As Seen on TV by Meredith Schorr
⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

This story simultaneously captures the hearts of Hallmark movie aficionados and stirs a little bit of chaos in their minds. Meredith Schorr knows how to craft a charming, cheerful and trope-challenging romcom. 👏🏻

❤️‍🔥 Pros
The underlying messages were powerfully and impactfully imparted, including: finding comfort and joy in every element of life; not judging a book by its cover; living in the moment; leaving our agendas at the door in order to engage in truly meaningful conversations; and refraining from forcing our preconceived assumptions onto people and places.

The leading lad, Finn, is compassionate, driven, thoughtful, insightful and sweet. I adore Finn and his strong sense of self. He is a dynamic and unique love interest that kept me turning the pages.

The plot is interesting, flows easily and prompts you to consider the conscious and subconscious assumptions that inform how you see the world. Meredith accomplished this in part as result of expertly polarizing big city anonymity with small town intimacy — but with a twist.

The writing is fantastic: from perfect diction to lyrical phrasing, Meredith is technically and structurally an exceptionally talented crafter of stories. I thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed her descriptiveness, thoughtful word choice, attention to detail and flow.

❤️‍🩹 Cons
The plot lost me for a little bit in the middle, which could have been resolved with tighter editing. As well, as a freelance journalist I 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 wanted to connect with Adi, but she is not believable as a 25-year-old freelance journalist. Her indecisiveness, lack of confidence, absence of creativity/adaptability and wavering professionalism was frustrating and interfered with my ability to wholly suspend my disbelief. She might have read better as 20-year-old still learning her craft, the nuances of the profession and the level of dedication required to succeed, especially as a freelancer.

❣️ Overall
This is an easy read and fun story from Meredith. I am eager to read more of her work! Her creativity and writing is fantastic, so I am genuinely very excited by her potential for future storytelling adventures.

This was so cute! A wonderful romance, filled with witty banter, delightful characters, and just enough steaminess. A must read for romance lovers!

Total Hallmark movie material in this book! In fact, the main character, Adina Gellar, is convinced she needs to move to a small town to meet and fall in love with a great guy. She thinks she might have found that in Finn Adams. Adina and Finn have great chemistry, and their love story is fun to read, but they just don’t see the same things for the future, or do they? As Seen on TV is a wonderful, sweet, fun, rom-com that’s a must read for anyone who loves a happy ending!

This was a cute read. The story didn’t really hold my interest but I did enjoy the characters and side characters. Even though I didn’t love this one I would definitely read another book by this author.

As Seen on TV by Meredith Schorr was everything I was looking for in a novel at the time I read it. Fun characters, hallmark movie vibes, small town nostalgia. So many great things about this novel, especially all the Gilmore Girl references.

Synopsis:
Adina Geller is a freelance journalist looking to make it big, or at least bigger than she is right now. Living at home with her single mom is not what Adina wanted for her life, but it is the life she was dealt. She thinks she finds the perfect story when a multimillion dollar real estate company comes to small town, Pleasant Hallow, to build luxury condos. Not too far from the city, Pleasant Hallow offers the quiet life while still being able to commute into New York City for work.

But, Pleasant Hallow is not the small town Adina dreamed it to be. Just when she thinks she has this town pegged, she is mistaken. How will she ever write her piece in a place unlike any other she has seen on TV?

Thoughts:
-Loved all the Gilmore Girl references.

-Loved the small town vibes

-Enemies to lovers trope

-Kept me smiling the whole time

-Could not put this one down. Had to see where the story went.


Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Anti-Hallmark with loads of Gilmore girls references? Sign me up!! I enjoyed this lighthearted romance from Meridith Schorr. I especially appreciated a more realistic small town setting than usually found in romance novels. Definitely a slow burn romance but Adi and Finn are adorable. The couple we love to love.

I really enjoyed the Hallmark feel of As Seen on TV.

Adina is a huge fan of the small town movies and thought Pleasant Hollow would be the perfect place to visit. She also met her small town fling, Finn. But there is much more to Finn and Pleasant Hollow than she wanted. This makes her essay about small towns more difficult to write.

The story started off great to me but as it went on it seemed to have dragged. The ending was predictable to me. What I thought would happen, happened and then very quickly afterwards the story ended. I wish there was a bit more about Adina and Finn.

I want to thank Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for my electronic arc for my honest opinion.

Struggling NYC writer Adina Gellar pitches what she thinks is the perfect story to finally launch her career. Find a small town like Stars Hollow, maybe have a developer trying to gentrify and find love among the close-knit community. With the unwavering support of her mother, Adina heads to Pleasant Hollow after learning a millionaire realtor from the city is building mixed use housing. What she finds in Pleasant Hollow is far from Hallmark. From the B&B to the brewery, the townspeople seem unconcerned and actually happy about some of the new amenities that will soon arrive. And she discovers right away that the people aren't all that friendly, there isn't a bakery, and they don't have any local festivals. At all. The best find she has for a Hallmark hunk is the on-site foreman for the development, and Finn actually hails from NYC too. It's a cute rom com as Adina finds new angles for the story.

There's nothing inherently wrong with the book, but I've read many journalist books that it almost feels overdone. It wasn't as cozy as I'd hoped, but the romance was cute. It made the book worth it. Overall it didn't stand out to me.

I enjoyed this book, but didn't love it. It felt like when you watch a Hallmark movie: cute and fun but without real depth. The book kept my attention throughout reading, but I didn't feel a deep connection to either of the main characters or their relationship. Gilmore Girls is my favorite TV show, so I loved those references sprinkled throughout the story!

AS SEEN ON TV is charming, and sweet, as journalist Adina Gellar heads to small town Pleasant Hollow to live out her Hallmark-small-town dreams, and hopefully write an article that secures her a full-time writing position.
This book was comforting and predictable, as Hallmark movies are, and the pop culture references (Gilmore Girls, the Bold Type, Hart of Dixie, etc) were relatable and familiar to me. It felt like there were some fresh, real takes with Finn’s backstory.
I struggled with Adina as a journalist, even her friend “reminded” her she was a journalist and Adina kept thinking how she was asking the wrong questions when trying to interview for her article. She came across as really immature for being 25. I wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be part of her growth, but I didn’t really feel like she made any.
Overall, I enjoyed this book but I just wanted a little more growth (or maturity from the beginning) from Adina.
Thank you NetGalley and Forever for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Forever and NetGalley for the ARC of As Seen on TV in exchange for my honest opinion.
This one didn’t work for me. The MC is a 25 year old (Is that too old to be classified as New Adult? It reads more like NA than Romance!) who lives in NYC with her mom, working as a spin instructor and a barista as she attempts to gain experience as a freelance journalist to eventually become a full time journalist. She has a lot of ridiculous preconceived notions about small towns based off of Hallmark movies that just made me wonder if people really think there is reality behind those movies! I’m not sure if it’s just because I’m from a small town or because I’m OLD that this surprised me and made me feel like she was immature. I also felt like her journalism training should have given her a much better foundation from which to begin her small town interviews. I enjoyed that the book was marketed highlighting the Jewish rep of the MC but I felt like it wasn’t as prevalent as I expected based on the marketing.
Maybe I wasn't the right audience for this one? Overall, I was underwhelmed and struggled to be engaged in reading this book, finishing by listening to the audiobook. I did enjoy the narrator, Emily Lawrence, and the ending was cuter than I expected.

4.5/5

As Seen on TV by Meredith Schorr was just the lighthearted and funny book I needed right now. Although Finn wasn't my favorite leading man I have ever had, and this isn't going to be the most believable book you will ever read, I think if you are in the right mood and love a good Hallmark movie it will be a winner. Adina was adorable in that she believes Hallmark movies are real life, so when she travels from NYC to small-town Pleasant Hollow, she is shook to learn that not every small town is straight out of a movie. Her skills as a journalist felt pretty basic and it took the whole book for her to realize it might be better if she talked to people without an agenda and just let something happen organically. This didn't take away from the story for me, but I am sure it will bug someone out there.

There was a great dose of humor throughout, and I really liked that the overall mood of this book stayed light. There are definitely some serious moments mixed in, but for the most part, As Seen on TV is just a great cheesy and predictable read. I know some readers were really annoyed by the MC Adina, but for some reason, I loved her and all of her flaws. I also really loved the audiobook which is narrated by Emily Lawrence. There isn't necessarily anything super special about it, but Lawrence was a solid narrator, and she was completely believable as the voice of Adina. I loved the feelings I caught from As Seen on TV and you better believe I will be buying a finished copy to keep and revisit later. I really hope Schorr will have many more future books like this one, and I look forward to whatever she writes next.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Stopped at 20% before I started skimming.

I wasn't pulled into Adina's character, which is obviously a big problem. I've never seen "Gilmore Girls," nor am I obsessed with the Hallmark Channel, but I suspect even those fans would find Adina's stereotypes of what small towns are like annoying if not offensive; and her attempts to shape Pleasant Hollow into what she thinks a small town should be even more so. Or not--again, I'm not the target audience.

There was a fair amount of exposition. A love interest I totally didn't buy. Glad some people loved it--just was not for me.

AS SEEN ON TV tried too hard to be a younger millennial/older gen z romance. Packed with corny dialogue like “relationship goals,” “my bestie has serious clout,” and most terribly, “you slayed that article” …this was an absolute mess.

It didn’t sit right with me that the author repeatedly used the word “gentrification” when referring to new apartments/businesses being built in an EMPTY, majority-white town. Plus, the whole story is about the main character struggling to finish a 400-word article? This made the stakes feel uncomfortably low, especially considering the conflict was resolved predictably and uninterestingly.

The characters were flat. The romance wasn’t terrible, but still pretty boring. Overall, AS SEEN ON TV was a miss for me. A quick read, but cringy nonetheless.


Content Warnings: death of a parent (past), mention of homelessness, alcoholism

This week has been so busy I haven’t shared near enough love for @meredithschorr newest book, AS SEEN ON TV - available now!!! Huge thank you to @readforeverpub for my gifted review copy.

This is a wonderful, cute, small town romance that made me smile, and feel damn good. We all need more of that!

This is total reread material too! Such a lovely romance and Meredith is the best!

This was a sweet, realistic look at love that had a charming, hallmark loving protagonist. The characters where absolutely great, though I wish some of the side characters could have been fleshed out a bit more. The pacing felt a little off at times but I still wasn’t able to put this one down. This was definitely a solid read.

I DNFd this one. The voice was a little too much for me. I love a quirky heroine but it felt forced throughout. The hero was introduced in a weird way that made me think he was a snob so it was a no from me.

Adina Gellar is 25, living with her mother, piecing together an income by teaching spin classes and making lattes all while she pursues her dream of becoming a lifestyle journalist. When she hears about a big city developer building condos in a small town upstate, she gets the idea to investigate a Hallmark movie come to life. She's disappointed to find that the tropes of movies don't always translate to real life.

The setup for this story was cute and it had a lot of laugh-out-loud moments and funny side characters. Adina definitely reads as a 25 year old who is pretty sheltered and I did find myself rolling my eyes at some of her actions and dialogue. Finn was a good love interest, but his codependence with his father was pretty bad.

Content warnings: Finn's father is an alcoholic and the impact of that on Finn's life is a major theme throughout the book. There's a scene where a drunk father insults and degrades Adina using slurs.

Thanks to Forever and NetGalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

3.5 stars for this because I'm sorry to say that this was a very middle-of-the-road read for me. There is nothing wrong with it, but it's also nothing particularly original. Which, in hindsight, might be what they were going for because it's as formulaic as the Hallmark romance movies that leading lady Adina is obsessed with.
A city girl with big dreams of small-town romance brought on by stories of her parents' story and a love of romantic movies and TV shows, Adina is desperate to launch her career as an entertainment journalist when she stumbles upon what she's convinced is the article that will jumpstart her career: a big corporation invading a small town to build expensive highrises and destroy the cozy, friendly culture of the town. The problem is that when Adina arrives at the small town, absolutely nothing is like she expected.
It is interesting to see Adina realizing that the grass being always greener is a saying for a reason. It's in those scenes where her preconceived notions get torn apart that the best parts of the story take place. Reading as Adina starts to accept things as they are and looking for the positive in things is what made this a worthwhile read.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Forever for the read!