Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in your favourite book series’ fictional world? Elsy is lucky enough to stumble into the quaint small town of ‘Eloraton’ on the way to a book retreat when her car breaks down. Right off the bat, this caught my attention because I’ve definitely thought about what my favourite book world would be like and this is such a unique story.

Our FMC Eileen ‘Elsy’ is a literature professor who enjoys to get lost in a good happily ever after. She is such a relatable character with her people pleasing tendencies and how she sometimes feels like the side character in life. I also loved how she unapologetically adores the romance book genre.

Anderson ‘Anders’ is a mint-eyed grumpy bookstore owner in the town - but there’s more to his character and I loved seeing his other sides, like his quiet caring nature. The banter between Elsy and Anders was top tier and both characters have their walls high but I loved seeing the slow burn of their romance come to fruition.

The side characters in this book truly added so much to the storyline, with their varying personalties and backstories. There is Elsy’s strong-willed best friend Prudence, who’s quick wit was a joy to read. The townsfolk were the main characters from Elsy’s favourite book series - each being a couple from each book in that series. The subplots with these characters and the interactions between them and Elsy were so wholesome.

This was a truly delightful read and I found myself highlighting a lot of beautiful quotes about life and relationships. I appreciate when a book can invoke deeper feelings and get you to reflect a little too.

What to expect:
- Small town romance
- Grumpy sunshine
- ‘Enemies’ to lovers
- Magical realism

Thank you NetGalley for the E-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an interesting and unique concept for a book, however the story missed the mark for me. There just wasn’t enough chemistry between Eileen and Anders, it felt like they developed feelings for one another a bit too quickly and a little out of nowhere.

Ashley Poston consistently writes the most unique romance plots, and A Novel Love Story was no exception. From the initial logline depicting the fictional town of Eloraton, it is clear the plot is fitting for fans of small-town romance and other worldly places (the first thing that came to mind was Barbie, but it definitely also has Wizard of Oz qualities). While the romance part was slower-paced, the true heart of the story is Eileen’s friendship with Pru (as well as the fictional characters she meets along the way).

This is something else. Death of the Author on romance steroids. In a good way. Elsy finds herself stranded in the small town setting of her favourite romance book series. The author died suddenly and tragically and she finds the characters there stuck where they were left. She also finds the grumpy bookstore owner surely just waiting for his heroine, but she can’t help falling for him instead.

This is not your standard fluffy romance. It’s actually pretty heartbreaking at several points, dealing with very different sad endings to both MCs previous relationships. I just felt so sad for Elsy reading about her wedding that didn’t happen, and even more so for the revelation of what happened to Anders 💔 Ashley Poston’s writing always feels like the best of both worlds in this way - firmly romance novels, but something almost high brow about them with complex characters and magical realism that isn’t entirely straightforward.

What to expect:

- Once Upon a Time Vibes?!
- Gilmore Girls/Stars Hollow esque setting
- grumpy x sunshine
- magical realism - book series come to life
- small town romance
- moving on from heartbreak

A Novel Love Story is about Eileen Merriweather. She’s making the solo trip to her book club’s annual getaway after everyone else has called off. She finds herself in the town of Eloraton along the way and gets swept off her feet by the setting, the townspeople and a grumpy bookshop owner.

Ashley Poston firmly situated herself in my must buy author category after I read her short story in the Improbable Meet Cute collection. I promptly read The Dead Romantics and The Seven Year Slip and loved them both! I really enjoyed this one too so Ashley is just hitting it out the park for me!

Like Ashley’s other books you need to let your imagination take over and imagine the impossible scenario. Who wouldn’t want to be transported to their favourite fictional town with their favourite fictional characters? The way the story turned out was very heartwarming and emotional for Eileen and Anderson.

Give this a go if you enjoy -
🏘️ Small town romance
🌞 Grump/sunshine
👩‍❤️‍👨 Enemies to lovers
👫 Forced proximity
🧙🏻‍♀️ Magical realism

Thank you to NetGallery and the publisher for providing me with the arc of this book!

What can I say other than I adored this book. I really could not put it down. It had such an interesting premise and honestly one I really enjoyed. I adore the grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers, forced proximity tropes in this novel and the writing was just incredible! So beautifully sculpted, each character was so unique and lovable, every scene was explained with gorgeous detail and you could truly just immerse yourself into this universe. Anderson is an absolute dream. That man? I’m obsessed. He is honestly one of my favourite male protagonists that I have encountered in a long time.

Elsy, I also loved (most of the time)! Apart from her obsession that Anders was a fictional book boyfriend(?) and his heroine was about to step in and steal him away, she was very easy to relate to when it came to her past and her emotions. So easy that I found my heart squeezing with pain and sadness when Ashley Poston described certain scenes, and others scenes causing butterflies and kicking my feet kind of vibes. I highly recommend this novel and I will 100% be reading more of Ashley’s writing as soon as possible!!

This is my first Ashley Poston book and I enjoyed it. Our main character Eileen loves romance novels and after an unexpected detour on her way to a yearly trip that she usually takes with friends, she finds herself stranded in a peculiar town that feels awfully familiar.

I enjoyed the premise it is different and fun. The characters I found them relatable and they showed growth throughout the story. I liked the love story; it is unique and not like anything I have read recently.

Overall I enjoyed it and I can't wait to read her other books!

ASHLEY POSTON DID IT AGAIN!

I loved this book!

Eileen is heartbroken after her ex-fiancé dumped her a week before her wedding. In an attempt to escape and take a little vacation, she ended up inside her favorite romance book, however, the author of these books tragically passed away a while ago and she never finished writing the series. Time inside the town is frozen, everything is the same, except for one character, Anders, the grumpy new owner of the bookstore, and now Eileen wonders who was he in the books? Was he going to be the hero of the next book?

I'll be honest, I wasn't a fan of Anders at first, there was something about his attitude that I didn't like; However, in the end I understood his motives and the reason for his grumpiness and I ended up loving him!

The romance was good, although it started almost 50% into the book and for a moment it felt a little rushed, but I still enjoyed it and loved them both!

Eileen's journey was amazing, I really enjoyed and loved her character so much, she is probably the best character in the book!

A Novel love story is a cute, fast paced book and I'm pretty sure Ashley wrote it for all the romantic girls out there!

100% recommended!

Thank you so much to the HQ and Net galley for giving me a chance to review the advance copy of this book (arc).

Have you ever imagined literally walking into the universe of your most favorite book? That's exactly what our female protagonist does: heartbroken and tired of life, she walks into the fictional world she loves so much, where she ends up meeting the love of her life. I love the cool premise and setting of this book because who wouldn't want to live in the fictional world they adore? Eileen's story is inspiring, lovely, heartbreaking, and very beautiful. However, what I didn't like is the pacing of this book. Ashley Poston is one of my favorite romance authors; she made me a lifelong fan when I read, The Seven Year Slip. The problem I have with this book is the same as I had with The Dead Romantic, but this time everything was intensified. There weren't many domestic moments, and they barely had any time together. I felt like the intimacy between them was missing. I also didn't like the revelation (though that's totally subjective because I don’t usually enjoy that particular kind of thing ), but it just felt half-cooked. I can't quite explain it, but there were many great moments. I loved so many things about Anders and Elsy."

This is a romance dedicated to readers.
Have you ever wanted to live in your favourite romance book? Meet and talk to the characters of your favourite series?

A Novel Love Story is about our main character Eileen, who recently got out of a relationship. On her way to her annual book club retreat this year, Eileen’s car unexpectedly breaks down and she finds herself stranded in a small town that feels all too familiar - because it is!
Eloraton , the town of her favourite romance series, is perfectly intact, just as in the late author’s unfinished story.
When Elsy meets a character that she cannot place - a grumpy bookstore owner who is all too occupied with getting her out of this town - she suddenly is intrigued by him and asks herself what his story might be. Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town’s happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own.

Ashley Poston has written a novel for all of us readers, our own personal romance story.
As with her other books, the writing is absolutely poetic and beautiful. I could not stop highlighting quotes while I was reading. Her concepts are so fascinating and I love how she brings them to life.
A Novel Love Story had me hooked from the start. I went into this quite blindly - I will read anything Ashley Poston writes - and I was so invested into the story right from the start. Getting to meet the characters of your favourite book series, isn’t that every reader's dream? Eileen is such a relatable character, who wouldn’t want to stay in a town you’ve spent years reading about? But reality calls and Eileen needs to decide.

To get into my thoughts on the book, I did find it a bit slow on the romance side. I was expecting a typical romance novel. Girl meets guy, they fall in love, happily ever after! However, here, the romance didn’t actually start until about half way through, which I found made the middle drag a bit. I also did find it a bit repetitive in some aspects, it felt like we weren’t getting anywhere which was a bit frustrating.
I think calling this a literary fiction with a romance subplot makes a lot more sense, rather than marketing it as a traditional romance, as I was expecting a more romance-heavy plot. Once the romance does pick up though, it is everything we already know and love from Ashley Poston: lyrical writing and a beautiful, heartbreaking story.

Unfortunately, at the time of reading I did not enjoy the ending at all. It felt unsatisfactory and out-of character and it did not make sense to me after reading the story. However, after reflecting and thinking about the story as a whole, maybe it did make sense for what happened to happen. In the moment it did feel unnecessary and like trying to stir up a third-act-conflict out of nowhere, but when thinking about what happened to these characters, their actions do make a lot of sense, even if it wasn’t what you would expect.

I would recommend this to every (romance) reader who has ever dreamt of living in their favourite fictional story.

She’s done it again! Ashley Posten’s writing style is so cozy and magical and it packs a gut punch every time. I wasn’t really feeling either of the main characters for the first half of the book, but they grew on me. However, the magical realism setting was the strong focal point of the book for me; the characters felt like such a family and I loved all their interactions. By the end of the book, I had tears in my eyes because it felt so bittersweet knowing that the main characters couldn’t just live in the town with everyone together forever, but I was really pleased with how the book did end.

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Have you ever wished you could enter your favourite romance book, or that Once Upon a Broken Heart was written by Beth O'Leary or Elsie Silver? Then this is the book for you.
Whilst reading this book you do have to remember that the whole theme of this story is that it's set in a stereotypical, sweet, perfect ending romance book town, and that the FMC wants nothing more than to be the female lead in such a book.
Like all of Ashley Poston's book this story isn't just a rom-com, whilst it had me laughing out loud at points it also had me crying on the train home from work. It is another brilliant look at heartbreak, grief, and coping mechanisms.
The characters, whilst even within the book were fictional, felt real and relatable. Nothing was too easy or too simple.
Some of the writing was a bit repetitive, with certain phrases appearing multiple times on the same page but overall it was a beautiful story.

This was a very cute, slow paced, inspiring story. I’m not sure which one I like more between this and The dead romantics.

I absolutely loved the concept, and the little touches (like not being able to read the menu because it’s not described in the books) made it so magical. The setting was a cute small town where everyone is friends and knows each other. I liked that the side characters were the characters from the books that she loved so much, and I liked that they got to hang out.

However, the romance was a bit flat for me. It’s so so obvious to the reader that Anders and Elsy will get together but she’s in SO MUCH DENIAL! They didn’t have many scenes where they really got to know each other, and I was surprised to find that the foreplay in this was described but the actual sex was not? It felt like it was building up and up and then just fell off 😂

I also thought this lacked an actual plot, although I think I might’ve said the same about The dead romantics. There wasn’t a lot of growth for Elsy until right at the end, and most of the book felt like the only plot were the reasons she had to stay (storm, car broke down, etc). So it was very slow paced which I don’t personally like.

I did love the ending, it was kind of predictable but wrapped everything up nicely as a romance is supposed to do. I think this book had a lot of beautiful writing and thoughtful paragraphs about life and love, but didn’t have a lot of plot. So it depends on the person reading! I enjoyed it, but it was missing something for me.

I've been a somewhat surprised fan of Ashley Poston's last few books. Somewhat surprised because they are not the kind of novel I'd normally associate myself with reading. So, when I had the opportunity to review this advance copy I jumped at the chance.
Unfortunately for me it just didn't grip me - I liked the idea, but didn't click with a new fictional world that needed introducing within a fictional world. I struggled to finish and would have rated it 2 stars, but actually the ending, payoff and all round explanation were rather good and, I felt, deserving off that extra star

She's done it again!

Since reading The Dead Romantics I have come to absolutely love Ashley Polston and her writing. Amazing rom-coms with the most fun twists while still being able to pull on your heart strings.

A Novel Love Story will appeal to anyone who's wished to live inside the world's they love, much like the characters that live in Stars Hollow, Dixie or Capeside.

It's the perfect little pick me up, such an easy read!

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ publishing for the chance to read this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, what a magical book! Being a huge fan of Ashley Poston I would expect no less.

This is the story of Eileen who winds up in the town of her fave romance book… every book lovers dream! This book was an emotional and full of whimsy!

I did, however, find some parts of it a little slow.

I love that every book is different for the individual reading it based on what they’re going through at that time and each person takes something from it and for me, I adored the undercurrent of the entire book that life moves on and no matter what you need to keep living and everything will work out.

I’m probably going to get major hate for this but Poston’s new book fell a bit short for me. For me personally, it felt a bit like a first draft rather than a book ready for publishing. The descriptors were extremely repetitive and I feel like the concept of the story wasn’t described well. You just had to make assumptions and hope for the best. I also found some of the dialog a bit immature and cringe which is a shame.

With that being said I think the concept of the story is really smart and if you liked her other books, you’ll love this one.

For fans of Gilmore Girls and Once Upon a Time, whimsy and sweet.
To be honest, what struck me most about this book wasn't necessarily the romance between Elsy and Anders but the narrative about belonging and finding comfort in books and reading.
The way Ashley wrote about the feeling of grief, either through relationship breakdown or death of a loved one, and how it can really affect your rationality and the ability to move on with life was poignant and well written.
I have to admit, "Exit Stage Left, Pursued by Bear" made my heart sink, and I felt like hitting a wall, as I was devastated thinking that's how it would end...but no, AP pulled through for my wee heart.

Wow!

This was such an incredible read. I fell in love with Ashley Postons writing the minute I read The Dead Romantics so when I saw this on Net Galley I jumped at the opportunity to read this! I love the idea of accidentally falling into the town of your favourite romance and realising that the characters and world give fallen in love with is actually really and the characters are based on real people. This would just be a dream for any book love.

I will be recommending this book to everyone I possibly can, it’s going to be the perfect summer read.

It has been SO LONG since I thought about putting my life on hold to finish reading a book. I started reading this on my commute to work on a Monday morning - big mistake, because I had to keep waiting until work was finished to start reading again.

All this to say that Ashley Poston is now in the ranks of Ali Hazelwood and Rachel Lynn Solomon. When there’s a new book to read I will put a whole day aside on the weekend in order to read it in one sitting.

A delight, a homage to the love story as well as a truly innovative and wonderful love story in and of itself. Wish I could forget it so that I could read it for the first time all over again. Thank you!!!