I’m likely not the best person to listen to when it comes to reviewing romance. That said, I tried really hard to like Ashley Poston’s A Novel Love Story (Berkley 2024), but it fell way flat for me. The premise is cute enough – a woman who loves romance novels heads to a cabin for a weeklong of reading by herself, takes a wrong turn, and ends up in the fictional town of her favorite book series. The potential of the setup was so exciting. The execution, however, was meh.
Elsy winds up in Eloraton, the fictional town of her favorite romance series. The author of the series had tragically and unexpectedly died, and the characters are a bit in a rut. (Much like Elsy.) There is one character, Anders, that Elsy cannot place in any of the books. They have instant hate followed by almost instant love, and it annoyed the mess out of me.
There are lovely moments and some delicious descriptions, but overall, this missed every mark. The magical realism aspect seemed half-assed, the romance was only used out of convenience and to pivot the plot or create drama, which is fine, I guess, if there is at least chemistry that can read on the page. The failing of the novel is, honestly, that it’s a romance. If this had more of a Big Fish-esque feel of Elsy finding her spark and her identity again in this fictional town through helping these fictional characters whose author had died before finishing their plotlines, and ended with her leaving Anders and the town behind to live her life, I’d likely have enjoyed it far more. (Provided the magical realism aspect was handled correctly.)
Spoiler to come.
I actually thought the set up was to have Elsy take on the series, especially when she found the area with the drafts and bits and pieces of stories. She could have given them all a HEA and Anders never had to be “real” for her to do it. In addition to a plot that had me groan, the writing is repetitive and often dull, not enchanting and whimsical, and there are only so many descriptions I need of his green eyes.
Things I like: The cover. I also enjoyed the description of the town, and the actual set up of the fictional romance series. I would have likely enjoyed reading about that damn possum instead of this. This novel seems a bit of a love letter to readers, but I think it falls a bit flat. Ally Carter hit that note a bit sweeter in The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year.
If you typically like romances, give it a go, I guess.
A Girl Named Tommi 