Melissa Ferguson has to be one of my favorite Rom-Com writers at the moment. Famous for a Living was a fantastic book to read and even listen to. After a deal goes wrong, the famous Cat travels to Montana for a fresh start and a reality check. Her uncle offers her to work for him and she accepts. There were parts of this book that I lost track of where I was at and was a little confused. But, overall I enjoyed it.

Melissa never disappoints.

This book is slightly deceptive as the cover screams contemporary romance but it leans more women’s fiction. There are romance elements but mostly the story focuses on the main characters journey and the changes she goes through. Mostly commentary on the trials and tribulations of social media and the importance of creating a life outside of it.

Melissa Ferguson always delivers an easy breezy fun read with a perfect setting, interesting professions and unforgettable characters.

I loved the influencer turned “needs to hide out and be normal for a bit” storyline… Cat escaping the bustling city where she is recognized for the scandal that is attached to her name to live in a small national park in Montana made for a fun adventure. I love the group that quickly accepts Cat and the lessons she learns along the way of what truly matters.

The epilogue delivered! I was sad to leave the Kannery crew and Selena…but how cool would it be to revisit them… maybe a Selena book she my absolute fav!

This was my first book by Melissa Ferguson and I really enjoyed it. Famous for a Living was such a sweet read. I loved it from the very first chapter and read it in one day! It’s sweet, funny, romantic, but had a message of being present and to put down your phone and to stop obsessing over likes. I highly recommend this book if your looking for a light romance.

This was SO cute! More contemporary fiction than romance, but that did not keep me from enjoying Cat's story. Although I think some aspects could have been fleshed out a bit more, this was a delightful, quick read with loveable characters and some really impactful insights on social media addiction.

I really wanted to love this read since rom-coms are my favorite genre, but this read just wasn't a home-run for me. My largest group is the marketing of the book as a romance, when the budding relationship between the two mains was definitely almost more of a subplot.
The focus centered heavily on the FMC and her imploding career as a social media influencer. As a bookstagrammer/influencer myself, I was turned off my how shallow and insecure the FMC was so it was hard for me to connect. However, I loved the exploration of themes such as the overusage of social media and how it can damage your self-image and relationships. Once the FMC reached the mountains for her fresh start, I enjoyed some of her adjustments to wilderness but wished this would have been the focus of the book!

I think readers who love women's fiction and can related to a social media influencer will still enjoy this book!
I appreciate the advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Thomas Nelson publishing in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you so much Netgalley for the e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I will say it without any shame, I really disliked this book. I'm tired of books about social media obsessed people who like to shit on social media. It can get annoying especially how detail it gets on brands and how to set up social media post for content creators. YAWN!

Can I also hate on the fact that a book marketed as romance has no romance until possibly 55% in.

NEXT!

Ferguson's books are so cute! They are frothy, sweet, cute, relatable, etc.! I loved the story l.ine, the arc the characters took us on and the fact that we saw real growth with our insta famous leading lady.

This is the perfect beach read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas Nelson, and Melissa Ferguson for this e-arc in exchange for this honest review.

I thought this book was just adorable! This was my first book by Melissa Ferguson but it won't be my last! I loved the plot and characters in this book. I thought it was just so cute and I couldn't put it down!

I’m having a hard time writing this review because I waited a few days and already basically forgot everything about it, which honestly doesn’t say much good about this book I’m sad to say. I almost DNFed it at the beginning- the first few chapters are WAY too long and confusing and I really almost couldn’t handle it. After the initial chapters, when Cat is basically banished to the woods to work with her uncle and the group of employees running a small national park, it got significantly better- although not better enough to earn more than a “meh” rating from me.
This was sold as a romance, but it’s definitely more of a women’s fiction with a side story of romance thrown in- not entirely unexpected, but a bit of a let down considering I was really banking on a great enemies-to-lovers story between Cat and Zaiah. Sadly, they really didn’t interact much at all, and his grumpy exterior really came off to me as more like shy or just standoffish rather than actually grumpy grump- especially after he very quickly starts crushin. They don’t spend a lot of meaningful time together until their first date almost ¾ of the way through the book, so there’s not a whole lot of development where that is concerned, until we’re supposed to already believe there’s enough there to last forever.
As far as the women’s fiction storyline goes, I just didn’t buy a lot of the development and growth Cat was supposedly going through during her time at the park. She’s supposed to be learning how to live without social media and be her own person without needing her phone all the time, but the literally ONLY time she doesn’t take her phone with her is on her date with Zaiah, which turns out to be the one time she actually NEEDS to have her phone. After that, she’s back to normal social media influencing all over again. In the end, I suppose she ended up gaining some balance in her life between her phone and the “real world,” but it took a strange and not very exciting road to get there that just didn’t have me all that excited.

Cat Cranwell is gutsy, kind and incredibly successful. After years as an influencer making a name for herself, she’s implicated in a scandal and the focus of an overwhelming amount of bad press. The answer? A social media job out in the sticks with her Uncle Terry and his colleague, Zaiah, who is less than impressed with Cat and all she represented when they first meet in New York. This was a fun read that also dealt with some deeper subjects such as mental health, mobile phone usage, family, and social media. I enjoyed how the more serious side of the story was interwoven with the lighter elements, watching Cat become part of the team at Kannery Park (which requires a lot of wild outdoor activities), the tension developing between Cat and Zaiah, and the humour often found in the young interns.
I loved how brave and determined Cat’s character is, packing up and moving somewhere new, facing her fears and adapting to a different lifestyle in a close-knit community. She’s a warm and generous character, and very good at reading people which was especially sweet where Zaiah was concerned (after they cleared the air between them!). Getting to know the other characters added a little extra to the book, they all had distinct personalities and were a lot of fun with their antics. When the characters are this good and the romantic tension is sizzling, it’s impossible not to love the book!

3.5 Stars - I've loved other books by Melissa Ferguson more!

A social media influencer who’s life is suddenly rocked by scandal takes refuge working with her uncle at a rural national park. The novel starts off with an introduction to Cat’s glamorous life and the lead up to her fall from grace. Unfortunately, this section of the book was a bit of a slog for me.

It wasn’t until she shows up at the national park that I really got invested! From there on, it was endlessly entertaining reading about her escapades in nature and the fantastic supporting cast of characters!

At first glance, this book looks like a romcom, but looks can be deceiving. I'd put this one more in the women's fiction category with a dash of romcom. The book addresses the dangers of social media in a way that will definitely make the reader think about how much time they spend on their phone. All in all, this was a cute and thought-provoking read. 3.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson publishing for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review.

I enjoyed this book so much! It offered a really great look at the ills and evils of social media and how we can let it take a hold of our lives in so many ways. It was also really lovely to see a bit of a fresh take on girl leaves the big city for the great outdoors (instead of the small town) and it was so lovely to see her thrive there!

She found her voice in the quiet and she didn't need her knight in shining flannel (or park ranger uniform) to do it for her. That was something that surprised me about this novel - usually the two leads are together by the 60% mark or so but Ferguson kept us waiting and it worked really well with the ebb and flow of the character arcs etc.

Well done - much enjoyed!

A witty, tongue in cheek story about social media darling Cat Cranwell's fall from grace. I can't remember the last time I had a such an visceral dislike for a character. Cat Cranwell is shallow, self centered and insincere- a product of addiction to the high social media produces. With no where to go after she is disgraced, Cat hightails it to Montana providing my favorite scenes in the book. The angst between grumpy park ranger Zaiah and Cat is expertly written and realistic. If you're looking for a real , honest story of two people falling in love despite their differences I highly recommend this. Thank you Thomas Nelson-Fiction and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for this honest review.#FamousforaLiving #NetGalley.

A clean romcom with some good depth on social media's pitfalls and real-world effects. The cover makes it look like the setting will be warm and sunny but this is set in dead winter in a national park. I felt like the characters were real people, I liked that the main character wasn't an early-20-something with no brain cells, and honestly the cast being the opposite of aggressively online was great.

I read this book in almost one setting, where I had to force myself to go to sleep and had to save the rest for later.
This book started slowly with setting up the story since I still trying to get to know the characters and what was occurring. Cat is a strong female who knows what she wants and is trying to get her life back after a mishap occurs and she is cancelled when a partnership goes wrong. While being in debt Cat needs to lay low and takes up her uncle on a job at the national park as their social media manager. While out there Cat has to deal with internal conflicts of her own seeing how social media has taken over her life, and why her uncle's right-hand man hates her because of the internet.

Cat and Zaiah together are amusing because of their conflicting personalities of the world and their banter with each other are refreshing.
I rated this book 4/5 because I enjoyed the themes and tropes. The plotline made sense, I think there could have been more twists. The humour in the story was refreshing in all the chaos. The side characters helped with the tension and character development.
I enjoyed this book and I plan to purchase it for a friend since it is a different kind of rom-com with both characters being isolated in the woods for a small time, and falling for each other despite having different lives.

Tropes/topics: enemies to lovers, opposites, forced proximity, slow burn, addiction, drinking&driving, testing&driving, and mentions of abuse.

I loved this book so much! I really didn’t know what it was about when I started reading it, but I quickly was obsessed! The characters are well developed, and I couldn’t help but love them all!

Such a wonderful read - I really enjoyed this book. I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book

“Famous for a Living” by Melissa Ferguson
A Fun Light read (and something more)
It did take me a bit to get hooked on this story. As I was trying to figure what genre label I would associate with this story. I made this list: it was contemporary, has some sweet clean romance elements, some light funny parts, and, shows some of the worrisome results of having a deep social media connection. If you have a strong social media aspect in your life; you might see a bit of yourself in this story. It is a light fun read while it could also be a wakeup call for someone you know. A worthy read. Happy Reading !
NOTE: I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.