Author: Ashley Poston

Recent Reads | Lies Between Us and The Someday Garden

Posted August 13, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I always read Jessica Goodman‘s books when they come out because they’re typically easy and addicting reads, but overall pretty middle-of-the-road. I don’t know why but she’s an auto-read author for me, despite never giving her books more than 4 stars. This story follows three sisters in the wake of a mysterious death/possible murder of one of the local boys. The youngest, Frankie, decides she’s going to solve the crime, while the others (Lucy and Millie) are hiding secrets of their own. These girls are best friends with the three boys that live next door and that dynamic is heavily featured in the story. I thought some of it was unnecessarily cheesy (the girls last name is Silver and the boys last name is Gold…) but it felt somewhat realistic, with some of them dating each other or having crushes, etc. I liked the small beach town vibes of this one, which made it a good quick summer mystery. Goodman writes in a very accessible way without feeling “young” for a YA book. I know I’m not the audience anymore but I do find them pretty good for adult readers. Nothing groundbreaking happens in this one but I thought the resolution to the mystery was actually interesting and pretty unique. No spoilers obviously but I feel like it was generally something I hadn’t read before. I’m so surprised how Ashley Poston’s have turned into “hit or miss” for me. She’s been one of my favorite authors for years now, back […]

Recent Reads | It’s a Love Story and Sounds Like Love

Posted August 7, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 1 Comment

I’ve become a huge fan of Annabel Monaghan based on her previous two releases, and I’ve been saving her adult debut for a rainy day. This book is technically my least favorite but honestly it was quite enjoyable regardless! Annabel Monaghan’s books have a way of growing on me as I read. I consider her an auto-buy author but I never get addicted right away. It’s like a slow burn (with the plot, not the romance) where I’m halfway through and realize I’ve fallen in love with everything finally. That moment happened a little later than usual which is why I wasn’t as invested in the characters as I could have been. I didn’t love the MC here but she’s as imperfect as all of Monaghan’s others, so nothing unexpected. Jane and Dan had a lot of logical reasons for why they behaved the way they did, and also why their romance worked; it felt very realistic. I just didn’t connect to them as strongly as expected or as I prefer in a romance. I love that they were visiting his childhood home away from Hollywood – more on that later – for his parents anniversary party. They started the trip as colleagues and ended it as something a little more. The premise was enjoyable and quiet but also had some fun Hollywood stuff that I tend to enjoy. Jane was a former child star known for goofy antics and Dan is a not-super-successful cinematographer. He’s interested in the script […]

Recent Reads | The Grandest Game and A Novel Love Story

Posted August 19, 2024 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 2 Comments

Jennifer Lynn Barnes is one of my auto-buy authors and really has been since 2015 with her criminally underrated THE FIXER series. It’s been banger after banger. This book was pretty much no exception to that! THE INHERITANCE GAMES series is the one that has stuck with me the most out of all of her books and series, I’d say… I love that she keeps adding to the world! The previous installment was a bit of a bridge book between the original series (with Avery as the main character), featuring some of the Hawthorne brothers. It definitely felt like a bridge and was a little hard to get into, so I was hopeful this “fresh start” series would be better. It certainly was! Avery, with her billions of dollars, developed an annual game to give away her money in the spirit of the way SHE got it… games and tricks and riddles and puzzles. This story is the second annual game and brings the POVs of characters like Rohan, Lyla, and Gigi to the table (along with other players in the game like Knox, Brady, and Odette). I’ll admit this did take me a while to get into, much like the previous book, but I think it’s because it’s a new story and I was on the fence about the characters. Once I got into it though… it was hard to put down! That’s what I count on JLA for. The story itself was fun and chockfull of different puzzles […]

ARC Review: The Seven Year Slip

Posted June 19, 2023 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

I’ve loved Ashley Poston since her YA book days a few years ago. Her foray into “adult contemporary fiction with a sprinkle of magic” has been LOVELY so far – THE DEAD ROMANTICS was one of my favorite books last year and I can still remember the feeling of sitting on the amazing porch at our Airbnb and reading so much of it in one sitting. While that story gets the half-star edge over THE SEVEN YEAR SLIP, I clearly loved this one too. The story centers around Clementine and her somewhat boring life in NYC, six months after her beloved aunt and travel partner passed away. She was willed her apartment and has been living there ever since, despite how painful it can be. Her aunt always said the apartment was a bit magical and Clementine finds out firsthand how true that was. Somehow timelines overlap, and you may return to your apartment one day and find yourself seven years in the past… yes, including whoever was living there seven years prior. One summer, that turns out to be Iwan, a gorgeous Southern guy that her aunt sublet the apartment to when she was overseas (oddly enough, with Clementine) at the time. The two connect very quickly but Clementine isn’t sure how to tell him exactly what’s happening with their time-related disconnect. Some other ~things~ progressed in this story that were not what I expected when I read the synopsis, but I actually liked it way better than what […]

ARC Reviews: The Dead Romantics and The True Love Bookshop

Posted July 22, 2022 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Man – this was excellent. I really enjoyed the initial books in the GEEKERELLA series but still have to finish the series off. I haven’t read Poston’s fantasy books or anything else but I think I’ll have to. I believe this was her adult debut as well? This story is about Florence and her family as they navigate the loss of their larger-than-life father. She escaped her small town to NYC 10 years prior without ever returning, and now she’s forced to face it all head-on. The Day family has run a funeral home for many generations in their community and Florence and her father even have a special connection to the dead – they both can see and communicate with ghosts. They’re able to help people with unfinished business pass into the afterlife. When Florence heads home for the funeral services and to help out her mom and siblings, she encounters the ghost of Ben – a man she just started working for at the publishing house. The two of them can’t figure out why he’s there but he helps her get through the difficult week at home. There are lots of things going on in this story that I loved. I mean, is she really going to fall in love with a ghost? This can’t end well! The family vibes were excellent – I loved reading about Florence’s mom and two siblings. (There may even be a hint of a companion novel involving her sister…?!) Funeral homes definitely […]

ARC Review: The Princess and the Fangirl

Posted March 21, 2019 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments

Initial Excitement & Summary I adored GEEKERELLA and was SO excited to see a companion sequel. I already need there to be a million books in this series. The first book was basically a love letter to being a fan, attending cons, and geek culture as a whole. I’m not QUITE as into fandom things (for anything really) as many of my friends, but I totally get it. While the first book was a Cinderella retelling, this was a Princess and the Pauper retelling – the classic situation where two people look like each other and switch lives for a few days. In this case, the actor who plays Princess Amara in Starfield (Jess) switches place with Imogen (a Starfield fan and leader of the “Save Amara” movement). The two switch lives so Jess can track down who leaked the new Starfield script. Storytelling & Characters Just like the first book, this was filled with geeky references that I loved. (Sometimes it feels like a little too much, but not bad! – I liked that Jess was not really a geeky character so the references were only during one of the POVs.) The Princess and the Pauper trope was really well done and super fun to follow in a con setting. I enjoyed both Jess and Imogen as main characters. Jess was hard to get used to in the beginning because she didn’t like Starfield; it was off-putting to hear her grouchy inner monologue. This definitely changed throughout the book […]

ARC Review: Geekerella

Posted March 29, 2017 / Book Reviews / 12 Comments

Initial Excitement I heard a bit of buzz about this one early on from some bloggers, so I immediately requested it… then started it that same night! I’m not AS fandom-y as a lot of my friends (minus a couple of things) but I had a feeling this book would resonate with me anyways. I’ve only been to one Comic Con but love the feel of cons. I love that people can be themselves and geek out without being judged. I’m also a big sucker for Cinderella retellings! Quick Summary Elle is in the classic Cinderella situation – her stepmom is terrible and her stepsisters are just as bad, her dad (and much earlier, mom) passed away, and she’s constantly forced to do things around the house. She and her dad bonded like crazy over Starfield, a sci-fi TV show, and she has a popular-ish blog about the series. There’s a new movie reboot coming out and she’s not very happy with the main character’s casting, but that doesn’t stop her from entering a cosplay contest at ExcelsiCon (a con that her dad created). There were countless connections between Elle and the lead actor in the Starfield movie, Darien, without them actually knowing each other. LOTS OF CUTE THINGS HAPPEN. Storytelling, Setting, and Feels I loved how fandom-centric this book was. I haven’t read many “geek” books like this but my sister has (you bet your ass I preordered this for my sister). I have to say, it covered pretty much […]