Thank you very much to the publishers and Netgalley for sending me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I have since purchased my own copy of this book.
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.
Ashley Poston’s previous two romance novels have been some of my all-time favourite books. There were both the perfect combination of adorable romance, captivating characters and a magical realism twist. So, of course I was excited to read another romance by her as soon as I could.
A Novel Love Story is a magical romance made for book people. I loved the characters, the setting was charming and I loved the romance. It may not have lived up to the other the author’s other two romance novels in my opinion but it was still exceptional.
Elsy loves to get lost in a happily-ever-after. The fictional kind that is, because imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. Books are her safe place which is why she is so set on going to her annual book club retreat this year. But, when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a town that feels like it is right out of a novel. Because it is.
Somehow she finds herself in Eloraton, the town from her favourite romance series and it feels like home. Elsy is sure she must be there to help bring the town to its storybook ending. Expect, there is a character here she can’t place, the handsome and grumpy bookstore owner who doesn’t want her to finish the book. Which is an issue because Elsy is starting to think the town’s happily-ever-after might be intertwined with her own.
I think all readers will relate in some way to Elsy. In particular due to way she seeks escapism, peace and happiness in books. Her real life isn’t going well so she seeks the ‘perfect’ life through books like so many of us. She is an excellent main character but I did wish she would stop meddling in other people’s life as much as she did.
Anders is introduced to us a grump bookstore owner who is avoiding happiness. As we get to know him he in fact incredibly sweet, caring and trying to open up more. I loved his backstory and seeing how this has affected him as a person.
We get to meet quite a lot of side characters throughout this book and I loved so many of them. Each of them brings something unique to the story and they were all easy to distinguish between.
The romance in this book is wonderful. I was a big fan of the fact that there is time taken for the character to get to know one another on an emotional intimate level before the physical intimacy was shown. I think each of them could have controlled their emotions a little better at certain points but they worked well as a pair.
I loved that one of the focuses of this story is how books can change your life. Throughout the story there is a lot of focus on this as Elsy recovers from heartbreak and learns to love herself again. Books are a magical thing and this story highlights this perfectly.
The setting of this book is so well described that you can visualise it in your head perfectly. You can imagine exactly what the small town of Eloraton looks like, the sort of people who live there and how charming the location is. Ashley Poston always writes settings in such a beautiful way.
For me, this one was lacking something that I found in the other two romance novels by Ashley Poston. I can’t quite explain what it is but there was that spark missing that was very clear in the other two. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy this one though, it just didn’t quite live up to the hype. Ashley Poston is still going to be a romance author whose books are an auto-buy for me. She is spectacular.
Overall, A Novel Love Story is a sweet, emotional, funny and heart-warming romance novel which I would highly recommend. It is a romance made for book lovers about book lovers. It was a lovely read.
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