This was a quick cute read. A little bit of a wordy book but the plot was somewhat cute. I wasn’t totally in with the romance just because it felt like a rebound love story. Eli was kind of dumb but I loved leah!

The Rom- Com Agenda is such a cute romance book. It’s the perfect book for readers who enjoy swoon worthy books!

I cannot get behind a book that continues to stigmatize mental health disorders. Having bipolar disorder doesn't automatically mean you're going to be an unfit parent. There are plenty of parents with no mental health disorders who are completely unfit.

This was such a cute romance novel. I loved the main characters, both were likable and not frustrating during the story. There was mention of many rom-coms during the "makeover" and the friends to lovers theme was great. I would recommend this to a friend!

This was a pretty typical romance, but I did, overall, really enjoy it. The characters were fun, albeit a little foolish at times. There was some miscommunication, but it was by no means the sole conflict of the story and there was no 3rd act break up (2 tropes I struggle with in romances).

Eli is in love, except Victoria does not return the sentiment, then she up and leaves for Rome for the next six months. In her absence, Eli decides it's time for a makeover. Not just for his looks and wardrobe, but a whole personality makeover too. Leah needs to leave. After caring for her terminal foster mom for the last year and her foster brother's constant threat of eviction, she works any and all odd jobs to save every penny to move out of Willow Cove and never look back. Her and Eli meet by chance, yet Eli has no clue that Leah already knows exactly who he is... he's the guy that got spectacularly dumped after proposing to his girlfriend at the docks. They bond over watching romantic comedies, Eli's most important learning tool for his makeover, and slowly the romance begins to happen off-screen as well.

The Rom-Com Agenda was a sweet romance with fun characters and classic romance tropes, but didn't feel overdone. A cute romance to pick up any time of year!

** actual rating is 2.5 stars **

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

There’s a lot of this book that just didn’t work for me personally. For one, the writing style wasn’t engaging me at any point while reading. It felt like I was just reading a detailed account of what happened, I didn’t really get any excitement from the writing, even when it was supposed to be an exciting scene.

As well, I think it is *very* hard to use pop culture references well. I have read too many books where the pop culture references become cringey and/or annoying. I definitely would put these references into the cringey category. I am not sure what I expected, going into a book that is solely about other romcoms, but hearing every single character say something along the lines of “you haven’t seen — ???????” Like, when the movies you’re talking about are Love Actually and Better off Dead (which lbr is not a romcom, it’s a dark comedy), it’s really not that surprising. I can’t count on one hand, excluding family, anyone that has seen Better off Dead.

I did like Leah, I think she is sweet and is going through a lot emotionally. She works so many jobs, I don’t know how she has the energy to do any of this. On that note, I felt like everyone kind of… made fun of her? I don’t know if that’s the word, it was just really insensitive how they treated Leah & her multiple jobs imo.

When her new friends recruit Leah to help Eli win back his ex-girlfriend, the two end up bonding over rom coms.

Like I wanted to like it, but it just didn’t work for me. I thought this was dumb.

3 stars!

I think that my main issue with this novel was that I really just did not care for Eli. He was wayyyyy too into his ex which is fine until I'm supposed to be caring about his love story with Leah. Eli was literally giving me whiplash because he was just way too uncertain. I did think the found family carried where Eli lacked, and I did laugh at times so points to this book!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely LOVED Leah. Eli’s obsession with Victoria was sorta cringe like I get he’s upset and heartbroken but babe you gotta accept what happened at some point. Also Victoria is giving very much pick me ick energy. 3/4 stars are for my girl Leah. She really carried the book & I love her. Also some of the jokes in this book actually had me laughing, this was a true rom com book. I liked it! Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was fun and relatable! I feel like romance books are usually not relateable, but Denker managed to me actually are about and relate to these characters. I'll definitely be reading from this author again.

This was a cute ode to all things romcom. I really love all of the movie references.
I do feel like the mmc took way too long to figure his stuff out but I enjoyed the story. It was a good pallet cleanser for sure.

This is a nice, sweet romance. There is no explicit sex and the steam factor is pretty low. If that's your jam, this is a great read for you. For me, I really missed the steam, hence the 4 stars.

I received an ARC of this book, from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Cute, but not breaking any molds for Romance novels. I thought it was completely ok. Not spicy, sweet. The town was probably the most charming character

This story begins when Eli gets dumped by his girlfriend and she gets of to another country. After giving him some time to dwell on it Eli's friends try to help him win his ex back and Leah is recruited to help him.

Leah finds herself falling for Eli just the way he is and doesn't think he needs a makeover and to change in order to be with his ex.

Eli spent way too much time focused on winning back his ex while he was already falling for Leah.

The best part of this book is the references to 80s and 90s rom coms.

A sweet romcom but very surface level! I enjoyed the characters and the story and overall vibes but will likely be a book I’ll forget within a few days

I loved this book! It was so fun to read and I loved learning more about the characters. The character development was great. My only issue is that Eli really would've done anything to win back a girl - is it ever worth it? Wil be recommending to friends!

This was super cute and an easy read. I did struggle with Eli probably because he was so focused on his ex. Just draw me in as much as I hoped. I would read more books from this author though because I do think there was a bunch of potential just missed the mark a bit

This was cute! I enjoyed how easy of a read this was. There were some parts I felt like were either a little confusing because of lack of information or dragged a little too long. I loved how independent Leah was and how determined she was to get out of town with all the jobs. With a history that she had, she could have just called it bad luck but she truly loved Kathy and caring for her and I think that made her as a character. Eli on the other hand I had an issue with because he’s 31 and not only willing but dying to change his entire self in order to win a girl over that he knew for only four months who clearly didn’t want him. Can someone please shake him and tell him to grow up? 😂 Overall I liked the book…it was cutesy and lovely.

“The Rom-Com Agenda” was such a cute and quick read! I went into this one totally blind, having completely forgotten the summary I read months and months ago when it came through my inbox, and was pleasantly surprised.

If there’s anything that will pull me into a book, it’s a pop culture reference and this one is chocked full of them. One of our main characters, Eli, is determined to get back his ex-girlfriend who turned down his proposal and went off to Rome for a year, so he agrees to let his sister and their friends give him a makeover both inside and out. Part of the makeover scheme entails taking notes on classic rom coms and their leading men (side note: the author completely points out the heteronormativity of the rom com list that gets written and it was brilliant). Classic rom coms? Say less. I am all in.

Another reference that is so small but actually made me laugh out loud and very excited was a “Gilmore Girls” reference (if you must know absolutely anything about me, it needs to be how much I love “Gilmore Girls”). Our other main character, Leah, is compared to Kirk from the show by Eli because she has multiple jobs. (I actually lost count by the end of the book how many Leah has.) Leah and Eli then have some banter about how he absolutely positively has not watched “Gilmore Girls” and it was 100% his sister that was into it… Oh, Eli. As if I couldn’t love him any more.

Pop culture references aside, although it is very central to the plot and our characters, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Leah and Eli’s characters. I thought they were very realistic, which sometimes isn’t the case with rom coms. Sometimes our main love interests are the sort of people you’d only find on page, but I felt like they were firmly planted in the real world and I could easily know them in my every day life.

The side characters are sort of where we get our classic quirky rom com cast, but I loved them no less. In fact, I’m optimistic we will see at least one companion novel, maybe a few. I love a found family trope and this family was such a joy to read.

Now, my biggest issue with the book comes from something that drives some–okay, most–of the plot and that is Eli’s need to change himself to get back his ex-girlfriend, Victoria, who 1.) turned down his marriage proposal because he proposed after 4 months and she didn’t realize he was serious about their relationship, and 2.) left the country for a year and ignored his texts and calls. There is a lot more about the situation and dynamic between Victoria and Eli that we learn, and ultimately I am very happy with where it ends, but my gosh. I had to completely suspend disbelief and just accept that this was something that was happening.

For Eli to continuously pine after this woman who clearly doesn’t want to be married or be with him was frustrating. Not only that, every one of his friends told him he needed to move on from her, but he wouldn’t listen so they decided to then support this makeover scheme? A mess.

I liked everything about the book except for this, so I had to ignore the initial reason Leah enters Eli and his family and friends’ lives. Which is a difficult thing to do when it goes on for 75% of the book and is the very reason behind you rooting for the two of them to be together. It’s very convoluted and frustrating. But, in the end, I’d say worth it. It’s a sweet and happy ending, exactly what I expect from a rom com.

4 stars
This was a cute rom-com - a sweet, easy read. Eli is in love with Victoria, who's about to jet off to Italy for a year. IN an effort to solidify their relationship before she leaves, he proposes. It goes horribly wrong! And, worst of all, Leah Keegan overheard the whole thing!

Leah is in town to care for her former foster mother. She has no family of her own, and is planning to leave as soon as she gets her foster mom's house settled up. Yet, little by little, the people of the town, including Elis, become her found family.

Eli is determined to get Victoria to marry him, so he gets Leah to help him become more desirable. How do they find examples of the perfect man? By watching rom-coms, of course! I love how this rom-com is sort of poking fun at all the rom-com tropes!

I don't want to imply that the ending is predictable, but this is a rom-com, isn't it? Of course, all's well that ends well. Sweet and cute and I enjoyed reading it!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalleyfor the digital ARC in return for an honest review.