Another fun one from Poston! She excels at the art of cutesy magical realism stories that just bring joy and escape. Loved this one and look forward to the next!

I absolutely love Ashley Poston’s writing. Every story she gifts us truly feels so incredible and magical.

A Novel Love Story follows Elsy, an English professor who has had her heart broken and been left at the altar. She finds solace and safety between the pages of romance novels. She’s set on going to her annual book club retreat even when all of her friends can’t make it. But on the way her car breaks down and she ends up in the fictional town of her favorite book.

I love books about books. And this book is such a love letter to romance novels. I loved being in Eloraton. It was so quaint—the coziest small town romance setting. Very stars hollow. I’m also so jealous because hello I want to visit my fav fictional small towns.

My favorite parts were when Elsy was dealing with the issues in town. Elsy helps move their stories forward and solve problems that were happening post ending. I loved the cameos of previous characters. I wish we had gotten more out of the romance, but I loved the ending and it was the perfect HEA.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC! Eileen Merriweather loves to escape into a good book (romances more specifically), but her current love life is at a bit of a standstill after a difficult breakup, and to make matters worse, her book club is bailing on their annual trip one by one, including her best friend who is heading off on a romantic trip that Eileen is sure means a pending engagement. Frustrated and anxious, Eileen embarks on the trip on her own, but when a sudden storm, and appearance of a man in the middle of the road, causes her to swerve and damage her car, Eileen finds herself stranded in a strangely familiar town. Somehow Eileen finds herself in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series! As she grows closer to the town's grumpy bookstore owner, who just so happens to be the man she almost hit with her car, Eileen not only questions who he is in the series, but who he was meant to be with and whether or not she should stay. A great romance for book lover's who have longed to get lost in their favorite serie's settings (literally). A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston tackles moving on after loss, self discovery, and accepting love.

“Not all love happens at first glance-sometimes, it takes a reread at the exact right (or wrong) time in your life.”

“I sort of felt like the giving tree, chopping myself smaller and smaller, and I guess I finally realized, if I kept this up, I’d be nothing but a stump by the end.”

Eileen loves a happy ending. When her book club all cancels on their week away, she is devastated but decides to go to the cabin for the week anywhere to drink wine and read as many romance books as she can. When her car breaks down in a small town, she notices something off. She knows these people, they are all characters in her favorite series, the series that unfortunately will never be finished since the author passed away. The town appears to be trapped at the end of the 4th book, unable to move on without the author. Can Eileen help them find their happy ending?

DELIGHTFUL. This book was just so damn delightful! I love how Ashley’s books have just a little bit of magic included, and I adored this one. While the town was a bit stuck, Eileen was also pretty stuck in her life, and I loved how they all helped each other to move on in their stories. I don’t even want to say much more, because I went in blind to this one and I think that’s the way to go! I just loved the concept of Eileen coming across the town from her favorite books! Can you imagine rolling up and being like omg that’s my favorite character? I mean seriously, book boyfriends come to life? Yes please! Needless to say, this is a must read!

Thank you to @berkleyromance for my gifted copy of this book!

Ashley Poston always gets it!! Elsy finds herself (with a broken-down car) in the fictional town where her favorite romance novels are set. She meets her beloved characters, eats at the diner, enjoys all the little joys and quirks of the area - and then she meets Anders. She doesn't remember him from the books, but he does seem a bit familiar. He runs the local bookstore, and is a total grump. She just needs to get her car fixed and find her way out of here before she rocks the boat and causes ripples within the fictional community.... AND before the falls for a grumpy bookseller.

This book is a precious ode to romance novels, to bookstores, to friendship, and to book clubs. Every single thought in Elsy's head is about one of those things, and I absolutely related to them all. Quixotic Falls is a charming town full of charming people, and Elsy being in the midst of it all made it seem much more real to her, and I could picture that being the case for anyone dropped into their favorite book! Poston just adds this bit of magic into everything she writes, and makes it a perfect blend of believable and unbelievable (does. that make sense?) so that I can't put the book down.

This had a slightly slower start than her others, and felt less like a traditional romance arc, but I loved that about it! Highly recommend picking up any of Poston's titles, including this one!!!

There was such a unique, magical element to this book, Although the book within a book concept was unbelievable at times, it was still a very fun read. I loved the Elsy/Pru/Anders characters and storylines and how Elsy was able to come to terms with her past and move forward with her relationships. There were a lot of characters in this book between the book club and the fictional town, and it was hard to follow who was who. Overall, a fun, romantic summer read!

ashley poston knows the strings of my heart and yanks them every single time 😭❤️ every time I think she can’t possibly write a book as good as her last, she surpasses herself again and again!!!!

I once again completely relate to FMC elsy, who feels like she’s being left behind in life with nowhere to turn to. on a solo trip to a remote cabin (which she normally takes with her bookish friends but they’re all too busy this year 🥲), she gets stranded in a small town that turns out to be … the small town of her favorite book series… which is seriously every romance reader’s dream I swear 😮‍💨😮‍💨

while the cast of characters is quite large and overwhelming, seeing elsy’s joy at meeting her heroes was worth every bit of confusion 🥹 she kept it wayyyy cooler than I would be let’s just say

and while I absolutely knew this was a budding romance between her and bookshop owner anders (because who doesn’t love an enemies to friends to lovers come ON), my heart shattered into a million little pieces at the last 20% oh my goodness just when I thought ashley couldn’t make me cry AGAIN 😭😭

and while the characters broke my heart and put the pieces back together again, I completely love the message ashley sent about finding your own adventure and destiny 🥹🩷 it is such an important concept and I loved seeing how elsy was able to find her true love within herself first

plus can we talk about those cameos?? I screamed so hard because I fully live in a delulu world that this could happen to me too it’s fine

will this follow the trends of the dead romantics and the seven year slip and become my book of the year? TBD

thank you a million times over to berkley and netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!!!!

rating: 5 stars
wine pairing: niagara on the lake vidal ice wine

“Because even after the people were gone, there were still stories. There were always stories.”

Ashley has done it again. This book was absolutely beautiful. The writing, the plot & the characters were everything.

This book is for the book lovers. For the ones who want to escape from reality and into words of their favorite book/series.

Elsy & Anders have my heart. They had me laughing with their banter & I adored those moments they had together.

Once this book hits stores, I’ll be picking up a copy!!

Thank you to netgalley for this arc.

read this if you like :
- small town
- grumpy x sunshine
- magical realism

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

this book was written for the people who find solace in books and people who found their best friends through books

imagine you’re actually in the world of your favorite book where you get to meet and interact with your favorite characters ! well this is what happens to elsy. elsy has been down on her luck and she was hoping time down in a cabin with the comfort of books will help her funk. however, on her way to the cabin, she ends up in a new town which feels all too familiar, as if she read about it before

“not all love happens at first glance—sometimes, it takes a reread at the exact right (or wrong) time in your life.”

i thought this story was quite cozy and comforting with a few unexpected moments/revolutions. however, it did felt like the story was dragging at times.

as for the romance, i wish there was more which is ironic since this book is basically an ode to romance readers. SLIGHT SPOILERS INCOMING “the third act breakup” wasn’t my favorite. It was realistic in a sense but I did not read for realism. It just took me out of the romance. even when, the love interest returned for elsy, it felt very obligatory as a love interest instead of love. yes there was the love confession but it felt typical and quick fast. also felt like elsy was a second choice. glad that elsy got her happy ending tho

“labyrinth" by taylor swift

A Novel Love Story is a magical realism contemporary romance featuring the books about books and “adversaries to lovers” tropes. I would highly recommend it to fans of magical realism or fantasy books like The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer, The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune, Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross, or The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna as well as fans of contemporary romances like Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams, The Wrong Mr. Right by Stephanie Archer, Book Lovers by Emily Henry, Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren, and Only and Forever by Chloe Liese. A Novel Love Story features themes and topics like fantasy (or fiction) versus reality, past versus present, love and heartbreak, stories, fate versus freewill, growing up, loneliness and isolation, friendship, grief and lost love, sense of self, and happily ever after.

I think that adult romance readers of all ages are totally going to eat this book up! Elsy, the main character in A Novel Love Story, gets to live every romance readers’ not so secret fantasy of literally escaping into their favourite fictional worlds and getting to interact with their favourite fictional characters (and perhaps even a book boyfriend) in real life. A Novel Love Story as a whole was very bookish (the main characters are bookworms and most of the novel is literally set in a fictional town), which I think a lot of readers, like me, will love; there are also a ton of great bookish quotes in the novel, which I can’t wait to write in my reading journal! I found the main character Elsy’s experiences of finding comfort in and wanting to escape into fictional worlds as well as feeling left behind, lonely, and heartbroken to be very relatable (and I think that other readers will too). Additionally, her book club, the Super Smutty Book Club, sounded super cool and totally makes me want to join a book club in the near future! A Novel Love Story had a very magical or fantastical vibe, and I thought that the plot was very unique in that Poston almost had to write two books in one (Elsy’s story as well as the Rachel Flowers story). I also enjoyed the mystery elements surrounding the fictional town of Eloraton (e.g., what was the author’s plan for the unfinished book 5 and how does the new character Anders fit into the Rachel Flowers universe?) because they kept me engaged and guessing throughout. I won’t spoil anything, but I thought that the ending of Elsy’s story was simply perfect.

The only downside for me was that A Novel Love Story could be slow at times, and it wasn’t packed with action. Furthermore, chapters with flashbacks and Elsy’s inner musings interspersed throughout (albeit important) seemed like they slowed down the pace of the novel a bit.

A Novel Love Story is the first Ashley Poston book that I’ve read, and it definitely won’t be my last as it did not disappoint. A Novel Love Story is a “must add” to romance readers’ summer TBR lists!

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Elsy Merriweather has a few things in her life she knows she can count on: her best friend, Pru, their shared love of Romance novels, and their annual book club retreat. Elsy, a literature professor, loves getting lost in the pages of a happily-ever-after story, even if she feels like she'll never live one herself. Been there, tried that. But things are changing. Pru is on the cusp of getting engaged, her upcoming trip with her boyfriend unfortunately falling on the same week as the book club retreat. Additionally, the rest of the book club has sent their regrets for this years trip; everyone is busy.

Elsy needs the retreat though, whether or not anyone else will be attendance. She decides to go, solo-road trip it to the remote cabin, where she will drink copious amount of wine and read all the Romance. Honestly, this sounds like heaven to me too, so I was fully supportive of Elsy's plans. On her way there though, her car breaks down and she finds herself stranded in a quaint little town that seems all too familiar. It's Eloraton, the small town setting of her favorite Romance series! How the heck is this possible? Eloraton is a fictional place, yet here she is...

Rachel Flowers, the author of the series, passed away while writing the final novel, so the story was never finished. Because of that, Eloraton is trapped in time, where everything remains the same even as time passes. Elsy feels like that could be the reason why she's ended up here. To help the town, and thus all the people in it, find their perfect storybook ending. There's a character she doesn't know however, and wasn't counting on, a grumpy bookstore owner named Anders, with minty green eyes, and his own reasons to want the town to continue on forever just the way it is.

We follow Elsy, trapped in her favorite fictional town, as she meets the characters she has grown to love over the years of reading this series. It's so cute, because it's like she's meeting celebrities. Of course, they have no idea how infatuated she is with all of them, or why.

I really did love this set-up. It's so Poston, to have such a creative and quirky twist to an otherwise normal Contemporary Romance story.
I appreciate how unique Poston's style is now. She's really created a nice little niche for herself within the genre and her writing is so distinct. You could tell this was one of her books just from the writing and characters alone.

I did enjoy the dynamic between Elsy and Anders; their back-and-forth was entertaining and there was definite chemistry smoldering away.
The middle portion wasn't quite as exciting for me as some of Poston's other works. I found some elements a bit repetitive and there were times that I wanted more actual substance from her interactions with the townspeople. I wish it could have had some more drama in that regard. The highlight of this for me was the growth of Elsy's character over the course of the story. She comes to some solid revelations about her life while she's in Eloraton, and I especially enjoyed the exploration of her friendship with her best friend, Pru.

With this being said, this is still an amazing story. I am just comparing it, maybe unfairly, to The Dead Romantics and The Seven Year Slip, both of which I 5-star level loved. So, while this isn't my favorite of Poston's Adult Contemporary novels, it's still hella cute and enjoyable. I would absolutely recommend it to all Contemporary Romance Readers, particularly if you've enjoyed Poston's style in the past. There's just something so cozy and comforting about her stories. It's almost required to cuddle up under a blanket with a hot drink to read them.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me a copy to read and review. I always look forward to Poston's new releases and this didn't disappoint!

Ashley Poston’s The Seven Year Slip was one of my favorite reads last year, so you can only imagine how excited I was for A Novel Love Story — a story revolving around a fictional literary town come to life. Every year, Eileen looks forward to escaping her life and running away with her romance book club — which is why when the rest of the book club is unable to make it this year for one reason or another, she decides to embark on the trip by herself. Accompanied with a box of her most beloved books, a bottle of wine, and her overnight bag, she’s woefully unprepared when her car breaks down right outside of a small town that feels eerily familiar to Eloraton, the town in which her favorite romance series is set. And the town’s residents? The characters from that very same series, living out the same plotlines and frequenting the same haunts — bar one. The only exception is the town’s grumpy bookseller, Anders, who doesn’t seem to be a character from the books, and also is the only other person aware of, well, everything.

In a way, A Novel Love Story reminds me of Schmigadoon (or Brigadoon, if you’re familiar with the movie/musical), meets a town like Gilmore Girls’ Stars Hollow, with the characters in Once Upon a Time. And I adored it. The world that Poston has crafted is utterly charming; no wonder Eileen was so entranced by the town of Eloraton. And like all stories that involve a book within a book, Poston has to keep the reader invested in both stories, while also making sure that the reader isn’t overly invested in the other story. I personally think that Poston does a decent job of keeping the reader invested in the characters and plot line of Quixatic Falls without overshadowing the events of A Novel Love Story.

The townspeople of Eloraton was definitely a highlight for me, but I also just loved reading about how they interacted with Eileen, and more so, Anders. Anders was such a lovely contrast to Eileen, and I found myself more invested in his storyline and how he fit into the world of Eloraton at times, over Eileen’s character arc. While I loved the concept of A Novel Love Story, and found the love story between Anders and Eileen incredibly endearing, I felt quite disconnected from our protagonist, Eileen. By now, I’m used to associating Ashley Poston’s novels with themes of grief and self-discovery, but also found myself frustrated with the lack of growth for Eileen. I think the story got a little repetitive at times, and I just struggled to feel fully invested in A Novel Love Story.

Overall, I would still recommend A Novel Love Story — it wasn’t my perfect story, but I did still find my visit to Eloraton delightful, and hope that others can connect to this delightful world better than I could.

The first thing I did when I finished this book - like, the VERY first thing - was preorder a copy for myself. That’s how much I loved it. I had to purchase my own copy to flip through whenever I need to visit Elsy and Anderson and the town of Eloraton, NY. I don’t know Ashley Poston personally (only what she shares publicly), but I feel like she writes specifically for me. Each book feels tailor made to who I am and where I am in life right now. It’s life imitating art, I suppose, and I’m so grateful.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️.5

Tropes:
✨Slow Burn
✨Small Town Romance
✨Magical Realism
✨Grief|Healing
✨LGBTQ+

•Eileen loves to get lost in her favorite romance novel. It’s her comfort book. Bound and determined to have a yearly vacation even if her friends can show this year.

•Elsy’s car breaks down after almost running a broody, handsome stranger over in a small town. A town where there is only one way in and one way out.. the town that she’s read about in her favorite incomplete novel series..

•All the characters.. the food, the menus, the waterfall.. it all matches the books. How can this be real?! It isn’t.. but the man, the one she can’t stay away from. He definitely has to be the reason she’s here.. to help him get his ending, to find his true love and then she’ll be on her way back to reality.. right? 😉

“The fireflies dance around us, the wind winding through the trees, and when his eyes set on me, I felt like the only story he wanted to read.”

💬 This was a very out of the normal book for me. I love a good romance novel. But this one took me on an unexpected journey. I wasn’t sure how I felt through much of the book.. but it kept me drawn in. The message of this story is beautiful, the characters.. so fun! The ending.. exactly what I hoped for. Overall.. this book was very interesting and I dare say fun to explore.

Honestly got so confused in a lot of parts of the book. Not sure if the town is real or not. Still, I enjoyed the tension and chemistry between the main characters. I would still read Ashley Poston’s backlist.

A love letter to all romance readers, Ashley Posten captures the essence of what books mean to our souls in her newest novel, "A Novel Love Story"

In her signature magical realism style, Posten takes us into the fictional universe of our main character's favorite book series. There is incredible self exploration, lots of laughs, and most importantly, ROMANCE! So often the romance genre is overlooked, or even worse, looked down upon. "A Novel Love Story" is a perfect display of why this genre may very well be the most important of them all!

As Katherine Center would say, "Come over to the fun side"!

This is the third book I’ve read from this author. They’ve all been so different from one another but similar in that they are all quirky rom-coms with ordinary people who find themselves in supernatural circumstances. I loved them all, especially this one. It was so “meta” in its reference to romance novel fandoms and the cutesy cast of town characters that so many book series feature. I wish I could read the fictional fiction book series about Eloraton (such a weird name, LOL). I loved the grumpy book boyfriend here, and Elsy (also a weird name, short for Eileen) was flawed but relatable and non-annoying. I would definitely recommend this one!

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ashley Poston, oh how her books deliver such amazing premises with a dash of magic and a whole dose of emotion. A Novel Love Story has to be my favorite setting to date from her books.

A Novel Love Story begins as a romance-reading woman decides to go on a yearly cabin retreat even though her bookish friends cannot join this time around, When she gets lost along the way, she finds herself plopped right in the middle of her favorite book series's small town.

This cozy little read packs a punch with discussions about self-discovery and loss. I was head over heels for being in a small town that felt like home to me too. This book is a reader's dream.

Thank you Berkley for my gifted copy.

4.5

Thank you Berkley romance for my digital ARC!

"I think you can do whatever you put your mind to, Eileen.You're terrifying that way"

A Novel love story is truly a novel approach to write a romance as the name suggests, it is a love letter to all book lovers especially to the hopeless romantics and the dreamers. This is a beautiful book with Ashley Poston's interesting touch of "unfeasible! but what if?" which I always enjoy, I am a fantasy +romance reader so these kind of stories are like a treat. Elsy(Eileen) is going through a tough chapter in her life, when the virtual book club chat leaves the chat for an in-person getaway she is almost certain that will cure the chaos.However, life happens and everybody cancels in the last minute but that doesn't deter Elsy because she needed this time away

On her way to the cozy cabin imagining a week full of wine and fictional adventures, Elsy gets in trouble because of sudden downpour on the road and veers off on to a bridge and eventually ends up in a small town but here is the catch- it is not any town, it's her favorite fictional place ever! she is going to live every book reader's dream by literally falling into the pages of her favorite book. She knows these characters and found comfort in them plenty of times but would it be too much to hope that they would bring her similar comfort in the reality as well? or will she ends up causing a shift in their stories somehow? I really really loved this part, after first couple chapters of adjusting to the idea, I literally couldn't stop reading

There is of course romance and an ideal grumpy book boyfriend Charlie, he even owns a bookshop! like what? Elsy's search of happily ever after might have inadvertently intertwined with that of Charlie and the whole town. She heals herself as she starts softening the ripples she caused in the plot and for these characters. Another warm, cozy and hearty book by the author

This might be petty but the reason for knocking down half a star is merely because of the ungodly amount of times I had to read descriptions like "Minty eyes", "Minty gaze" and "He smelled like black tea" I think the book needed a little refinement with this redundancy

I loved the meta aspect of the story. It was so creative to have the main character of the story be the main love interest in the fictional world. I loved how the author played into the fantasy of Inserting oneself into your favorite fictional world. However, I was not sold on the romance. I didn’t feel the chemistry between Anders and Elsy. I loved every single part of the story except that.