I’ve gotta say, I’m a sucker for a Schitt’s Creek type of story. Our heroine Cat is a big lifestyle influencer who suffers a huge setback when her business partner commits fraud and she’s implicated in the whole mess. With most of the internet with its back turned on her, she escapes to Montana where her Uncle Terry runs a local park. The love interest is Zaiah, who works as a ranger. He’s the complete opposite of Cat. Naturally, sparks fly.

When I started the book, I didn’t expect the romance to be more of a side plot. It mostly revolved around Cat assimilating to Montana and the people she works with.

All in all, it was a cute book that I quickly read.

Thanks as always to NetGalley for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

🔸Cat Cranwell is a famous social media influencer and is minting money. Her business partner is accused of serious financial crimes and within a night, the fairy tale life of Cat comes crashing down. To save herself from online trolls and embarrassment, Cat accepts the offer from her uncle to work with him in Kannery National Park. Life turns upside down for Cat as she moves from being a mobile maniac to a nature loving personality. Is she able to live this new reformed life or further goes into darkness? That’s the crux of the book.

💔 I really really tried to get into this book and enjoy it, but alas I could not. And finally it’s a DNF for me at 70%. Even to complete 70% I took near about 40 days 🙄. The premise of the book is very relevant but the writing style, character building was not for me. Sentences are clipped and short and it irks you after a point e.g. - ‘Mark nods.’, ‘So. This is fun.’, ‘She pauses. Nods’., ‘Static’, ‘Also allegedly’. Like these are sentences in the novel and this is a sample from just 3 pages. Chemistry is totally absent between the characters. Its termed as Romance but even after finishing 70%, I did not find swoon worthy romance in it. Protagonist is annoying and does not evoke any sympathy from reader even though she ran into big issues. And too much emphasis on description of surroundings and people are always exchanging looks. Characters keep on glancing at each other and mutter internally in their minds all the time but do not have a dialogue with the other person actually, arrrggghhhh. And there are so many hyphens in the text. Like most pages at least have 2-3 at minimum. It was an eye sore to read it.

💖 What I liked is the setting and the premise. The National Park environment, lake & snow clad areas narration is very soothing. The trope of a very famous social influencer being dumped by masses due to integrity issues is all very relatable and actually a reality today. People do go through depression and withdrawal symptoms in today’s era when they fail on social media platforms. So, on those lines the book & author actually handled a very serious issue.

💫 This did not work for me and I would not recommend this for Romance genre. I will have to try something else written by the author as this could be a one off blooper..

Thanks to @thomasnelson and @Netgalley for sharing eARC in exchange for honest review.

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

This book was cute enough. I don't necessarily think there was anything wrong with it, but it wasn't my cup of tea. I think it is maybe written for a younger audience, because I feel like I would've enjoyed it in my teens. It had some sweet moments, and I liked the character development in the story, but it didn't stand out in my mind for any particular reason. The message of the story was overall a sweet one but it wasn't "standoutish" in my opinion.

All opinions are my own. Thank you Netgalley and publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review. :)

What a world we live in! This book does a great job capturing cancel culture for those who build their lives in the public. Why we define ourselves by social media is incomprehensible yet happens to the best and worst of us. This book is more about the relationship our female main character has with herself and watching the development of that… with a clean budding romance that dilly dallies in the storyline. It took me a few times to get through it but I’m glad I stuck it out. Pretty good!

CW: guns

I really wanted to like this book but I had to stop 22% in. I love Melissa Ferguson and wanted to love it! I wish it had the content warnings at the beginning since there were a few mentions of guns in the first few chapters. I did like the fact that it brought up people's obsession with social media. I think it's a real problem.

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas Nelson for the arc.

When i see the blurb of this book i just need to immediately get my hand on the arc copy of it!! The premise is so interesting and fun 🤩

I love this book!! It took me quite a while to fully immerse reading it, but once the plot start to shows it’s actually really fun and entertaining. It’s also related a lot with how social media trends and technology kinda works nowadays for people, how we used to disconnect with people through out phone and social media. Interesting take on influencer pov and i love the journey that it takes for her to finally found her own footing after the downfall that she’s facing. It’s fun, entertaining and easy to read too!!

Thank you NetGalley,publisher and author for providing me with this book for honest review.

I received an advanced reader copy of Famous for a Living in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this opportunity

I really wanted to like this book and the story I was promised - a social media influencer who is forced to lay low for a while after a scandal involving her business partner, and who realises there‘s more to life than likes and luxury fashion brands after spending some time in a snowed-in national park - but Famous for a Living sadly didn’t live up to my hopes.

The story starts off by introducing us to Cat during a launch / birthday party at her expensive New York apartment, and I couldn’t stand her from the first moment. I was hoping to be able to relate to her at least a little in terms of being way too dependent on checking my social media during any spare minute, but Cat really seemed completely detached from reality. And there‘s also a “German” character called Kiel which isn’t a remotely German name at all, but well.

Then we also have the pro-gun uncle, the texting while driving through a blizzard, the stubbornness regarding a car that results in an almost dangerous situation, the salt water in a literal lake and the plot holes like Zaiah saying somebody was there to fix the water in the hut, but then Cat has a roommate so clearly that should have been working all along and the hut should have seemed inhabited?

The character that I liked the most was Cat’s adorable roommate Mina who was so genuine and caring.

The plot was rather straightforward but couldn’t keep me hooked, the characters were very stereotypical and not very much developed and the story was more of a work of women’s fiction than a romance, but I imagine that many readers out there will enjoy it more than I did and appreciate Cat’s character arc.

2/5 stars.

A fun, light read. This book is timely with the influencer heroine who is self reflective on how social media and phone usage are shaping her life. This book has fun scenery, set in a fictional Montana National Park with a cute small town setting and likable, quirky characters. I enjoyed the quick escape read that was great for a rainy weekend.

It was certainly a cute and interesting read, and I think Ferguson did well with Cat's character. The problem I had was that it's clearly marketed as a "romance" book - sure, there's a bit of romance, and this genre is what really pulls in readers - but ultimately, it's more like a "be careful of how much you're on your phone/social media because look at Cat's story" instead. You can tell from the beginning who Cat will begin to like, but it's not until most of the book has passed that they really have more than a handful of interactions. And the romance isn't the focus of the story - though if it were meant to be the focus, it needs to be brought out quite a bit more.

I liked what Ferguson did with the hard topic of social media/phone usage, though it did take a while for me to get that was the point of the story. I was hoping for more of a conclusion with the park itself, what happened to it, more of an ending for it than the brief comment about it in the end, etc.

Overall, it's a cute read, though while it's portrayed as a romance, I didn't really get that vibe.

thank you Netgalley for the free copy

2.5 stars

The blurb made me expect something which the book missed by a long shot. I think the characters were decent and I liked the female MC Cat. Ferguson's writing style in itself isn't bad, but the format really got to me. There are very small sentences as paragraphs. Even single words occasionally. If you don't mind any of this, Famous For A Living might be your pick.

Famous for a living was a great read, the development of Cat and Zaiah's relationship was so fun to witness! I enjoyed the pace and content of the book. It made for a great cozy read and I would highly recommend this to anyone trying to get out of a slump! I thoroughly enjoyed how we as readers got to follow Cat through her journey!

As always, Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A national park rom com is right up my alley! I thought it was interesting how this book talked about the negatives of social media but some of the negative points seemed wild to me. I enjoyed this book.

Cat Cranwell is a disgraced influencer who takes on a job as a social media coordinator for her uncle's small national park in rural Montana. Zaiah Smith is a park ranger in the same national park, and a critic of all things viral. Cat and Zaiah put aside their differences to draw visitors to Kannery National Park and help save their much smaller park from being absorbed into the larger Glacier National Park.

This book explored overcoming social dependence and learning to love and be yourself and was hysterical. I loved how it was a little bit of a love story but really it was Cam learning she is more than her social media following and her likes. I think it is so interesting how Melissa writes about the social aspect, feeling the high from the likes which I think we can all fall victim to.

This book was laugh-out-loud funny, as Cam moves from city life to Montana to avoid public scrutiny after she had a deal go sideways. Now she traded in pumps for sneakers and explores the national park with her father figure Uncle Terry and her love interest - park ranger Zaiah. The plot also explores them trying to save their park from being absorbed into a bigger park and there is rivalry and so much banter from this.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for the digital review copy.

This was really cute. It definitely showed some good and not so good aspects to social media. I loved that they both didn't change for the other. This was a great closed door rom com. I normally don't tend to gravitate toward closed door however Melissa Ferguson has a way to keep me happy with the characters and their progression. I think she has become one of the authors that I will read any book she puts out.
The book had some weird formatting that took me a couple chapters to get used to. I used my kindle phone app and a kindle paperwhite and the formatting was the same on both.

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

Thank you Thoman Nelson Fiction for the early copy!

This was my first book by Melissa Ferguson, and I was sad that I only discovered her books now! It was such a good-written book, and the message was so important. Cat was so genuine, you can't help but relate to her, feel what she's feeling and understand her actions. As someone who does not follow many influencers on Instagram, Cat is one of the few I would totally love to follow (espeacilly after that ending)! Zaiah was just amazing as well, and all the other characters, loved all of them. The reading flew by, I wish the book was longer! Could not recommend it more. Looking forward to read more books from the author.

A fun read that keeps you reading. I loved the characters and felt they worked really well with the story.

2.5 Stars - This was my first book by Melissa Ferguson and I was really looking forward to reading it. The cover image, title, and synopsis sounded like the perfect romcom book. Unfortunately, the writing style was difficult to follow (with many small sentences and no real paragraph format) and I had to keep refocusing on what I had just read. I thought it was a very slow start, it didn't really pick up until about 30-40% in. The characters were fun and I definitely could relate to the social media aspects, but I wouldn't really consider this a romance book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson - Fiction for sending this ARC for my review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A unique fun read for anyone! I really enjoyed this novel. Cat is a famous star, but when a scandal threatens to end her career, she is forced to accept her uncle's job offer. That job takes her out in the middle of nowhere, working with the very irritating and handsome Zaiah. I mean the guy uses a flip phone for heaven's sake. Join Cat as she tries to find herself and save her uncle's beloved national park before time runs out. I loved every minute of this book! While this is not my usual type of book, I found myself sucked in. A lot of contemporary books nowadays are very sexual and crude. This was not the case and I loved it! I would absolutely recommend this book to any friends and family.

Cat Cranwell is a successful social media influencer with millions of followers, but when an app sponsorhips goes wrong, she finds herself being shunned by the community. With the sponsorships drying up she's forced to take a position from her only living relative, working at a small national park in Montana. To get away from the city and spotlight, Cat jumps at the opportunity. What she doesn't know, is that as the new social media strategist, her goal is to save Kannery National Park from being absorbed by a larger national park near by. But not everyone believes social media can save the day.

I went into this book believing it to be a romance, and while there is some romance aspects, with one handsome and rugged park ranger, I think the main romance of this book is the main character, with herself.
Cat has spent the last 14 years as a social media influencer, being adored and praised by millions of people. Moving out to the Montana forests forces Cat to shift her perspectives on life and see what is truly important. This book truly touches on the benefits and downfalls of social media in today's world. Cat is able to use her social media presence to help bring awareness to a beautiful park, but the hateful backlash she receives in the beginning of the book shows the ugliness of it all. Throughout the book Cat works to put her phone down and be present with those around her, to stop and take in the view and the wonders of nature. I will say the only thing I wish this book had more of was Cat and Zaiah!

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. This post may contain minor spoilers.

If you’re looking for a rich girl/poor boy, grumpy/sunshine, small town romance filled with action, laughter, found family, and life lessons, Famous for a Living is the book for you.

Cat, a content creator in a spot of trouble, moves from her glamorous life in NYC to work with her uncle at a national park in Montana. She’s also working with Zaiah, the brooding mountain man that should’ve had more shirtless scenes, practicality be damned.

Cat had some of the best character growth I’ve ever read. She went from someone addicted to their phone to someone living in the moment. There were other changes too, like her attitude towards her natural beauty and real friends.

I loved the romance. It was definitely slow burn, but I prefer it that way (all the tension). My only criticism is that there were very few scenes of them romantically together before the epilogue. They end their first date and two chapters later it’s the epilogue and they have a happy ending. I would’ve liked to see more.