Alexa Martin’s Better than Fiction is a breezy, light, and swoon worthy romance for bibliophiles and nature-lovers alike, featuring opposites-attract leads that have an easy and enticing chemistry. The novel centers around Drew Young, a photographer who recently inherited her beloved grandmother’s bookstore, the Book Nook, a literary fixture in her Denver community. Drew is mourning the loss of both her grandmother and the promising career she relinquished when she took over the Book Nook to honor her grandmother’s last wishes and continue her legacy. Ironically and very inconvenient for her new line of work, Drew loathes reading. She’d once enjoyed reading fiction when she was a child, but grew disillusioned with stories that ended happily after her parent’s messy split and father’s estrangement.

Drew is just trying her best to keep the Book Nook afloat when the novel opens. She buries herself in spreadsheets, phone calls, and paperwork while avoiding ever cracking open a book, despite the many urgings and scoldings from the formidable members of the Dirty Birds Book Club, her late grandmother’s friends and Drew’s surrogate family.

That is until Jasper Williams, a charming and kind bestselling romance author who seems the embodiment of a romance novel hero, enters her bookstore and life. In town to write his next novel, Jasper accepts an invitation from the Dirty Birds to do a live reading of his work. In their brief, yet memorable interaction setting up for Jasper’s book signing and reading, there are palpable sparks, although Drew fears she mortified herself in front of a well-known author. Eager to matchmake, the Dirty Birds seize on the opportunity to throw Drew and Jasper together as the evening winds down after the event. Drew is further mortified and Jasper is bemused, but obliging.

Away from the watchful eyes of the Dirty Birds, Jasper returns to the Book Nook the following day to propose, not a romantic outing, but a friendly exchange of knowledge to Drew: she helps him with local background for his novel by guiding him around her hometown, and he in turn introduces her to different books he hopes will change her mind about fiction. Drew accepts, thinking their arrangement will be little more than a series of fun outdoors excursions with a tourist that will also give her an excuse to pick up her camera again. However, over the course of their many outings, they grow closer. Jasper’s warmth, compassion, optimism, and boundless enthusiasm start to get under Drew’s skin and Drew’s fortitude, unassuming self-possession in the elements, passion for nature, and bold eye for photography mesmerize Jasper.  

Better than Fiction is an uplifting read in which the hero and heroine have a mutual respect for one another, encourage each other’s interests, enjoy one another’s company even in quiet moments, and don’t shy away from one another in less than flattering situations. The narrative moves swiftly, with Drew and Jasper quickly moving from strangers to friendly partners/co-explorers, to then becoming besotted lovers. The evolution of their relationship is nice, but may feel a bit fast and too neat in places. As with many romantic comedies of film and literature, a misunderstanding due to miscommunication occurs. The miscommunication in question is somewhat understandable, though probably could have been easily avoided. It also feels more obligatory, as a means of establishing conflict and setting up the end than organic to the particular dynamic of Drew and Jasper’s relationship when it happens. All this aside, the novel builds to a satisfying and comforting ending that is like wrapping your hands around a warm cup of tea or listening to the leaves rustling in the breeze while taking a relaxing, leisurely stroll on a bright day.

With Better than Fiction, Martin offers a thoughtful depiction of supportive female friendship, both platonic and familial; a compassionate look at grief; and a portrayal of a flawed, biracial heroine that doesn’t define her existence by nor constrain it to those characteristics, but instead prioritizes her joy, creativity, and interpersonal connections over her race or personal struggles. It makes for a refreshing vicarious escape into the mountains and rivers of Denver and an enrapturing read. 

LOGLINE: A grieving, pragmatic bookstore owner with an unlikely aversion to reading discovers more than the pleasures of getting lost in a good book while going on a series of literary-inspired adventures around Denver with an idealistic bestselling romance author.

MOOD: Generally lovely and sweet, with occasional bittersweet moments touching upon family dysfunction, parental estrangement, and grief. 

TITLE: Better Than Fiction

AUTHOR: Alexa Martin

GENRE: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy

PUBLISHER: Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group

RELEASED: 8 November 2022

LENGTH: 336 pages