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11.7k reviews for:

A Novel Love Story

Ashley Poston

3.76 AVERAGE

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

✦POV: Single first-person
Elsy is charming and relatable and knows how to wield sarcasm like a pro. Her recent history is heartbreaking and her longing for connection and genuine friendship resonated with me.

Anders is a swoon-worthy, stoic, and lovable grump whose attraction to Elsy is delightfully transparent.

The banter between them is sharp and clever; plenty of giggles!

How come every interaction with him felt like I was trading barbs? Just being near him made my body feel like it’d been jolted with electricity.

🎙️Narrator: Dorothy Dillingham Blue
She brought so much depth and feeling to the narration. Gold star for the immersive experience; it was a lovely listen.

✦Spice: The door is ajar
The tension! The chemistry! They play well at the enemies card, pretending they can’t stand each other but that slow burn build-up to swooping belly and racing heart is so delicious, I was addicted. 😮‍💨🫠

» The combination of mystery, romance, and magical realism hooked me. It was low-angst but still a compelling page-turner.

» Uncovering the quirky townsfolk for who they are in the novels vs. reality was entertaining and kept me interested.

» I will read anything Poston writes. Stories are always richly developed, beautifully described, and hit me straight in the feels. Every. Time.

✩ The unknown garden of docs and drafts! How do you even think of these things, ma’am? I want to have a wander through your mind please, I bet it’s a wondrous place.

♡ This broke my heart, put it back together, and ignited my imagination. I'm confident it will live rent-free in my mind for a while. Highly recommended- HEA guaranteed!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

✦ More Tropes: small town, forced proximity, he falls first, meet cute, second chance at love, secret identity, fling, found family, cinnamon roll, grumpy x sunshine, afraid to commit

I read my Fairyloot edition and listened to the audio thanks to my trusty Toronto Public Library card and the Libby App.

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Expand filter menu Content Warnings

I liked this and am looking forward to more by this author. I do think this could have used one more round with an editor because there were a bunch of little typos. 
hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Imagine that one day, while driving,
emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book definitely has some flaws, mainly some of the sentence structure seems clonky and just... "off." I never notice things like sentence structure, but I did this time, so that should tell you something. I found myself frequently going back over a sentence thinking, "What is that trying to say??" and reading it over two or three times before moving on. It was enough to pull me out of the story more frequently than I would have liked. 

That being said, A Novel Love Story was otherwise a very cute read. I laughed out loud. I teared up. I stayed up late for just "one more chapter."

Recommended for a quick, light read.
adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Such a cute book & the end was honestly PERFECT! ♥