✨Book Review✨
Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin
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This book was very sweet. The story of Drew who inherited her grandmother's bookstore after she died, is a sweet story about family, love, and friendship. Jasper, the romance author who shows up to speak at a book club event at the store, is such a kind and loving character. I do wish there was less focus on how hot he is, but at least he also has a wonderful personality, and the relationship he forms with Drew is deep and meaningful.
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If you are looking for a cute easy read about bookstores and romance, this one is for you. I switched off between the e-book and audiobook, and I think the audio was the way to go.

Drew has just inherited her grandmother’s bookstore and she has given up her previous life to help run the store. She is working hard to keep it running and this is when she meets Jasper White, a writer who has a book signing at Drew’s store. The local book club meddles to make sure the two meet and sparks fly!

Drew isn’t a reader at all and isn’t interested in trying to enjoy them. But Jasper creates a book bucket list to show her what’s she’s missing. She also shows him the sites around Denver and they grow close while exploring together. They get stranded on one of these and have to *gasp* share the one bed! (I love this trope!)

The other side plot is that Drew’s estranged father is made that his mother left the store to Drew. He wants to sell it and he fights hard to get it. Drew fights back and stands up for herself. I liked this novel a lot! Drew and Jasper have instant chemistry and it’s fun to see their relationship grow. Jasper added so much levity and enjoyment to Drew’s life; she was so focused on living her Grandmother’s dream for the store.

Thank you to @berkleypub for my gifted ebook. Better than Fiction is out now!

I love a bookstore romance, and the two leads were good and the cast of characters was also enjoyable

Drew Young, doesn’t like to read. She has never liked to and yet her Grandmother owned a book store, that she always went to. The bookstore was like home, comfortable and safe. Besides the books, it’s her favorite place. Drew’s grandmother passed away and leaves her The Book Nook. Drew can’t believe it, why would her grandmother do this? How is she supposed to run a bus we based on a hobby she hates? She meets all kinds of people at the bookstore, including Jasper Williams. With the death of her grandmother, her owning the bookstore and Jasper, Drew’s head starts to spin. She can’t figure out how to handle all the changes. Then out of no where her father comes looking to contest the will and Drew is at her breaking point. This was a cute book. It was a bit predictable at points but I did want to see how it ended. It seemed like so much was going on.. maybe a little to much. Overall this was a three star read for me. I want to thank Netgalley and Alexa Martin for my copy of Better than Fiction, for an honest review. It was my pleasure to read and review this book.

Lots of fun! Always going to read Alexa’s books. And I love the main characters reckoning with herself, the business, and her relationships with sister and grandma. And an adorable love interest!

I couldn't put it down and I didn't want to. This book lived up to every ounce of hype that I had experienced for it. This book is beautifully written; a gripping storyline with strong characters. It ticked all the boxes of my expectations. I would definitely recommend it to others.

This book is a sweet, accessible romance. Nothing terribly original about it. Nothing terrible about it. It is a pleasant read for book lovers that I would recommend to bookish romance readers.

Yes. Yes. So very much yes for this delicious new romance from Alexa Martin. If I had to describe Better than Fiction in 3 words? Easy: cozy, heartwarming, steamy, and deliciously sweet. Was that four? Oh well. I love books that center around bookstores (can you say meet cute or what?), and the tenderness of our main character Drew inheriting the store from her grandmother and keeping it running with the (frustrating, intrusive) help of her grandmother's doting friends was the icing on the proverbial cake. Drew was relatable, Jasper was charming, sweet, and HOT, and the meddling grandmothers were every bit the fun you'd expect. I breezed through this one, and my only note for others is to savor it because I ate it up like a plate of nachos at Monday night bar trivia.

2.5...I know, I'm a monster. This book felt very lazy to me. There was a lack of passion. The trope was too stereotypical. No surprises. The climax was lackluster. The conversation was boring. The only part that I liked was the fact that she inherited her grandmother's bookshop. I didn't even care for the "forced dating." I received this as an arc for an honest review, otherwise, I would have abandoned.

Thank you #netgalley for the arc for an honest review.

3.5 stars. Better Than Fiction is a super cute romance between a heroine who inherits a bookshop but doesn’t read and a romance author hero! I grabbed the audio of this from the library and it was a delight!

Drew inherits her Gran’s bookstore, the Book Nook, after her Gran passes away. Drew was a travel photographer before and never really into books or reading, so she’s a little beside herself with trying to figure out how to manage the bookstore. But she wants to keep it going since it is her last connection to her beloved grandmother. The local book club ladies, known as the Dirty Birds, end up playing matchmaker and setting Drew up with Jasper Williams, a romance author they’re obsessed with! Jasper stops in at the bookstore one day for the book club and to sign books and when Drew finds out he wants to do some research while in Denver for his new book project, she finds herself playing tour guide for him. Jasper asks Drew to be his travel guide and show him around Denver and he says in exchange he’ll make her into a book lover and even gives her a list of books that will pair into the activities they do/see together.

I always have fun reading books about book lovers or bookshop owners so this was a fun one since the bookstore owner didn’t enjoy reading. I liked the setting in Colorado and how the hero was the hopeless romantic. This is only told from the heroine’s POV, so it would have been nice to see some of his thoughts but I get why it wasn’t shared too. Drew has a complicated relationship with her father, and I liked seeing her relationship grow with her half sister Daisy, who is 5 years younger and surprises Drew one day by showing up. This was a good blend of character growth and a sweet romance too.

I loved this book soo much!! I’m hoping for a number two? The characters were awesome. The whole book was just amazing

Delightfully predictable, saucy and amusing. There is a lot to fall in love with here.

For Libraries: Are you going to pass on a book-centered romance? Come on?!

This wasn’t my favorite. I think my problem was I went into it expecting something and it was something else. Overall cute but not a fav.

Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin is a romcom about Drew Young, a Black woman who has inherited a book store from her grandmother. Drew doesn't really care for reading, however, The Book Nook was home to her. She grew up so close to her grandmother that she wants to follow her wishes and keep the bookstore going, even if books are not her wheelhouse. Things are going okay until this event with author Jasper Williams who is a romance author. Drew and Jasper hit it off and all of a sudden Drew is Jasper's tour guide to Colorado while he's trying to give her recommendations that will convince her books aren't so bad. Oh and it turns out, their romance may just be better than fiction.

I thought that Alexa Martin's Better Than Fiction was cute. I do not ever see myself rereading this book. However, I very much enjoyed the time I took with it. I especially enjoyed the Dirty Birds which is a book club run by old ladies. They stole every scene. Additionally, Drew's best friend and her half sister were great characters as well. This was a quick read and just a good stress reliever. I'm glad I read it, even if I don't see myself picking this one up again.

Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me. While I think the story started off strong, I found myself losing interest sooner than I would have liked.

oh geesh, i really wanted to enjoy this book. but alas, i did not. that doesn't mean it's not for you! i still hope you try it and that YOU love it! because that's what matters when you read! :)

Drew is a grieving granddaughter who was handed the keys to her grandmother's treasured book store, and has to process her grief over her Gram while making sure the store stays afloat. The hot romance author who comes for an appearance at the store does help get Drew's mind off her troubles. And when she learns that he needs help exploring the area for writing inspiration, she agrees.

This was a sweet romance. I appreciate the building of the main characters, though I feel like I didn't learn nearly as much about Jasper, the love interest, as I did Drew. It makes sense that we're on her head a lot, but there's not nearly as many revelations and tidbits about Jasper as there are about Drew. I would have liked a little more about him than how hot he is. I do appreciate that Jasper is an attentive guy, and really sees the woman he's with, instead of being an oblivious idiot. The book does feel like a live letter to the greater Denver area, which isn't something I see often, so that was a nice bonus. I liked the love story, though the breakup section really could've been solved by simply listening to each other instead of lost tempers and silent treatments.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley in return for sharing my thoughts on this book. Thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity!

This romance author, Jasper Williams, is definitely worth a second look. Try to keep the drool runjing down your face to a minimum- first impressions and all that. BETTER THAN FICTION is a sweet contemporary romance with enough sad vibes to make this empathetic reader crumble. Loss, love, and good books make me a sap.

Better than that...a reader finding her way back.

This is my first Alexa Martin novel and I have to say it was fun. I enjoyed the characters. Loved the setting. Appreciate the vibe. Overall, it's fun and chock full of HEA goodness. What more could a booklover want!

To explain how I feel about this book, I'll tell you that I read it last month, but my memories of it are already vague. I remember a bookshop and lots of drama. Saying that I'd think this would be right up my alley, but unfortunately, it just felt very lackluster. I have enjoyed Alexa Martin in the past, but this just didn't do anything for me.

Talk about a book lovers dream come true - a bookshop owner falling for a romance author? Catnip for horny bookworms everywhere.

This one had a little more nuance, more meddling old ladies and a vengeful absent parent in the mix but it was definitely your cavity inducing romance with better than realistic characters and failures to communicate.