So I didn't love the author's other novel (Meet me in the margins) and I liked this novel more than the other one; however, neither Meet me in the margins or this one should be marketed as romance. It's fiction with a sprinkling of romance. There's no "romance". Found the social media aspect a tad preachy and the uncle preaching about his gun rights, I didn't know what that was about. The writing style also incorporated a lot of time jumps and overall, not my favourite book. The relationship was sweet overall, but yeah, I think the execution was lacking for what I wanted in the book.

I DNF'd this one at 14%. I just couldn't get into this one, the writing style didn't work for me and I didn't like the main character. The starting scene also seemed to drag out a bit long and I just didn't get invested, when I started skimming within the first chapter I figured it was time to set this one aside.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC of this book!
I am so happy I was able to read this book early. I really enjoy this author and haven't been let down by any of her books! Can't wait to see what's next! I loved the characters and setting of this book so much. The sweet romance is just up my alley!

I love Melissa And her writing so much. There’s nothing like an influencer going to Montana (I should know, I did it in college and I wasn’t even that influencer-y). I love a good opposites attract and she delivers with wit and charm and a good clean read. Instantly going to pre-order cause I need Melissa to continue to write books.

This book was a bit of an anomaly for me. I will admit that I dragged my heels at first to start this ARC e-book, Famous for a Living, because of my own thoughts on social media and it’s role as a potential profession. This novel did a really good job of showing both the benefits and the downfalls of social media and becoming an influencer. It also explores the healing power of nature which I found really refreshing.

Cat is at the height of her career when we first meet her, her uncle Terry and his senior park ranger employee, Zaiah. She is having a launch party for an app and sees how her uncle and Zaiah can’t comprehend her lifestyle. Fast forward a few months, she is being sued for fraud and must escape to her uncles national park to run their social media accounts and up their visitor numbers. She sees all the amazing and zany things the park has to offer including the handsome Zaiah Smith. The park and it’s occupants might even tempt her to put her phone down once and a while and appreciate the little things in life.

I liked seeing Cat and Zaiah’s growth throughout the story and the secondary characters were hilarious. The overall premise of the book and all the park activities they did were fun to read. I did find that the love story between Cat and Zaiah was underdeveloped as well as certain parts of the story could have been explained in more detail for the readers enjoyment as you get attached to the characters. Overall this book really caught my attention even though I was not sure it would.

A social media content creator and an off-the-grid National Park Ranger? Sign me up please. Honestly, that’s all that it took to sell me. A great hook.
Not everyone is going to love Cat right away. And that’s okay because she grows and you’ll end up cheering for her in the end. Her and Zaiah that is. ;) While I personally could have used a bit more romantic tension (there’s never enough!), these two opposites attract do work. Plus, the cast of secondary characters are all fun!

I really enjoyed the character development of Cat. I was actually kind of worried at first I wouldn't like her because she seemed very materialistic and kind of vain. However, once she moved to MT I really enjoyed how she dealt with the change from city to outdoorsy, rural life. I liked how she wasn't stuck-up and tried to do her best in her new position. I also liked how the author gave out nuggets to readers of Cat's previous life vs. just giving us the entire background in one go. I do wish there had been more scenes with Zaiah, especially early on as I wanted more tension and attraction before the date. I also wish there had been more scenes with Cat and her uncle; he was her only family and I understood they were close, but having a few more scenes (even ones as flashbacks) would have been nice. Overall, I really enjoyed the story; Cat's experiences were really fun and I think I even laughed out loud once.

This is a unique story about an internet influencer and a park ranger at a little known national park.
The phrase 'write what you know' is perfect for this book, as Melissa Ferguson is not only a mother, wife, author but also an influencer who uses her influence online regularly. So this book gives a lot of background on how being an influencer all works.
This book is different from her other stories and I had a hard time getting into it and really even understanding what was going on at first. But I really enjoyed it after getting into it. And I enjoyed all that I learned as there are not many novels with characters that have these occupations. I would recommend it .

Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to read this book. The opinions are entirely my own,

I want to start by saying that this was a fast paced read. I literally read it in two days, but now for the bad news: WHAT DID I READ BECAUSE I SWEAR IT WAS SO FAST PACED THAT NOTHING HAPPENED.

I don’t know if it’s from the bad editing that this experienced when moved to the kindle but good lord, I really felt like nothing had happened yet, so imagine my surprise when I looked and saw that I had read 60% of this book!! She had this whole “I need to spend less time on my phone” realisation but it was brought on by someone silently judging her and not from an actual realisation.

It was a fine, easily forgettable book.

FAMOUS FOR A LIVING is another most enjoyable laugh-out-loud romantic comedy by MELISSA FERGUSON, with a serious undercurrent of broken relationships, childhood abuse and the dangers of media addiction.
When Cat Cranwell finds herself no longer “famous for a living” and hated by her fans, she is forced to find who she really is when she goes to work for her beloved Uncle Terry in the Kannery National Park in Montana, literally in the middle of nowhere.
The ruggedly handsome “mountain man” Zaiah Smith is as opposite to her as anyone can be, hating all things media and cellphone related……
That is all I am going to tell you as I do not want to spoil things for you. Famous for a Living is a lovely read - a real breath of fresh air. I cannot recommend the novel highly enough.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Thomas Nelson. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

Famous for a Living really captures the essence of working in a National Park! The characters’ have the earnest spirit and demeanor that you cannot help but root for. I fell I love with Kannery and its charm. Main character Cat Cranwell is all of us when confronted with real life vs. the perfect image of social media. Readers are sure to feel a little of Cat’s journey mirrored in their own experience, even if they aren’t influencers themselves!

I really enjoyed this book! This book constantly had me laughing out loud and smiling. I also lovee the side characters and how much they actually brought to the story! I loved getting read Cat’s character development and how she learned that she was more than the amount of likes and followers she has. I also enjoyed how this book brought up the very real issues of social media addiction while still letting you read about it in a fun and interesting way. I think the banter between the characters was good but I also feel like they were lacking a lot of chemistry and tension required for a slow burn. I think this book definitely isn’t very strong romantically. While Cat does end up in a relationship there wasn’t much buildup. I also think the writing style was not the best. Overall, I still enjoyed this book and it’s definitely a fun read! All opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson Publishing for sending me this ARC!

I really enjoyed this book because the content is not something you read about often, but I was a wee bit disappointed with the ending of the story. Insta-famous Cat Cranwell lives a life Zaiah Smith of Montana left years ago. He works with Cat's uncle and she is helping said uncle with some publicity while her life gets back on track. Sparks fly between the two and Cat has to decide whether the life she leads is how she wants to continue living. It's a good reminder to put down those devices and enjoy the world around us

I was over the moon to find this book on Net Galley. I loved Meet Me in the Margins and had great expectations for this one.

Famous for a Living was much hard for me to get into. The writing was good but the MC was very unrelatable to me and there was so much in it that I felt I didn't know/understand about both her and her world that I spend the first 1/3 of the book forcing myself to just keep reading. However once she went to MT, I was able to settle in and enjoy the story more without struggling to figure out all the influencer lingo.

In the end, I loved the development of both the MC and her LI and I enjoyed their story. They grew together and you end the story knowing they were meant to be.

I went into this book thinking it would be a romance novel however that was not the focal of the story. It was more so about the downsides of social media and being too dependent on it. That is obviously a part of society today but I was hoping there would be more to Cat and Zaiah. I did love reading about the National Park and what they had to offer though!

Cat is a successful influencer who is about to gain a huge sponsorship. When it all goes wrong, she decides to travel to a remote area of Montana to help her uncle build up the social media representation of a natural area for visitors. When she arrives, she makes a less than great impression on Zaiah, a coworker and friend of her uncle who seems to dislike everything about her. Will she be able to help her uncle and convince Zaiah that she’s not as shallow as he seems to think?

I had mixed feelings about this book. It seems to be marketed as a romcom, but it really wasn’t. There’s very little romance between the characters and there’s no build up of their romance in the story at all until a rushed epilogue concludes it. It came across a bit preachy at times and the reason for Zaiah’s dislike of social media seemed extreme. I would find it hard to believe that he’d fall for an influencer at all after his prior relationship. Cat is not very likable as a main character, and the book is a bit slow paced until the end. However, I liked the author’s writing style and I’m sure it would appeal to fans of women’s fiction, but it missed the mark for me as a romance.

Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley, and Melissa Ferguson for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

FAMOUS FOR A LIVING would be great for readers of clean women's fiction. Those looking for a rom-com might be a little disappointed. So much comes down to expectations and how the book is marketed.

At times this novel feels a little preachy, e.g. with respect to the social media theme. I promise readers don't need to be beaten over the head -- we get it. The writing is a little choppy in places, and the hero is under-developed (handsome / has a flip phone -- wish we knew more about him....)

That being said, the story moves along at a nice pace, and I very much enjoyed the protagonist's journey toward self realization. Ferguson is clearly a talented author.

The setting of rural Montana is conveyed in a charming and descriptive way.

I will definitely look forward to more from this author.

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

As a work of literary fiction about a 30 year old phone-addicted woman discovering the life and its charms outside of social media, this book sort of holds up. As a romance... not so much.

Famous for a Living follows social media influencer Cat Cranwell who, after a partnership goes terribly wrong, moves to work for her uncle in Kannery national park. There she is expected to save the park by managing its social media pages and along the way, she falls for the rugged ranger Zaiah, who couldn't be opposed to her line of work and lifestyle more.

The good: the worldbuilding. I enjoyed the setting of this book, the small town life traditions and tidbits (tho they drink surprisingly large amounts of coffee and at odd hours), and especially the Parks and Recreation-esque crew of the national park. The whole picture really came together beautifully to save this book. The author also obviously has an established, clear voice and style which I'm sure her readers enjoy.

Me? Not as much.

There's a lot of this.

This.

Short sentences.

On their own.

In a paragraph.

That would all be fine and dandy had they been used for emphasis every once in a while to drive a point home. Instead, they were everywhere, making Cat sound extremely overdramatic and constantly interrupting the flow of the story.

There were also descriptions-written-in-long-hyphenated-sequences-like-this in amounts that made me wonder if they were placeholders for future edits. Not bad writing necessarily, but seems lazy after a while.

In two spots there are 15 minute scoldings happening, from Cat to Mina and from Mina to Cat. Where there could be meaningful, character building dialogue, there is none, and instead both are just described as 'lecturing' and end having left no impact.

The romance? To be honest, by the 50% mark I completely forgot Zaiah was supposed to be a love interest. I was fully invested in the rest of the plot going on and he was simply part of the cast, his defining characteristics being that he's handsome and hates phones. There was no chemistry and frankly, I didn't mind. They could've just ended as friends for all I care and Cat's character development would've been story enough.

And that was alright. The social media commentary was a bit preachy and her backstory begged for more but in the end it was satisfying enough.

If you can overlook these issues or even better, if they're non-issues to you, you'll find this a delightful story of a woman finding new meaning in a beautiful setting, but not much for the romance part of romcom.

Cat Cranwell, social media extraordinaire, had the whole world at her feet. An unfortunate business partnership takes it all from her. Where does a social media star go after she has been cancelled? Will a national park bring back Cat's name, or change her life forever?

This was my second Melissa Ferguson book, and I've come to expect the romance with a side of traumatic past, family secrets, and a swoon-worthy coming together of the two main characters. She certainly delivered on that here. I only wish some of the characters had been fleshed out more, such as Cat's Uncle Terry, and even Zaiah, the male protagonist here.

The writing flew here, and though we get that formula of romance novels' conclusion, the author does something to it that makes it less cheesy, and more meaningful.

Overall, this was a fun and light read, and I'm still looking forward to what the author writes next.

I give this 4 stars.

All the stars people!!!! Listen, I love me some Melissa Ferguson!!!!

All her books are like a COZY HUG to me. Her previous work Meet me in the Margins was a home run for me so I was a bit nervous going into this follow up. But Famous for a Living was just as cozy and fun to read!

Cat's growth in the book as she works through how social media is shaping her life was really well done and extremely relevant to today. It definitely has inspired me to think through boundaries with my social usage.

My favorite aspect of the book is the Cat's found family The romance was sweet, her uncle is endearing and the rest of the crew surrounding her are zany and loving.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an eARC copy of this book!