Ahhh Story Lake…a beautiful view, small town charm, and a bald eagle named Goose that terrorizes the citizens. And no, it’s not a horror story! It’s the new rom-com from Lucy Score!

I was so unbelievably excited to get an ARC of this one sent to me! I love Lucy Score, and when I read that this book was like a mix between Gilmore Girls and Schitt’s Creek, I knew I’d love it.
The ARCs were numbered, and had a note with it specifically asking readers to not post any spoilers, and to not share with anyone outside of your bookstore. I’d never had a numbered copy of a book before, so I immediately knew this one was special! I sat down to read it immediately, and decided to use tabs to highlight some of my favorite sections. Little did I know….

The tabs quickly took over! I started using blue to mark funny moments or lines. Then I ran out of the first shade of blue, and moved on to the second shade. When I ran out of that one I had to switch to green! This book had me laughing out loud. I couldn’t wait for my friends to read it so I had someone to talk to. So of course, I chose it for my April pick for the Hoppily Ever After Book Club.

Spoiler-Free Plot Summary

Hazel is a romance author that’s been struggling with writer’s block after her divorce. Her best friend/editor Zoe has to give her some tough love; it’s time to finish her next book, or else she’s going to be dropped by her publisher. Looking through a folder of old notes for inspiration, she stumbles across a news article about a small town in Pennsylvania called Story Lake, where a family-run construction company had fixed up an old house for one of their citizens. It was charming, and held promise that maybe she could find some inspiration. One thing leads to another, and Hazel impulse-buys that same house in an online auction, and drags Zoe along with her.

Her arrival in town can only be described as hilariously dramatic. After an incident with a bald eagle, and an encounter with the handsome (albeit grumpy) contractor himself, Hazel arrives at her new home to find that the online listing wasn’t entirely truthful. There’s a lot of work to be done. A LOT. But Campbell Bishop and his brothers need to keep their contracting business going, so they have no choice but to take on the job.

The story of Hazel’s new life in Story Lake features a lot of hilarious small town antics (think Star’s Hollow, but even funnier!), and convincing Cam to fake date her to give her some inspiration for her new book. What could possibly go wrong?

Review

As I said before, I love Lucy Score. Her Knockemout series of Things We Never Got Over, Things We Hide From the Light, and Things We Left Behind, all got 5 star ratings from me before. So I was completely thrown off by this one. How could I give a book that I loved more than all those the same rating?? How can I describe what may be my new favorite book in just a 5-star explanation?!!

The answer is, I just have to give it more. If the Knockemout series was 5 stars, this was a 7. I ADORED this book. It made me laugh out loud at times, emotional at others. Hazel was a hot mess, and grumpy Cam was just simply hot. Maybe it’s the fact that my own husband is a contractor, and I often feel like I just can’t get my life together, but Hazel felt so relatable despite the antics. I laughed on page 2, and I laughed at the very last page of the epilogue. It was one of those books that I closed with a sigh and hugged to my chest when I was done.

I now own 3 copies of this book. The first is the ARC that I received from Bloom. Then I got the special sprayed edge edition from The Briar Patch, the local bookstore I run the romance book club through. Third is the Wal-Mart special edition. I don’t typically shop at Wal-Mart, but when I saw the pictures on the inside covers, I knew I had to have it. Bertha the raccoon has not left my mind or my heart since finishing the book!
I even bought merch that Lucy was promoting in her emails from NovelMommaDesigns on Etsy!

All of that to say…I love it! And I can’t wait to continue to read more from Story Lake. The next book in the series is called Mistakes Were Made, and it comes out March 10, 2026!