an orange cat named Butterscotch, Taylor Swift nods only real ones will notice, mentions of her two previous romances/characters (that I also gave 5 stars), true friendships, real experiences with grief, and most of all, magic ✨

Anders and Elsy have my heart. Elsy went through such growth to get through where she was at the end of the book. Her journey reminded me of Lemon’s in The Seven Year Slip. It was great character development. Plus strong female friendships! I teared up at the end, especially when I wasn’t sure how it was going to shake out. And of course, there’s fun animals in this one too 🐦

We should all be so lucky to have a book boyfriend like Anders. I will be thinking about his minty gaze for the foreseeable future.

Shout out to leap year for allowing me to get in one more five star read in before the end of February. Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

this was such a beautiful story, Ashley's writing is exceptional and the journey she takes you on is always so emotional, this book was no exception 🥹

Eileen is such an amazing main character. When we meet her, she's broken and lonely and struggling to get on her feet. She's running away from responsibilities and struggling with the feelings of wanting love but never being the chosen one. I truly enjoyed her character and I could relate a lot to her conflict. I loved seeing her growth through the books and finding comfort within her favorite characters.

Anderson was such a great addition and although their connection through the town and their pasts was felt deeply, I still feel like they lacked a more emotional connection. I did enjoy his grumpiness and the way he cared for Eileen but I needed them to communicate way earlier. This book reads more like women's fiction (which I love) though so I was able to look past this.

The story itself is a dream. It is such an intriguing concept and had me hooked from the beginning. Just imagine being able to talk to your comfort characters and to see their happy endings beyond the epilogue.

For some reason, I struggled a bit to get through this book. I think at times, it felt repetitive? A lot of what was going on was with the fictional characters instead of our main characters. It also just didn't pick up until the 50% mark. To me, it felt like all of the important plot points and incidents happen towards the last 30% and I just wish they would've been more spread out.

Overall though, I definitely recommend this book. It gave me such a new appreciation for all of my favorite fictional characters and places and authors. Books are life-changing and this one reminded me the impact that words and stories and characters can have on you and the way we carry them!!

A Novel Love Story is another wonderful Ashley Poston romance full of endearing and fully realized characters. In fact, this might be my favorite of the bunch so far. Eileen Merriweather (don't sing Come on Eileen to her), is floundering. Her fiancee broke up with her a week before their wedding, and ever since then she just can't seem to find the motivation for anything except reading her beloved romance novels. Now the book club getaway she has been looking forward to has been cancelled since it turns out that everyone else has plans this year--even Eileen's best friend, who is about to get engaged to her boyfriend. Elsy can't let it go, however, and decides to set out on the fifteen hour road trip and week reading romance novels in a cabin by herself. Unfortunately along the way her GPS stops working, a giant storm hits, and her car breaks down in a small town that is somehow not on any of her maps...but it does feature heavily in the stack of well read paperbacks she has in her trunk.

Eloraton is the setting of Elsy's absolute favorite romance series, a series that sadly ended before the final book was written with the sudden death of the author. Now she's suddenly in the town, meeting all of her favorite characters and getting to see their happily ever afters play out right in front of her. It's a dream come true--especially since Elsy is eager to forget her real life--except for the fact that the town seems stalled right before the end of the story, and nothing is moving forward. Of course there is also the mysterious (and handsome) owner of the town bookshop, a character Elsy doesn't remember from any of her readings.

Like all of Poston's adult romances, A Novel Love Story is equally about romance and about dealing with grief. Elsy may fall in love in Eloraton, but the bigger part of her story is learning to make her peace with the past and open herself up to the potential for new people to enter her life. Eloraton itself is a fully realized setting with multiple "main characters" walking around at different point in their stories. It reminded me a lot of the first season of Once Upon a Time, where all the stories were paused waiting for something to restore the happy endings. The central romance is well developed, and both characters are forced to confront their issues before being able to move on together. I highly recommend this book (and Poston's previous novels) to readers of romance, speculative fiction, cozy fantasy, and just anyone who wants a sweet story that will also sometimes hit you with much stronger emotions.

3.5 Stars
A Novel Love Story is a book for readers. It does what may readers wish could happen to them by putting a reader in her favorite book world. I enjoyed the surprise and wonder Elsy felt finding herself in the fictional world of Eloraton. It was fun to get to know the small town and its characters through her eyes. That being said, this book was missing the romance I expected to find in a Poston book. Elsy and Anders were good characters, but they lacked chemistry. Their romance was missing a spark or something to make me feel connected to them as a couple. The romance almost felt like an afterthought to the town and its people, which gave this book a women's fiction feel rather than a romance. That being said, I still enjoyed reading A Novel Love Story. Readers are going to enjoy it, especially those who like their books light on the romance aspect of the story.

When I received the email that I had been granted an ARC of this book from NetGalley, I literally canceled all my plans, downloaded it to my Kindle, and spent the entire day reading. I want to live in Eloraton. It really is that simple! What an absolutely magical book. It wasn’t quite as good as The Dead Romantics but it was close! Give me a few days and this may end up being 5⭐️. Just wow- and I am not at ALL a rom-com, romance reader.

I had really high hopes for this. I absolutely adore The Seven Year Slip, it’s one of my favorite books ever, but this one didn’t quite come close for me. It was a sweet and comforting read. The plot was interesting and new, but I think it lacked in the romance department. The story was so much about the town and the characters in it that i couldn’t feel the chemistry between the main characters when it came to their relationship.

I love Ashley’s descriptive and whimsical writing, it’s so cozy and warm. But I did notice some really repetitive descriptions, although I loved the fact that Anders smelled like black tea (yum), “his minty gaze” was used one too many times for me to be able to ignore.

Over all I think she is such an amazing author but this book unfortunately wasn’t my favorite.

Another fun and whimsical read from Ashley Poston. I really enjoyed the way she thought about what happens to book characters once the story ends. Are they stuck? Are they doomed to repeat the same day over and over? And of course, I was delighted to join Anders and Elsy as they made their way towards their own happily ever after.

rtc. this was so so sooo good!! ashley poston never fails.

thankyou netgalley for this arc. all opinions are my own and are totally unbiased and unpaid.

I really wanted to love this, but I’m not sure how I feel. To start, I wouldn’t say this reads as romance, but more like women’s fiction.

The plot revolves around the FMC, Elsy, ending up in the fictional town of her favorite book series. It sounded like the perfect concept, but it just fell flat for me.

The town itself would’ve been fine if it was a cute small town romance vibe, but the town and the town’s characters felt more like a cartoon and less like a romance novel.

There also really wasn’t any palpable chemistry or tension between Elsy and Anders. I would’ve probably been able to look past all of that if the book was exciting or un-put-downable…but unfortunately I was generally waiting for something to happen the whole time.

To be fair, it was cute at times and there were also emotional parts that I enjoyed. But it all worked out too perfectly and quickly. There just wasn’t the usual depth I would expect from this author.

Ashley Poston is uniquely skilled at breaking her readers’ hearts wide open only to put them back together again. A NOVEL LOVE STORY is the latest example of Poston’s one-of-a-kind, on-page emotional wizardry.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an ARC.

4.5
I adore the way Ashley writes, her storylines are always so unique and her writing captures you whole. This book was so no different.
I found myself relating to Eileen as a book lover as well. She was very easy to love and connect with and in the end lived every readers dream of meeting her fav characters in her fav book world!
I loved that you were left wondering throughout the whole book, “whose story is this?!” Because it added to the mystery throughout. The themes of love in relationships and friendships and family in these characters lives is so easy to find yourself in. Ashley writes about grief so well and frequently and I think it’s so refreshing to see done in the right ways.

Also random- but while reading this book Twilight was mentioned and I was wearing my Edward Cullen tshirt, The Hobbit was mentioned while Lord of the Rings was playing in the background, boxed wine was mentioned as I was drinking boxed wine … it was crazy weird coincidences lol

I absolutely adored the plot of this book so much! It was so cute to see it play out. It was nice to have a new type of plot to read because I haven’t seen this type used before!

Our main character, Eileen finds herself in desperate need of a vacation after all her wedding planning and no wedding… after her fiancé expresses he’s in fact not actually ready for this next step she finds herself shocked and heartbroken. While on the road for distraction heading to her bookclubs cabin her car decides to have a mind of its own, breaking down in a small town away from reality. Eileen stumbles into her favorite series in real life and has the chance to meet all her favorite characters. (every book readers ultimate dream!)

This was a very emotional read as many heavy topics are discussed. Poston always has such an amazing way discussing important yet difficult topics and she does it with such elegance and grace.

However I did find this story to be dragging at some points and it left me bored, I will always support this author as she is an auto buy author for me! I wish there was more romance, I really did feel like Anders and Elsy lacked chemistry and acted more like siblings feuding than people flirting.

This was a really sweet, thoughtful story that evokes feelings of the movie Pleasantville x Gilmore Girls but bookish.

I couldn’t get past how many times Anders’ eyes were referred to as minty however. This literally became the bane of my existence so I had to deduct points.

Overall, this is comfy cozy and cute! A lovely little love story.

Ashley Poston is one of my favorite authors. In my mind, she's not capable of writing anything unreadable. Dead Romantics and The Seven Year Slip are two of my top favorite books. I love how Ashley writes with such magical enchantment. A Novel Love Story did not disappoint. Not quite on the same level as her previous books, but enjoyable, magical and all the romance that keeps me reading. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for granting me the chance to read another great book by Ashley Poston.

I want to start by saying I LOVE Ashley Poston's writing and her previous book, The Seven Year Slip, was my favorite romance read of 2023. So, of course, I had high expectations going into this book and was SO excited to get an early copy. Unfortunately, it didn't quite deliver for me. Elsy is a romance novel enthusiast, who has relied heavily on her favorite book series to get her through a tough time in her life. While on a solo road trip, she has car trouble and finds herself stranded in a quirky small town. However, she quickly realizes it isn't just any small town- she has somehow stumbled into the setting of her favorite books. The concept is SO unique and fun, but I really struggled to connect with the characters. The romance took too long to develop, and I just didn't feel the chemistry between the characters. The writing was great, and there were lots of really fun, charming, and whimsical elements to the story that I think lots of readers will enjoy. But, overall, this was just okay for me.