Publisher: Berkley

Charming, cozy, and exceedingly clever, I thoroughly enjoyed Ashley Poston’s A Novel Love Story that delivers on its creative premise. Beyond Eloraton’s warm vibe, this book is filled to the brim with numerous book references and has a lot going on beyond the focal romance plot thread. I generally liked The Dead Romantics and thought The Seven Year Slip was great, however A Novel Love Story is easily my favorite and has solidified Ashley Poston’s work for me. Well-written and lovingly crafted, this is an easy recommendation for anyone who like romance (particularly high-concept ones), cozy/easy reads, or even light touches of magical realism (a genre I typically do not care for). When this book was announced, I automatically added it to my reading list purely based on the premise which is one of my favorite tropes if done well. From the start, the story reminded me a lot of the BBC’s miniseries Lost in Austen which also features the main character being transported into their favorite literary world, in that case being Pride and Prejudice. A Novel Love Story doesn’t have the luxury of working off a popular established piece and has to work a lot harder with its…

My history with Emily Henry’s books has been a bit all over the place so I was hesitantly optimistic picking up Funny Story. For context, my scale varies from loving Beach Read, frustrated and almost insulted by Happy Place, and finding Book Lovers competently solid in-between. Fortunately for me, Funny Story ended up on Beach Read’s side of the spectrum, even covering a few of Happy Place’s themes executed with more finesse (the fake dating trope + adult friendships). In many ways Funny Place feels like Henry’s most polished and cohesive novel yet that’s an easy read with mass appeal. I really enjoyed the story, although the title may be a bit deceiving as this novel definitely isn’t Henry’s funniest and is a much slower yet rewarding read compared to her past books (minus People We Meet On Vacation, the only one I haven’t read yet). Henry’s books are always well-written works laced with clever modern humor, but my enjoyment of her novels tend to hinge heavily on each book’s protagonist and the central themes introduced; separate from the romance and core couple which I would imagine is often the draw for many of her other readers. Besides the obvious…

Before you even consider picking up any Grady Hendrix novel, you need to ask yourself if off-the-wall zany hijinks and ironic pulp fiction is for you. If you’re not prepared to have an open mind for this type of experience, this should be a hard pass without looking back. I was somewhat familiar with Hendrix’s distinctive style of hysterical horror but even I found myself surprised and amused by how silly it can be all while delivering the plot with a straight face. We’re talking about a FUNeral service hosted by the Fellowship of Christian Puppeteers, a rousing rendition of The Saints Go Marching On played on kazoos only, protesting the 9/11 war by making paper mâché missiles shaped like penises, and countless pop culture references from the Shining to Freddy Krueger. And yet due to the commitment and execution, it somehow coherently works. The “Haunting” or supernatural elements in this book are also entirely of the possessed dolls (or more specifically, puppets) variety. While certainly creepy on its own and surprisingly quite violent at times (potential mild triggers of bodily harm and impairment), this can be a light-hearted haunting compared to other more sinister flavors. This style and content…

The Seven Year Slip has already been well-received with a following but admittedly it took me a while to get into it (as usual contemporary romance fiction without witty comedy is not my go-to genre). While the listed romance genre is prevalent right from the get-go, about a third of the way into the book, the plot and character development ramps up substantially and crosses over into straight contemporary fiction drama. While the romance and chemistry are good, the Seven Year Slip’s synopsis doesn’t include the more nuanced topics covered in the back half of the book involving grief and loss, one’s goals, “happiness”, losing yourself and understanding that constant changes that are inevitable over time. Our main character Clementine is an ambitious, workaholic publicist working at a small yet successful publishing company who is personally tasked by one of the co-owners to sign an up-and-coming chef James Ashton for a cookbook publishing deal after one of their biggest clients jumps ship to a rival publisher. She throws herself fully into her work 24/7 so there’s no time to have to worry about her recent breakup or the loss of her aunt who she was close to. Just as she’s…

I’m stuck trying to figure out if I’m getting fatigue from reading three Emily Henry novels in just over a month or if it’s the novel’s character drama that wasn’t for me, but this one didn’t grab my interest and continued to stumble the further it progressed. Focusing a core trio of gal pals consisting of Harriet, Cleo and Sabrina with their plus one’s added over the years, Happy Place takes the fake dating trope and meshes it with a second chance at love at a small town, summer vacation retreat. I suspect it has to do with the plot and concept of the novel, but I found myself inherently less invested in this tight-nit friend group compared to Emily Henry’s other novels that I read which are Book Lovers and Beach Read. Maybe it’s the lack of literary book elements that I loved or the girl-group friends for life theme that doesn’t appeal to me, but I felt like I was quite far from the target demographics of this book. Fake dating is a common and tired trope but Henry is well aware of this and fully commits to putting Harriet and her ex-fiancé Wyn through the ringer which…