From the Bookshelf of Romance Book Buddy Reading…

A Novel Love Story

Ashley Poston

Finish date: July 13, 2024

Discussion: Completed Buddy Reads

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What Members Thought

Jul 12, 2024 Wanda Pedersen rated it really liked it

Shelves: female-authors, read-in-2024, public-library, fantasy, romance

Have you ever wished you could spend time in the world of your favourite book series? Personally, I use that idea when I'm having difficulty falling asleep. I imagine myself as a neighbour of one of my favourite characters and have conversations with them. In this book, Eileen Merriweather doesn't just lucid dream this scenario, she accidentally drives into the fictional town of Eloraton.

Eileen (Elsy for short) has just experienced a big disappointment. Usually, a group of friends (the Super Sm Have you ever wished you could spend time in the world of your favourite book series? Personally, I use that idea when I'm having difficulty falling asleep. I imagine myself as a neighbour of one of my favourite characters and have conversations with them. In this book, Eileen Merriweather doesn't just lucid dream this scenario, she accidentally drives into the fictional town of Eloraton.

Eileen (Elsy for short) has just experienced a big disappointment. Usually, a group of friends (the Super Smutty Book Club) assembles at a holiday cabin to relax, eat good food, drink wine, and of course read romance novels. This year, everyone else has conflicting events. Even her best friend is going to Iceland on a spur of the moment trip with her boyfriend (who she hopes is going to propose). Elsy, sad and on her own, decides she is going anyway. In a downpour of rain, her GPS gives up and she just about runs over a man who is standing in the middle of the road. And finds herself in Eloraton.

We gradually get to know Elsy's personal history. We meet the fictional characters that she has loved for years. We share her disappointment that the author, Rachel Flowers, died with the series unfinished. Elsy gets her bearings and finds that everyone in town is kind of stuck in a holding pattern and that her arrival has caused a disturbance. She gets to know Anders, the man she almost ran over, who seems to have been Rachel Flowers’ next book idea and who has been left high and dry by Flowers' death.

I participated in a buddy read of this book with a romance reading friend. I think we both enjoyed Ashley Poston's examination of a number of romance tropes as Elsy tries to figure out what's going on around her. Elsy is both an English professor and a romance reader, so she is well equipped for the task. We also enjoyed watching Elsy blossom from a compulsive people-pleaser to a woman who realizes that she deserves to have a life that she wants. To quit following others and to find what actually makes her happy.

The ending is happy, of course, but just as much from Elsy's newfound self confidence and willingness to try new things as from the new relationship she's developed. And that's how life should be, right? We should all have many things contributing to our happiness and not be dependent on a friend or a lover to be our only source of contentment. It takes a village to make a happy person.
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Jul 13, 2024 WhiskeyintheJar rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary, standalones, magical-realism

3.7 stars

I had a great time reading this with Wanda, for thoughts and comments: Novel Love Story Buddy Read

A woman trying to get over heartache ends up in her favorite romance series

Loved the magical realism aspect of winding up in your favorite romance series town and seeing the characters in their element.
Loved the highlighting of romance tropes and the commentary on why romance books are special to readers but also how it's important to keep perspective on real and fictionalized.

This defin ...more

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Jul 23, 2025 Obsidian rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2025-library-books, 2025-reading-challenge

I went back and forth on the rating on this one, and only because parts of it dragged. However, when Poston got into the rhythm of the book it really came together. How many romance readers among us would not love to be able to step into a romance series we love? It was a great premise and I liked the magical realism parts of the book a lot. I think the biggest issue I had was liking the character of Eileen. I just found her to be aggravating for a good 40 percent of the book, but she did grow o I went back and forth on the rating on this one, and only because parts of it dragged. However, when Poston got into the rhythm of the book it really came together. How many romance readers among us would not love to be able to step into a romance series we love? It was a great premise and I liked the magical realism parts of the book a lot. I think the biggest issue I had was liking the character of Eileen. I just found her to be aggravating for a good 40 percent of the book, but she did grow on me after a while.

"A Novel Love Story" follows English professor Eileen Merriweather. We know that something happened to Eileen that has caused her to really need to run to upstate New York like she has the previous two years. Her best friend going to Iceland where her boyfriend is likely to propose isn't helping matters any. Eileen gets stuck in a town in the middle of the night (in the rain). When she wakes up though, she realizes she has stepped into the pages of her favorite romance series that takes place in Eloraton. Eloraton is the town that her favorite characters inhabit that she has been loving for years. However, the bookstore owner named Anders is not part of the series and Eileen is trying to figure out how he and she fit this town.

Eileen was aggravating as I said above. I think her slapping Anders soon after they met turned me off a bit. That and her just flat out expecting her best friend's life to stay still for her turned me off too. I got it though, we just take a long road to Eileen and what caused her to fall in this romance series and how and why the yearly trek to New York came about.

I thought the character of Anders was very developed and even the characters from the romance series that Eileen loved. I think that was what was fun for me. I imagined how I would react and would I do this or that. But because this romance series was stopped mid-stream, there's a lot of unfinished lives going on and the feeling of being "stuck" which I think all of us would sympathize with.

The book and Eileen got better and then I felt liked Poston did a great job of showing us how Eileen is a stand-in for tons of us romance readers. When a series ends for whatever reason, it always feel like a little death. And Poston did a great job of showcasing just how awesome romances are and why readers love them. ...more

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Sep 24, 2024 T. Rosado rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, fantasy-or-sci-fi-or-pnr, audio-narrators-to-avoid, grumpy-sunshine, 2024

It took me six weeks to read this. Granted, I had to return it and then wait a week or so to borrow it again. I debated whether or not to DNF, but I had gotten far enough to just finish. I thought the premise was fanciful with potential for fun, but I didn’t love the characters or execution.

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