Thank you NetGalley and Thomas-Nelson Fiction for the electronic copy! All thoughts are my own.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Synopsis:
With her millions of followers, Cat Cranwell is adored around the world. But when an app partnership goes very, very wrong, Cat suddenly finds herself shunned from the community that not only fed her soul all these years but paid her bills. When Cat’s closest living relative, Uncle Terry, offers her a position on his staff at a small national park in Montana to get away from the city, Cat hesitantly accepts the opportunity.
What she doesn’t realize is that as the new social media strategist her goal is to save Kannery National Park from being absorbed into Glacier National Park by boosting the number of visitors. And at least one of her new colleagues—namely, handsome and rugged ranger Zaiah Hudson—thinks social media is the root of everything that’s wrong with the world. Written with bestselling author Melissa Ferguson’s signature wit and charm, this romantic comedy of opposites attract is full of hilarious romp and a romance that will melt readers’ hearts.

Overall thoughts:
This book was a JOURNEY. Both because it was a slow burn but also because it follows the characters on quite the journey as well. It is marketed as a romance, but I would not say that the main journey is the romance portion. I think this book is more about the journey Cat goes on with her own life and learning what is truly important.
Being someone who is a (self proclaimed, lol) 'bookfluencer', this book and the characters were somewhat relatable. I often struggle with the balance of social media vs real life. I love sharing my life, or at least my reading life, with my community on Instagram, but the internet can also be an overwhelming place at times. I think that 'Famous For A Living' really tackles that in the plot and just how easily social media can get away from us, given the results of the failed app partnership.
Overall the book was cute but it was a very slow burn. I would go into this one more looking for a chic-lit book versus the romance portion, but it was still a pretty fun read.

This was a really cute read about learning to find meaning outside of the world of social. media for an influencer. While marketed as a rom-com this felt more like women's fiction with a side plot of romance. But overall, this was a quick and easy read that left me feeling good. I enjoyed all the characters and loved all their growth.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for the advanced copy for review.

Cat Cranwell is a NYC influencer who trusts the wrong person with a business venture and swiftly falls from grace on the socials. Her Uncle convinces her to come to Montana to help his park ranger group with their social media presence.

This story was pretty cute. It's definitely a sweet, slow burn type romance. I really enjoyed the development of the relationship through the book.

The main character definitely grows as a person but doesn't completely change who she is. I enjoyed that.

This is my first book from this author and I had so much reading this! I haven't read a fun Rom Com in a while and this was such a breath of fresh air! The characters were interesting and kept me hooked! Once I started getting into this I didn't want to put it down. The pace was perfect and I can't wait to read more from this author! Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson - Fiction for the digital copy and the opportunity to provide my review.

🌲BOOK REVIEW🌲

Famous for a Living - Melissa Ferguson
Rating: 4.5/5 ⭐️

“With her millions of followers, Cat Cranwell is adored around the world. But when an app partnership goes very, very wrong, Cat suddenly finds herself shunned from the community that not only fed her soul all these years but paid her bills. When Cat’s closest living relative, Uncle Terry, offers her a position on his staff at a small national park in Montana to get away from the city, Cat hesitantly accepts the opportunity.

What she doesn’t realize is that as the new social media strategist her goal is to save Kannery National Park from being absorbed into Glacier National Park by boosting the number of visitors. And at least one of her new colleagues—namely, handsome and rugged ranger Zaiah Hudson—thinks social media is the root of everything that’s wrong with the world. Written with bestselling author Melissa Ferguson’s signature wit and charm, this romantic comedy of opposites attract is full of hilarious romp and a romance that will melt readers’ hearts.”

This was such a cute, fun read! I know it’s technically considered a romance but definitely enjoyed the friendships and Cat’e journey to figure out what is important just as much! I want Mina to come be my BFF! The romance was definitely a slow burn that started late in the book. Overall, I definitely enjoyed the message of being more present in the moment.

Recommend if you like:
- Found family
- Slow burn, closed dood romance
- Opposites attract
- Self growth and discovery
- Hallmark movie vibes

Thanks to @tnzfiction @our_friendly_farmhouse @tlcbooktours and @netgalley for this ARC!

🌲Do you prefer the city or country? Have you ever visited a National Park?

#FamousForALiving #MelissaFerguson #romcom #sweetromance #netgalleyreview #bookreview #booktok #parkrangerromance #booksbooksbooks #romancebooks #instafamous #influencer #bookchallenge #goodreads

This book was a very light, quick read with a happy ending. This was a closed-door romance(ish) story with a more YA vibe. Based on the book cover, I expected this to be a summer read with camping vibes, yet I found this to be misleading as the entire story is set right in the middle of a brutal Montana winter.

The story sheds light on the influencer lifestyle and addiction to social media and our phones. There was some interesting material for discussion from that point of view and did make me reflect on my own use of social media.

I find it difficult to classify this book as a romance because I found there to be a lack of true connection and chemistry between our female main character and her love interest. There is a "happily ever after" ending, but no true buildup to this ending... it just sort of happens all of the sudden in the epilogue.

Overall, this was an "OK" book. If you're looking for something light in between heavier books, this is a good choice.

Read if you like:
🏔 Stories set in the mountains
❄ Snowy settings
🚪 Closed door romance
📱 Influencer MCs
❤ Happily ever after endings

⚠️ Potential trigger warnings: abuse, strained family relationships, addiction (may not be an exhaustive list)

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Goodreads rating: 3.68 ⭐

🙏 Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the gifted electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was such a fun read! The relationship dynamics between Cat and Zaiah were so cute and I enjoyed watching them grow and develop throughout the course of the story. The plot felt relevant and Cat's struggles with her dependence on social media were very relatable.

This book was not at all what I was expecting. I was really expecting a romance centred story, however the romance is more secondary to the story. Cat Crandall is a big social media influencer who is trying to repair her image after her business partner is accused of financial crimes. Cat trades the city for the mountains, running away from the paparazzi to a national park her uncle is a ranger at in Montana. She falls for a grumpy park ranger who has a really good reason for disliking social media, cellphones, and all the dangers they can cause.

I was thinking I was going into a much more light hearted romance, and while I did enjoy the development of Cat and her struggles to find herself after years of living her life for her followers, I found it didn’t keep my attention enough. I kept putting this book down, and when I would pick it back up I would have to read back to get back in the groove. Another reason I didn’t enjoy this as much as I had hoped, the author has written the character with a lot of internal dialogue that is sometimes written as if I was spoken, and it became hard to tell what was being said vs what was internal thoughts. Maybe it was because I put down the book too often that it became disjointed, but I was over 70 percent in before I really got into the story.

If you enjoy slow burn romance reads that focus on the plot more than the romance, I would very much recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a like/hate for me

I liked where the author ended up towards the end of the book, but the execution to get there was all over the place.

After her world comes crashing down, social media influencer Cat goes to live with her Uncle in the remote nation park wilderness in Montana. She meets a slew of new people who begin to teach her that there’s more to life than your social media following.

This book had so many hypocritical moments that my head was spinning. Cat leaves New York to go off the grid after a business deal goes wrong and her “investors” lose tons of money. Then, while in Montana, she becomes the social media coordinator for her Uncle’s national park? It didn’t make sense.
Cat felt incredibly shallow for 80% of the book. The other 20% was her actually sticking up for herself, which I appreciated. The ending felt all kinds of weird and there were a ton of plot holes left (namely, Cat’s past which was supposedly horrible but we learn NOTHING about).
I also felt like this was a spin-off of “It Happened One Summer” with the spoiled social media princess being sent to live in a small town where the rugged handsome worker makes her swoon. So that was hard for me to get over.
Unfortunately this just wasn’t my favorite.

Thank you to Thomas Nelson and #netgalley for an eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Cute qnd sweet read. This was just the right amount of sugar. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read.

Honestly this rating is for the format. I couldn’t even read more than a couple pages of this when the publisher logo is on every other page. It was pretty distracting and made it super difficult to read the book. It was disappointing since I was excited to read this but I just couldn’t do it.

He's a city boy who escaped to the country, and she's a country girl who made it big in the city. So, it seems like their relationship is doomed from the start, especially when she learns why he dislikes social medial so much (which just happens to be her entire livelihood!).

There was a bit of a PSA feel to this story as the dangers of social media were explored and expounded upon at length. But eventually, it focused more on temperance and how to keep social media from taking over your life.

I loved the "found family" aspect of this story and had never heard of skijoring before, which turns out to be real! So that was fun to hear about.

The romance aspect of the story was enjoyable without getting too spicy. So, if you like clean HEA's, you'll enjoy this one.

Thanks to Melissa Ferguson, Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

While I loved Meet Me In The Margins, I didn’t enjoy this book as much. It felt more womens fiction than romance and was soooo focused on social media. Yet, I also felt like if the point was to show how bad social media is it could have dove deeper. I just never really felt like I got the point it was trying to make. The female main character was annoying most of the time too. I did love the park aspect and the found family there but I wanted more of that and less social media.

I love it when a big city girl meets a mountain man and has to learn to adapt in a new environment. It was fun watching her experience a totally different life complete with a polar plunge. Zaiah and Cat seem so opposite but Zaiah comes to appreciate Cat's strength of character. She's not as frivolous as he imagines a social media influencer to be. They had great chemistry and their banter was fun and delightful.

The only thing wrong with this book is that it's a standalone novel. I want a series. There are great secondary characters like the over-protective Mina or nerdy Kevin that just beg for a book to be written about them.

An unexpected side to this book for me is the information on the dangers of social media. It made me think about my own habits to see if there's anything I need to change. It is thought provoking and would make for a great discussion.

Thank you to Thomas Nelson for providing me with a free e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Reinventing yourself? Epic best friend? Check. Handsome bearded man? Check. Found family? Check. Laugh out loud moments? Check. I could go on, but I digress. The story was full of heart. I smiled through the majority of it. And bonus points to the author because now I know never to get too close to a Moose! The author did a fantastic job showing the MC’s growth in an organic way. Nothing felt forced or rushed. And that epilogue was the cherry on top! I love when we get a glimpse into the future that is done well and adds more depth to the story.

“She’s Insta-famous. He uses a flip phone.

When her business partner is accused of serious financial crimes, superstar influencer Cat Cranwell—an engineered marvel of beauty, energy, and fun—falls from her penthouse perch. Des­perate to get away from the online trolls and paparazzi docu­menting her disgrace, Cat accepts her uncle’s offer to work with him in Kannery National Park, Montana. About as far as possible from life as she’s known it.

Cat’s world shifts from the swirling haze of likes and comments to lit­eral blizzards of frostbite temperatures and waist-deep snow. In place of negotiating brand deals, she finds herself negotiating at the ledge of a frozen lake with her die-hard Polar Bear Plunge coworkers. Instead of padding through the marble kitchen of her Manhattan loft, she’s sharing a tent-sized cabin with a roommate eager to bond like characters in sitcoms. But something curious is also happening in this overwhelming breath of fresh air as she reacquaints with the most honest parts of her­self and begins to ask the hard questions. Can Cat love herself with, and without, the world watching?

Then there’s that other tiny problem—she’s falling for Zaiah, the ruggedly handsome park ranger—and he hates anything remotely connected to social media, quite possibly her included.”

**What I enjoyed about this book:
I really enjoyed the plot of the story as well as the overall idea that you’re not always prepared for what life throws at you! While this book did have a bit of romance, it felt more like a women’s fiction novel to me (but I still definitely enjoyed it)!

Read if you like:
*opposites attract
*women’s fiction
*character growth
*found family
*small town setting
*relatable struggles

This one was really hard for me to get into. I think the plot is great and I saw huge potential but the execution didn’t fully grasp my attention. It started off really strong and it sort of flatlined after the first third of the book. But that’s not to say that I wouldn’t pick up another book of this author.

Famous for a Living was so lovely. I don’t know anything about Montana but I feel like through the book, I went on a perfect getaway and made some friends. Not only that, but I had a splash of New York influencer living. This book is described as a “sweet romantic comedy” and the description is apt! Everyone in Kannery makes you feel warm and it’s the perfect place for Cat to recover from a scandal and learn more about herself. Not only is there romance, but there’s also self discovery and a very on the nose realization about where technology, social media, and phones have us as a society.

**Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Famous for a Living by Melissa Ferguson

Published: May 16, 2023
Thomas Nelson
Genre: Clean Romance
Pages: 283
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Melissa Ferguson lives in Bristol, Tennessee, where she enjoys chasing her children and writing romantic comedies full of humor and heart. Her favorite hobby is taking friends and acquaintances and turning them into characters in her books without their knowledge.

“Waiting to see what will happen next.”

Cat is a big deal on the internet. She has established herself as a successful influencer, and her lifestyle reflects that. When a partnership goes bad, Cat finds herself on the outs. Brands are dropping her, fans are abandoning her, and she is heartbroken. Zaiah is a park ranger in Montana, and he loves being away from it all. He carries a flip phone, he isn’t on social media, and he doesn’t know what is trending. When Cat crashes into his life, he isn’t sure what to think.

This was a charming read. The build-up was well-paced, and the plot was well-developed. The scenery was described beautifully; you will almost hear the traffic of New York or feel the frigid wind in Montana.

Cat was a bit shallow in the beginning. Her lifestyle had gone to her head. But she had such fantastic arc development. She was vibrant, intelligent, and loyal to those she loved.

Zaiah was a perfect leading man. He was hardworking, kind, and honest. I enjoyed getting to know him throughout. The side characters in this book were great. They added the perfect amount of comedy and support.

This was an easy read: a light but charming love story. Love can conquer anything.

Cat's life as an influencer is wonderful - until her business parter is accused of financial crimes and she is blacklisted. Desperate to escape what her life has become, she takes a job her beloved uncle Terry offers at Kannery National Park. But she's a city girl and doesn't know how to navigate the wild outdoors - and somehow co-worker Zaiah always seems to see her at her worst. And there's something about him she can't ignore. If only he weren't as much a mountain man as she's a city woman... Then she discovers that everyone at the park is relying on her - her! - to save their jobs. Can she learn to navigate this new world well enough to succeed? And whether or not she does, can she and Zaiah find some way to overcome the many obstacles between them?

I have to admit that I found this a bit harder to get into than previous books by the author, I think because it's told from Cat's point of view and she and I are poles apart - in fact, I have a lot more in common with Zaiah. Somewhere along the way, though, I began to feel for her even if I didn't understand her, and to root for the pair of them. I loved watching as they gradually started to open up to each other, and cheered as they got their happy ending (though it did feel a trifle abrupt). Then there were all the quirky happenings along the way that really made things hum - not least the skijoring championship! All in all, a good read, though possibly better for people who care more about social media (which is most of the world). I'm looking forward to the author's next book already...

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.