Storybook Ending was a bit of a conundrum for me. It should have been a super quick and fun read. Yet for some reason, it took me almost 2 weeks to finish, and I was left feeling like 3/4 of the book was pretty much a slog while I flew through the last quarter of it in about 30 minutes. I felt like it was very unbalanced. While I enjoyed the concept of a romance created through notes left in books at a bookstore (what reader wouldn't love this?), I feel as though it could have been carried out more effectively than it was. For much of the beginning of the book, I honestly could not keep the two main characters straight. While there were very obvious differences between them (one is a widow and a mother to a young daughter while the other is a young woman with not many defining characteristics), their voices did not feel unique to me, and so I had a hard time keeping them straight. My other major complaint is that the romantic male interest of the story just seems so....lame. Sure he sounds amazingly good looking (as told to us by basically every character who runs into him), but other than that, he is completely self-absorbed and oblivious to the point where it almost seemed like a joke.

This was a sweet story about someone who leaves a note in a book, then gives it to the bookstore where she hopes it will find a handsome bookstore worker. The notes get passed back and forth between 2 people and you also meet a few of their friends and the worlds end up coming together over the course of the book.

Calling all WFH cozy core girlies ✨📚💌 This is bound to be your next favorite read. I loved this book so much, and could drone on for ages about what makes this so special (the cast of lively and lovable characters, the cozy slice of life narrative or the romcom plot that goes hilariously askew). This quote on the final pages pretty much sums it up “The whole scene felt, April thought, just like a movie, the kind you’d want to watch over and over, always wanting to enter its world one more time”.

Big thank you to Random House for giving me the opportunity to read this arc before publication 🩷

This book was fine. Cute premise but dragged. Didn’t get to the point. The characters were barely flushed out, and the male main character Westley was honestly a drag. Beyond being written as good looking there wasn’t much likable about him. And the gag about his name got old very quick. The two main female characters were not very remarkable and I honestly mixed them up until 3/4 of the way through. It wasn’t a memorable book with memorable characters.

So wholesome, so cozy!!! Maybe I'm biased being from the Seattle area myself but this book captures the Seattlelite experience and the different types of personalities very well. I hope other readers appreciate the location too :)

I loved the three way POV and how different yet alike all the characters were. This was a story of love in all forms from friendship to romantic to self-love and even just general loving of life. I enjoyed the additions of emails and bookstore employee anecdotes. A very lovely read, would highly recommend!

Who knew I needed a sweet little cozy litfic book in my life. This was so wholesome and is meant to be read slow with a cup of tea. Although this book might be too "slow" for some it was perfectly paced for me. I loved that I could hop in and out of this story and be transported to a cozy bookshop in Seattle. Lots of sweet references to Norah Ephron {my fave} which is appropriate since this book did really feel like one of her movies. I really enjoyed my reading experience with this one and LOVED how it all wrapped up in the end!

Thank you NetGalley and Duttonbooks for this ARC! :)

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the e-ARC!
This was a cute and simple read! The characters and the setting made it very cozy.

- I will say that I was hoping for this to turn out as a 5 star read. While this was a fun story to read - the premise keeping me interested in how things would turn out - I felt pretty let down with how little bit of information we ended up with. I wanted the ending to be a bit more fleshed out, especially in regards to Westley and Alejandra's story. I loved that they ended up getting together after all of this! I just wish we could have experienced more of them falling in love as a wrap up to that story line considering Westley seemed against the idea of opening himself up to a relationship again - it would have been great to see how he worked on that and ultimately fell in love again. There was more telling and less showing.

- At times, the dialogue felt a bit robotic, but nothing to the point where's it's unreadable.
- I would have liked to see April develop a more positive relationship with her brother in terms of boundaries. That would have been a good growing point for her.
- Ultimately, I still found the story to be sweet. I just think there was potential to dive deeper into each person individually. They all felt like three main characters to me and maybe writing their POV's in first person would have helped to feel even more connected.

PS: I think this would do well as a limited TV series :)

I really liked this books story and the characters. I wasn't sure how I felt about knowing what was going on with each character while they all had a misunderstanding. I felt like that might be a boring story, but it wasn't. I tore through the last part of this book because I had to see how it all worked out.

This is a fun rom-com that reminds of 90's classics like You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle. I would love if this gets made into a movie!

Storybook Ending is the perfect book for book lovers! The setting is a classic bookstore that you would want to spend hours in. You can almost smell the pages of the books from the description. This book is a bit of a romcom mixed with a bit of suspense. The mystery was a bit unexpected, but you'll want to keep reading to piece the plot together. Wishing Moira Macdonald big success with the book. This would be a fun movie adaptation.

Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Group Dutton and Netgalley for an advance copy of Storybook Ending by Moira Macdonald.

Cozy up with a cup of coffee at a small bookstore outside of Seattle, Washington and meet the employees and the customers of the bookstore in this sweet novel.

The talk of the bookstore by both the ladies and some men is Westley, named after the character in the princess bride. He's in his early 30s, handsome and fits in with the vibe of the used bookstore section. He knows he gets attention on his looks but rather ignores the attempts of flirting from the customer. He'd rather be at home reading a good book. There's one he's into lately that he's been writing the Author, who he doesn't know is one of his colleagues.

April, a work at home tech employee in her 30s is quite smitten with Westley and just thrives on even just a glance her way from him. She's very lonely and feels isolated from the world and dating in general so staring at Westley is a distraction. She writes a letter to him and sticks it in a book she returns, hoping he will respond.

Laura, a widowed mom of a rambunctious 7 year old is in her early 40s. She is a personal stylist at a expensive boutique. She also thinks Westley is a cute distraction from her life and discovers April's note and responds onmy using her first initial

We also get thoughts from all of the bookstore employees as well as pov chapters from Westley.

I was rooting for Laura and Westley because she actually caught his attention with her cookies she baked for him plus her daughter talked to him. He communicated with him. Her coworkers and friends try to intervene on her behalf to set them up.

I thought this story was well written , entertaining and painted a great picture of every detail of the setting. I coukd see this as a movie.

However I was disappointed by the ending. I did go into this book with the hopes that it was a love triangle romance. In typical romance stories the mmc has some chemistry with one fmc and makes a decision based on the chemistry.

The pathway of each of the main characters here was disjointed and there wasn't much chemistry between any of the characters beyond a possible pen pal friendship between the fmcs for most of the book. I felt like labeling this book as a romance is misleading. Chick Lit definitely. Comedy, sure. Misunderstanding, yep. Romance not so much.

</spoiler>I was still rooting for the possible chemistry developing between Laura and Westley and was disappointed that in the end each main character started dating a side character or a newly introduced character. Although it made sense, especially for Westley, which the reveal of his female charachter being the male name author he was reading ( which reminded me of a scene from The Storied Life if AJ Filkery). I didn't want to let go of that shred of hope for a HEA between him and Laura and wish that budding chemistry had been actually explored.<spoiler>

Barely made it through, had to skim a lot of it. There was no clear protagonist which I think is fine in TV shows with an ensemble cast but never works for me in books. I didn’t particularly identify with any of the characters. The plot was so drawn out and predictable. It should have at least ended with a riotous scene unveiling the confused identities but even the climax was spread out over multiple scenes, losing its punch. And for a book about millennials the cultural touchstones were a generation or two off. You’ve Got Mail, really?

Storybook Ending really gets what it feels like to be stuck – whether that’s in routine, grief, or just a life that doesn’t quite fit you right. It explores how human connection can help pull you out of it. I really related to that, especially the way the main characters filled their loneliness with daydreams of what could happen, or regrets about what didn’t.

The story starts with a simple misunderstanding, but it turns into something bigger: friendship, romance, and fresh starts.

This is a slow paced, meandering, slice of life type of story. At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. The blurb led me to believe it would be funnier and have a stronger romantic throughline, but it’s quieter and more introspective. The misunderstandings aren’t really played for comedy, and while there are some eccentric side characters, the humor is pretty subtle.

A third of the way into the book, I felt a little aimless? The story is littered with letters, emails, notes, and vignettes that showcase perspectives from the entire cast. It felt a bit cluttered, and not all of the plot threads seemed necessary. But by the end, everything came together really well in a way that felt serendipitous, like one of those ensemble rom-coms where everything falls into place. Even little moments I thought were pointless added emotional depth. I was reminded of Love Actually, except more autumnal and with a focal point of a bookstore instead of Christmas.

I could relate to the main characters in different ways. Laura’s sense of not having enough time to really live her life, April feeling stagnant and lonely in her job, and Westley wanting more for himself but not seeing a path forward. They occasionally have some bad takes, but that makes them feel real!

Westley was especially relatable to me, despite his (frankly, offensive) dislike of The Princess Bride. We both can’t help but to escape into stories and take long walks in the rain when we’re overwhelmed with life. The only thing I couldn’t relate to was him being too hot for his own good. Dang. I wish.

What brought this all together for me was the (storybook) ending and the writing. There were so many thoughtful little observations – I kept highlighting lines that hit me in the feels. The prose brought to life all of those small moments of connection that make life feel meaningful. If you like books about human connection, new beginnings, and that kind of quiet, everyday magic that happens when people cross paths at the right time, this one’s worth picking up. It has a slow start, but as the characters find out, sometimes it’s worth giving something new a chance.

Thank you to Netgalley, Penguin Group Dutton, and Moira MacDonald for providing me with this ebook for an honest review. This title releases on May 27, 2025.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and Penguin Group Dutton in exchange for an honest review.

Storybook Ending is a joy of a book. I was delighted by the cast of characters, the setting, and the misunderstanding that leads to a new and promising friendship. It's hard to make new friends as an adult and this book has such a hopeful and sweet take on it.

When April decides to leave a note inside of a book at the used book desk at her local bookstore, she believes she is in correspondence with the cute male employee that all the women fawn over. When Laura finds a note inside of her book she purchased from her local bookstore, she believes she is starting an epic love story with said employee. When Westley goes to work every day…he’s totally oblivious to the fact that he is currently in the midst of a confusing love triangle.

Told from the POV of 3 different characters (April, Laura, & Westley,) this book tells a beautiful story about love, friendship, & finding your way in the world as an adult.

I loved every second of this book, very You’ve Got Mail but honestly even more heartwarming. An incredible debut novel - I can’t wait to read more from this author! ❤️

This was a sweet read. I enjoyed all of hijinks and getting to know the characters. Thank you to netgalley for an advanced copy. My opinions are my own.

This book about letter writers and book stores made me want to live in that world. The main characters provide a broad picture for all the other characters to be part of the bigger story. I would have only asked to have more back story on the other book store employees but other than that this was an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Storybook Ending was a really cute story! It’s a sort of love triangle (but not really). This story bounces between three different characters and Macdonald did a great job balancing their stories out and tying everything together.

If you like cozy rom-coms, then this book is definitely worth checking out!

This book is like a cozy rom-com wrapped in a love letter to bookstores. A misdelivered note, a clueless bookstore clerk, and two women who find themselves caught in an unexpected love triangle—what could possibly go wrong? Macdonald balances humor, heart, and a deep love for the written word, making this a feel-good read with just enough twists to keep things interesting. It’s warm, witty, and full of the kind of serendipity that only happens in the best rom-coms. If you love You’ve Got Mail, The Lost Letter, or Beach Read, this is right up your alley.t read.

3.75⭐️
This book was cute! I enjoyed it. The writing was overall good! It follows 3 perspectives and at first I was a little worried about that but ultimately I really enjoyed it. I never knew what was going to happen (except I did definitely guess 1 of the minor twists). It had comedic relief and definite coziness! I enjoyed it. It’s definitely a storybook ending.
The one thing that I didn’t love was the constant -words- or veryyyy long parentheses. I liked how these added to the story and made you feel like you were very invested but sometimes it would go on for far too long and become confusing.

This author’s writing style was not my favorite. The story was cute, but I was bogged down by some of the descriptions/found them unnecessary. I did like the characters, but I wish it had been written a bit differently.