Hallmark with a twist! When struggling journalist Adina sees a a television clip about a big-time developer taking over a small town, she thinks there's a story worthy of a Hallmark movie. So she pitches the story to her old editor, heads to Pleasant Hollow, and explores the town. Except it's hardly "pleasant," and certainly no Stars Hollow. While the B&B owner, brewpup owner, and diner waitress aren't too friendly, easy-on-the-eyes fellow Manhattanite, Finn, welcomes her presence with open arms. Can Adina find a story while keeping Finn in the fling zone?

I really enjoyed this one! More than expected based on the blurb, actually. I was worried it would veer to hard into Hallmark territory or be too similar to Beach Read, but it carves its own path and certainly has its moments of steam and snark. It's a fun romantic comedy that's a twist on the small town romance trope, perfect for city lovers.

Thanks to Forever for my eARC and finished copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 8/10

What started off as a slow read became one of my favorites of the summer! As Seen on TV is full of the fun banter you are familiar with in Gilmore Girls and a slow burn romance that is both sweet and sexy.

Adi and Finn are the perfect love interests. Their character development is beautiful and realistic which is something that is often lacking in other cheesier romances. The small town setting suited them well, and the Gilmore Girls references were just subtle enough to keep me giggling.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

Adina Gellar wants a full-time job in journalism. Specifically, she wants to write pop culture columns for an online magazine named Tea. She did an internship there and loved it—the type of writing they do is exactly what she wants. But the editor Derrick is slow to accept many of her story pitches or to offer her a job. So in the meantime, she gets by working as a part-time barista and a part-time spin instructor. And she lives with her mom. But they live in Manhattan, and housing is especially expensive. Or at least, that’s what she tells herself about why she stays in the rent-controlled apartment that she grew up in.

But then she gets the idea, the one that Derrick may finally buy. There is a small town a couple of hours outside of New York City called Pleasant Hollow, and there is a real estate developer who is building a multi-story apartment complex that will have shops and restaurants in it. And Adina knows that people in small towns hate for big real estate developers to come in and ruin their small-town charm with noisy construction and competition for the mom-and-pop stores that line the lovely Main Street. At least, that’s how it is in all the Hallmark movies about small towns. The big-time real estate developer could destroy everything that makes the small town so perfect, from its apple-picking festival to its award-winning pies.

Adina’s idea is to go to this small town and find the townspeople who are rising up against the developer, who are protesting or maybe plotting in secret to put a stop to his plans that will corrupt the heart and soul of their small town. Derrick understands the pull of the Hallmark movies and shows like The Gilmore Girls that romanticize life in the small town, and he too thinks this story idea may have am audience. He agrees to buy the piece Adina writes, but he won’t pay expenses or give her an advance. But if she can write the piece, and it gets 20,000 views, then he’ll offer her the full-time staff position that’s coming open after the first of the year.

This is Adina’s chance. She packs up her suitcase and pulls cash out of savings and heads to small-town Pleasant Hollow to band with the locals and help take down an evil real estate developer. Only . . . that’s not what she finds.

Instead of all the small-town tropes Adina had expected, she finds a surly B&B proprietor, a hometown brewery that only serves two styles of beer—Light or Dark, and a hometown diner that doesn’t even have any pie. She does meet one handsome eligible single guy soon after she gets to town, but as she talks to the people of Pleasant Hollow, she discovers that the townspeople are not banding together to stop the real estate development. In fact, they’re looking forward to the new development. Some have their names in for an apartment, others are looking forward to the amenities. And that handsome guy Adina met? He’s the man in town overseeing the construction for the real estate mogul, Finn Adams.

Adina is disappointed to find that her fantasies of Pleasant Hollow don’t measure up to her beloved TV movies. But as her flirtation with Finn heats up, she finds that her week in the small town isn’t quite as disappointing as she had feared. But can Adina take her disillusionment with small town living and turn it into a story? Can she take her small-town fling and turn it into a relationship? Or will Adina end up right back where she started, let down by her Hallmark movies and still struggling to be an adult?

As Seen on TV is a rom com with a cute idea that takes a look at real life versus the beautiful movies we all love so much. Author Meredith Schorr takes our love of small town romance books and movies and lets us see what plays out when they are held up to real life. Like Adina’s idea for the story that will get her a full-time writing gig, this has a high concept that zings with possibility.

But for me, As Seen on TV falls a little flat. I thought that the characters were interesting, but I found Adina a little immature. I wanted to believe in her. I wanted to root for her. But I just couldn’t connect with her. Overall, this is a good book. I was just hoping for a great book.

Egalleys for As Seen on TV were provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) through NetGalley, with many thanks.

DNF @ 46%.…I just wasn’t enjoying this book. The quality writing is fine, but I didn’t really like the main character and I felt no chemistry between her and the love interest. She was comically naive (but not in a good way). I just don’t care enough about what’s happening in the story to keep reading it. The male main character needs more of personality, apart from knowing he’s a good person. The main character could really use some more depth as well. She comes across as pretty annoying.

I related to Adi so much and I think a lot of readers who love Hallmark movies will. The book is a little racier than Hallmark movies but only a little. This is the first book I’ve read by the author but the cover and blurb drew me in. I really enjoyed this book and read it in one day. It makes a great escape book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever Grand Central Publishing for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

I really wanted to love this book. I had been recommended this book by some other reviewers who said it was amazing, and so I scooped it when I had the chance, especially with the description. Hallmark movie meets Gilmore Girls, a rom-com of a city girl trying to find romance in a small town, learning that things are not always what they seem? Everything sounded like what I would enjoy. Plus Jewish rep? Yep, sign me up. Unfortunately it fell a bit flat for me. Because I am a bit worried it is going to be a spoiler, please be warned that the following paragraph is potentially a spoiler for the book.

I found the main character grating, and I just kept finding myself annoyed with the main love interest. The small town as a whole ended up being the villain, and the main character got to learn the love that was NYC where she grew up. There was so much miscommunication in this book that could have been solved so easily if people spent more than five seconds second guessing each other, and if the MC wasn’t just assuming things about people based on tv tropes.

I think my issue with this book is that I wanted it to be something that it wasn’t, and I went into it with a pre-conceived notion about what it would be, especially after having just finished reading a different book with some of the same tropes. That is not the author’s fault at all, and I know this is going to be a book a lot of people will love – it just wasn’t for me. 2.5/5

Review ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 💫 As Seen on TV by Meredith Schorr

Dating in New York city has been a major bust for Adina Geller, she longs for the picturesque small-towns straight out of her favourites hallmark movies. When her journalist career is on the line and her only lead is a famous romance plotline: The city mogul building a huge apartment complex in a small town, she jumps on the opportunity and on a train, a bus and a taxi to see for herself the magic unfold. However reality might not be quite as she pictured.

This book was a rollercoaster for me, at time I loved it, at others I was annoyed and confused. I really enjoyed how the author twisted the usual hallmark romance tropes on their heads and made the main character fall for the city man, how she moved to a small town and it just made her miss the diversity of her home: New York City. But that same theme was also a bit annoying at times, because it was a bit redundant, coming back with the same arguments and jokes about the naivety of the main character over and over. I loved the romance and the connection between them felt genuine and realistic, we usually bond with other fish out of water like ourselves. However, I found the obstacles to the romance a bit rushed and not crafted tightly enough. I really love the premise for this book, and I'm definitely giving the author another shot in the future, but I felt it need some more editing, to make the story flow with the romance better.

Thank you @readforeverpub for gifting me a digital arc of this book through @netgalley . As always, all thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

This book was so charming! The blurb promised Hallmark x Gilmore Girls, and it absolutely delivered. I was cracking up at Adina's efforts to make Pleasant Hollow conform to her idealistic small town fantasies, and Finn was an absolutely perfect foil for her.

Adina wants to be a journalist full-time but hasn't been able to crack it into the business. She comes up with an idea to write a Hallmark movie come to life in nearby, sleepy Pleasant Hollow. Of course, things don't go her way and everywhere she turns, Adina is surprised to not find herself in a Gilmore Girls experience with a quirky handyman Kirk, or nosy, busy-body Taylor. In fact, no one seems to care about anyone or anything else.
I liked this book quite a lot, but didn't love it as much as I expected. I went in under the assumption it was Hallmarky, so I expected big city girl in a small town with a sweet romance. All of Adina's hopes and dreams for her small town expose versus what she actually got was the fun I needed but I didn't adore the romance or the love interest, Finn. He didn't treat her all that well and it is hard to get on board with a guy that refuses to see what's being thrown at him.
I read the first half and then listened to the second half of the audiobook. The narration by Emily Lawrence is well-done and she's one I've listened to several times in the past.
Thank you to Forever and Netgalley for the advanced copy and to Hachette for the alc. All thoughts in this review are my own.

This book was one that wasn't Hallmark-like, or was it? The problem is Pleasant Hollow doesn't care about the big-city developer moving in, nor do they have quaint community events on the town square. There are no baked goods at Pleasant Hollow! There's nothing worse than that. My love for Hallmark movies led me to find this story quite disappointing at first. Adi and the fact that she was writing a story about a real-life Hallmark-like town is appealing to me. Finn comes along, romance ensues and the remainder of As Seen on TV was quite enjoyable and very a emotional read.

Thank You Forever and Netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of this Book.

Going between 2.5-3 stars for me. I am a romance speed reader and a Gilmore Girls devotee so this novel said like my exact niche content. Unfortunately for me, it fell short of my expectations and just left me a little eh. The premise started off great and I loved the self-awareness in the novel as the author routinely made connections to Hallmark movies/Gilmore Girls and how ridiculous they are. But then it kind of lost me.

This is a longer romance at 300+ pages and by page 100, we've already met the Main Character, her Romantic Lead, some Side Characters, and then it just kind of follows the same plot for another 200 pages. Adi tries to throw a big event, the town says no, Adi tries another event, the town says no, she wonders why everyone hates her, repeat. A lot of Adi's actions felt self-motivated and only looking for self-satisfaction, which got a little old after a little while. The romance was fine and the novel did have some cute moments. Overall, a fine book that was quick and cute to read but didn't blow me out of the water.

This was such a cute twist on a Hallmark movie setting. There is charm, character depth and growth, steam and the feels all wrapped up in As Seen on TV.

Adina is a great female lead. Sure she has her uncertainties but I really liked how she knew who she was and what she was capable of throughout the story. She just needed the break or inspiration to get her where she wanted to go.

The relationship between Adina and Finn was swoony and I found myself intrigued with the mystery surrounding Finn’s past. The story went deeper than I expected but was still able to maintain a lightheartedness that I crave in this genre.

Overall, this was a fun and charming book to read.

As Seen on TV by Meredith Schorr is a cute, easy read, perfect for Hallmark fans. It isn’t my usual type of book, but I found it to be an enjoyable read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

If you are looking for the perfect Hallmark movie type of read, this is your book! Super cute friends to lovers trope, and still showed the ins and outs of relationships with each other and those around them.

SO SO SO GOOD

I have no regrets waiting to get the physical copy of this book before writing a review.

It's the grumpy-sunshine, opposite-attract, small town romance book that I didn't know I needed.

Adi and Finn are such poplar opposites that it is so darn ADORABLE. I LOVED IT.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy.
All is my honest opinion!

I love that this book can be considered anti-Hallmark. Hallmark movies are sweet, gushy, picturesque and make you think of a nice cup of hot chocolate in front of a fire. Well, don't expect this when Adina Gellar lands in Pleasant Hollow. Yes, it is a small town. Well, it stops there. No festivals, everyone doesn't know one another and each other's business...nothing you would expect if you are thinking you are walking onto a Hallmark movie set.

As a up-and-coming journalist Adi has been burned when it comes to the dating seen. Perhaps it is because being from New York the dating pool was just so large. Headed to Pleasant Hollow should change things for Adi. Meanwhile, that journalism career? Well, it certainly hasn't hit its stride as of yet. So, Adi has the brilliant idea to present Pleasant Hollow as idyllic as possible, even if she has to make a few things up.

Meeting Finn gives Adi pause. Has she found the perfect man already? Was simply moving to the outskirts of New York all she needed to do to reach out for her chance at love? With a story idea that will finally launch her journalism career, accompanied by the gorgeous Finn - well, Adi is on her way.

Having watched just about every Hallmark movie ever produced has Adi writing her own story. Can she get a homemade pie? Stop in an ice cream shop? Well, considering the fact that Finn is a developer and that he has huge plans for the very small town, well, that rather bursts Adi's bubble. Will the town's members side with Adi in her dreams of something quaint, or will they side with Finn and see nothing but dollar signs when considering the developments that are being planned?

Conflicts abound in this adorable story by Meredith Schorr. Proving that it is okay to dream, to plan, to change minds, all things the loveable Adi does. Not only does Adi work hard at creating her dream small town, she has the chance at love when it comes to Finn. I loved that the two were complete opposites, especially when it came to their ideals. With other supporting characters, including the Adi's lovely mother, this book was truly a delightful read. The blurb compares this book to the Gilmore Girls and that comparison could not be more appropriate when you see Adi's wonderful relationship with her mother.

The fact that I had this book as an audiobook ARC gave me the feels of watching a movie come to life, because that is exactly what this book did. Emily Lawrence, As Seen on TV's narrator, captured the characters perfectly and this made for a nice, pleasant afternoon of reading.

Here is the kicker when it comes to me - I don't watch Hallmark movies and I never saw even one episode of Gilmore Girls. However, with popular culture being what it is, I could quite easily connect this book to Hallmark movies and also to the television show. That alone is what made this book really work for me. For the author to give me strong vibes, strong connections to those iconic movies and that memorable TV show proves that she knows her readers well. Of course, I can see weeks and months of binge watching ahead, all thanks to this pleasant read - apropos as the town was Pleasant Hollow.

Many thanks to Forever and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Please also enjoy my YouTube video review - https://youtu.be/Lztg3n7RgI8

I very much enjoyed this book. Not only was it the perfect amount of steamy, but it was laugh-out-loud funny. A great read if you’re looking for a Gilmore Girls meets Sex and the City vibe.

Meredith Schorr’s As Seen on TV starts out with a great premise: a woman from NYC goes to a small town in search of a story and is really expecting to fall in love with both a man and the wonderful charm of small town living but in reality discovers that small towns can be just as unpleasant as big ones. Schorr also provides lots of nods to the Gilmore Girls and what seems like dozens of Hallmark movies with their various actors and plots, which would make this a wonderful book for all of those Hallmark movie-loving fans if only she’d taken into consideration the typical Hallmark use of language and sex. (Neither of these things bothered me but I am very aware of the expectations of Hallmark viewers and the readers of their novels.)

Those issues are, of course, surmountable. However, Adina Gellar may be one of those most fingernails on a chalkboard characters I’ve encountered in a long time. She’s immature and quickly proves herself to not be the sharpest tool in the shed and both of those character traits make for a frequently painful read for this reader. Combine that with pages and pages of dialogue that are neither witty nor move the novel along and these were just not surmountable–again, for this reader.

But, many other readers are actively adoring As Seen on TV so I do believe this one falls into YMMV (your mileage may vary) category. My mileage didn’t go very far at all but there’s a good chance yours will.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This novel follows a city-slicker, hopeless romantic to a small town in hopes of kickstarting her journalism career. Obsessed with Hallmark movies, Adi sets off to a small town hoping she'll find a close-knit community with fall festivals and town events but turns out it is nothing like she imagined. In her search to find a Hallmark-like love story within the town, she creates her own love story. It was a cute but extremely predictable story.

I get excited when books take place near where I grew up and there are references to real towns that I know and have visited. It has been a while since I have been there though, so I can't comment on if the scenery is depicted correctly.

From the big city of Manhattan to the small town of Pleasant Hollow ~ Adina is a freelance journalist trying to prove herself to get a full time job at a magazine. Her story is about a developer that is trying to bring chaos to this small town and create a high rise with all the bells and whistles. She really needs her story to make a splash in order to help her mother out financially, and herself since she works 3 jobs. She wasn't expecting to meet a hottie, Finn.

Finn works for the developer, so Adina has an interest in speaking with him. Soon enough they have a more romantic interest in each other until she finds out something that could chance their dynamic.

I am not a Hallmark movie watcher, so I can't attest to what others say about similarities, but I found this to be well written and I was really rooting for these two for the long haul at the beginning. I did prefer Finn pre~breakup, if you even want to call it that since they really weren't together together. He started to bug me a bit, but then he was okay again. The ending was cute.

This is my first time with this author and I'd be happy to read more from her.