A Novel Love Story

Anders had promised to take Elsy around Eloraton after discovering that she would be staying longer, so they go to many of the places mentioned in the Quixotic Falls books. The two continue to bond as Elsy learns that Anders has a sister and hates self-help books. They sneak into the clock tower to see the city from a different view and hear the bell ring, which makes them both feel like the town seems magical. Anders tells Elsy about living in New York City, and she tells him about how she would run a bookstore if she could do anything. When Anders asks her what she would call the store, Elsy says “The Grand Romantic.” When she asks what his dream job would be, Anders says that he already had it when he reviewed books for The New York Times, but he begins to admit that books haven’t felt the same for him since something happened—Elsy assumes that he’s referring to when he and his fiancée broke up.

As they part for the night, Elsy sees Anders heading back toward the inn and the courtyard behind it, so she follows him. She sees Anders taking a call from someone, and suddenly Elsy gets her first message in days. The message is from Pru, telling her that she and her boyfriend got engaged, but when Elsy tries to send a message back, it doesn’t deliver.

Elsy determines that she will fix everything and find an ending for the Quixotic Falls series the following day, but again, Anders’s plans get in the way when he asks her to watch the bookstore. When Anders returns, he finds Elsy sitting in the sunlight in the bookstore, simply enjoying the space. Afterward, she climbs out the window of the guest room to hide that she is going to the Daffodil Inn, where she meets Junie, Will, and Jake. Junie and Will had already been trying to console Jake by the time Elsy arrived, and she learns that Jake has no idea why Ruby broke up with him. Jake says that Ruby is his whole world, but Elsy asks him to recall the last time he told Ruby that, and Jake suddenly knows what he must do. As she attempts to climb back into the window of the bookstore, Elsy slips but is caught by a stranger. The stranger turns out to be Garnet Rivers, the bad-boy love interest of the fourth novel in the series, who had left town at the end of his story with the protagonist, Bea. Anders finds them together a moment later and appears offended that Elsy snuck off. Garnet tries to flirt with Elsy, but she has mixed feelings about the complicated “happy for now” ending of his book and leaves to talk to Anders.

As Elsy goes around to the front of the bookstore, she sees Ruby’s truck come down the street and Jake standing in the road with a bouquet of flowers. Elsy knows that she shouldn’t get involved any further but hopes that the two of them can work it out. Anders is defensive when she enters the bookstore, and Elsy realizes that he is jealous of her and Garnet. After some bickering, Anders finally admits that he is jealous and didn’t sleep with Elsy because he wants more than just a one-night stand with her. Before Elsy can tell him how she feels, Maya enters the shop and invites Elsy to a girls’ night at the bar, and Anders tells her to go.

Elsy wants to go back to the bookstore and work things out with Anders, but she also doesn’t want to miss this meeting of all her favorite heroines. Junie mentions that Bea wants to come home soon, and Elsy feels like she is taking her place for the night. Ruby enters the bar and confirms that she and Jake have made up and plan to spend more quality time together. The conversation turns to the women’s sex lives, and Gemma admits that she and Thomas never switch things up. Throughout the conversation, Maya stares into the bar where Lyssa is, and the others try to get her to confess her feelings, but Maya refuses to make things even more awkward between them.

Elsy gets back to the bookstore after having too much to drink and finds Anders still awake, reading on a couch in an alcove. The two hint at what their relationship can and can’t be but move on to talking about their lives and books as a distraction. Elsy falls asleep on Anders, and she thinks about whether her whole adventure in Eloraton will be worth it.

The following morning, Elsy comes downstairs to see Thomas in the bookstore, asking Anders for books about bees, which he and Gemma keep. However, Elsy notices him giving strange glances to the self-help section, and Thomas approaches her when Anders has gone to the other side of the store. In a whisper, Thomas asks Elsy if they have any books about sex, as Gemma had mentioned trying new things with him after the girls’ night at the bar, but he is afraid to ask someone he knows like Anders. As Thomas leaves with the book he wanted, he tells Elsy that Jake was right about her, which Anders overhears. Anders questions her about Thomas’s meaning, and Elsy finally admits what happened with Ruby and Jake, but Anders isn’t mad at her because he knew all along.

Just as Anders and Elsy are about to have a serious conversation, Frank comes in to tell Elsy that her car will be ready the next morning, as he finally found the needed part for her car. The realization that she has to leave Eloraton hits Elsy, who leaves the bookstore before Anders can say anything. She thinks about all the endings she wants to see and all the things that need to be fixed in the Quixotic Falls stories as she walks toward the inn, where she sees Junie storm outside after yelling at Will. Elsy talks to Junie about how she wants to get lost in Eloraton, and Junie tells her that she can because it is what she did, yet Elsy knows that real life is different than fiction.

Elsy thinks about whether she can stay in Eloraton, even though she does not fit in with the story, before she sees that Anders’s car that is always parked in front of the bookstore is no longer there. Elsy knows that he must have given it to Frank to fix her car, knowing she needed to go back to the real world. Elsy begins to cry at this thoughtful gesture, both thankful and confused that someone would care for her without her asking. This leads Elsy to tell Anders about Liam and how she was the one who had to cancel everything for the wedding because she had done everything and Liam hadn’t ever been considerate of her feelings like Anders had.

Anders asks Elsy why, of all series, she loves Quixotic Falls the most, and she explains how she felt like Rachel Flowers was personally leading her through a place that could be at once safe and magical. Anders takes Elsy on a walk, and she sees that they are close to the Quixotic Falls, and he lets her lead the way. Anders admits that he has never been there himself because he didn’t want to go alone. The two of them kiss at the waterfall, an act that is considered magical in the novels.

Elsy pushes them both back into the pool of the waterfall, and they have sex on the bank of the river. Elsy feels guilty about having to leave Eloraton and that she isn’t the heroine who Anders is destined to be with, but Anders is sure that he wants to be with her.