Note: I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Around the halfway point of this book, I was struggling. I thought the realization we were waiting for the main character to come to was easy to figure out and I could not understand why it was taking so long. I kept remarking to my partner about how a good 10% of the book. But then the last part of the book changed everything.

Of course the book needs to be this long, and you need to finish it regardless of how long it may take you. I firmly believe, like Meyerson seems to, that you carry every book you’ve ever read with you. And what I will carry with me from this story is that everyone’s journey is paced differently, and you cannot influence the speed at which others progress. But you CAN spread kindness and empathy to everyone you come actoss, and you can absolutely leave the world a better place than you found it.

I would recommend this book for everyone to have, but to read when they feel is right. Think of Amy Meyerson not as a romantic love scribe, but as a scribe for self-discovery.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read the magical The Love Scribe by Amy Meyerson. This book will stay with me for a long time. The next ending was surprising. And perfect.

An enjoyable read with magical realism spread throughout. Meyerson does an excellent job creating a unique world layered atop ours, though the book comes to a bit of a rushed conclusion.

I adored this charming and creative story. We follow Alice who writes a story to help her friend through a difficult break-up. Unexpectedly, the story leads Alice's friends and others to find love. With threads of magical realism, this book was a unique twist on the journey of love. Meyerson communicates well the power of words and storytelling. Highly recommend!

Thank you to net galley and Harper collins for the advanced reading copy of the love scribe. This enchanting little story about love was so uplifting. A young girl Alice, trying to help her best friend gabby get out of a funk. A bad break up, she wrote her a story after getting the impulse to give her something tangible to think about after it. Soon the story spread, true love followed the readers. Quickly Alice was getting requests for stories to help in other people’s lives until meeting her own chance love. She became a love scribe for people and followed her own doubts creating things she didn’t think possible.

When Alice’s best friend Gabby has her heart broken again, Alice sits down to write her a letter telling her how amazing she is. When she ends up writing a story, she decides to give it to Gabby anyway. Magically, as soon as Gabby read the story, she met someone. When she passed the story on, that person met someone as well. It seems Alice’s stories bring people love. When word spreads and Madeline summons Alice to her house in the woods, Alice meets someone that she isn’t sure she can write a story for.

This book was so lovely! I mean do I wish that Alice existed and could write me a story and make this whole dating thing easier? Absolutely LOL. I really love magical realism so this book was right up my alley, and the unique story made it all the better. This is not your everyday love story, and I just loved every second of it!

The premise for The Love Scribe really grabbed me. Initially, the unique writing style kept me engaged, but I lost interest around the midpoint of the novel. For me, Alice is a challenge to like which made the book difficult to enjoy. Magical realism is definitely having a moment in the publishing industry and I am so glad. I admire Amy Meyerson's bold efforts here because there are numerous threads to connect. Sadly, this one just isn't for me. Thank you for the opportunity.

A story about the power of stories and love. I thoroghly enjoyed this story and the style of writing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

I've read everything of Amy Meyerson's so far and I haven't been disappointed. The stories have been imaginative and entertaining, but even more important is the absolute expert level descriptions of relationships.
This book explores the question of making your own happiness; finding love because you've focused on yourself, first. Alice's visceral fear of the ending of love stops her from accepting love in the first place. The stories she writes bring people together - but are they meant to be? The nature and permanence of love is discussed deeply. The story has elements of magical realism but what it says about human relationships is all too real. Definitely recommend.

I loved the idea of this story. Super creative love story. It just didn't do it for me though. I struggled to get through and connecting points seemed off to me.

I'm giving it three stars. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I was spellbound from page one. This book was entertaining and all consuming. I have never read a story that made me feel so warm and tingling inside. The magic that is woven into this story.
I just reviewed The Love Scribe by Amy Meyerson. #TheLoveScribe #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Alice's best friend Gabby has gone through a terrible breakup. Alice wants to do something to help Gabby out of her deep depression, and from out of nowhere, Alice receives an image of a hummingbird. She feels compelled to write a story for Gabby featuring that hummingbird, and after Gabby reads the story, she meets Oliver and they fall in love. She is then commissioned to work with a reclusive woman, and this brings about all the questions and mystery.

The Love Scribe tells the story of Alice and the magical gift she receives of writing stories that help people fall in love. The concept was new and intrigued me, but the story fell short and I couldn't see where it was going. I really hoped to see it go in a different direction but enjoyed the story overall.

Thank you Harper Collins and Net Galley for the advanced copy.

Favorite Quotes:

There’s something about that story. I can’t explain it. It opened me up. Maria said the same thing. It was like being unfolded from the inside out, so the love could seep in.

“My gift? Gabby, the only thing I’m gifted at is quitting. I have a preternatural talent for giving up.” Gabby frowned. “All the more reason not to quit now. And for the record, I’ve never believed that about you. It’s just an excuse you’ve been telling yourself for years so you don’t have to pursue anything challenging.” She was a clever one, that Gabby. If Alice turned her down now, she’d be proving Gabby right.

Most people’s problems, Alice was beginning to discover, were pretty obvious. Everyone thinks they’re hiding their pain, their insecurities, their struggles. Really, most people are just so focused on their own issues that they aren’t particularly observant of others. If you stop for a second and look, really investigate someone, they unfold before you like a book. Most people, at least.

“Blame is its own form of grief.” Madeline scratched at the scar on her cheek. “It’s easier to feel guilty than to admit you’re helpless.

Do you always eat sandwiches like that?” … “Like you’re afraid of them. Like that—” he pointed to the piece she’d ripped off and was about to eat. “The entire point of a sandwich is that you can just take a bite.” He gnawed at his baguette like it was a turkey leg at a Renaissance fair.

He was tall and thin, with warm brown skin and a head so bald it shone. His chin was hidden by a neatly trimmed beard with a white patch shaped like a heart. When he caught Alice staring, he rubbed his palm against the spot. “Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves. I wear mine on my face.”

My Review:

Rereading the vast plethora of highlighted passages I saved during perusal reminded me of just how cleverly insightful and intricately nuanced this novel was. Amy Meyerson is such a nimble raconteur, I kept marveling at the creativity and vibrant details of the brain-snagging and mind-prickling scenes her words conjured. I was sucked into an oddly compelling vortex that kept me a bit on edge yet unable to look away for fear of missing a crumb. I felt on unsteady ground throughout the journey, and can’t remember the last time I enjoyed that peculiar unsettling feeling more.

A hug in book form! A stunning look at the magic of stories and the storytellers who gift listeners a piece of their heart and history through each word, character, and lesson they pen.

I loved how this was a love story about all kinds of love - romantic, friendship, familial - and opening your heart to the possibility of new relationships after loss and great love.

The shifts in pacing were clunky at times and some of the stories about Alice’s clients felt disjointed, but all came together in the end. I know Alice was working through tremendous loss, but I didn’t love how prickly she became when engaging with those around her.

The story was truly magical with maximum cozy vibes and the way all these stories were woven together was brilliant!

This book was really cute. A sweet story about a woman named Alice who writes a story to cheer up her best friend. When after reading the story, Gabby falls in love, she thinks the story has magical powers. After passing it on to family and friends, all who read it and fall in love, Alice becomes the Love Scribe. When she is called to a mansion to use her gift, she encounters Madeline, a recluse with an incredible library. However, Alice struggles to write Madeline her story. Madeline forces Alice to reconsider her own heart.

This story was really sweet. It was fun to read and the relationships were great. However, I did find parts of the book to be slow, while other parts were really fast paced. It was almost unevenly written... some slow parts were kind of boring and other parts I did not want to put down. I also found the main character, Alice, to be annoying. This story line is very original and an enjoyable idea. Although parts of the book were not my favorite, I truly enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to anyone interested in a different kind of romance story.

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

When I first read the synopsis for The Love Scribe, I was intrigued by the original sounding concept of a woman who could bring true love to people with her stories. This is something that I haven't come across before, so I was eager to give this one a shot. I didn't realize that there would be a magical, or sentient house involved. Coincidentally, the last book that I read just before this one also had a magical house. Reading this directly afterwards may have had a negative impact on my reaction to this story because The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone was a hard one to live up to. Maybe it had no affect at all. What I do know is that I didn't end up loving this as much as I hoped I would.

The main character, Alice is a commitment-phobe when it comes to dating, and her relationships with men are restricted to sexual only. She does everything in her power to maintain a safe distance from romantic feelings because of the loss of her father at a young age. Losing him hurt her deeply, and completely reshaped her world view. The fear of going through the heartache she and her mother experienced again as an adult actually terrifies her. So she picks men who want a simple physical release as she does, thinking she's keeping herself safe from harm.

I think the fact that she was so scared of meaningful, romantic relationships (to the point of pushing all thoughts of it out of her mind) made her sudden magical "love guru" persona less believable to me. How is it that someone so disconnected to the idea of love for herself going to aid others in their desperate search for it? It all just seemed to happen very suddenly-one minute she avoided it like the plague, the next she could read people's mistakes in love after a brief meeting/talk and write them something to bring love knocking on their door.

This didn't have the most realistic edge to it. Granted, this is supposed to magical realism, so there is a level of fantasy to it. But the logistics need to make sense in order for me to be swept away in the story and believe. Also, she never seemed to derive much joy from the whole process. It was pushed on her by her best friend and mother who both begged her to help people with her gift. She was conflicted from the beginning, unsure of herself, and scared to embrace the gift so many potential clients were lining up for.

I found the pace of the story to be quite slow. I had to push myself to continue reading and often would skim through some of the many sections describing all of the different clients' love stories. I know that the author probably wanted these to be deep, profound stories that encapsulated love from many different perspectives. For me, it made the story have a rambling, scattered feel about all of these people's experiences that made the story drag.

I liked her love interest, Duncan, though he did not have a very prominent place in the story. He was seen very little, and mostly discussed when Alice would try to push her attraction to him out of her mind. She didn't really know much about him because they only hung out a couple of times. He seemed like a good man, however there wasn't enough time with him on the page to really get to know who he was as a character. When the big conflict with him happened later on in the book over his perceived betrayal, I couldn't help but feel that he was being treated a little unfairly. Alice literally did the same exact thing he did to Madeline in order to try to learn her secrets. She completely cut Duncan out of her life because of his actions, but Madeline didn't mind Alice's deception, so apparently that made it acceptable? Alice was quite sneaky and broke her promises as well so you would think that would have at least entered her mind when she was refusing to speak to him.

Madeline was mysterious, as was her house out in the woods. I didn't feel that the magic of the house was adequately explained by the end. I guess we can all take what we want from it, but personally I would have liked to have seen more of a backstory regarding the existence of the house and why it did what it did at the end.

Overall, this was an okay read for me. Not absolutely horrible, but I did find myself picking the story apart in my head and I ended it feeling unsatisfied in general. I did appreciate how unique the storyline was, it just wasn't executed in a way that I loved. I thought I was going to rate this three stars, but after writing my review I realize it's more in the 2 star range. It looks like I'm in the minority though, so don't dismiss it outright based on my own subjective take.

"A first line was like a first kiss. It embodied the promise of everything that could follow."

This entirely unique story is unlike any romance I've ever read. It's a medley of love -- in all its forms -- and a read that grows on you with each passing page.

The Love Scribe's action stars when our FMC, Alice, is suddenly struck one day with a powerful vision she can't get out of her head. Compelled to do something with this vivid imagery, she turns it into a short story for her heartbroken bestie, who after reading it, immediately falls in love. Convinced her newfound happiness is owed to the story, bestie passes it along to some of her other unlucky-in-love friends, and they end up with the exact same results:

"Five single people. Five readings of Alice's hummingbird tale. Five encounters. Five instant connections."

Soon, Alice has a long list of would-be clients ready to pay for her services. The problem? Alice doesn't believe in her "powers." Or even love for that matter. Well, at least where she's concerned. However, thanks to some coaxing from her love-fueled bestie, Alice eventually opens a business as a love scribe. Will she continue to help her readers fall in love? Will that love last forever? Is she responsible if it doesn't? And what about her happily ever after?

Brimming with beautiful mini stories sprinkled throughout the text and heavy elements of magical realism, The Love Scribe delivers a heartfelt yet haunting tale. The pacing wavers (at times) due to the delves into the many featured couple's romances, but I think it ties together well in the end.

I can't say much more without delving into spoilers, but I will say if you're looking for an engaging escape from the "rinse, wash, repeat" novels you've picked up in the past, give this lexical matchmaker a try.

When I first received this book, I wasn't 100% sold on it. I read the description and thought okay it is going to be an easy read with not much happening. I was 100% wrong.

This book truly swept me up in the imaginary that the author created. Plus, it was full of twists and turns. Just when I thought I had figured something out the author took a completely different path.

We meet Alice in the beginning she is messy, has no self-worth and has sworn off love. When she writes a story for her friend who then finds love she is skeptical, it was her story that did it. However, her friend soon convinces her otherwise and soon she is writing lots of stories for many people.

What I loved about this book was its originality. The book definitely did not follow the same path as many magical books do. The books ending completely caught me off guard,. It was a twist I never saw coming.

I also liked that the author explored so many life lessons in this book. It was truly an emotionally deep book. The author dived deep into the various kinds of love from deep emotional connections to love that results in jealously and even violence. I also give the author credit for showing us through Alice that not everything is as it appears or even as we remember. Sometime our memories play tricks on us to protect us.

Overall, I really loved the book. Though it took me a moment or two to warm up to Alice and Madeline In the end, I fell in love with them both and wanted to just hug them and tell them life was going to be ok.

I feel like some reviewers gave up too soon on this one, and I would recommend sticking with it so you can read the twist and see how the narrative wraps things up by the ending. The author has set things up beautifully. Yes, the pacing is a bit uneven and some parts are long-winded. But I really enjoyed the payoff. The magical realism aspect makes this a very charming story, and I look forward to more from this author.