Ashley Jordan- Once Upon a Time in Dollywood (Podcast)

Author Ashley Jordan joins Book Gang to share her LitUp Fellowship journey to launch her debut Once Upon a Time in Dollywood and how fanfiction paved her path.

Ashley Jordan, a Reese’s Book Club LitUp Fellow, joins us this week to share the story behind her sparkling debut Once Upon a Time in Dollywood—a romance that pairs laugh-out-loud humor with deeply emotional storytelling.

In this light conversation, we discuss:

From Fanfic to Fellowship – Ashley reflects on how writing The Walking Dead fanfiction taught her the building blocks of writing and how that experience led her to being named a Reese’s Book Club LitUp Fellow, complete with her dream mentorship and a writer’s retreat that transformed her creative process.
Rewriting the Narrative for Black Women – Through her protagonist Eve, a playwright determined to tell Black women’s stories that aren’t defined by pain, Ashley explores how joy, ambition, and love can coexist with realism. We discuss why expanding the lens on representation in romance matters now more than ever.
Dollywood, Therapy, and the Soft Boyfriend We Deserve – Ashley shares how setting the story in Dollywood allowed her to capture the magic of Southern charm, how she approached writing therapy with nuance and heart, and why she wanted Jamie—a self-described “cinnamon roll” love interest—to reflect a gentler kind of masculinity in today’s romance landscape.

Don’t miss this week’s juicy companion book list filled with the best books about theater to step behind the curtain with these compelling stories of complex lives, both on and off the stage. Patrons will also receive today’s printable checklist to take on their next visit to the library.

Once Upon a Time in Dollywood by Ashley Jordan

Once Upon a Time in Dollywood Book Summary

A playwright must grapple with her difficult year and writer’s block while falling for the single dad living next door in this emotional debut novel from Ashley Jordan.

Eve Ambroise may be a rising star playwright, but her personal life is falling part. Desperate for a fresh start, she breaks up with her fiancé, cuts off her parents, and heads to the Tennessee mountains. But keeping up the lie that she’s just on a writing retreat becomes near impossible when faced with the well-meaning townspeople and a neighbor who has just as much baggage as she has.

Coming off a contentious custody battle, Jamie Gallagher is restructuring what his life looks like as a single dad, and spending more days at his cabin makes his new “free time” a little less empty. Especially when he meets the beautiful—and prickly—woman next door. The last thing he needs is a new romance to shake up his family dynamics even more, but there’s something about Eve.

What starts out as a fling quickly becomes more serious, and it’s not long before Eve is running scared once again. She’s loved and lost in every possible way, and risking it one more time could finally break her. But like the fireflies that fill the mountains around them, Jamie’s and Eve’s lives keep falling into sync. A fairy-tale ending could be in the cards, but only if the new couple can get out of their heads and put their hearts first.

Meet Ashley Jordan

Ashley Jordan is a millennial from Atlanta by way of Brooklyn. She attended Spelman College, earning a degree in Psychology and a lifelong appreciation for women’s stories. By day, she works in public health, and by night, she’s a devoted writer—ever since penning her first short story in second grade.

When Ashley isn’t writing or working, she’s likely at a Beyoncé concert, rewatching Mad Men, or passionately debating basketball. In 2023, she became a Reese’s Book Club LitUp Fellow, an experience that helped shape her journey to publishing Once Upon a Time in Dollywood.