E-galley Review: A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston
Published by Berkley on June 25, 2024
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance, Adult Magical Realism
Pages: 384
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
Goodreads
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Blurb:

A professor of literature finds herself caught up in a work of fiction… literally.

Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. At home. Which might be why she’s so set on going to her annual book club retreat this year—she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures—no matter what. 

But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel… 

Because it is. 

This place can’t be real, and yet… she’s here, in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series, where the candy store’s honey taffy is always sweet, the local bar’s burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It feels like home. It’s perfect—and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story. 

Elsy is sure that’s why she must be here: to help bring the town to its storybook ending. 

Except there is a character in Eloraton that she can’t place—a grumpy bookstore owner with mint-green eyes, an irritatingly sexy mouth and impeccable taste in novels. And he does not want her finishing this book. 

Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town’s happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own.

My Review

Um, I adored this book so much! I saw a bad review on Goodreads and I had to hold myself back from commenting on all the wrongness in their review, lol. I know, I know, my opinion and their opinion are both right! We don’t do that to other bloggers/reviewers!

While at first I was a little annoyed with maybe how Eileen acted with her friend, I also totally got it. This was again a familiar issue for me, friends moving on in their lives, getting engaged, having other things to do instead of the annual traditional trip or event or get together. Eileen had a lot going on with what had happened with her ex, but boy did I still want to smack that guy. In a way though, both he and her best friend could see that she let others kind of decide what she was going to do, and didn’t necessarily fight for her own dreams or wants.

Going to this retreat thing, though, even though no one else was going, that was the beginning of her fighting or doing what she wanted. But then, when she ended up broke down in the town that is her favorite town in her favorite series, that’s when it got interesting. I mean, how often do we readers talk about which of our favorite book worlds we’d want to go to? Right now, I think I want to go to Meghan Quinn’s little town of Almond Bay. But I digress.

She met the grumpy Anders right away. And he doesn’t seem to like her from right off the bat. But he can tell after one thing she says that she could mess with all the people in this little town. Mess up the story.

Elsy gets in and begins to wonder about little things with the characters/couples that she “knows” and loves from her favorite books. But with the final book never getting written, it feels like there are things missing to solve and make them have their complete HEA. Not to mention that Anders isn’t any character she knows in the books, even if there is the bookstore mentioned in spots in the books. He won’t let her go to the waterfall, the magical place in the stories that the couples kiss and fall in love. He doesn’t want her to mess up any of the characters’ stories. Just because she knows all about them, she’s a stranger, so it could be weird to just talk to them.

In the town though, stuck because of a car part issue, she does get to know them, and get to be friends. And Anders is more of a maybe enemies-to-lovers or a grumpy-sunshine eventual romance. Even though Elsy is sure there must be a love interest coming to him. He does go into a weird little area behind a building, and after sneaking in there, she wonders even more who he is. I got an inkling about him at one point, and I loved that I was right about that! I loved that aspect of the story, that twist, even if for a minute at the end I was sure Elsy wouldn’t get her own HEA and I was going to throw a fit!

I loved, loved, loved this story so much and I can’t wait till I get to meet the author next month! Another winner from Ashley Poston!