Once Upon a Time in Dollywood: A Reese's Book Club

Thoroughly enjoyable read, the characters were so well-written and I couldn't put it down. A brilliant debut!

I really enjoyed this book and thought the author took me to a different perspective on life and romance. To start, Eve was a very different personality than mine, so I found her character very interesting. It’s always good seeing another person’s perspective. She had some big walls built up from some deep wounds. With an abrupt move from NYC to her deceased grandmother’s cabin in Tennessee to get away and try to heal. Her family didn’t understand why she was leaving everything behind. Then she meets her grandmother’s neighbor, Jamie. He’s too friendly and tries to be helpful, but all Eve wants is to be left alone! But romance can blossom in the most unexpected places, and love can be a wild and thrilling ride. Can she ever find healing from her past? This book delves into some heavy topics like divorce, adoption, miscarriage, and diversity. It touches on a range of emotions, making me laugh, cry, and feel all warm inside. This book was from Reese’s Lit Up Book Club. Thank you, Berkley Romance and Goodreads, for my advance copy of the book! I really enjoyed it!

I went into reading this book with minimal expectations, like I pretty much went into it completely unbiased when I got accepted to receive this advanced reader copy. But I mean it when I say I liked it a whole lot more than I expected I would. I wouldn’t call it the traditional romance comedy/romcom by any means!This is my first time reading any of Ashlee Jordan’s work so I didn’t come into it really knowing anything about what I could expect in terms of her writing style/how she goes about writing contemporary romances. But one thing I will say is that she does a really GOOD job at showcasing true yearning on the page, and I don’t think a lot of authors can do that well or in a way that’s truly relatable or believable.One of my favorite things to read whenever I am reading contemporary romance, is including characters that are truly flawed and realistic because in reality you will come across that way more often than you’re perfect happy go lucky characters.Once upon a Time in Dollywood is funny, relatable, and just the right amount of spicy. It explores self introspection, grief, infertility, generational/familial trauma and the importance of self love and self advocacy. It was a beautiful story about going after what you want and what you deserve, because even people that are hurting deserve love.The topics are heavy but definitely going to the story with an open mind and you can definitely find what you’re seeking.4⭐️’s

I went into this book blind and I am delighted that I did. This book is so much more than romance. We meet Eve, the FMC who is experiencing many challenges both personally and professionally; she decides she needs an escape, in which she takes off to her late grandmother’s cabin in Tennessee. Jamie, the MMC is a single father who just went through a custody battle and he too, is experiencing many challenges personally.What stood out most to me was the honest and layered depiction of complex trauma and the sensitivity shown by the author. Through the characters' experiences with abandonment, identity struggles, Eve’s grief around infertility, the author gives a voice to pain that’s often left unspoken—especially when it comes to the long road of healing, forgiveness, and learning to set boundaries. I was on an emotional roller-coaster with Eve and Jamie and found myself invested, rooting for them to learn the power of forgiveness, get out of their own way and realize that they too, are worthy and deserving of happiness, in spite of things that happened to them that were not in their control.If you’re looking for a read that will pull at your heartstrings but leave you feeling warm and fuzzy in the end, this is the one.Thank you #BerkleyRomance & #NetGalley for the e-ARC.

Thanks so much to Berkley Publishing Group for the free book! #BerkleyPartnerOnce Upon a Time in Dollywood is an ambitiously deep and compelling debut.Eve and Jamie are two people drawn to each other in extremely challenging times in their lives and they're able to plant the seeds for a beautiful relationship that is not without its challenges. With that said, this is genuinely one of the most romantic books I've ever read simply for the fact that it is so incredibly romantic to be scared and fight to do the hard thing anyway, especially when it comes to learning to be loved for the first time in the way you know you deserve. Jamie is a single father learning boundaries with his ex and the mother of his child while he comes into his own, and Eve is grieving multiple losses while birthing the career she wants to have doing the work she wants to do.I will say that this book contains multitudes in terms of the spectrum of how Jamie and Eve relate to one another. In the same way they are both capable of loving one another in the way they need, they are also capable of hurting each other deeply. I actually really enjoyed the messiness of this; the necessity of sitting in your wrongness and correcting harm done in order to heal and move on.I loved Eve's journey with therapy. I loved the way Eve got to be messy and imperfect and unlikable and then claw her way out of that while someone gave her the space and grace to grow. I loved the way Jamie was a solid, good man, and that he didn't pretend to fully understand Eve's plight as a Black woman, but remained committed to being there by her side to support her.I laughed, I cried. I held my heart and ached for Black womanhood, Black motherhood, and the secrets family forces you to keep. I loved Eve being in her mid-thirties and still figuring it out.Ashley Jordan's writing is beautiful, engaging, and breathtakingly bold. This is a story that needed telling.5 ⭐️s1.5 🌶️

“Still beaming, Eve shrugged. “I’ve done it before.”” I quite literally CACKLED at that last sentence.This book took me through it! And I thoroughly enjoyed the ride!Dual 3rd person POVYearningSloooowww burnMore emotional rollercoasters than Dollywood and Disneyland combined🤣🤣🤣You’ll gaspYou’ll cheerYou’ll…probably feel read for filth🤣🤣HEA guaranteed

4.5 starsOnce Upon a Time in Dollywood is a fresh and heartfelt take on romance that instantly drew me in. Ashley Jordan delivers a story where love doesn’t come easy—and that’s exactly what makes it so beautiful.The female lead is strong, flawed, and refreshingly real. She’s not written to be perfect, and that authenticity made her journey so compelling. Both the FMC and MMC are navigating their own paths to healing, and watching them come together felt honest and well-earned.This isn’t a cookie-cutter romance—it’s layered, emotional, and full of heart. A standout for readers who love emotional depth, and characters who feel like people you’ve known in real life.Highly recommend for romance lovers looking for something a little different.

The Only Good ThingOnce Upon a Time in Dollywood by Ashley Jordan cannot be described as an easy read but I believe that readers will find it well worth the emotional toll it takes. This book is Ashley Jordan’s debut novel, and she imbues it with passion, angst, a measure of toxicity and places our two very different characters on a redemptive arc. After a searing loss, playwriter Eve Ambroise is DONE. Done with her current romantic involvement, done with her passive aggressive parents, done with almost two decades of mourning, done with the stress of producing another play so she walks away from her current life and returns to the place that was the setting of arguably her greatest heartbreak: her grandmother’s cabin in Tennessee. Evie is not able to articulate to herself what she is seeking; she is certainly not looking for romance or companionship. Jamie Gallagher personifies the adage that “nice guys finish last”. Wealthy, handsome and unfailingly kind, Jamie should have been anyone’s “boyfriend” goal. However, he finds himself in a custody battle with his cheating ex-girlfriend while struggling with the hurt of her betrayal and maintaining his dignity. Perhaps spending some time at his cabin will alleviate the world of hurt he lives in. Evie and Jamie meet and discover a commonality, her grandmother. Jamie is instantly attracted to Evie, but she doesn’t have the mental bandwidth to offer much in return. Evie can certainly recognize the sweetness of Jamie’s character and his worth, but at this point she is unable to reciprocate or build on those feelings. Thus begins an off-and-on, hot and cold situationship with no clear path to a stable connection. Will they ever be on the same page? “Hot mess” Evie has so much unfinished business and unaddressed trauma and Jamie is too nice and accommodating. By the story’s end, both characters had demonstrated tremendous growth, and while Ms. Jordan doesn’t neatly wrap up her story in expected packaging, I was satisfied with the sense of closure and hope she gave us but would happily read more on future Jamie and Evie.

Eve needs a break from her life. She's runs away from the fiancé she just left and goes to the only place she thinks she can find peace: her grandmother's home in the Tennessee mountains. Eve hopes to write her next play there, but she is soon distracted by her neighbor, Jamie Gallagher. Eve and Jamie find themselves in a romance that neither of them thought they wanted.WOW! This book was AMAZING! The story gutted me in the best way. It was about the complicated nature of relationships, both familial and romantic. It was about people making choices to change for the better and about forgiveness. It was about two people who went on an unexpected journey of healing while falling in love.I have to admit, I don't know if I liked Eve at first. I wasn't sure if I believed she deserved love and happiness because of the harm that she did to others, whether intentional or not. Ashley Jordan revealed Eve's character layer by layer, showing us why she was so self-destructive. In the end, I was rooting for her to get her HEA. Jamie was also a complex character and although he had the high emotional intelligence that we all want in a partner, he still had open wounds that needed to heal.The most beautiful thing about this book was that it was messy. Just like real life, things weren't black and white. There were shades of gray that made Eve, Jamie and their families feel like real people in messy situations. I found myself questioning what I would do in their situation or how I felt about the choices Eve and Jamie made. The dialogue was intense, raw, and at some points shocking because of how it felt like a punch in the gut.Ashley Jordan is going to be a rising star in romance. I went into this book thinking it was going to be a light and airy romance, but it turned out to be more of an emotional journey than I had hoped for. Jordan's writing is profound and her voice is uniquely captivating. I can't wait to see what she has next in store for us!I'm having a hard time getting all of my thoughts out coherently for this review, but hopefully I've convinced you to read this book. It's going to be one that you won't want to miss!Steam level:🔥🔥🔥⚠️: miscarriage, grief, depression, panic attacks, forced adoption

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC of Once Upon a Time in Dollywood by Ashley Jordan. If you don’t understand how healing can cause confusion, then you will not understand this book. At first I was a little frustrated with Eve because she was just all over the place. I honestly thought she just liked the game of cat and mouse when it came to Jamie, ugh! After reading further into the book I come to realize that Jamie and Eve were two individuals that did not heal from present in past situations. Unfortunately, they were surrounded by people who still brought them hurt, and instead of wanting them to express themselves, wanted them to bottle it up. So when they came together, Eve and Jamie did not know how to deal with each other. I was shocked at how Eve’s dad flip instead of letting her express herself, I was finally happy that her mother listened to her after all this time. I was rooting for Jamie for finally sending his ground when it came to Lucy. Throughout this book, it showed that hurt people hurt people, even if it’s not intentionally. I think Ashley did a good job on showing how different unhealed people can look like or even act. Also, how you can never fully move on until you heal and forgive for yourself. I am looking forward to reading more of her books.

4.5 ⭐️ | Ashley Jordan definitely unpacked a lot in this story and took us on an emotional roller coaster. She dove into some series topics such as childhood traumas and complicated parental relationships, yet at the same time gave us characters like Maya for some comic relief. It was simply a perfect mixture of emotions.I don’t think there will be a single person that was not rooting for Eve and Jamie’s love story to blossom. When these two damaged souls collided, I could definitely feel the chemistry through the pages. It truly showed how people should take the time and heal to try and prevent past emotional traumas to follow you into your future relationships. Eve had so many layers to peel back and I absolutely love how Ashley showed us in this book that sometimes “it’s ok to not be ok.” I absolutely loved Eve and Maya’s relationship, and Maya is simply that friend that everyone needs..I don’t even know where to start with Jamie. He was simply too good for those that did not appreciate him. Literally the best man, despite his own past traumas that have also followed him from childhood. He has definitely made the book bae & super dad list.I don’t know how personal this story was to this author, but it definitely felt personal as the emotions radiated throughout the story. It’s not often that a story makes you fall in love with the main characters and the supporting characters. I also loved Casey, his bluntness and caring demeanor was a highlight for me.Being a Tennessee resident, it was so cool to hear about all these cities that I am very familiar with and a lot of the story took place where I live now.I enjoyed the narrators in the audiobook, the dual narration was excellent! Especially during those moments as they were texting back-and-forth & each narrator spoke as though they were truly having a conversation. Matt Haynes & Adenrele Ojo did a phenomenal job bringing life to the characters in this story.Overall and simply put, a really great, emotional, and unforgettable read. The only thing I would have loved to see was maybe an epilogue about a year or so later. However, the author definitely gave enough for readers to have an idea of how things turned out. Thank you Berkley Publishing Group, Penguin Random House Audio and NetGalley for the advanced reader & listening copies. All opinions are my own.