A review by sanihours
A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

medium-paced

2.0

[trying not to be a hater challenge failing badly] 

As one of those people who loved and when I say loved, I mean, loved Ashley Poston's writing, this was the worst kind of washed down disappointment. Please tell me this is not the same person who wrote The Dead Romantics and The Seven Year Slip because I found none of the warmth, the blossoming feeling of coming home in this book. What I've always admired about her writing was that you could be at the worst deranged phase of your life and you'd read her books and feel like, ‘‘no, there's something to life. I must!” 

Sadly and unfortunately, A Novel Love Story took me to the worst degrees of cringeness. Every action of the main character, Eileen Merriweather was a desperate attempt to show that she's quirky, that she feels things, that she's sad and depressed but tries to cover up with her unique blend of optimism and pessimism which made her a rather bland character. The author was trying too much to make her relatable. Keyword here: too much. 

"He smelled like black tea."
 "His minty gaze." 

What's with these descriptions? I'm sure half of the book is Eileen trying to describe Anders in her own quirky way. One of my biggest pet peeves is when the author tries to describe the male love interest again and again with those very same recycled words. Not to be rude but get an editor, please? 

Eileen and Anders had zero chemistry. Like, nor at all? What's the point of me reading a romcom if I don't get enough sexual tension that could be cut through a scissors? Nada. Nope. Zero. More like, they were being forced to fall for each other with absolutely no amount of tension. I would much rather go into Ruby and Jake's story considering how there were actual conflicts in their story. 

The premise was so interesting and the author could have executed it so well but sadly, no. The ending was so rushed and random, I'm banging my head against the wall. This is what you get for waiting for a book for a year, I guess. Another day of thanking God that I've The Dead Romantics and The Seven Year Slip with me, at least.