I loved this so very much, it was just so very cute, it melted me completely, I loved both Leah and Eli so much, but I also loved the supporting characters too, they were just as well developed and I love a found family book. It was just such a nostalgic read too, I thoroughly and highly recommend this book to all romance book lovers

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy in return for an honest opinion

This book truly felt like a romcom! I enjoyed the credible development of the friendship between Eli(MMC) and Lia(FMC). I enjoyed their banter, which felt organic and not at all forced.

The main premise — Eli changing himself for someone who doesn’t want him — is definitely kind of ridiculous. However, romcoms usually have elements of silly. This book was not an exception.

I really liked that despite the challenges Lia faced, she didn’t told resentment over them.

My only complaint was Eli’s stubbornness when it came to remaining fixated on Victoria despite her obvious disinterest and HIS obvious interest in Lia.

Read if you like
✔️Banter
✔️Pop culture references
✔️Dual POV

Rating: 3.5/5

3.5 ⭐️
This book was cute and I enjoyed it but it wasn’t my favorite romance novels. The biggest thing is I think this book could’ve been shorter. It dragged on at some parts and I found myself easily distracted from the story. I really adored the friend group and the characters though and that made it a little better. I also loved the whole aspect of the “rom-com” agenda. I liked how they were trying to help Eli win back his woman by giving him a “make-over” there were many parts that had me laughing and then somehow Leah keeps getting thrown right into Eli’s atmosphere. And of course, show him what really falling in love feels like even if it is by accident.

📚✨Book Review✨📚

The Rom-Com Agenda
Author: Jayne Denker

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Note: I received a copy of this book to review via NetGalley, but all opinions are my own.

What I Liked:
🧢while reading this book I found myself laughing and smiling at the mention of every single Rom Com. I might have even made my own little “to watch” list even though I’ve seen them all a 100 times. There is something so pure and lovely about a Rom Com that makes you laugh, cry, and generally feel good inside.

🧢The contrast between Eli’s relationship with Victoria and Leah is obvious to the reader but not to him. As the story unfolds, and it becomes clearer, you as a reader can’t helps but get butterflies in your tummy thinking of will they won’t they.


What I Didn’t Like:
🧢This Book was surprisingly heavier and more emotional than I had anticipated. There are mentions of cancer, death of a parent, and foster children. Not easy things to read about. While they were beautiful written, they could still be hard for some reader so please be sure to keep that in mind.

Final Thoughts:
🧢 Overall this was a sweet and emotional ride. Fade to black scenes make this a pretty wholesome read as well. I really enjoyed this heartwarming read and think that fans of Hallmark movies will enjoy this as well!



#bookreview #reviewsneedlovetoo #readforeverpub #unpopularopinion #booktok #bookstagram #bookfriend #books #bookish #booklover #instablog #romancereader #romcom #fantasybooks

Even though I like (and love) other genres, romance is the backbone of my reading experience. I was hooked when I started reading Harlequin book of the month romances in middle school. I also love rom-com. If I am in a bad mood or feeling blah, I can turn on Netflix and find many of them. So, when I got the invite to review from the publisher, I didn’t hesitate to accept it. But I was disappointed with The Rom-Com Agenda. Not that I didn’t like it (I did). The story fell short of my expectations.

The Rom-Com Agenda is a medium-paced book set in upstate New York. Leah had returned to Willow Creek to care for her sick foster mother. Now that her foster mother passed, Leah is at a loss for what to do. She holds multiple jobs, trying to make ends meet, when she overheard a disastrous proposal and break-up. Leah meets that man, Eli, when his sister and her friends are determined to give him a makeover and goes into the shop where Leah works. Leah is welcomed into the group by everyone (including Eli) and learns that Eli is determined to win back his girlfriend. That is when the Rom-Com agenda is formed. Eli must watch every rom-com movie the girls recommend to him to become a swoon-worthy man. They hope that he will learn something from them. Leah volunteers to watch them with him, and a connection is formed. Leah starts to fall for Eli, but she knows she is on limited time. Her foster mother’s son is coming back to town to sell the house, and Leah won’t have a place to stay. So, falling in love is the last thing on her agenda. Will Eli learn anything from the movies? Will Leah have to leave Willow Creek? And most importantly, will Leah and Eli admit their feelings for each other?

I loved the secondary characters and Leah in The Rom-Com Agenda. They were fleshed out, and I did form an attachment to them. The main characters were tough to like. Well, not Leah. She was sweet and reserved. It was Eli, and I’ll explain it in his section below. Let’s say that desperate is never good and comes off poorly.

Leah—She was a sweetheart. I wanted to scoop her up and shield her from the bad things in the world. I also couldn’t believe how reserved she was. I get why. I’m not going to get into her backstory, but it was excruciating and affected how she thought other people saw her. She decided to help Eli because she was a kind person and knew he was hurting. I loved seeing her character grow and understand her self-worth.
Eli—I couldn’t stand him. He is the reason why I rated this book three stars. He came across as desperate. What he did to Victoria (his ex) was not cool. They had only been dating for maybe two months when she went to Rome for a year. What did Eli do? He proposed marriage and then refused to accept the break-up. I was like, “what the heck, dude?” When his sister and friends decide to make him over (to help him get over her), he obsesses over her. I couldn’t even with him. I wanted to smack him and say, “Helloo, Leah, idiot.” This went on for almost the whole book.
The Rom-Com Agenda did fit into the romance genre, but it was slow-burn. The author went for a more relaxed, natural feel for the romance. While I did appreciate it, I sometimes wished it moved a little faster. But, overall, it was a good fit for the book.

The storylines in The Rom-Com Agenda felt a little meh to me. I was not too fond of that pseudo-love triangle in which the author tried to put Eli, Leah, and Victoria. As I mentioned above, it came across as forced and super creepy on Eli’s end. I did like the storyline where Eli’s friends tried to help him out of his depression, but I did find it odd that they wanted him to watch rom-com instead of him diving back into the world of dating. As for the storyline with Eli and Leah, I did like that one. It was sweet to watch them fall in love (even if Eli didn’t admit it to himself and kept obsessing over freaking Victoria).

There were a couple of trigger warnings in The Rom-Com Agenda. They were the death of a loved one by cancer, mental illness, foster care, and caregiver burnout. If any of these triggers you, I recommend not reading this book.

The end of The Rom-Com Agenda was your typical HEA. I liked that Eli and Leah got their HEA. I would love to see more books in this world. There are several characters that I would like to see more of.

I recommend The Rom-Com Agenda to anyone over 21. There is mild violence, mild language, and very mild sexual situations. Also, see my trigger warnings above.

"Trust issues - she had them, and with good reason. She was perpetually braced for the moment something would be taken away from her - a home, a place in the world. Someone she hoped to love."


*THIS REVIEW INCLUDES SPOILERS*


I really enjoyed this book overall... however, there were a couple minor things that allowed me to only give it 4.5 stars instead of the full 5. So, let's get into it...

First thing, TW/CW: Death of a parent, foster care, mention of cancer and bipolar one

Leah, our FMC, has spent her life in and out of foster care, feeling like she doesn't quite fit in anywhere. After aging out of foster care and moving to Florida, she quickly finds herself back in the place she so desperately wanted to get away from when her foster mom gets diagnosed with cancer. After her death, Leah works every job imaginable to save up the money to get back outta dodge as soon as possible.

What she WASN'T planning on was inadvertently overhearing a proposal (immediately followed by a break up) during one of these odd jobs...

Months later, while working one of those odd jobs, she comes face to face with the guy she heard proposing, and then being unceremoniously dumped... Eli.

Eli is on a mission to win back his ex, Victoria. After turning down his proposal and breaking up with him within 4 seconds, she jumped on a plane off to Rome to study art for a book she's writing. It should be noted that they were only dating for about 4 months when he proposed (#SummerFling) -- so you can't entirely blame a girl for fleeing internationally.

Yet, Eli remains on a mission to win her back. And to do this, his sister and friends have gone into full "makeover mode" to turn Eli into the sophisticated man they think Victoria is looking for.
New clothes - CHECK!
New hair do (and removal of a massive beard) - CHECK!
Lessons in cooking, art, and place settings - CHECK!
A long list of rom-com movies to watch and study - CHECK!

After running into the group at her job at the clothing/tailor shop, as well as the hair salon, and contributing suggestions to the makeover plan, the group slowly starts to essentially adopt Leah and she gets more and more involved with not only the plan, but their lives too. Which is ABSOLUTELY the opposite of what she needs/wants with her plans to leave town asap.

And she really didn't need or want to fall in love with Eli either.

To finish summing this up, we go through a lot of "will they/won't they" with Eli and Leah, all while he's still very focused on winning Victoria back for 85% of the book. Don't worry, he eventually comes to his senses. There's a lot of excellent rom-com mentions, especially if you're a fan of the movies from the 80's. We see some grand gestures, but we also see our MCs dealing with some pretty heavy issues, like grief, mental health, feelings of not being wanted, and narcissistic POS foster brothers.

So, here were the things for me...

There were two things that made me give this 4.5 stars instead of 5:

I would say about 65% of the way through the book, the MCs get together -- so at that point, I would say a lot of the rest was pretty predictable? There were still a few things that popped up that I wasn't expecting, but I could pretty much call it for the most part.
The ending was very abrupt - like, it just ended. I was at least hoping for like an epilogue or something -- did she get the house? Where did she end up living? Will Gray and Delia get their story?!

Would I still recommend this book? Absolutely! Speaking of... it's now available! 😁

Thank you Jayne, St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Leah Keegan is used to being alone, especially after taking care of her sick foster mother for the past year. Now there’s nothing keeping her in the sweet town of Willow Cove. It’s time to move on. Again.

Eli Masterson thought he and Victoria were meant to be together until she decided to jet off to Rome for a year. Eli is determined to win her back. Changing Eli’s physical appearance is easy, but to turn Eli into the sophisticated-yet-vulnerable ideal man, his girl pals force him to watch classic rom-coms. Leah ends up being roped into helping with the makeover.

I love the concept of a reverse to 90's romcom where a girl is made over. In this case a man is made over to win back his ex girlfriend. Where this falls apart for me is that he spent so long, so much of the book pining after his ex. It was for too repetitive. Not enough was spent on building Leah and Eli's relationship. They felt rushed. I just needed more from this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and St. Martin's Press for the gifted e-book. ❤️

2.5 stars

Eli has just been dumped. His friends have a way to get her back, however. They plan a total makeover, which includes watching a boatload of rom coms. Enter Leah, an outsider trying to heal from her foster mother's passing and earn enough money to finally get out of town. She's got the VCR they need for many of their rom coms, and keeps bumping into the makeover crew all over town because she works practically everywhere. Eventually she joins their little group, and as she gets to know Eli, she falls for him. The feelings are mutual, but of course it's more complicated for Eli because he's trying to win back another woman. Thankfully, there's a happily ever after for the couple, just like in the many rom coms they first watched together!

I really enjoyed reliving the nostalgia of the rom coms that I grew up watching. There were countless cute and funny scenes not only between Leah and Eli, but among the tight-knit friend group as well. Often this book felt exactly like one of the rom coms they were discussing. I really found myself caring about Leah. I loved reading all of the wintery scenes in this small town in January.

This book references the movie "Love Actually" a lot, and that's fitting, because, like that movie, this book is only sweet about half the time. There are some serious themes about (trigger warnings:) cancer. (Two mother figures have/had it.) Mental illness is also discussed. The foster care system factors into the plot quite a bit too. Leah has to deal with her very frustrating foster brother, as well. I thought the author handled all of these situations pretty well.

Unfortunately, the thing I found most difficult about this book was rooting for the potential relationships. Eli seems like a nice guy, but it was not fun reading about how, even though he and Leah were falling for one another, he was STILL vying for his ex for most of the book. I understand that the author wanted to keep up the obstacle between them, but it left Eli looking disloyal and fickle. Gray, one of the friends in the story, was being pined after by another girl in their friend group, but Gray doesn't even notice her as he gets with everyone else in town, and I mean just about everyone! I had a hard time not just hoping the ladies would move on and find better men.

The book started out really strong, but after a while they aren't watching rom coms anymore, much of the fun is replaced with serious themes, and the reader is left wondering why Eli hasn't changed his mind about Leah already. The situations with the friend group were hit or miss for me. Their motives were questionable, especially considering the fact that they wanted to completely change their good friend for a woman that they didn't even really like.

I'd like to thank St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the e-ARC of this book. All opinions presented are my own.

Rating: 4/5
I received an eARC of this book for my honest opinion

I am not normally into RomCom books, but I decided for this year I was going to branch out and I am happy that I did. I thought this concept would be so cute to read and it really was. It reminded me of watching a cute winter rom com on Netflix. If you’re interested in dipping your toes into the rom com book world I would recommend this book to you.

I thought the plot was so cute, the whole shy girl, from a small town, has trust issues, works a lot of different jobs to save up money to leave this small town, let me introduce you to Leah. Eli towns hopeless romantic, forced to undergo a makeover to win back the “love of this life, after she told him she wouldn’t marry him”, he loves his small town, he knows everyone and loves his family.

I loved that we got to see Leah and Eli as “real” people. I found it easy to connect with the characters and become invested in their lives. Leah works so hard to save up all the money she can and because she works everywhere she continues to see Eli and his family/friends with every part of Eli makeover.

I know a lot of people said that this book was too predictable and that the characters didn’t have chemistry, but I mean all rom coms are a little predictable and the characters did have chemistry but there wasn’t any hot and steamy moment in this book.

For me this book focused on family, friends, love, and healing from the past. I loved all the funny moments and all the references to some amazing movies, oh and I can not forget Blanche, sooo cute!

This book is cute, funny, likable characters, finding a place where you fit and just leaves you with warm-fuzzies. I can not wait to see what else this author will give us.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a slowburn sweet rom com that will have your heart smiling and mentioning some of my favorite rom combmovies is a big plus! But the store and the writingbwas amazing. I will definitely be buying more from this author.
I just reviewed The Rom-Com Agenda by Jayne Denker. #NetGalley
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Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

The Rom-Com Agenda
by Jayne Denker
Pub Date: 10 Jan 2023

This book had a cute premise, and I loved all the rom-com movie references. I also really liked Leah and was totally rooting for her to get her well-deserved happily ever after. Her romantic partner, Eli, however...sigh, not so much. If his character was supposed to be a teenager, I could give him more leeway for his wishy-washy, angsty "I love Victoria"...blah, blah, blah, demeanor. He really should have seen the light a lot sooner of who his heart belonged to.

3 stars

Really enjoyed reading this book, especially all the 80/90s movie rom-com references tied in perfectly with the plot. I found myself giggling out loud in parts of the book, it was like I was watching a rom-com film. Love all the characters and what they brought to the story, from meddling friends to found family this was a light feel good read.

This book is like a big warm hug. I loved both the main characters and the side characters as well! The rom references were perfect and nothing felt over the top or cheesy! Will highly recommend

3.5

I lived in the North Country for nearly six years and parts referring to the weather, the name of the retail store, the mall in Watertown all brought back those memories. I enjoyed living there.

This book was great the first half. Right up until the two main characters got together. The male mc did get back and forth more than the story let on. One scene it seems like he was over the ex, but the next scene he is still pining for her. After that There were good parts and awkard parts as storylines were being tied up. It didn't flow as well for me. The characters were entertaining and the friends/family you want in your life.

I think I may have enjoyed this more if it was dual POV and not a narrator telling it from both sides. I did get a sense of what the characters were going through and how they felt, but in this instance I think it would have worked better from the characters.

Overall this is a cute rom-com and if you love rom-coms you'll enjoy the references to classic movies.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this book.

Thank you st martins press and netgalley for allowing me to read this book. It bothered me how desperate Eli was in the beginning but I understand he was lonely and in lust. I love how brutally honest his friends are I think he needed that dose of reality. I love Leah and Eli’s friendship! I got so invested in this book just waiting to see when things would happen between them. I really want to read Delia and grays story next! I love that Victoria wasn’t a bad person just not the right person for Eli and I’m happy they both found love with other people! This book made me happy and I just couldn’t stop thinking about it! This was beautifully written! I loved all of the side characters and really loved the depth of the main characters!

This book was cute. I liked the storyline and I liked the cast of characters.
I thoroughly enjoyed that the conflict was not a complete third act break up. Those are cliche and one of my least favorite tropes.
I really thought it was cute how they wrung Eli through the wringer giving him his “make over”, even though there were times you kinda just wanted to smack him.
While it really was a cute rom-com, it just didn’t really have anything that made it stand out to me. It was slow for me to kind of get into and I didn’t really feel completely engaged in the story. I think that the story could have been developed more.
It had potential, it just didn’t deliver for me

A bit of a swing and a miss for me, I'm afraid. It reads very Hallmark-movie-of-the-week to me because it was engaging but very surface-level...it's hard to explain. Yes, the premise was cute and the nostalgia trip through Rom-Com Land was decidedly fun, but there's a level of immaturity to the characters and plot progression that prevented me from engaging with the story. The 2 ⭐ rating is entirely for all the B.S. that poor Leah gets subjected to throughout this novel.

Like, seriously...for 75% our MMC, Eli, is hung up on his ex and his obsession with her is very cringy, creating this OW love-triangle with a woman who has already told him 'no' in very clear terms. The fact that he really only realizes that he wants to be with Leah once Victoria tells him she's in a relationship did not sit well with me, especially since when he was asked to explain why he wanted to be with Victoria and could only say that she was 'beautiful'...Come. On. Leah deserves better.

Leah was a semi-strong MFC, but could have also benefit from a bit more fleshing out. A lot of weight was placed on her feelings of neglect and being invisible, but it was underdeveloped and rushed. I don't understand the inclusion of her foster-brother foe, Patrick. Outside of showing briefly that he didn't acknowledge Leah as family, his plot was more or less filler and threw off the pacing/final 25% of the story.

Overall, this was just an ok read for me.

I must admit that I was cautious before starting this one. It has received mixed reviews, and lately, at least in terms of rom-coms, I've had more fails than hits. I did, however, end up liking this one. It goes beyond your average rom-com. I fell in love with the incredible family that I found on the pages. The supporting cast members are the cutest kind of meddlesome.

Though I would have preferred a bit more accelerated character development on the part of the male lead, I enjoyed the gender flip with the man getting the makeover.

The references to the romantic comedies I watched growing up and to Gilmore Girls also gave me a lot of warm nostalgic feelings.

Please go elsewhere if you enjoy spicy. This is squeaky clean.

I listened to this as an audiobook, and read along. I enjoyed the narration. Thank you so much to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media, and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All of the thoughts above are my own.

Comfort reading. This wasn’t a literary masterpiece, obviously, but it didn’t aim to be. A sweet happily ever after story.

The premise of the book was cute and it definitely has the comedy aspect of a rom-com. The love interest Eli is like a big teddy bear, he’s a hopeless romantic who loves kids and the outdoors. Leah is desperate for family and belonging, but also thinks she will never have it. Most of the book is waiting for the two of them to wake up and realize they should be together - but it is a fun read. It’s also low/no steam.