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beate251 's review for:
A Novel Love Story
by Ashley Poston
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for this ARC.
Elsy is an English teacher with a great love for romance books. Her book club meets every year in a deserted cabin but this year none other than her can make it and on the way there she gets stranded in a strange little town called Eloraton which turns out to be the small town from her favourite book series come to life.
Now, who has a favourite
book series they read over and over until they know it by heart? Who are these people who read books multiple times? How do they find the time? I can't ever hope to read all the books on my Kindle and they go a second or fifth time on a book? Also, Eloraton sounds like a name out of a fantasy series rather than a romance read.
I love romance books and this is an ode to romance books, with tons of tropes like insta love, grumpy/ sunshine, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, small-town romance, third-act break up etc.
It should therefore work but it just didn't grab me. It feels like I should have read the fictional book series first to find the fascination in burgers that are always a little burnt and a possum that no one can find.
I'm not sure I liked Elsy as a character. It is not ok to slap a man! He even says afterwards that he deserved it. Now imagine a woman had said that! I really thought we'd left this particular action in the past where it belongs.
Also, no offense but mint green is an awful colour, especially for eyes. It really didn't need repeating that often. We get it, you like his eyes! And they are green! Who cares about his other attributes, the most important thing is his eye colour!
There was quite a bit of swearing in the book and some vulgar descriptions of people's sex lives, something I really don't care for. Why do Americans in books insist on broadcasting their sex life to the world?
This book can't decide whether it wants to be traditional or modern and therefore is neither, landing somewhere in-between. I don't think that's bad but this romance novel within a romance novel just didn't work for me. I didn't find the chemistry between the two main characters believable, the magical realism took over and there were too many characters to keep track of, which also weren't fleshed out enough as they were summarised from four fictional previous books. It's ironic that in a romance book that celebrates romance books the romance fell flat because too much time is spent on back stories for all the side characters that get no real room to grow anyway.
I'm sure this will work for a lot of people as an easy, fluffy, escapist read with a predictable Happy Ever After. However, I needed more of a romantic journey and less of minty eyes. Basically, I love the premise of the book but not the execution.
Elsy is an English teacher with a great love for romance books. Her book club meets every year in a deserted cabin but this year none other than her can make it and on the way there she gets stranded in a strange little town called Eloraton which turns out to be the small town from her favourite book series come to life.
Now, who has a favourite
book series they read over and over until they know it by heart? Who are these people who read books multiple times? How do they find the time? I can't ever hope to read all the books on my Kindle and they go a second or fifth time on a book? Also, Eloraton sounds like a name out of a fantasy series rather than a romance read.
I love romance books and this is an ode to romance books, with tons of tropes like insta love, grumpy/ sunshine, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, small-town romance, third-act break up etc.
It should therefore work but it just didn't grab me. It feels like I should have read the fictional book series first to find the fascination in burgers that are always a little burnt and a possum that no one can find.
I'm not sure I liked Elsy as a character. It is not ok to slap a man! He even says afterwards that he deserved it. Now imagine a woman had said that! I really thought we'd left this particular action in the past where it belongs.
Also, no offense but mint green is an awful colour, especially for eyes. It really didn't need repeating that often. We get it, you like his eyes! And they are green! Who cares about his other attributes, the most important thing is his eye colour!
There was quite a bit of swearing in the book and some vulgar descriptions of people's sex lives, something I really don't care for. Why do Americans in books insist on broadcasting their sex life to the world?
This book can't decide whether it wants to be traditional or modern and therefore is neither, landing somewhere in-between. I don't think that's bad but this romance novel within a romance novel just didn't work for me. I didn't find the chemistry between the two main characters believable, the magical realism took over and there were too many characters to keep track of, which also weren't fleshed out enough as they were summarised from four fictional previous books. It's ironic that in a romance book that celebrates romance books the romance fell flat because too much time is spent on back stories for all the side characters that get no real room to grow anyway.
I'm sure this will work for a lot of people as an easy, fluffy, escapist read with a predictable Happy Ever After. However, I needed more of a romantic journey and less of minty eyes. Basically, I love the premise of the book but not the execution.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Alcohol