I love Ashley Postons books! I received this arc from Netgally, and I was so excited to jump back into her world of writing. I was interested to see where her magic would lie in this book, and it happened to be every book lovers' dream. Falling into a magical place, which is, in fact, the town and characters from your favourite series. I could think of a few I would like to break down in. 🙂

It took me a little while to warm up to Elsy as she seemed to be all over the place and a bit selfish at first, but once her character develops, you start to understand and enjoy her. Is she my favourite heroine she has written so far. No. Nothing will be clementine in the Seven year slip! I loved that Benji showed an appearance, too.

The characters in this story were a joy, and I love how easy Ashley's books are to read and get lost in.

A magical and beautiful story 😊

I was so excited to get my hands on this story because The Seven Year Slip was one of my top reads of 2023. That story ripped me apart and then pieced me back together in the most impactful way.

A Novel Love Story explores themes of self-discovery and personal growth. It’s also a tribute to books and reading (romance in particular!) and I found that so lovely and relatable. As always, Ashley Poston’s writing is charming and the sprinkle of magic woven into her books makes for a whimsical and intriguing narrative.

Our FMC, Eileen is on her way to a bookish retreat alone, when her car breaks down in Eloraton, the fictional small town of her favourite romance book series. There, she meets Anders, the handsome bookshop owner - a character she can’t remember being in the books at all.

I hoped that this would resonate with me in the way TSYS did and unfortunately, it didn’t. I struggled to immerse myself at all in the first 25%. Once I learned more about Eileen’s backstory I did find her character more compelling, but I didn’t ever really feel connected to her. Or to any of the secondary characters. Or to the romance between Eileen and Anders. They dislike each other, then they love each other but it felt superficial and forced.

Also, there were parts that were repetitive to the point of distraction. Anders' eyes are referred to as minty/mint-coloured 29 times in a 380 page book. That doesn’t include when they are likened to emeralds. Same with his ‘black tea and cedarwood’ scent.

I will definitely continue reading future books by the author, and I think there will be people who love this one in particular, it just missed the mark a bit for me.

***I enjoyed the subtle nod to TSYS (’she swore by this one celebrity chef’s recipe, but all I liked from his cookbook was the lemon pie.’). AHHH! 🍋🍋🍋 and The Dead Romantics (”Ghosts should stay dead.”) 👻👻👻***

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc.

Blindingly excellent ... This book should come with a disclaimer as once you start reading you aren’t going to want to walk away.
I have been through an emotional wringer… a tearjerker! I was completely absorbed from the first page… My heart was in my throat

This is the first book I've read by Ashley Poston and it won't be the last. I was initially drawn in by the unique premise and I loved the inventive use of magic realism. I loved Poston's writing style and I liked seeing how Elsy and Anders' romance unfolded - I think this might have benefitted from a little more of a gradual build. Overall this was a beautiful love letter to the power of story telling and would be the perfect beach read.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book is whimsical and has that nostalgic feeling. It reminds readers why they fell in love with reading. Books that are written about book lovers can come off cheesy and a bit overdone, but this one felt just right. The writing was beautiful and the quotes!!! They made me feel warm inside and giddy. The small town is charming, each character, although a little quirky, has their own drama that adds an element to the story. Eloration, a town that doesn’t exist but feels like home, a place you’ll find yourself longing to visit after reading.
I felt like this book was written for me. Elsy, she’s a people pleaser who bottles in her emotions, is lonely, a bit broken, likes to escape reality through books, never feels like the main character, and just wants to be loved. And I related to her a lot, I felt seen. (If you're a swifie Elsy's song would be "Right Where You Left Me.")
The concept is unique and unrealistic, but as a reader, you can’t help but wish you were one of the main characters. This isn’t just a romance book with a happily ever after, it contains deeper meanings about love and life. Why are we always searching for the ending of a story? Does every good story need an ending? I loved the romance story, the small town, the characters, and the hidden deeper meanings. The pace is a bit slow, but this is a book that is meant to be savored.
Ashley Poston is know for writing books with unique concepts that contain a blend of magic realism and this one is no different. During a thunderstorm, the main character Eileen (aka Elsy) finds herself trapped in a small town called Eloraton. But Eloration isn’t a real town, it’s the fictional town of Elsy’s favorite romance series. Who doesn't want to wake up in their favorite fictional world? Every reader has their own version of Eloration they want to get lost in.
As readers, we love getting lost inside of a book; it's our favorite thing to do. We read to escape and this is the kind of book you will want to get lost in.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the arc, in exchange for an honest review!

A Novel Love Story is a wonderfully welcome departure from the typical contemporary romance. It is such a perfect blend of self discovery, cozy mystery, enchanting setting, and a heartfelt, swoon worthy romance.

More than anything, this book is a love letter to the romance novel itself. Ashley Poston’s appreciation for and understanding of the genre was evident throughout our main character’s journey into the pages of her favourite novel. Poston was able to convey the feelings of safety and warmth that readers experience in the familiar stories of romance literature. Not only was this story gentle and touching, but repeatedly laugh-out-loud funny and giggle inducing.

A Novel Love Story is so incredibly unique, a dreamy and absurd concept executed perfectly. Once again, Ashley Poston’s combining of romance and magical realism sets her apart from other contemporary romance authors, and this is her best yet. It was abundantly clear that Poston was passionate about the romance genre and i’m certain readers will feel seen and understood in our main character Eileen, who has found endless comfort in the pages of books.

A Novel Love Story is a romance readers dream come true! Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for approving me for this ARC!

Ashley Poston never fails to write a beautiful and completelyyy unique storyline. The idea of this book hooked me from the get-go - falling into a book!! The dream….

This book follows Elsy who loves reading romance books, but actively avoids real life romance after her previous failed relationship. Elsy struggles to find herself after feeling like she is falling far behind all of her friends. After trying (and failing) to drive to a cabin for a book club, Elsy breaks down and suddenly finds herself in the fictional town of Eloraton, where she meets a grumpy bookstore owner, and embarks on a journey of helping the people of Eloraton live their happily ever after.

Poston somehow manages to balance whimsical fantasy writing with real life underlying emotional topics which I absolutely love.

The self-discovery and growth depicted in this book was also stunning and something any girl in her 20s can relate to.

As much as I loved those aspects, I do wish there had been a bigger romance plot - I hadn’t realised the romance would be more of a subplot before going in, so the romance was lacking for me, even though the writing and storyline was beautiful.

Another great hit from Ashley Poston, she never fails!!

3.5 stars overall

I just want to start by saying thank you to NetGalley, HQ and Ashley Poston for the ARC of this book.


I am a huge fan of Ashleys writing, The Dead Romantics was and still is the book to beat in terms of story and characters and I wanted to love this and really felt like I would when I read the description of it; a fan of romance books finds herself caught in the make believe town of one of her favourite novels. What's not to like about that?! And knowing Ashleys style of writing I was fully expecting this to blow The Dead Romantics out of the water but unfortunately it did not.


The town itself and the characters were lovely and I found myself wanting to know more about it rather than the burgeoning romance between the two main characters. I found their storyline to be lacklustre and rushed. They fell in love waaaaay too easily and too fast and it felt shallow in comparison to what I know Ashley is capable of.The repetition of the "his eyes were mint green" just took me out of the story. I didn't believe in their affection and didn't really warm to the main characters either. I wanted more of the townspeople and about their lives and the drama going on in that. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading this and will continue to buy Ashleys books, this one just didn't hit the mark for me. I'm hoping an editor does one more sweep of the book as there were some errors but nothing major.


I give this three and a half stars. The premise was brilliant, I just wanted a more cohesive story.

This is such a cute read! I do think I probably would’ve given it 3 stars if it wasn’t for how unique and clever it is, written in true Ashley Poston fashion! I gave it an extra star for originality, as I did think the whole concept was really interesting.

Admittedly, I didn’t connect with the characters or the love story as much as I did in The Dead Romantics and The Seven Year Slip (especially TDR, my absolute favourite) but I still would absolutely recommend this, especially to book lovers and anyone who’s dreamed of living inside their favourite book!

Thankyou to NetGalley and HQ publishing for this ARC. The blurb of this book caught my attention straight away!! I had never read anything similar to it before! Romance and books is always a win for me. Elieen is an avid romance reader however she never actually expected to find her own book boyfriend especially in real life. I loved the description of Eloraton, I felt like I was stuck in this book world. The chemistry between Elieen and her male love interest was strong. I always enjoy Ashley Poston’s books however this one felt extra special to me. If you love to read and want to meet the man of your dreams this story will give you all of the feels.

Thanks so much to Ashley Poston, HQ and NetGalley for the eARC, all opinions expressed are my own.

Incredible, Ashley Poston is quickly becoming my favourite author, and this book is no exception. Poston weaves together an excellently executed romance with elements of magic realism. The book follows such a unique concept, that I was hooked from the opening pages. The way the story unravels between Elsy and Anders kept me on my toes and weaving together the plotline of her favourite author.

I absolutely adored the way Poston captured the internal struggle between the characters, overcoming lost loves (in different forms) whilst repairing some of the town residents, I truly loved the way Poston depicted this story. It was so good! I cannot recommend this enough.

Three and a half stars.

Eileen Merriweather is a college English professor who retreated into herself after her fiancé Liam decided he wanted to see other people right before their wedding, leaving her to cancel all the arrangements and inform hi family while he went off with a friend from work 'to clear his head'. Of course not long thereafter he and his friend from work get married. Since then her only interactions are with her online romance book club, and eventually the annual in-person vacation week where they all meet up in an Airbnb to talk romance tropes and drink wine. This year no-one else can make it but Eileen desperately needs a break and decides to drive her clapped out old Pinto hundreds of miles to spend the week at their usual retreat.

Unfortunately, Eileen gets lost, nearly runs over a man standing in the middle of the road, and then finds not only won't her car start, but the town's only mechanic has gone fishing for the weekend. To add insult to injury, there's no cell service. Otherwise this small town she's landed in is perfect, like Stars Hollow or some other utopian small town in America, which isn't surprising because she has somehow arrived in Eloraton, the fictional setting of her favourite romance series which was cut short after the untimely death of its author.

Once she gets over the shock, Eileen is like a kid in a sweet shop, meeting all her favourite characters, eating the famous dishes at the local diner, etc. The one character she can't place is the grumpy owner of the impossibly cute bookshop, Anders, although he seems awfully familiar. However, as she talks to the residents/characters she realises that the author's death has left them all a bit in limbo, doomed not to move forward with their lives because there is no-one to direct them. Can/should Eileen help them to move forward?

This is sort of Brigadoon meets The Gilmore Girls meets ARGH I can't remember the book title (will see if it comes back to me - thought it was Emily Henry - maybe Book Lovers?). The trouble for me was I hadn't read this series of books (I'm not going to be able to explain this very well) so all of Eileen's interactions with the fictional characters felt somewhat removed, like she was explaining her meetings/interactions rather than the reader 'seeing' them. I didn't already know why certain couples were so cute or their meet-cutes were so romantic because I didn't see them, which I guess could be the point, they aren't real so they should be insubstantial but at the same time Eileen interacts with them and really likes them and wants to help she gets drunk on girls' night out with them etc whereas I would have expected her to start realising that they were only two dimensional, like the holograms in Jumanji that only have a set series of responses to expected questions.

I enjoyed this, I enjoyed the romance, and I could sort of understand the logic behind how/why Eloraton comes into being, but I didn't love it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

This was such a lovely story ! I knew I would enjoy reading this but I wasn’t sure how much !

The book started off really strong and it felt so cosy, just like a warm hug. I loved all of the different plot points that were explored and I especially loved that we were in the middle of a book.

The only reason this isn’t a five star is that I didn’t connect with Eileen until the very end. It was also quite repetitive, this kind of pulled me away from the story slightly but it wasn’t a huge issue !

The ending !!! I cried & then I cried again, both for different reasons but I LOVED the ending.

This is a very good book and I can’t wait for everyone to read this !!

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for my copy :)

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'A Novel Love Story' by Ashley Poston.

This book is gonna stay with me a long time. Eileen is an English teacher who belongs to a group of friends that love a specific author. Every year, they go to a cabin to celebrate their love. Eileen goes alone this year but her car breaks down in a small town before getting there and honestly, props to the car because it gave us perfection.

The plot is rather self aware since she goes to a town based upon the book characters with the actual characters there and our protagonist is so genuine and tries to help all of them with such kindness. But I've got to comment on our LOVE INTEREST. Oh he is perfect. A dashing blond with a personality that is to die for? I love him. And the twists towards the end? Spiced it up a little in a good way.

This book is the type of book that will just stick with you for ages to come and I'm so happy I got to read it.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the chance to read this ARC, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. A Novel Love Story is a breath of fresh air, charming, funny, laugh out loud relatable in Eisy’s devoted love of books. I liked her and Anders, the banter, the flirting and the emotional core of the book really blew me away. It’s witty, sexy, sad, hopeful. I’m a huge Ashley Poston fan and I hope there’s more from this series because I’d love to see more from all the characters.

This 👏 book 👏 is 👏 everything 👏

I loved The Seven Year Slip, but this was something else. The escapism, the romance, the characters, the writing, the enemies-to-lovers trope, the plot. I loved it all.

Elsy experiences something all bookish lovers dream of - to visit the setting of her favourite book series. Like in The Seven Year Slip, Ashley Poston makes this impossibility seem believable, and I felt like I was right there in Eloraton with Elsy.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for my e-ARC of this one. I'm excited for everyone who is yet to read it for the first time!

A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston tells the tale of a woman, Eileen, who somehow finds herself stuck in Eloraton, the fictional town from her favourite romance series. The series author, Rachel Flowers, died before she could finish it - so Eileen finally has the chance to see what happened to the characters after the books ended. Or...does she? The characters seem to be stuck. Can Eileen help? Or will her interference destroy everything?

A handsome bookstore owner was never in the books... but he's here, in Eloraton, and he seems to be the only one who knows what's happening. But is he willing to take a chance on Eileen?

I'll preface by saying that I love Ashley Poston's writing. I'm a huge, huge fan, and I love how much she loves books. This book is an ode to book lovers, book clubs, readers, dreamers, and the importance of books as escapism. I really felt the love for reading throughout, and I loved the idea of physically going into a fictional book place. Eloraton was dreamy, and I could picture it in my head as I was reading, just like I've pictured other places since I started reading as a child - Stoneybrook, Derry, Velaris - I loved it.

However.

I didn't feel a single ounce of chemistry between Eileen and Anders, the bookstore owner. They seemed to go from zero to sixty almost immediately - they're insulting each other one minute and the next he's calling her sweetheart? I felt like I'd skipped several chapters. I didn't appreciate Eileen's meddling, and I would have preferred more from the side characters. I didn't understand the whole graveyard thing, why did none of the other residents question it?! There were too many unanswered questions for me, and I didn't feel anything for the main characters. I also twigged something fairly early on and got annoyed waiting for Eileen to catch up.

In saying that, I loved the little snippets from the Ashleyverse - the line about ghosts staying dead made me chuckle, and I'm always happy to see a Benji mention! Maybe I built this one up too much in my head - it wasn't a disappointment, but it wasn't what I had hoped.

Thank you to @hqstories for the #gifted ARC via Netgalley.

I loved this. I'm really glad that it didn't turn out to all be a dream and that Anders was real all along. Would recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC copy of this book and the author- Ashley Poston is an autobuy / preorder author for me. Her books are always a hearty hug that make you laugh and cry and A Novel Love Story is *chef’s kiss* I loved the plot, characters and I ate it up in one sitting.

A relatable FMC stuck in life after being jilted a week before her wedding finding solace in books and her book club. Fleetwood Mac references also make me too happy!

A wrong turn in the rain and a near miss land her in her favourite book series alongside a brooding Darcy-esque MMC who runs the bookshop.

Love, friendship, grief and embracing life are all themes here as well as my favourite romance tropes: grumpy x sunshine, found family, enemies to lovers. All a match made in heaven for me and I loved it 💜

Ashley Poston nocked it out of the park with her previous adult romances, though I don’t think A Novel Love Story quite hits the mark. Don’t get me wrong, this was an enjoyable and fairly quick read, but a bit of a downgrade from her other novels. The writing, as usual, was spectacular and incredibly voicey. However, the characters did not grip me the same. As much as I wanted to like the supporting characters, I didn’t. It felt like everything was kind of forced. For a romance with this title, it didn’t have nearly as much romance as I expected. This was more of a ‘coming to terms with loving yourself’ type book rather than a full on romance. The romance developed too quickly for my liking as well and wasn’t particularly satisfying in the way I’ve come to love from Ashley Poston. I really love the fantastical spin she adds to her romances, but unfortunately, this one did not stick out to me.