Tag: ashley poston

Book Review: A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Ashley Poston
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: June 25th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A professor of literature finds herself caught up in a work of fiction… literally.

Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. At home. Which might be why she’s so set on going to her annual book club retreat this year—she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures—no matter what.

But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel…

Because it is.

This place can’t be real, and yet… she’s here, in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series, where the candy store’s honey taffy is always sweet, the local bar’s burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It feels like home. It’s perfect—and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story.

Elsy is sure that’s why she must be here: to help bring the town to its storybook ending.

Except there is a character in Eloraton that she can’t place—a grumpy bookstore owner with mint-green eyes, an irritatingly sexy mouth and impeccable taste in novels. And he does not want her finishing this book.

Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town’s happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own.

NOT MY FAVORITE.

Well, this is officially my least favorite of Ashley Poston’s books. I’ll definitely be reading the next one, this one just fell into the miss category.

I think there was too heavy of a focus on the fictional town. I don’t mind that these books have magical realism, but a whole town that was derived from the FMC’s favorite book series, while charming, was the only thing Eileen could focus on. She felt like a side character in her own book. I will say that Eileen did have some decent character growth overall and she had a good journey.

And THEN, there was this twist involving the romance towards the end that had me fully stop in my tracks while listening. Like why???? It took the romantic aspects out of this book even more. While there were sweet moments and I kind of thought they had some chemistry, I am meh about this book.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 1-2 open door
  • Content Warnings: loss of a loved one (car crash)

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Novella Collection Book Review: The Improbable Meet Cute Series

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance Novella
Length: 101 pages
Author: Christina Lauren
Publisher: Amazon Originals
Release Date: January 23rd, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

On February 14, an accidental email to a stranger opens the door to an unexpected relationship in a captivating short story by the New York Times bestselling authors of The Unhoneymooners.

One typo, and a boy and girl connect by chance. Wishing each other a happy Valentine’s Day isn’t the end. In fact, it becomes a friendly annual tradition—with rules: no pics, no real names, nothing too personal. As years pass, the rules for their email “dates” are breaking, and they’re sharing more than they imagined—including the urge to ask…what if we actually met?

VERY CUTE.

I adored this. For 100 pages I felt like I genuinely got a lot of story to be rooting for this couple. Plenty of emails, a dash of Valentine’s and when they finally met? SO CUTE. This was a romantic gem.

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance Novella
Length: 61 pages
Author: Abby Jimenez
Publisher: Amazon Originals
Release Date: January 23rd, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

They’re falling in love, yet they’ve never met. Maybe fate can intervene in a heartwarming “what-if” short story about new beginnings by the New York Times bestselling author of Yours Truly.

Holly is dealing with the impending death of her grandmother and still reeling from a bad breakup. One bright spot: a Valentine’s Day card on Holly’s windshield—even if it wasn’t meant for her. An amusing mistake soon turns into a lovely exchange of anonymous notes, little acts of kindness, and a growing affection between two strangers. What happens when one of them has to say goodbye?

CHARMED.

I have no idea how in 61 pages I felt like I got a well thought out story. I loved the characters. I thought the meet-cute was definitely clever and this made me smile a lot! Even burst out laughing too.

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance Novella
Length: 44 pages
Author: Sally Thorne
Publisher: Amazon Originals
Release Date: January 23rd, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

For a hopeful and hopeless romantic, it’s love at first sight—with a little twist—in a hilarious short story about finding Mr. Right by the USA Today bestselling author of The Hating Game.

Rosie Whittaker and her sister are up for some Galentine’s pampering at a day spa. Getting locked inside a flotation tank is so Rosie. Enter a firefighter hero determined to pry this luckless pearl out of her high-tech shell. All Rosie has to go on is a dreamy voice and a flirty sense of humor. Remain calm, Rosie. This could be what you’ve been waiting for. Is this the man she’s waited for her whole life?

EH.

Not as into this one. The idea was there, but I didn’t love the execution. This would have benefited from even just a few more pages to add a better back story.

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance Novella
Length: 40 pages
Author: Jasmine Guillory
Publisher: Amazon Originals
Release Date: January 23rd, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It takes nothing less than a fateful natural disaster to throw two opposites together in a ground-shakingly charming short story by the New York Times bestselling author of Drunk on Love.

This Valentine’s Day, Daisy Murray has her heart set on binge-watching rom-coms. Instead, an earthquake traps her inside a bakery with its impossibly rude and insufferably handsome owner and head baker. They already have a history: she’s always smiled, he’s always scowled. Where better to finally get to know each other than amid the disaster? Then again, they have no choice. Besides, it could have its sweet, undeniable, and unpredictable perks.

WAY TOO FAST.

This was not very good. No build up, no true conversation, just how fast can we get into bed without actually knowing each other.

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance Novella
Length: 43 pages
Author: Ashely Poston
Publisher: Amazon Originals
Release Date: January 23rd, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Every person she kisses finds their true love, and it’s never her—until now, in this funny and magically romantic short story by the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.

Audrey Love is cursed to be the person before you find your soulmate, the girl you dump for your true love. So when her best friend disappears hours before his Valentine’s Day wedding, Audrey fears that she did the unthinkable and kissed him at last night’s bachelor party. With help from the best man, she retraces her steps to find the missing groom and, with any luck, a true love of her own.

ZERO DEPTH.

This felt like it was missing A LOT to actually make the story work. The flashback chapters weren’t that helpful either. While I thought the couple had some chemistry, I didn’t like how this went about accomplishing that fact.

Rating: ★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance Novella
Length: 71 pages
Author: Sariah Wilson
Publisher: Amazon Originals
Release Date: January 23rd, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Valentine’s Day becomes a Roman holiday for a princess in disguise in a dizzyingly romantic short story about making wishes come true by the USA Today bestselling author of The Chemistry of Love.

Princess Ilaria has had it up to her tiara with the paparazzi, her own wild reputation, and the public eye. Trading places with her assistant, Ilaria wants just one blissfully ordinary weekend. Then a handsome photographer with a sexy Scottish burr offers to be her guide. Sparks fly, but how long can they last? Ilaria’s secret has to come out—and it could ruin a perfectly serendipitous romance.

A LOT OF LYING.

This felt way too condensed. To even add in a third act breakup in a 70 page novella? After one day? And everyone was lying?

So many things did not work for me in this one. I’d say this is my least favorite of the bunch.

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ALC Book Review: The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance + Magical Realism
Length: 352 pages
Author: Ashley Poston
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: June 27th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: stay busy, work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.

Thank you to PRH Audio for the gifted audiobook.

I AM A MESS.

I received a DM saying to read this book and so I downloaded it ASAP and here we are a day later and I LOVED READING THIS SO MUCH (please pay attention to the trigger warnings at the end for some heavy topics).

The romance was DIVINE. It was this mix of wrong timing, second chance, when will I see you again magical realism that had me in a chokehold. Every time the nickname Lemon was uttered I melted all over again. This undeniable chemistry and sense of this is my person was off the charts. I love them. I love them so much and so happy they found a way to each other.

The way grief was woven in broke my heart. It was beautifully written and spoken about and I felt many of those sentiments in my soul. There was healing and finding the light and hope that surrounds us, that sometimes is hard to notice.

I devoured this audiobook. Absolutely recommend that reading option. The narrator brought the entire story to life and made this book even more phenomenal.

I loved this one and need all of y’all to go read it too.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: 2-3 open door; low-vague explicitness
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: suicide (recounted, grief and thoughts discussed throughout)

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Book Review: The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

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Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Ashley Poston
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: June 28th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.

Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.

When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.

For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.

Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.

Romance is most certainly dead . . . but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.

GREW ON ME.

I spent the first 30-40% of this book wondering if I had made a mistake in picking it up. Not that it was bad, just thinking it might not be for me? It was a tad slow and I wasn’t sure when the romance was going to come into play.

BUT. I ate some of my words because past that point I fell in love with so much of this book. There were beautiful conversations surrounding loss, grief, and life. My heartstrings were pulled continually as these characters wrapped themselves around my heart. The power that words have over us is incredible and many of these statements weaved there way into me.

The romance was so sweet!!! The paranormal ghost aspects played out exactly as I hoped (blessed be or I might have thrown my book at anyone who told me I should read it). I thought Florence and Ben clicked. The chemistry was undeniable and the slow burn of watching them get to know each other was precious.

Lots to love about this one. It made good on the hype surrounding it and I look forward to future books by this author.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Paranormal Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: brief open door
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a parent, grief depiction, bullying (mentioned)

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