This book just wasn't for me. I didn't enjoy the style of writing and found it difficult to connect with the characters/story.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to read it in advance. I wish the author all the best for publication day.

This is a really well written story. With so much potential. However the main character, the plot and the romance just didn’t do it for me.

Miles is a doormat, she lets everyone walk right over her. She doesn’t stand up for herself and lets everyone treat her like garbage while she just figures out plots for her books. While I understand that her insecurities stem from the lack of love and support from her parents, it annoyed me so much through the entire book,

Lars is extremely aggravating to me. He spends most of this book being exceptionally angry and somewhat aggressive. While I appreciate his character development a lot, it’s not enough for me ignore that.

As for the romance. It felt extremely rushed to me. I didn’t see the connection at all. It was just pure sexual angry tension with not emotional or romantic weight what so ever.

I did really enjoy most of the side characters. Not to mention the message of this story; reading, no matter what genre, is supposed to be valued. It should be accessible, relatable and enjoyable to everyone.

With that said. I did enjoy the book overall. But sadly the most important reasons as to why I wanted to read the book, fell short.

Thank to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with a free arc, in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really fresh take on romance, particularly with the added elements of historical romance brought in to the contemporary fore. I really liked Miles and her principles - I hated the reasons for them, but my goodness I thought she was strong. I felt almost determined not to like Lars because of how determined he seemed to strip Miles of the privacy that was so important to her.
I must admit I didn't quite understand exactly where their relationship started, it just *did*. It felt a little disjointed in parts due to feeling I'd missed something. Maybe more of their online history would have filled that in a bit as opposed to the snippets of the book. I did skip through most of those.
Overall though, some good storytelling and an interesting idea. I always enjoy good character growth in a story, and this definitely had it.
Thank you to netgalley, publisher and the author for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

On the Same Page is Australian Penelope Janu’s latest release. It is an easy read for Americans even though it contains a few phrases that aren’t as familiar.

The heroine is Miles Franklin, a lawyer who is very introverted and clumsy. She is the daughter of two literary giants who have belittled her throughout her life. Miles regularly has panic attacks, sometimes faints, and her whole body turns red when she blushes. She refers to herself as ”the giant red condom”. To her parent’ dismay, Miles represents the reclusive historical romance author Emma Browning. Emma self-published three titles as e-books, and they were wildly popular. When she is working on her fourth novel, Pippy, Miles assistant, forges Emma’s name on an application for the prestigious Stapleton Literary Prize.

To everyone in the literary fields’ surprise, Emma Browning wins the Stapleton Prize. Emma now has contractual obligations to her new publisher, Iconic, who sponsored the award. Miles is attracted to lars, the new CEO of Iconic. Iconic is using Emma’s books to try to make their Australian branch profitable. It quickly become apparent to the reader that Miles is actually Emma, and only her childhood friend, Jack, knows.

Miles/Emma is very serious about her research and takes pole-dancing classes so she can accurately describe how a heroine can climb a ship’s mast in Cupid’s Chariot, her current book. The other students and recreation center staff are interesting and add humor to the story. Miles has a personal trainer/boyfriend, Tom, who attempts to get her in shape. She is constantly injuring herself due to clumsiness.

The story contains multiple passages and character descriptions from Emma’s books, Cupid’s Trap, Cupid’s Arrow, Cupid’s Bow, and Cupid’s Chariot. Miles/Emma makes ridiculous demands of Iconic Publishing, in the hope that she can get out of her contract in order to remain anonymous. She develops friendships with multiple Iconic employees. She is a marshmallow to everyone but Lars.

On the Same Page is very well-written and makes multiple references to classical literature and defends romantic fiction. There are many secondary characters who add to the humor and authenticity of the book. This story provides an excellent behind-the-scenes look at the publishing industry.

Thank you to Escape Publishing and NetGalley for providing me an ARC copy in exchange for an unbiased review.  More information on this book is available at Escape Publishing's website http://escapepublishing.com.au/ .

To be honest, I had a bit of a hard time getting into the story. I don’t know the exact reason, but it took me some time to really care about the characters and the story itself. After about 30% I started to like it more and got really into the book. I also started reading it way faster after that, which I think really helped as well. I liked the characters, the tension and the combination of the story with Emma’s stories. It was a fun read and it had a lot of good moments which I loved.

Thank you NetGalley and the writer for letting me read it for an honest review

This was fun to read. Miles was a very interesting and unique character, with her qualities and flaws. I really appreciated the way she was serious about her friendships and how her friends got her back, no matter what. Also, she loved to help those around her and that shaped a lot of her character. Lars was also a very nice character and I enjoyed how he tries to deal with Miles, even though she won't make it easy.

I loved how the book describes a lot of how the publishing world works and how it discussed the importance of romance or how it's not considered true literature as a genre mostly written by women for women. It's how I feel about romance and how it's seen by some critics, so it was great to read it on these pages as well.

I won't deny that Miles really got on my nerves at times. The fact that she simply decides not to answer phone calls and how she runs away from anything that might resemble a conflict was something that I understood at first, but it got really tiring as the story happened. It happened a lot. Her friends were great and really tried to help her, especially Jack and Pippy. It was lovely to see how those characters enriched the story as well and were not just there, in the backstage.

This was a very good book and I'm happy I got the chance to read it.

I had to sit with On The Same Page by Penelope Janu for a bit before I wrote this review. The book was enjoyable to read. I really liked Miles. I absolutely loved the representation of panic attacks. Miles' parents are dreadful and she does what she needs to take care of her mental health. It's time to end the stigma around mental health!

I had a hard time with the need for the publisher to out an anonymous writer. As a reader, I really don't care if people use a pen name and want to remain anonymous. If I like their stories, then I like their stories. I could not identify with the publisher.

I was annoyed with the snobbery from "serious" writers about the romance genre. Miles makes an excellent point, and I'm not quoting because this is an ARC, but basically Romance is written by women, about women, and for women. And the patriarchy wants to tell us that Romance is not important.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this story.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I will start with what I enjoyed about this book: Miles, the heroine, and Lars, the love interest, had good banter. I appreciated the emphasis on Miles' difficulty with anxiety, her experiencing panic attacks and how that felt very realistic in the writing. I felt emotionally invested in her journey, and her fight to remain anonymous as Emma Browning (her pen-name for her historical romance novels). Also there was some smut, so that was nice.

Miles is a lawyer by day, and a historical romance writer by night. Her assistant signs up Emma Browning (aka Miles) to win a literary award which unfortunately also binds her to a contract with a publishing house, threatening to expose her secret. Miles carries the burden of being the child of two parents who are famous, talented, literary giants themselves, and her parents look down on the romance genre in general which, aside from the anxiety, is another reason Miles wants to remain anonymous. Enter Lars, the CEO of Iconic Publishing. He and Miles butt heads immediately when it becomes clear that the publisher and Emma/Miles's interests do not align.

Despite enjoying the chemistry between Miles and Lars, there is a lot of extraneous stuff going on in this book, and it actually detracts from the relationship budding between Miles and Lars. Ultimately, aside from knowing that Lars enjoys American novelists and knows how to horseback ride, I felt like he wasn't ever a fully fleshed out character. Here is just a brief overview of everything else going on in this book: (1) there's Miles's parents, the drama with them, and multiple partners since they are divorced, (2) Miles's drama with Jack, her best friend, and his on and off relationship with his boyfriend Jules, (3) Pippy, the assistant, (4) all of Miles's classmates from her pole dancing class, (5) Lars and the drama with his fiancee who becomes ex-fiancee, (6) the publisher's lawyer, the editor and his wife, all of the other employees of the publisher, and their various issues with Miles/Emma, (7) Tom, another guy who is a fitness trainer studying to become a cop and who is also interested in dating Miles. All in all, it is way too much going on and I found myself skimming through as much of it as possible. I would have rather had a fully fleshed out love interest and had more focus on Miles herself, and her journey.

Honestly, this book was just not for me. The premise was interesting, and while there were some cute moments, there was much more that was awkward/ uncomfortable.

The characters were frustrating and hard to keep track of, with many nicknames between them, I kept wondering, ‘wait who is that?’.

Miles is so all over the place it was hard to root for her. I appreciate that there was mental health at play, but it was rough to keep reading about her avoiding and lying and getting insulted by her parents… for literally the entire book. The turning point for her came too late.

The romance didn’t grab me and I honestly wanted Lars to go find someone better. I liked Lars, except the licking (if you know you know)… it was weird.

The press conference was a cute way to wrap it all up, but the engagement at the end was so random. He didn’t even ask!

Even though it wasn’t my favorite, I’m grateful to Netgalley and Escape Publishing for the chance to read it ahead of its release April 1st.

Lawyer-by-day and secret romance novelist-by-night Miles Franklin gets the shock of her life when her well meaning, assistant decides to unwittingly push her into the spot light. Miles has to navigate her client's concerns and her own as she tangles with the sexy Lars who needs to make sure yet-to-be seen Emma is finally going to live up to her contractual obligations (well, once Lars lives up to his). Throw in a best friend pining for a lost love, pole dancing class, and overly opinionated parents and you have a must read!

I absolutely loved this book. The humour was awesome and it was very tongue in cheek. I loved how this book seemed to mirror the heroines own books in ways right down to chapter count. I literally could not put it down and finished it in one sitting. I loved the ending and I couldn't have wished for a better HEA. It was romantic and hopeful and yet you could see how the hero and heroine characters grew through the experiences. I loved the pole dancing. You really don't find that in many books. Consent was obvious and helping her fellow pole dancer out with schooling. The representation for anxiety and the blushing was awesome. Even the parents were believable to me..

I could have wished to get to know our "Rupert" a bit more but since it was from a first person narrative we got mostly her thoughts and feelings and she was extremely overwhelmed and I get it. There does need to be another pass through on editing. There was a spot in the first chapter where it was talking about the plants in the office and it said "pot plants" I'm assuming it was meant to be potted plants and not marijuana plants. The beginning of chapter 42 they have Adam and Amy's names switched.

All in all it was awesome and I can't wait to get a finished copy so I can annotate it.

If I could give this book no stars I would. There is not a single character that I liked and the plot made literally no sense. She is supposed to be keeping her identity a secret but she sucks at it. Also the love interests did not spend enough time with each other and it was just bad all around.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Oh. The. Drama. This was absolutely delightful. I was laughing, gasping, and rolling my eyes in the best way throughout this whole book. I didn’t know how I felt about Lars. I went back and forth almost the whole time. Miles was a little too hesitant for my personal liking.

Some parts were so cheesy! But so necessary in your ideal RomCom. So many good scenes- absolute chefs kiss (carriage, all the park scenes, the ballet, the anniversary party, the PRESENTATION 🔥🔥🔥). One I couldn’t put down.

18+ the spice we got was alright. Descriptive up to a point.


Special thanks to Netgalley and Escape Publishing for this digital ARC.

Miles Franklin comes from a line of award winning writers. She's even named after a prestigious Austalian authors award. She has a secret. In her spare time she writes historical romance fiction under the pen name Emma Browing. She's only ever told one other person but all of that is about to change, now that Emma Browning has won the Stapelton Prize.

It took me about 20% in to this book to actually start to enjoy this story. Miles is such an introvert that at times she was hard to relate to. The love interest Lars was equally frustrating.

There were a few things that kept me reading; the will they won't they tension and anticipation of Miles and Lars, the side characters like Jack and Pippy made the story more relatable, the gorgeous Sydney side scenery and the overall message that romance is an important genre and the sparkle of HEA gives hope to all.

I enjoyed how Miles grew to accept herself and love not only herself but Lars as well.

What a to like:
❣Enemies to lovers
❣The parallelism of the characters in Emma Brownings writing with the novel
❣ Quality secondary characters
❣ Happily Ever After (what more could you want?)

This review will be posted to Good reads and my Instagram @thebluereadingchair during the week of publication.

On first thoughts, I really liked this book, but then I realised there were a few problems. There wasn't really a plot, and I felt that it was just dragging for quite a bit. Also, the MC was a little bit childish for my taste. I did really like the romance though, and it was a cute, escapist story. The writing was good, and I would recommend for fans of rom coms, the world of writng, and horses!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ 28%

I loved the premise of this book. And the cover was so appealing. I wanted to like it. But I could not suspend disbelief with the inappropriateness and unprofessional things that Miles did. Seemed wildly unrealistic for a lawyer, even one trying to hide that she’s a romance writer. The book starts out quite slow and I couldn’t connect with any of the characters or the story. I didn’t particularly like the writing style either. So unfortunately, this is a DNF. It just wasn’t for me.

This was a funny, witty, sweet little romance about friendship and romance that I enjoyed reading. The author sis a superb job of fleshing out the characters and I enjoyed each one of them. The secondary characters were just as witty and great as the MC's.

This was an ARC read for me, special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

Book tropes: historical romance, slow-burn, enemies to lovers, secret identity.

I liked this book! I thought it was captivating, intriguing, and unique. I loved the premise, that a lawyer is secretly a best-selling author and wins a prestigious award but hides her identity under a pseudonym. I loved the historical romance excerpts from Miles/Emma's previous novels sprinkled throughout the book. I loved Jack, heroine's best friend and knight in shining armor, always coming to Miles' aid.

I admired that Penelope Janu addressed the snob in literature and how romance novels are looked down on compared to other works. It's important to respect and admire romance novels, so I wholeheartedly agreed with this motif throughout. I also liked how the topic of girls at risk was introduced, and how extending a bit of kindness and compassion can change someone's life.

I found the book repetitive at times -- the need for Emma's true identity not being exposed was reiterated many times. Miles' severe anxiety and frequent anxiety attacks were concerning, since she did not have a solid foundation for dealing with her anxiety other than refusing to answer phone calls, emails, push everyone away, and live in her own world where she writes romance novels. It's hard to wrap my head around a successful lawyer's practice staying afloat when she does not deal well with confrontation in any part of her life. Her parents' belittling treatment toward Miles throughout the novel was tough to read, and she never really stood up for herself. Her anxiety was never fully addressed (she sometimes (?) had a therapist and a hypnotherpist, but neither professionals could correctly help treat Miles' condition). It's not believable to the reader to assume Miles' crippling anxiety just goes away, especially since the aftermath of Miles' confession about Emma's true identity is not shown. Also, the romance between Miles and Lars was at times difficult to believe since they had limited interactions but somehow that was enough for Lars to end his engagement with another woman, proclaim his love for Miles (even though he often yelled at her and cussed at her), and suddenly wanted to get married at the end. I found Lars abrasive at times and cold toward Miles, not really showing empathy or support. I think their physical attraction was apparent but not enough to distinguish love. Also, he had no problem kissing Miles or holding her hand in front of Cassandra and his mother at the party? He *just* ended his engagement to Cassandra and was already willing to put his attraction to Miles on display for everyone to watch, which seemed very impulsive, and again, hard to believe.

Anyway, overall, the book was a quick read and was enjoyable.

Miles Franklin is a lawyer that writes romance, but she doesn't want anyone from her family or the publisher she now works with to know she is Emma Browning. After she wins a prestigious literary award she does everything to keep herself anonymous. Lars, is the CEO of the publishing house and tries all sorts of different ways of finally meeting Emma until he figures out who Emma really is.

Cute story! I like that the main character is a romance writer. This books has all of the regular romcom tropes in it. It is set in Australia and the author is Australian, so at times I had to figure some words out or whatever they were talking about actually was. I don't mind. It helps me to learn about other places.

I have mixed feelings about this novel. I found Miles endearing and very real. I relate to her less desirable traits like being anxious and out of shape. This may have also contributed to me finding her a tad annoying at times, but I was willing to push past it because I understood the struggle with her family and related to that too of course. I felt like this was an easy read and very cute. Lars was just a literally dream come true. He was the standard grumpy, intelligent, hottie that we all hope for. All in all, it was a decent read and it was engaging enough for me to finish it with a smile.