I really wanted to like this book, I loved the premise... but I'm struggling, I'm easily distracted and dont really care about outcome or the characters.

Gray is a jerk, Eli is pining over girl who broke up with him and said she was done and is clearly into Leah, but refuses to see what is in front of him, Leah is the best part of the book - she is sweet and a hard worker and actually cares about these people... the rest of them well, I just dont care!

DNF'd.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you, Jayne Denker, St.Martin’s Press, and NetGalley, for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

DNF’ed at 20% - I had issues with the book that others may be able to get past, but I personally couldn’t.

Things you’ll find in this book:
- Small-town romance
- Parental Figure death (off-screen)
- Slight love triangle
- Closed-door romance

Things I enjoyed:
Leah, in general, was amazing, and I wanted to know more about her. She’s working 3 jobs to try and make her way out of a small town while dealing with the death of her foster mother. From the small bit I read, she was the small part that kept me reading.

Things I didn’t enjoy:
Eli really set the tone of the book, which for me, just wasn’t a great tone. We’re gonna hit a spoiler-y rant, but this happens in literally the first five pages, so not really a spoiler.

Eli dates Victoria for four months, and just before she leaves for a planned sabbatical, he proposes to her. When she calls him out on the why behind the proposal (trying to make things official and lock her down so she won’t cheat in the 10 months she’s gone) and also set boundaries (that she wasn’t that into him and didn’t realize he was taking their hookups so seriously), he tries to tell her that she’s the one for him and when you know you know. It’s painfully obvious that she’s not into him and that it isn’t fair of him to spring this on her when she’s literally about to leave.

This causes Eli to go into six months of a breakup depression (longer than the relationship he had with Victoria), and when we see him talk to his sister and friends about her, somehow Victoria is the bad guy for rejecting the proposal. It’s so backward because, as far as we see (from Leah’s POV), Victoria was only setting healthy boundaries for a guy she's only been dating for four months. (This, by the way, is the segway into the rom-com of the book, which is their plan is to makeover Eli into a refined guy good enough for Victoria to win her back)

It doesn’t paint Eli in the greatest light, and honestly, he’s a walking red flag.

My DNF point was, honestly, a conversation between Eli and his friend where apparently liking the movie Little Women wasn’t masculine enough. It just really killed it for me, especially after reading books before this, where it fights against these stereotypical conversations.

Overall:
It wasn’t for me. I can see an audience for it, and from other reviews, other people really enjoyed it. I didn’t. With the tone of the conversations and the plot, I honestly think this would have been better set as a YA rom-com than an adult romance.

(3/5) The fact that it took me an entire week to read this book and I still wasn’t into it is kind of telling 🥲🥲🥲 I loved the idea of this book, and I’m all about rom coms and appreciated all the references! The characters are endearing and I thought the pace was fine. HOWEVER, what ruined this book for me was Eli spending SO long pining over a woman who clearly from the beginning wasn’t right for him 🙃 Like sure, use that at a plot device at the beginning, but only for so long. This book was not great, not bad, but affirms that friends-to-lovers is either the inferior trope or is just really hard to do well

WOW!

I absolutely loved this book! I thought the whole storyline was so perfect. I loved that there’s was comedy but also some serious topics talked about and it was so easy to read. I could not put it down once I started!

I am looking forward to this potentially being a series??👀

I will put my full review on my Instagram account within the next two weeks!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the E-Arc. I loved this rom com. I loved the male MC and how he was so willing to go along with anything. I also loved the how close the family and friends were. Overall this was such a cute and easy read

I read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Wow... I really loved the main characters in this story. Leah and Eli were wonderful, real and funny. They were a great match and I really enjoyed watching them getting to know each other properly before becoming a couple.
The side characters were well written too, and the novel definitely had that small town feel.
The references to old movies and quotes were done perfectly, and suited the plot as well.
Was a great book that I'll be recommending to others.

Simply put, the cutest rom com. My first read by Jayne Denker and it was just what I needed. A cute read for that I had a chance to read during the holidays. A slow read but it's worth it.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was an quick and easy read, with two MC's with great backstories and supporting characters who made me laugh.

DNF @ 43%. I enjoyed this book for the first bit, but then found it got boring and I had no interest in picking it up. I've read 4 other books since starting this one and still don't want to pick it up and when I did I would only read a few pages so decided to DNF. It felt like it was going to be very predictable.

Thanks to NetGalley & St Martin's Press for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love romcoms and I love this book. The characters in the book were amazing and I loved getting to have a glimpse into what the author was thinking with them. It was perfect.

Thank you SMP and NetGalley for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

As much as I wanted to be, I was not a fan of the closed door romance The Rom-Com Agenda.

The Good:
Leah is a lot stronger than you realize.
I love anything with found family.
It’s friends to lovers.
There are so many awesome movie references.
The meet cute was a good one.

The Bad
Eli, the male main character, was unlikeable even after he stopped being a moron.
The plot and writing was a bit boring.
There is an odd, weird, sort of love triangle.

This was my Jayne Denker first book and although it was not as enjoyable as I hoped, I would definitely try another.

Well, this was an absolute delight of a book! I absolutely loved it. The found family trope, rom coms, friends to lovers, a makeover?! This has a lot of my favorite things. Character wise, Leah was an absolute gem. I loved her so much. Eli, at first, really bothered me with his completely unrealistic and delusional view of his relationship with Victoria. He was really hard to root for. But once he and Leah started to become friends, I started really enjoying his character a lot more. He had such great character growth. Jenna, Ben, Delia, Gray and Gillian were such a fun friend group and I’d 100% be friends with them. I thought the pacing was pretty spot on! It was very steady and I was never bored or waiting for something to happen. I thought the romance between Leah and Eli was absolutely adorable. They had such great chemistry and it was lovely to see their journey from friends to more than. If you’re looking for a sweet, romantic read, GRAB THIS ONE.

TW: mentions of cancer, death

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

“The Rom-Com Agenda” by Jayne Denker
Believe you are Worthy & Enough
Life can truly be funny, when the hard things are someone else’s life. Yes, this is a romantic story, and a comedy, too. But, there are hard truths here, too. So I laughed and shed a few tears, I wonder if you will also feel this range of emotions. Happy Reading ! !
NOTE: This review expresses my honest opinion.
I received an ARC of this story from the publisher via NetGalley.

Eli was crushed when Victoria, the woman of his heart, left him and went to Rome, So crushed that he gained weight and whined- a lot- until his family recruited Leah to do a make over on him. Leah. who has been juggling balls since caring for her foster mother, decides helping Eli might help her too. And then you know what's going to happen. I know some will quibble that Eli held on to the idea of Victoria for too long when Leah was right there beside him but if he didn't, we wouldn't have the rom-com. I gotta admit, though,, that I liked Leah more than Eli. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A quick breezy read.

I'm honestly sad because I really wanted to like this book. It features tropes like found family and friends to lovers, as well as countless movie references. What didn't work for me were Eli and Leah as characters. Eli spends the first half of the book whining about a girlfriend he had for 4 months, who literally left him high and dry with her CAT, while Leah is working a million jobs and just kind of flopping around like a noodle. And even if you do get invested in their love story, you only get to see them kiss before it fades to black. And not even a super steamy kiss either... I did enjoy the side characters and would hope to see Gray and Delia get a book of their own, this one just might not have been for me.

*Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

This was a very sweet and bubbly romance. I loved the small town vibes with the occasional real talk about one's worth & identity. I really liked Leah & her journey throughout the book.

Leah & Eli's relationship was more of a friendship for me than a romantic one. They had their bittersweet, longing filled moments but somehow the spark was missing. But the ending was delightful & wholesome.

<i>Thank you Netgalley & Publisher for the arc, in exchange for an honest review.<i>

I enjoyed this romcom. Eli obsession for a woman he dated previously sets his sister and friends on a journey to "fix" him after she refuses his ring and leaves the country. Leah is brought into the fold of friends and family when she happens to be working almost every place they take him to try to spruce him up a bit. The problem is that Leah kind of has a thing for him and it gets worse every time she sees him.

Eli was pretty clueless in a lost puppy dog kind of way and his determination to win over the woman who obviously didn't want him was maybe stretched out a little too long. It made his seem a little wimpy. It was wonderful when he finally started clueing in to his feelings for Leah. They really were your classic friends to lovers trope, but it just seemed to take forever for them to really get together. I did love her explaining what he should be learning from all the romance movies that the group had him watching. Leah was a sweetie all the way around.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the gifted copy. All thoughts are my own.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Steam Level: 🔥🔥 (kissing and closed door sex scenes)
Trigger Warning: brief mentions of parental abandonment, cancer (side characters), and death of a parent

Eli Masterson still can't get over his ex, even after four months. That's why his sister and best friends decide he needs a makeover to win back Victoria- the one who got away. As he endures shopping trips, haircuts, mani/pedis, and a rom com movie marathon to make him into the perfect guy, he finds himself crossing paths with Leah Keegan- a girl who sees the best in him. Leah's never really felt loved or accepted after growing up in foster care and watching her foster mom die of cancer. As much as she wants to leave town, she realizes that spending time with Eli and his friends is making her want to stay. And as much as she knows Eli's heart belongs to someone else, she can't help the feelings she's developing for him. Will Eli realize what is right in front of him and give Leah a place to call home?

Okay, this was so sweet and heartfelt. While the title inspires fun, lighthearted feelings, this book deals with some serious topics that make it more of an emotional read. Leah had a heartbreaking past, but she was such a strong, caring person. And I loved seeing her find a place where she belonged among Eli and his friends. I can definitely see how Eli might frustrate some readers, considering he spends most of the book pining after Victoria. But I loved the angst and was patiently waiting for the moment he came to his senses and realized he was meant to be with Leah. They honestly just had the sweetest chemistry from the start. I can definitely see potential for Delia and Gillian to get their own stories, so I'll be eager to see what comes next from Jayne Denker!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Overall I thought the book was great. Although it was really slow at times especially with Eli because it took him too long to get over Victoria. He had a hard time seeing what was in front of him. Which wasn’t fair for Leah. I found they weren’t together long enough because of how long it took him to figure it out. I would have loved to see them together longer than 2 chapters.

There was a lot to love about The Rom Com Agenda and I did enjoy certain aspects. Leah was a great character, a good blend of vulnerability and toughness. Eli worked for the most part for me, I do enjoy a good beta male hero who is in touch with his feelings. He was a little over dramatic about Victoria and I wish he got over her sooner. The romance was very much a slow burn and really took a while to get going. I think it was also slowed down by a few subplots that could've been edited out. Overall, 3.5 out of 5 stars.