This was a quick but somehow still challenging read. There are like a million characters in this short book, and some have multiple names, the female lead goes by 3 names and then her fictional character that she gets compared to as well. It was all very confusing.
The plot itself was intriguing at first, but then felt unnecessarily complicated/avoided.
It was also difficult to get into the romance of this book, it felt very insta-lovey from the male lead. Which is fine if it is attraction, but we did not exactly get scenes where the two connected on a personal level except for references to Emma’s book.
Overall, I did not hate this book but I also did not like it.

The true writer under the pseudonym Emma Browning, winner of the Stapleton Award for her historical romance novels, is about to be revealed.
And Miles wants to do everything to stop that from happening, so she can continue writing.
There were a lot of time skips in this book, which made it frustrating to read. For one, it made it difficult to actually appreciate the romance during the first 65% of the book because the interaction between Miles and Lars is… not there as much as I had hoped.
I liked the premise of this book, it was going places… until it left my mind as soon as I finished reading it. I was more interested in the books Emma Browning had written than the book she was the main character of.
Unfortunately this book just was not it for me.

This is a tough one. On the whole the premise was interesting and kept me relatively interested. But I found that I felt the way about Lars as he did about Edward.... He's a f***wit as he states. I could not get to like him, so I just was not rooting for Lars and Miles to end up together. He seemed to be so judgemental and rude and unkind to Miles yet he got a pass because he was his superior and he was attractive. Not a big fan of romances that reward bad qualities in men.

What a great book! I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the wonderful characters along the way. Written really well and kept me up reading half the book!
I was so engaged with the storyline throughout the book.
The characters are amazingly developed and I couldn't have enjoyed them more than did.
I love a feel good romance story and this was that type of book for me.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Escape Publishing,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review closer to pub date.

Thank you NetGalley, Escape Publishing, and Penelope Janu for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I’m sad to say that I wasn’t a big fan of this book for a couple different reasons.

My main problem with this book was the writing. The writing was not my favorite and I feel like there were a lot of odd quotes that kept me from truly engaging in the story. The author also wrote the characters strangely and relied too much on telling and not showing. The writing made it hard for me to engage and connect with the story, but other people may like it better than me. I still recommend that you give it a chance, because it is a cute read, I just had some issues with it.

I did enjoy the pacing, parts of the storyline, and focus on romance novels. I loved that Miles was ashamed of her work and love of romance novels because I can relate to that. A lot of people around me treat the romance genre like it’s not real and it was nice seeing that represented and how it can make people feel about what they love.

Overall, this one wasn’t my favorite, but it’s not bad! I recommend to give it a chance.

She is a regular lawyer but in secret she writes Romance Regency books under the name Emma Browning . When she is being nominated for a book award she is nervous and believes that she will be discovered . Both her parents are authors for fiction or non fiction books and they judge her for writing love stories . When she wins the award the publicer who now is to represent her want to know who the writer is . She is trying very hard to hide who she is . The CEO of the publishing company is very persistent to meet Emma . She makes him do things that will make him mad but he is the stubborn . Will she be able to keep her secret or everything will came out ? I loved all the scenes of her novels and that she had to perform some scenes so they were realistic .
I received this book from net galley and the publisher as an ARC. Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own

I want to preface this by saying that I'm a writer AND am studying to get a master's in Publishing, so I thought this book would be right up my alley. And in its themes, it certainly was. So why 3 stars? I haven't been this disappointed in a book in a long time.

This had a lot that I like in a book, in a way: a quirky/serious, almost enemies-to-lovers, opposites attract kind of thing. I love that in itself, I just hated how this author went about it. Miles had everything that I could relate to: we're both authors who hide their real names, we both have anxiety and panic attacks, and we're both really clumsy and feel unlovable about 90% of the time. It's just that Miles is deeply, profoundly unlikeable - maybe because of all the things I could relate to. Maybe because I know what it's like to be Miles, in a way (my parents are not literary celebrities, that's for sure), and it felt like she just didn't...do anything. Everything she did was a reaction to something, not anything she thought of herself. And maybe this was just me, but she talked about her characters in a concerning, co-dependent way - but maybe I just understood it wrong. It just felt like she had no motivation, which would be fine, but the books ends on a "it's all my parent's fault and there's nothing wrong with me" note I didn't like. Your parents were assholes, sure, but no therapist in their right mind would tell you that all you had wrong was an "overactive imagination". That's just not true. You need help - especially because your parents are assholes.

Maybe this was just the author's way of writing this character...which brings me to the next thing I didn't like. The writing itself.
Listen, I've been in this game far too long not to be used to what I like to call the "american style" - short sentences, quick paragraphs and everything moving way too fast. I'm used to it and can appreciate it, but it just threw me on a loop in this book. I felt like I never knew where I was at in the book, what was happening and who was next to Miles. The author leaned too much on the /next/ paragraph, on the showing and not telling, and I just didn't like it. I could appreciate it at times, but not always and it was a thing that itched in my brain the entire time I was reading.

Here's what I did like. Actually, here's what I LOVED about this book: the publishing aspect of things, how romance was always underappreciated and how elitist everyone is. How Miles grew up feeling ashamed of her own writings because her parents were a bunch of snobs and forced her to find herself inside the worst kind of snobbery. I loved how the author recognized being a woman was such an important aspect of the elitism. I loved reading about it, and it did not disappoint. I loved Miles argument that Jane Austen would love modern-day erotica and, you know what? She absolutely would.

Which brings me to the second thing I loved: the book references. The discussion about Northanger Abbey. You could tell Miles (and therefore the author, I'd say) had a lot of knowledge. The references felt subtle, though, nicely put into the regular conversion. I bet the literary background definitely helped, but still. I loved it and kept thinking back to the books I'd read and the ones I hadn't. This part of the book makes for the entirety of the three stars I'm giving this book.

All in all, maybe I just expected too much - which is not the author's fault, especially if this was a debut. I thought it was, but Goodreads tells me it's just a new edition. If that's the case, someone is not helping the author achieve her full potential. I can see it, like Miles' 10% of genius. Maybe that's the whole point?

A big thank you to NetGalley and Escape Publishing for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. I really liked this book. I don't know maybe it was my mood, but this is the first book in a long time that I stayed up way to late to finish it!! So for me, it was just fun. I read sure Miles, had major issues, but that for me made her more human. Her parents sucked big time. Her life became Very complicated and I loved it. 4.5 stars This is a fun, light, quick, quirky read. I do have to say that I know absolutely nothing about publishing or writing books-but I can imagine that there is snobbery. Enjoy

On The Same Page is witty and funny and at times irreverent. I adored Miles and Emma—two complex halves of the one whole—and Lars with his clipped and perfect diction, blue eyes and floppy hair. The story had me laughing out loud at some of the antics Emma’s characters got up to, and wincing as one unfortunate incident after another beset poor Miles.
There is more than humour and empathy to this story though. Author Penelope Janu has demonstrated an extraordinary breadth and depth to her reading and understanding of literary classics through the ages, using them to good purpose at appropriate points in the novel. Add to this the clever link between the life Miles is leading and the story she is writing. I was utterly captivated and thoroughly engrossed throughout. This is a truly wonderful story from an exceptionally talented author.

Romance books about romance books (or rather, the larger romance publishing industry) are fun, tricky and sometimes, too self-indulgent for one’s good. ‘On the Same Page’ gives that sort of escapism, though it does in many ways, invite you not to take this too seriously at all.

I’m not sure if I’m supposed to read a bit of parody in the whole storytelling including the stilted writing, but it’s an element that feels woven into every scene, like a playful but ultimately whimsical (sometimes farcical too) meta on the publishing industry, the literary awards, the way characters imitate life and vice versa. If it’s really meant to seen in this light, then expect the fictional to deliberately contain a swath of the unrealistic, from Miles Franklin’s flighty and annoying personality to how the narrative takes on those same winding twist and turns, as though mirroring her fever-pitched state of mind.

Take it all with a pinch of salt as I did; look at the protagonists too closely and they do become unbearable.

I was more puzzled than engrossed as I made my way through the pages; it’s a peculiar writing style that doesn’t suit me to be honest and I gave up halfway when it simply got too much.

I liked this book, however it was not my favorite. The main character irritated me a lot with most of their choices or lack of choices. I felt like she was walked all over. There is some background context but I couldn’t help feeling super frustrated with her most of the time and the other characters in the book didn’t help.

I enjoyed the pacing, the romance aspect and the central story line as well as the writing, but I just couldn’t get past how frustrated I was with the main character.

I was sent a free book and am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Escape Publishing, and Penelope Janu for this ARC!

Thought this was very cute honestly! I was like oooh maybe it might not be so good a few chapters in but then it got better. I really liked the heroine’s personality—shy and timid but also so dirty minded lol

I'm afraid the writing in this one just didn't work for me. I found it hard to connect with and difficult to immerse myself in. I often felt like I was just being told a series of facts rather than being a passenger on Emma's emotional journey.

I would also like to note that my e-ARC was badly formatted no matter which device I viewed it on, which is a problem I haven't had with any others, and it made it quite difficult to read. This does not affect my rating, but just a heads up so this can be fixed for future readers

By day Miles Franklin, named after the famous author, is a successful lawyer. By night, in secret, she writes historical romance novels under the pen name Emma Browning. When 'Emma's' novels win one of Australia's biggest literary awards, Miles's perfectly ordered life begins to unthread at the bindings. Especially when Lars Kristensen, CEO of the publishing company contracted to publish the prize-winning books, insists on meeting the author.

A fun and quick read. Emma/Miles is very likable. Lars is your usual alpha who is likable despite himself. :) I enjoy their chemistry together. Enjoyed it very much.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

Currently DNF, I may come back to this at a later date (even after publishing date) and try again. After reading the first couple chapters and then checking reviews on goodreads and netgalley to see if it would get better for me to personally enjoy. I just don't think this book is for me but that doesn't mean another wouldn't love this.

(Review not posted on Goodreads as they don't currently offer a good way to mark books as dnf without counting towards reading goals.)

Surprisingly enjoyed this! I was wary of this book cover bc the art is always so samey but this was fun i liked her alter ego emma a lot and also the hot ceo

Really enjoyed this story!

It was a fun, quick read. A little slow to get into, then it grabbed me and I stayed up all night to finish.

If you're a fan of rom-coms please read this.

I was really worried when I started this book because I often struggle with 1st person narrative and sometimes it seems a little awkward.
I did find myself getting involved with the story and the dilemma of our heroine, literary agent lawyer Miles Franklin, who also writes popular romance under the pseudonym Emma Browning.
Things start to go haywire in Miles' life when her trust assistant and old friend submits one of her books for an award. This would have been no problem if the book hadn't finalled in the competition and they wanted to meet "Emma".
Juggling her role and agent, protecting her secret identity was hard enough. When Lars, the hot publisher hero of the company that is keen for Emma to win so they can add her wildly popular books to their staid inventory turns up, things go wildly out of control.
This was a fun story with likeable characters and kept me interested and involved right to the end, despite my horror of 1st person.