I love an 80's rom com, especially if it is by John Hughes, and this book was filled with references to all the classics. I loved Leah and how strong she was. This character has so much growth and courage. Now Eli, on the other hand.....
In the beginning, he has tunnel vision. He has one goal and is dying on the Victoria hill. Luckily, he finally comes to his senses, and we see some change and clarity..

This is a closed door rom com with some serious undertones (see trigger warnings below). The ancillary characters are very diverse and lovable. I feel like we need a book for Delia and Gray and restoring Jillians' faith in love.

Ultimately, I think this was a cute story, with sweet moments, decent communication, and no third act breakup!

🚨Trigger Warning below
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Mental health (bi-polar), given up for adoption, death of parent, cancer

This was a pretty easy romcom read and i liked how cute the concept of this was! I didn't necessarily love how long it seemed Leah waited around for Eli /: I felt for Eli but then he just got hungup on his ex and it was a little off for me. While it wasn't my absolute favorite, I still enjoyed the slow burn relationship! Thank you St. Martin's Press & NetGalley!!

***Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
This was a friends-to-lovers rom com with a makeover theme. This was fun and sweet, but there were some slow parts.

I really enjoyed the found family aspect of this and all the rom-com inspired moments. I didn't quite feel the connection between the love interests though and it started off a little slow for me so it was harder to get into the book at first.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you like:
💅🏻 GILMORE GIRLS REFERENCES ❤️❤️❤️
💅🏻 The Notebook references 💕
💅🏻 long chapters
💅🏻 childhood friends to lovers
💅🏻 HEA

The story starts off hilariously awkwardly as Leah is stuck in a boathouse, eavesdropping on an argument that she wants absolutely no part of. Eli proposes to his girlfriend of 4 months, and she turns him down to go do research in Rome for a year. After such a long romance, Eli is obviously devastated. Eli’s friends then rally around him to get him over his breakup, and some friends are there a liiiiittle bit more than others 😜
The author’s writing style was snarky and sarcastic, and dripping with attitude and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT 💕 The dialogue between the characters was delightful! I loved the humour and banter back and forth between all the friends.
I was absolutely over the moon for the Gilmore Girls references!!! Gilmore Girls is my favourite show ever and I couldn’t believe this book kept talking about it! 💕💕
The characters were very likeable and I found myself constantly rooting for the two main characters to FINALLLLLY get together. Bryce the bird was absolutely my favourite character 🤪
There was a lot of hype about this book before it was published, and I’m so happy that it lived up to the hype and I was not disappointed. This was a truly enjoyable book and I loved it!

This one was a feel-good romance and I truly enjoyed it. With plenty of nods to familiar tropes and romantic comedies, I loved the way those elements were woven into the plot of trying to teach the love interest how to win back his former girlfriend. Even though the ending was predictable, it was the good kind of predictable. A truly lovely read.

In The Rom-Com Agenda, we follow Eli Masterson who, encouraged by his rowdy group of friends, is on a mission to win back his jet-setter ex-girlfriend by undergoing a makeover. Eli's friends enlist the help of Leah Keegan, a woman of many talents from carpentry and plumbing, to styling and waitressing. One of Eli's many assignments includes watching a massive list of rom-coms like When Harry Met Sally and Sixteen Candles. If you like subtle pop culture referenches, found family, and a slow-burn romance, this is one for you.

In Michigan, January and February are always cold, dark, and loooongg. Pick out your favorite cuddly blanket and check out The Rom-Com Agenda when it comes out on January 10th for some adorable romance to keep you company through those long, cozy winter nights.

Many thanks to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed 75% of this book, but the last bit was so inconsistent that I went from an easy 5 stars to solid 4. I really enjoyed Leah as a character and someone who had been strong and independent for so long. I enjoyed watching her break down her walls and push herself to accept the love being given to her by her new friends, but Eli's growth and character development stuttered so many times and it got to a point where I was just frustrated with him, which when he and Leah finally got together I was mad that she didn't push back more. He went from telling his mom to get on board and he would give her tons of grandkids to making out with Leah. I think the point was that he was in denial, but it didn't translate to the page. Overall, I really enjoyed the book as a whole, but the last chunk was more frustrating than enjoyable.

this was cute! like a 3.25!

eli and leah were real sweet but there wasn’t any excitement about them. they were just so tame. i loved their group of friends/the found family but gosh they were so much more fun than the main characters were.

i liked it overall and the synopsis sounded so cute but the pacing wasn’t my fave. it was a little too slow for me. also yall know i looove a dual pov but i think this book wouldve thrived more if it was a first person dual pov (its in 3rd person). the main leads were just so bland, i think a first person pov could’ve made it a little more exciting.

i’m glad i got to read it but not sure i’d pick it up again.

thanks netgalley for an arc in return for an honest review.

super cute concept but kind of lackluster execution. i think my main issue was with eli and his friends/family lol. leah, the heroine was really sweet and dealing with a lot. but so much emphasis was placed on helping eli get his ex back. i didn't understand why his friends/fam couldn't give him some tough love and say "hey dude, get over it."

i think it would have been cool if he was trying to do some work on himself just for the sake of being a good partner. rather than trying to win back an ex. would have made the transition of being intent on winning ex back to being head over heels for the heroine a little easier to accept.

Just like every corny and sweet rom-com, this book was fun if not predictable. I really enjoyed the friend group and would love to hang out with them in real life. It was a little far-fetched that Leah had every single job that was open in the town, but the comparison to Kirk made me chuckle. I also liked all the references to popular rom-coms and pop culture.

Just when I thought there was going to be little more than surface development for the characters, we got a peek into Leah’s family life. It gave her more depth and actually made me feel even more protective of her heart. Eli was a little clueless but honestly a nice guy that deserved more than Victoria could offer him.

The narration was well done and the ending was what one would expect in a feel-good rom-com. This is the perfect read for a snowy day.

What would you do to win back the love of your life? In “The Rom-Com Agenda” by Jayne Denker, Eli is about to test just that. After attempting to propose to his girlfriend, Victoria, and being shot down, Eli is willing to do whatever it takes to win her back, including a complete rom-com makeover, courtesy of his sister and her friends. But in the midst of the makeover Leah is enlisted to help and he can’t get her out of his brain- isn’t he supposed to be winning back Victoria?

This book was definitely more of a slow burn type. We all know Leah and Eli are going to fall in love, but it takes a while for them to realize that they’re going to fall in love. BUT I will say it was cute to have them become kind of friends first. I love a good friends first relationship.

Leah’s side of the story is so complicated and I would have loved to be able to have the time to dig deeper into her past. We get a little taste, but I really wanted more of it to better understand her reactions.

In the end, I enjoyed this one a lot. I gave it a solid 4 stars!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I enjoyed this! At the beginning it struggled figuring out who all the characters were because I was listening on audio but it didn’t take me super long to figure out who everyone was. I liked both main characters though I did think Eli’s love for Victoria was a little ridiculous. I really enjoyed the found family aspect of this! I thought the family’s lessons for Eli were fun! I enjoyed the audio book and thought the narrator was good! This is a solid 4 stars for me. Thank you to NetGalley, St Martins Press and Dreamscape media for access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was late to posting my review, but this book was a pleasant surprise. I had a string of meh romance books, but this one stood out! I really enjoyed it!

A charming read and a good beach day read. Just not much depth.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I’m really upset about this one!! I thought it was gonna be great for me but I just wasn’t vibing with the characters. I didn’t like how long Eli went after the other person. Felt like it was the entire book and they didn’t come together until way later. It was hard to see the two main characters together

A darling novel about found family and finding real love.

Eli’s sister and friends decide he needs a makeover and romance lessons if he’s going to win back his ex, Victoria, that he’s hopelessly still pining over. When they stop in Thousand Island Dressing (a clothing boutique in their small town) they meet Leah at one of her 500 jobs (Eli charmingly refers to her as Kirk from Gilmore Girls, which I greatly appreciated).

During the transformation and education in the form of watching so many romance classics Eli and Leah become close and Leah also becomes close to his friends and family. Leah is working many odd jobs to make money to leave town, as her foster mother passed the previous year and her foster brother is more than a bit of a nightmare to deal with.

I really enjoyed the growth in Eli and Leah’s relationship and the growth within Leah as she learns to deal with her anxiety and accept that she’s part of a fiercely loving and loyal chosen family.

4 stars

⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a cute story! Predictable, but always what i'm looking for when I pick up a rom com. I would definitely recommend this one!

3.5⭐️
I loved the concept of this book and the inspiration of older romcoms and that’s what initially drew me in. It did take me a while to really get into the book and adjust to the third person dual pov. It was a bit of a slow burn which I love but I didn’t like how long the mmc was stuck on his ex. I loved how welcoming Eli’s friends were of Leah, it was sweet to see her find her place. Although the ending left me with questions it was a cute and quick read!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you are looking for the nostalgia that 80s and 90s romcom movies can bring, look no farther than this novel, as it will provide a thorough education on that movie genre. Unfortunately, those movies do not bring a sense of nostalgia to me and ended up feeling like a waste of page space. In all honesty, this book did not meet my expectations and the story, as a whole, floundered on the back of its premise.

I found it difficult to suspend my disbelief as I worked my way through this book. There was a myriad of reasons for that: the friends and family accepting the idea that Eli needs to completely change to attract a romantic partner; the lack of stakes over why we should root for Eli and Victoria getting back together; and the stigmatized depiction of Bipolar 1. These three plot points overshadowed the personal journey that Leah (and Eli) was on and didn’t provide a great foundation to endear me to any of the characters.

The greatest weakness of this story was the themes, or messages, hiding within the pages. There were two messages that stood out to me: 1) that you need to change yourself to attract a romantic partner; and 2) that someone with bipolar disorder is not capable of caring for their child. It has been proven that neither of those messages are true, and I found it to be damaging that the plot hinged on both ideas. Not only were these messages present, but they also weren’t addressed or challenged in the novel. It was uncomfortable to see these messages be so prevalent without true consequence being present on the page.

The plotting was uneven in this novel. It takes 75% of the novel for Eli to come to realize he loves Leah, not Victoria. This only provides 25% of the novel for Eli and Leah to move into a romantic relationship and handle all the challenges that come with that. And throughout all of that, it was expected that we believed Eli’s end goal was to end up with Victoria. I couldn’t find myself rooting for Eli in any aspect, and that was for one important reason: we never got backstory about Eli and Victoria’s relationship. In fact, the only times Victoria was seen on page was when 1) Leah watched her breakup with Eli, 2) when Eli and Victoria spoke over the phone, and 3) when Eli helped Victoria get engaged to another man. The missing backstory details were a detriment to the overall quality of the story.

Additionally, there was a significant lack of conflict across the pages. Was there internal conflict? Sure, as Eli and Leah were both on developmental journeys. However, there wasn’t much in terms of external conflict; without that conflict pressing on the characters, it made for a rather lackluster read.

Overall, this was a mediocre contemporary novel. I don’t wish to call it a rom-com, despite that being in a title, as it often felt like I was reading commentary about old rom-com movies instead of being present in a fictional story.

Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.