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A review by pagesplotsandpints
A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston
2.0
<b>Read Completed 7/3/24 |</b> 2 stars
Oof, this was.... disappointing, to put it nicely. There were a few good lines towards the end of the book but this was just not on the same level as THE DEAD ROMANTICS and THE SEVEN YEAR SLIP, both of which were favorites for me in my top reads of the year in previous years. This whole book was just not it for me and it felt like a totally different author. I can appreciate what she was going for here but this just didn't work for me.
A NOVEL LOVE STORY is much more fantasy than Poston's previous two adult romances. This ventures much further into a fantasy aspect than just a touch of magic/scifi/paranormal that we've seen before, and I sorely missed being in the real world. The fictional town that Eileen gets trapped in was sooooo cheesy and it was a little too on-the-nose with all of the bookish things. I think maybe that's just something I'm not enjoying the more that I read? I want to escape into reading, not be reminded about being bookish, having book clubs, etc. But anyway -- Eloraton (why do I hate this name so much) was wildly cheesy and even for a romantic comedy setting, it was a little too much. The burgers were always burned but they covered it up with hot sauce? Why can't they just cook a good burger? It always rained at a certain time? Magic falls? I thought this was supposed to be a romance town, not a fantasy. I guess it can be both, but it didn’t make sense and it wasn’t working for me.
Where this book really suffered, though, was that I had zero interest in the characters. Eileen was insecure, a little immature, and kind of annoying. I really didn’t see much growth from her aside being forced to make decisions on her own because she couldn’t communicate with anyone once she was inside this fictional small town. Anders was so boring? There was zero chemistry between Eileen and Anders, and having them be hate-to-love in the beginning really made everything worse. They spent almost no time together and then somehow they’re falling in love.
I also really could not have cared less about the fictional book characters. Eileen was trying to fix and finish their stories because the author of the books died, leaving the series unfinished, so she spent a lot of time with them… but it had no purpose. The characters were always fictional and it serves no purpose to the actual plot. She didn’t need to fix the town in order to leave (that was her choice), the characters don’t magically come alive in the real world or anything, there’s no final book that happens… so it was just a waste of time on characters who I couldn’t keep straight and didn’t care about because I don’t know this book series and have no idea who the characters are.
The ending did have some good moments. Eileen was kind of stupid that Anders wasn’t fictional (don’t call me on spoilers — you can def see that a mile away) but I did like that there was something more than just that. I did like that she ended up figuring out what SHE wanted apart from everyone else, but I kind of hated that she only did it because she was forced to, basically. And even then, it didn’t feel like a lot of growth.
And lastly, she said “minty” or “mint” in relation to his eyes almost TWENTY-FIVE TIMES. Yes, I counted. I made it a game so it was fun instead of annoying because I was going to lose my mind. There was way too much repetition and I don’t know how all of that made it past an editor. Also repeating black tea and his scents over and over. Look, I’m a candle-maker. I’m all for knowing how characters smell… but it was so repetitive. I get it, his eyes are mint green. I don’t even know what that means either. Like a mint leaf? Like the color mint that’s like a teal-ish blue? Like a candy mint? It’s supposed to be specific but it’s not.
I really, really, really didn’t like this being set in a fictional place. I could have maybe gotten on board with the characters showing up in a real place but they were still not real? I don’t know. I obviously wanted to try it and had hope, but it was just too cheesy and a little too silly for me.
AUDIOBOOK THOUGHTS: I listened to this as an audiobook, borrowed from my local library. Wow, I hated this narrator (Dorothy Dillingham Blue). She had a bit of a southern accent because Eileen was from the south (Georgia), but it was so annoying and her voice was too affected. I just wanted her to talk normally. It was over-the-top and I really did not like her narration. I will be avoiding her in the future if I can. Would it have been different with a different narrator? Quite possibly. I still don’t think I would have loved it but it would have saved some annoyance.
Oof, this was.... disappointing, to put it nicely. There were a few good lines towards the end of the book but this was just not on the same level as THE DEAD ROMANTICS and THE SEVEN YEAR SLIP, both of which were favorites for me in my top reads of the year in previous years. This whole book was just not it for me and it felt like a totally different author. I can appreciate what she was going for here but this just didn't work for me.
A NOVEL LOVE STORY is much more fantasy than Poston's previous two adult romances. This ventures much further into a fantasy aspect than just a touch of magic/scifi/paranormal that we've seen before, and I sorely missed being in the real world. The fictional town that Eileen gets trapped in was sooooo cheesy and it was a little too on-the-nose with all of the bookish things. I think maybe that's just something I'm not enjoying the more that I read? I want to escape into reading, not be reminded about being bookish, having book clubs, etc. But anyway -- Eloraton (why do I hate this name so much) was wildly cheesy and even for a romantic comedy setting, it was a little too much. The burgers were always burned but they covered it up with hot sauce? Why can't they just cook a good burger? It always rained at a certain time? Magic falls? I thought this was supposed to be a romance town, not a fantasy. I guess it can be both, but it didn’t make sense and it wasn’t working for me.
Where this book really suffered, though, was that I had zero interest in the characters. Eileen was insecure, a little immature, and kind of annoying. I really didn’t see much growth from her aside being forced to make decisions on her own because she couldn’t communicate with anyone once she was inside this fictional small town. Anders was so boring? There was zero chemistry between Eileen and Anders, and having them be hate-to-love in the beginning really made everything worse. They spent almost no time together and then somehow they’re falling in love.
I also really could not have cared less about the fictional book characters. Eileen was trying to fix and finish their stories because the author of the books died, leaving the series unfinished, so she spent a lot of time with them… but it had no purpose. The characters were always fictional and it serves no purpose to the actual plot. She didn’t need to fix the town in order to leave (that was her choice), the characters don’t magically come alive in the real world or anything, there’s no final book that happens… so it was just a waste of time on characters who I couldn’t keep straight and didn’t care about because I don’t know this book series and have no idea who the characters are.
The ending did have some good moments. Eileen was kind of stupid that Anders wasn’t fictional (don’t call me on spoilers — you can def see that a mile away) but I did like that there was something more than just that. I did like that she ended up figuring out what SHE wanted apart from everyone else, but I kind of hated that she only did it because she was forced to, basically. And even then, it didn’t feel like a lot of growth.
And lastly, she said “minty” or “mint” in relation to his eyes almost TWENTY-FIVE TIMES. Yes, I counted. I made it a game so it was fun instead of annoying because I was going to lose my mind. There was way too much repetition and I don’t know how all of that made it past an editor. Also repeating black tea and his scents over and over. Look, I’m a candle-maker. I’m all for knowing how characters smell… but it was so repetitive. I get it, his eyes are mint green. I don’t even know what that means either. Like a mint leaf? Like the color mint that’s like a teal-ish blue? Like a candy mint? It’s supposed to be specific but it’s not.
I really, really, really didn’t like this being set in a fictional place. I could have maybe gotten on board with the characters showing up in a real place but they were still not real? I don’t know. I obviously wanted to try it and had hope, but it was just too cheesy and a little too silly for me.
AUDIOBOOK THOUGHTS: I listened to this as an audiobook, borrowed from my local library. Wow, I hated this narrator (Dorothy Dillingham Blue). She had a bit of a southern accent because Eileen was from the south (Georgia), but it was so annoying and her voice was too affected. I just wanted her to talk normally. It was over-the-top and I really did not like her narration. I will be avoiding her in the future if I can. Would it have been different with a different narrator? Quite possibly. I still don’t think I would have loved it but it would have saved some annoyance.