Leighton is the last single girl standing amongst her friends and family and is tired of the dating scene.  She picks up a battered, used romance book to distract her. The story spills over into her dreams where it continues to play out until one day she wakes up, and the billionaire cowboy in her book is real and in her apartment.

Thoughts 💭
I love anything, Camilla Isley.  She's an auto request author for me!  Her stories are cute, sweet, romances that tug at your heart strings.  I flew through this book in a day and have zero regrets.  Killian is an actual book boyfriend come to life, and I love his transition from story character to real life guy. Leighton is a tough woman in grad school who can't seem to find the right guy and is surrounded by couples.  She makes it very clear how annoying they all are with their "couples wisdom." It was starting to get a little repetitive until I realized it was just a reflection of how unhappy Leighton was, not a reflection on people in relationships. She definitely changed her tune by the end!  My only complaint is I wish we found out more about this magical book that brought Killian to life!  I would've loved to know where it came from. This is a simple romance low on the spice meter and the perfect beach read for the summer.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was so disappointing. The book started off weird, the transition for finding a random book that came to life was just random. I understand what the author was trying to do with the misogyny in the workforce but it did not land at all (seemed so forced) and the whole “woe is me I’m single and everyone in pestering me to be in a relationship” was just so 2010s I couldn’t even deal. This one really wasn’t for me.

Leighton has had it with dating after being ghosted one too many times. One night, she stumbles upon a second-hand book that whisks her away to the charming small town of Lakeville Hills, where she dreams of billionaire cowboy Killian St Clair.

Leigh finds comfort in her nightly escapes to Lakeville Hills, making her real troubles more bearable. But one morning, she wakes up to find Killian in her apartment. Now, she must help him to blend into reality and also try to protect herself from falling for her book boyfriend that came to life.

Camilla Isley's stories are adorable, heartwarming romances that really tug at your emotions. I devoured this book in a single day and loved every moment. Killian is the perfect book boyfriend brought to life, and his transition from a fictional character to a real person is fascinating. Leighton, a determined grad student who can't seem to find the right guy and is surrounded by couples, often finds their "couples wisdom" annoying. At first, it seemed repetitive, but then I realized it was a reflection of Leigh's own unhappiness, not a jab at relationships. By the end, her perspective shifts beautifully.

This is a charming, low-spice romance that's perfect for a summer beach read.

Thank you, NetGalley and Boldwood Books.

This was a really fun read-- the premise is original and refreshing. I immediately gravitated to it. It reminds me of isekai manwha where the heroine is transported into a new world, except those tend to have the heroine reincarnated or inhabiting a new body, whereas in this book our heroine is safely still her and her new world is only in her dreams, where all her fantasies come true.

Until the man in said fantasies makes it into her real world.

I related tremendously to Leighton, she was such a wonderful heroine to follow and to root for her as well. I would have enjoyed more layers to Killian, nevertheless he's so fabulously swoony and I wholly enjoyed his interaction with Leighton, both in his world and in hers.

Overall, I had a good time reading through this one-- it was very much a comfort read; a story that saw the growth of courage, of love, and of endless possibilities.

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this complimentary arc, I leave this honest review voluntarily.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if your fictional boyfriend suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the real world? If so, you should definitely read this book! From the moment I started reading it, I couldn't put it down!

Leighton is tired of living her everyday life. When she is ghosted by yet another Tinder match, Leighton swears she will never date again. She prefers losing herself in her fantasy world. One day she discovers a magical book that allows her to travel to Lakeville Hills, a little community. And she now visits there every evening. Until one day she wakes up and discovers that she unintentionally brought Killian back into her actual life.

Leigh is such a fantastic, grounded heroine. I identify a lot of common ground with her, including the bitter loneliness of being single in the face of your friends' marriages. Her cynicism, snark, and humor are all things I adore. I eagerly anticipated her next interaction with Killian.
And Killian is, well, the manifestation of every bookworm's dream. A gorgeous boyfriend who is also so very sweet. I simply adored him!

This was a great book about books that included all of the best tropes and clichés from romance. This was a short and delightful read from an author who never fails to impress! Highly recommended for all romance fans!

From the get go, I knew I was going to fall in love with the characters. Leighton is just your normal ordinary girl and I can see myself in her. And when the plot develops, it really brought me into the book strongly.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to fellow book-lovers, especially those fond of romance. "It Started with a Book" is a definite winner!

“It started with a book” is a declaration to all booklovers out there. It is a heart-warming romance for all romance novel readers that sometimes wish their bookboyfriend comes alive and would be there for them. This happens to Leighton who reads a cowboy-romance novel and fells in love with the main character Kilian St. Clair. Each night she dreams away and their love develops further. But then the man comes to real-life.
This novel is heart-warmingly written. It had great episodes that provoked laughter and I had fun reading it. The two protagonists are greatly characterised. I loved the way the author let them meet and how the story developed. Sometimes I had the impression that it is prolonged and that not much was happening. Otherwise, I was really enjoying my reading time.
The idea war clearly brilliantly and also well executed by the author. The writing style was well so that I could flip through the pages quickly. Both characters were enjoyable and also the side characters were cute.
I would recommend the novel to all book-lovers. Especially, for romance lovers this book is definitely a win!

Leighton has had a long line of bad dates, terrible set ups and has been ghosted more than a few times. All she wants is a romance like the novels she reads.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

So after another blind date, when she falls asleep reading a cowboy romance she doesn’t expect to dream that she’s the main character being sought after by a cowboy billionaire.

Suddenly Leighton can’t wait to escape reality to go back to sleep and dream about the cowboy every night. That is until one morning she wakes up and her dreams have somehow come true…

I really loved the concept for this book, and yes it’s a bit silly. But I think it really brings to life the dynamic of book boyfriends and living in your own book world and will be so relatable for loads of people in that sense.

The reason I only gave it three stars is because I just didn’t know how I felt about the book overall. I wanted a bit more build up from Killian, and there were times I started to dislike Leighton towards the end. I really loved the parts where she was in the book, so the real life side just made me want to shout at her to live a bit more.

I do however feel that one of the best parts was not knowing what would happen to Killian. The suspense made me race to the end.

Thank you Camila Isley, Netgalley and Boldwood Books for this advanced reader copy of It All Started With a Book!

This was such a unique book!!

Leighton’s dating life hits rock bottom after being ghosted by another Tinder match, leading her to swear off dating apps for good. I mean, aren’t book boyfriends always better anyways?!

One night, she discovers a second-hand book that magically transports her to Lakeville Hills, a small town where the men are ruggedly handsome. She meets Killian there in her dreams.

The plot takes an exciting twist when she wakes up to find Killian has crossed over into her world.

This was such a unique book that is an easy and enjoyable read.

For romance readers, this book is a DREAM (your book dreams come true?!)

If you’ve ever wished for your fictional crush to step out of the pages, this book is for you.

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF. I could tell from the first chapter that It Started with a Book wasn't for me. I didn't really care for the FMC. I found Leighton's narrative pessimistic, especially when it came to describing relationships. I didn't click with her narrative voice. I also thought the plot was a little choppy and the pacing was slow to start. Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC.

3/5 - Light, easy, quick romance. Book boyfriend came to life, cute idea and a nice read. Perfect for a holiday book.

📚It Started With a Book ✨by @camillaisley
Thank you to @netgalley for this ARC. here is my honest review!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌶️
My thoughts: ROMANCE BOOK LOVERS ‼️ I highly recommend this one for you. This is every romantic book lover’s dream 😻 A magic book that somehow brings your book boyfriend to life? and he gets to stay? Sign me up! I wasn’t expecting to love this one so much, but I couldn’t put it down and finished it in less than 12 hours. I like the watching the confidence grow within Leighton all from having Killian by her side. She had a rough time dating and trust issues, and Killian healed all of that by proving how much he loves her and how real it truly was. I devoured this book and definitely recommend it so you can too! 💗

This book was slow to get into in the beginning, but ever since their little dip in the lake, I WAS HOOKED!!! I love this book! The FMC is relatable and the MMC is the literal perfect book bf. If you like books that contain books, and every other trope imaginable, you will love this book. It is a slow burn, mostly closed door romance, but the storyline more than makes up for it. I will definitely be reading more of her books in the future. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

I really enjoyed the premise of this - the escapist dreams of a romance reader suddenly becoming a reality. And there's a lot to enjoy for fans of the genre; a lot of tongue-in-cheek references to romance tropes. It's all good-natured and very meta, and a lot of fun. I did feel like I wanted a bit more substance to things - in particular, I thought the whole MacGuffin of the switch from fiction to reality was a bit *too* handwavey, and while there were vague, implicit parallels between the idea of AI and how you can test how 'real' it is (Leighton's research) and the 'realness' of her relationship with Killian, I think not going beyond the surface with that was a bit of a missed opportunity. That said - this is meant to be a quick, fun page-turner, so as long as you don't expect a deep exploration of things, you're bound to enjoy the read!

This was a really great book. Once I got into it I just couldn't put it down because I had to know what happened next. This was an interesting concept. We meet Leighton who is a single girl living in a world where all her friends are in a couple. That could be tough because everyone wants to see each person be happy and be a part of a couple. She's very much an avid reader and when she picks up this book with blank pages part way through she starts dreaming the rest of the pages to life. So much so that she actually brings the main love interest into her own world. Again, very interesting concept and one I'm sure many of us readers wish we could do. Bringing our book boyfriends to life and having them stay there.

She definitely has a lot of issues with trust and believing that Killian will stay in her world, so she's very doubtful and doesn't want to fall completely for him. It was interesting reading about her feelings and how much Killian really wanted to be in her life, in her world in her reality. I loved the book and kind of hope it happens again, but if it doesn't it was a great read and I would definitely recommend picking this up. gives you hope that somewhere out there there is someone for you.

A bookworm main character goes to sleep every night dreaming she is actually part of the book she is reading (a cowboy romance) until one day she actually wakes up next to her book boyfriend in her real life.
~plz lord I’ve seen what you’ve done for others~🙏
Fun idea but was overall just a simple, anticlimactic read. Rounding up from like a 2.5

Book boyfriend comes to life!!

——
Who wouldn’t love that?!! This is a story of woman who swears off dating for life after being ghosted by yet another Tinder match. When Leighton (FMC) stumbled upon on what I call a “mysterious magical” book on her TBR she was magically transported to Lakeville Hills but only in her dreams. She’s living a normal life during daytime.

One day, she woke up with Killian (MMC,the billionaire cowboy in her dreams) in her apartment. And it blows my mind, there’s a big question in me: How did it happen?

There is no explanation how and why this book boyfriend of hers turns into reality but hey this is everybody’s bookworm dream!!

It’s fun reading it but not my favorite reads for this year. Rated it 4 stars because I am looking for the explanation how it all happened, just a little backstory won’t hurt.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Received this as an ARC in ebook form, thanks to Boldwoodbooks and NetGalley :)

When I first started reading this book, I was quite annoyed by the idea of a fictional book hero becoming real. The idea seemed far-fetched and annoyingly unrealistic. Killian's arrogance and attitude doesn't make him likable either. Thankfully, I did not drop the book and read it till the end because it does get better, and so does Killian's attitude.
In the end, this book surprised me and made me realize how it is every book lover's dream come true. A handsome, kind, wealthy fictional hero coming to life and taking away all of the heroine's problems, or at least inspiring her enough to take control of her life.
Definitely an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC. This was a very cute and light rom com but I did find the dreamworld aspect a little annoying at times. Mostly because it added a slightly weird vibe to the whole encounter that made their romance feel almost disingenuous and discordant to my brain.

However I loved the banter, the author did do something different and it ultimately worked!

“It Started with a Book” is cute, albeit slightly predictable. I can relate to the main character‘s frustrations related to dating. I can also relate to her wanting to escape into dreamworld instead of reality at times. I wasn’t sure how the story was going to end… I kept waiting for something that never happened. In a way the book is a little annoying because while it’s a super cute story about finding love and happiness, it also describes a relationship situation that can never actually happen. Which is sad. But I’d still give this 4 stars.