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A review by ashley_mrose530
A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This one was pretty cute. I loved the premise of this book. Who wouldn't want to fall into their favorite book series and then end up falling in love with someone else who did the same thing?? It's literally every book lover's dream and that made the idea of this book so interesting.
I thought the main romance was so cute. Anderson was such a grumpy guy who seemed to turn everyone away from getting to know him until Eileen came in. She seems so happy and sunny but I liked that she was basically putting that on as a mask for how frozen inside she really was. She put everything on pause in her life after her breakup but outwardly you wouldn't know it. I would have liked to see her open up more to Anders as the book went on. I felt like they had some really cute moments together but I never really felt like they were actually getting to know one another. I can't even remember if she ever told him about her ex fiancé Liam. But I still enjoyed their cute scenes together like the waterfall and the spaghetti.And I liked that he took the time to "get his life in order" before rushing to be with her right away at the end. It was definitely necessary for them both to get their lives to where they really wanted to be before they jumped into a life together and I'm glad that Poston recognized that and kept it in the story.
That being said, quite a bit of this book didn't work as well as I wanted it to. First of all, the side characters and plots were boring. I was not invested in these characters from a fictional book inside this book because I hadn't read the same stories as Elsie has. So I didn't care about them like she did and so whenever she was trying to help them, I just wanted her to go back to Anders and develop their relationship more, especially since I still feel at the end that it was lacking a little bit. I feel like most of the side characters were interchangeable and I couldn't keep up with who was who throughout most of the book. Their plots were kind of interesting with the ghost toilet and the missing possum but I just ultimately didn't care enough about them and so they were boring.
Second, if I were Elsie and had just stumbled into my favorite book series, I would have SO MANY questions and the fact that Elsie knew that Anders was aware the whole thing was a book but no one else was, would add even more questions that I would then ask him. But she didn't??? It was very noticeable that she didn't ask him a single thing about how that world got to be there, how he stumbled into it, nothing. Like, even if he didn't know the answers, these would still be the first questions out of my mouth once I realized what was happening and the lack of these logistical questions bothered me throughout the entire book.
I'm guessing they were omitted in order to set up the overall miscommunication troupe of Elsieassuming Anders is part of the story rather than a real person. But I still hated that these questions weren't asked at all.
Overall, I think it's a fascinating premise for a book, but it might not have been executed as well as I would have hoped for.
I thought the main romance was so cute. Anderson was such a grumpy guy who seemed to turn everyone away from getting to know him until Eileen came in. She seems so happy and sunny but I liked that she was basically putting that on as a mask for how frozen inside she really was. She put everything on pause in her life after her breakup but outwardly you wouldn't know it. I would have liked to see her open up more to Anders as the book went on. I felt like they had some really cute moments together but I never really felt like they were actually getting to know one another. I can't even remember if she ever told him about her ex fiancé Liam. But I still enjoyed their cute scenes together like the waterfall and the spaghetti.
That being said, quite a bit of this book didn't work as well as I wanted it to. First of all, the side characters and plots were boring. I was not invested in these characters from a fictional book inside this book because I hadn't read the same stories as Elsie has. So I didn't care about them like she did and so whenever she was trying to help them, I just wanted her to go back to Anders and develop their relationship more, especially since I still feel at the end that it was lacking a little bit. I feel like most of the side characters were interchangeable and I couldn't keep up with who was who throughout most of the book. Their plots were kind of interesting with the ghost toilet and the missing possum but I just ultimately didn't care enough about them and so they were boring.
Second, if I were Elsie and had just stumbled into my favorite book series, I would have SO MANY questions and the fact that Elsie knew that Anders was aware the whole thing was a book but no one else was, would add even more questions that I would then ask him. But she didn't??? It was very noticeable that she didn't ask him a single thing about how that world got to be there, how he stumbled into it, nothing. Like, even if he didn't know the answers, these would still be the first questions out of my mouth once I realized what was happening and the lack of these logistical questions bothered me throughout the entire book.
I'm guessing they were omitted in order to set up the overall miscommunication troupe of Elsie
Overall, I think it's a fascinating premise for a book, but it might not have been executed as well as I would have hoped for.