What happens when a bookish wallflower decides to send an anonymous note to her crush as the local bookstore? Add in someone else getting the note and a movie being filmed at the local bookstore and very mild chaos ensues. Part "You’ve Got Mail" part "When Harry Met Sally", "Storybook Ending" is a cozy read, but it isn't a romcom. For most of the book, I wasn’t sure where the plot was going, but I enjoyed it. This is for book lovers who love hat tips to bookstores, the bookish life, and a touch of epistolary action.

A really cozy, well done romance that does well to live up to it's title! I loved the characters and really enjoyed not exactly knowing how it was going to pan out. Really well done, and I would definitely look for more from Macdonald again!!

Sweet, cozy and bookish romance; a meeting of odd but endearing characters. The Seattle setting is a nice element.

Really enjoyed this book! A little cliched but likable characters, fast paced and sweet. The characters were flushed out, the story was easy enough to follow.

The interstitials were confusing at first (who are these people?!) but it clicked along after two or three

Storybook Ending is a delightful story about loneliness, friendship, and found family. Told from three points of view, the book tells of a misunderstanding between April, an isolated single woman working from home; Laura, a widowed single mom; and Westley, a handsome but clueless bookstore worker.

Privy to information the characters don't have, the reader gets to see the love triangle unfold; Macdonald expertly handles the shifting points of view, keeping the reader focused so you always know whose head you're riding in and seamlessly providing emails, texts, and other documents from supporting characters for context about what's happening offstage.

There are several "missed connections" moments where you think the characters will figure out what's going on, but Macdonald keeps the mystery going with well-crafted and plausible obstacles until the satisfying conclusion. All three characters are handled lovingly; it's a cozy read for people who love reading. Highly recommended.

I received an advance copy of this book for my honest review. Thank you to the author and NetGalley.

This was so sweet and a comedy of errors all wrapped into a sweet and swoony romance!
The characters were so relatable and I felt that they really were friends I was catching up with.

Really fun and cozy and great pacing. A compelling premise from the start! I hesitate to say “cozy” but, well, it fits!

Dear Mrs. Macdonald,

I just finished your book, thanks to NetGalley. I loved it. It’s going to be huge. So very happy for you.

I hope for readers’ sake that we get to read many more novels by you, each with an appearance by a different beloved recurring character. You’ve created a world that’s ripe with spin-off potential—much like Abbi Waxman has with her The Garden of Small Beginnings.

Also, fingers crossed your publishers keep the cover art as shown on NetGalley. It’s a great fit.

Thank you for the joy you’ve brought to me and to all your future readers!

Sincerely,

A

Firstly thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book.

Now while I loved the cover and the synopsis of this book. It fell a little flat for me. I kept expecting the story to pick up but it never really did. In theory, this book should have worked. A love triangle, You've Got Mail vibes, it truly had the works to be great. It just didn't rise to the occasion.

It felt weighed down by the constant focus on the past and just the character's overall mundane thoughts. It was tough to get through and hard to focus on the main storyline.

I loved the idea of a secret correspondence romance and I liked how the three different main characters all had different perspectives of what was happening in the story.

However, this was such a struggle to get through. There was too much talking about what happened in the past and not enough happening in the present. There was also too many thoughts within thoughts (where the character is explaining something and then adds additional input in parenthesis like I just did). I didn’t feel like any of the female characters had any real personality, and reading about how attractive Westley was and how everyone thought so became tiresome after a while. I thought Laura was completely reaching to think that someone was leaving her a love note in a USED book she happened to buy.

| also really didn’t see the point in the additional chapters from the background characters. Maybe it was to give them more life in the story but their chapters felt too out of place.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Trying to push herself out of her comfort zone, April reaches out to the cute bookstore worker by putting a note in a used book. Unbeknownst to her, the note is answered not by him but by a single mother needing her own nudge out of her routine. Set in a quiet Seattle bookstore thrown into chaos by a film shoot, Storybook Ending is a sweet portrait of modern problems in making friends and dating.

3.5/5

Thank you #NetGalley and Dutton for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Well written and I enjoyed the bookshop setting and community. It started out slow but all in all, a lovely story. I can see the appeal for some readers, and normally that reader is me, but I had a hard time connecting.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for this arc. I enjoyed this book so much. It was light hearted, very entertaining and the ending was perfection. I also really like the cover of this book.

3.5⭐️
What a cute, fun story! If you’re looking for a cozy read, full of hijinks and near misses, with multiple POVs and the occasional heart-wrench, then this is a good one to enjoy. Bookworms will be tickled at the various novels mentioned throughout, and the cozy descriptions of the bookstore will make you want to wrap up in a blanket, or set up a bookish date with friends. The writing surprised me with the amount of depth given to our two primary FMCs, alongside other side characters. This book featured characters with every day and relatable problems, but threw in some real life gut punches. I felt my heart strings pulled when a character described life after loss; meanwhile, another character is wrestling with feelings of guilt over lost friendships as her friend becomes a new mother. Extremely relatable in that regard, all with a backdrop akin to a Hallmark movie and a love interest!

On the flip side, a downside of this story is the flat MMC - unlike the FMCs, I realized I couldn’t relate to him at all because he was written like male authors write women! “Too handsome to have a personality” seemed to be his main character trait, and his plot line started off interesting but never developed into anything more. Every plot device is handed to him without any action on his part. Additionally irksome, you will be reminded at least once every chapter that the story takes place in Seattle. Not joking. Seattle as the setting is mentioned about 50 times, and there are 45 chapters. At least a few times the city name could have been swapped out for PNW or simply describing the landscape. That being said, as someone who was born and raised in WA, city descriptions gave exactly the right vibes I feel when going on a walk or perusing used bookshops in the area. It is very apparent in her writing that the author is a true local! And, the ending of this book was a very satisfying wrap up of all plot lines and characters, and was overall an enjoyable read! This will be out on May 27, 2025. Thank you to Moira Macdonald and Penguin Group Dutton for allowing me to receive an advanced reader copy!

A bit of a slow start but this was a cute read that ultimately ended up being about friendship. Easy and cozy read and I feel like everything was wrapped up very neatly at the end. I didn't really feel strongly connected to any of the characters and I feel like I probably won't be thinking about them for that long but there were definitely where I was invested in the story and wanted to see where things went.

Storybook Ending by Moira Macdonald is a novel that intertwines themes of romance, friendship, and a shared love for books. The plot revolves around two women—a solitary remote worker and a widowed single mother—and their involvement with a charming local bookstore clerk. An anonymous note left in a book sets off a series of events, leading to a unique love triangle. ​

While the premise intrigued me, I found the execution to be somewhat lacking. The characters felt underdeveloped, and I struggled to connect with them. Additionally, the pacing was uneven, with certain sections dragging on, making it difficult to stay engaged.

On a positive note, the book's setting—a quaint bookstore and the surrounding community—was well-described and provided a comforting backdrop. However, despite these elements, I couldn't fully immerse myself in the story. Overall, "Storybook Ending" was an okay read for me, but it didn't leave a lasting impression.

In Storybook Ending, two women and a charming bookstore clerk find themselves entangled in a love triangle after an anonymous note meant for one person ends up with the wrong recipient. As a lonely tech worker and a widowed mom exchange notes thinking they are both receiving messages from the clerk, their lives take unexpected turns filled with humor, hope, and romance. This heartwarming tale celebrates friendship, love, and the magic hidden within the pages of books.

This read happened at exactly the right time, I was looking for a book with a bit of a slower pace that I could settle into and just enjoy the journey. This 3 person POV book was exactly that for me. I found the characters to be charming and relatable. For me the story is ultimately about stepping out of your comfortable zone and being open to the opportunities and more importantly, the people, that come into your path.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you NetGalley & Penguin Group Dutton for this advanced reader digital copy.

I know the type of person who will love this book but I found it to just be fine. It’s well written and I found the two female characters well developed. That said it had so many subplots and side streets that just didn’t pay off or feel necessary. The entire filming in the store piece felt flat and unnecessary. So many call outs of You’ve Got Mail but it never got to the heart of believability or hoping for romance.

I can totally see this being a book club hit for those branching out from traditional romances and want something that feels more mainstream acceptable.

Storybook ending was a great story about coming out of your comfort zone and friendship. I didn't really feel that is was a romance novel at all and that is okay! April works from home and on a whim one day she leaves a note in a used book for the male clerk at neighborhood bookstore. But he never gets the note and another customer finds it and starts to respond, leaving more notes in an agreed location at the bookstore. It is interesting to watch two different women in two different areas of their lives, start to open up and do something out of their comfort zone.

To me this book was more on friendships, than a love story, but it is written in such a magical way that you just couldn't put it down. There were a few spots that seemed to drag on a little bit for me, but the rest of the story did make up for it overall. You could not help but root for all three main characters. Then ending was a perfect wrap up and I thought couldn't have been done any better.

I will definitely be reading more books from Moira Macdonald and cannot wait to see how she transforms more characters. Add this to your TBR list and you will not be disappointed.

Thank you NetGalley and Dutton for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Storybook Ending is a charming, introspective novel that feels like stepping into a cozy bookstore on a rainy afternoon. What begins as a mistaken love note in a used book evolves into something much deeper—friendship, self-discovery, and unexpected connections.

April, a lonely tech worker, leaves an anonymous note for Westley, the flannel-clad bookstore clerk who catches her eye. But fate intervenes when Laura, a busy single mom, finds the note and assumes Westley wrote it for her. As their anonymous correspondence continues, both women find their routines shaken in ways they never expected. Meanwhile, Westley is too distracted by a film shooting in the store and his own ambitions to notice either of them.

While this book is marketed as an unconventional love triangle, it’s really a tribute to friendship, serendipity, and the quiet moments that change our lives. Macdonald’s writing shines with poetic, atmospheric descriptions, making the bookstore setting feel like a character itself. The novel is filled with thoughtful letters, emails, and interactions that may seem small at first but ultimately tie together in a heartwarming way.

This is a slow-paced, slice-of-life story rather than a fast-moving rom-com. The romance is subtle, taking a backseat to themes of loneliness, personal growth, and the ways people unknowingly impact each other’s lives. While the meandering structure may feel cluttered at times, it all comes together beautifully in the end.

If you love books about found friendships, second chances, and the everyday magic of human connection, then Storybook Ending is for you.