Author: Karin Gillespie
Publisher: Henery Press
Publication Date: November 2016
Genre: Chick-Lit / Contemporary Romance / Women’s Fiction
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible
Description: In the tradition of The Rosie Project and Book Lovers, Love Literary Style is a whip-smart and hilarious novel that pokes fun at the divide between low and high brow fiction. Cat nip for readers who love novels about books.
They say opposites attract, and what could be more opposite than a stuffy literary writer falling for a self-published romance writer? Novelist Aaron Mite meets Georgia peach Laurie Lee at a writers’ colony and mistakenly believes her to be a renowned writer of important fiction. When he discovers she’s a self-published romance author, he’s already fallen in love with her. Aaron thinks genre fiction is an affront to the fiction-writing craft.
He often quotes the essayist, Arthur Krystal who says literary fiction “melts the frozen sea inside of us.” Ironically, Aaron doesn’t seem to realize that he’s emotionally frozen. The vivacious Laurie, lover of flamingo-patterned attire and all things hot pink, is the one person who might be capable of melting him. Love Literary Style is a sparkling romantic comedy which pokes fun at the divide between low and high brow fiction.
My Thoughts: Love Literary Style by new to me author Karin Gillespie introduces the reader to writers Aaron Mite and Laurie Lee, two polar opposites in the literary world. Aaron is a snobbish literary writer who would never stoop to reading, much less supporting, genre fiction. Laurie is a self-published romance writer struggling to find her voice and put it on the page.
I enjoyed the dynamic between these two characters and admired their equally tenacious spirit and dedication to their craft. Outside of the publishing world, these two people would likely never notice one another, much less get together, but they do and it was enjoyable to witness. I tried really hard to dislike Aaron. I found him to be insufferable and arrogant, but once I got to know him, I could see his attitude stemmed from his father who he spent his whole life trying to impress.
Laurie is immediately likable and carries a lot of grief and guilt at losing her husband last year after being married only a short while. Where Aaron is stoic and so serious that you think he has an iron rod up his backside, Laurie is bubbly and effervescent. She is easy to relate to and someone who you could effortlessly call a friend.
I enjoyed the numerous pop culture references to the romance novel tropes and rom-com books and movies peppered throughout this story as well as the nods to classic literary novels like Pride and Prejudice and A Catcher in the Rye.
My Final Verdict: Overall, I found this book to be appealing and recommend it to all readers as a reminder that whether we love literary fiction or genre fiction, reading is fundamental and it’s perfectly acceptable to read what you love or step out of your comfort zone once in a while and try something new.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Love Literary Style from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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