3.5 stars rounded up

This was a fun little rom-com and nice palate cleanser between some of my other, heavier books. I enjoyed Leah but didn’t love Eli and his need to change himself so much for someone else. Leah never really stood up to him and it felt like she was just getting dragged along throughout the whole story while I wish she grew a backbone.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.

While working multiple jobs to save money to move after her foster mother’s death, Leah Keegan gets drawn into helping heartbroken Eli Masterson win his girlfriend back. Eli can’t believe his girlfriend Victoria turned down his proposal and left town. His friends and sisters devise a scheme to help him become husband material to win her heart. Sarcastic and witty, Eli’s a hot mess. His romantic education is lacking. Eli is a clueless but sweet, loyal, thoughtful, small-town backwoods boy. His sister and girl pals devise the perfect plan to get Victoria back—turn him into husband material by making him a romantic hero. Changing his physical appearance is step one. Next, make him the ideal man—vulnerable and romantic—by watching classic romcoms. Leah is drawn into their makeover scheme, becoming Eli’s romcom, meet-cutes, and grand gestures guide.

Erika Schindele’s vibrant narration brings Denker’s hilarious, sweet romcom to life, making the audiobook fly by. Her voice/narration perfectly captures Denker’s funny, complex, relatable, and likable characters. She provides distinct voices for them using intonation, cadence, inflection, and emotion to reveal their personalities, feelings, and quirks and express the book’s emotional beats. Schindele’s narration/voice pairs nicely with Denker's narrative style and sweet, funny romance.

From encountering Leah at her various jobs around town while enacting their makeover plans, his sister and friends recruit Leah to be his makeover whisperer. Leah and Eli marathon rom-com movies in sweet, humorous scenes, where they get to know each other, their attraction deepens, and they fall in love unexpectedly.

Committed, loyal, and honest, Leah fears abandonment after growing up in foster care and moving from home to home until placed with Cathy, which became her home. Leah’s genuine, thoughtful, and caring. Before Leah was drafted into Eli’s warm, friendly, and loving circle of friends and family, she’d been lonely with no friends after her foster mom’s death. It’s an unfamiliar experience for her to be among people who want her around and treat her with warmth and affection.

Denker’s vivid and descriptive writing, world-building, and intriguing diversity of characters draw you into this entertaining audiobook you can’t stop listening to once you start. Eli’s circle of friends and family are amusing, supportive, and quirky. Denker’s premise is a creative and fun way to get her protagonists together and her book is filled with pop culture references that romcom fans will love. Denker’s description, natural-sounding dialogue, character development, and elite levels of sarcasm are the novel’s best qualities. She develops the characters through sweet, funny, and sarcastic banter and emotional interactions. Denker focuses on exploring her characters’ relationships outside of Eli and Leah’s romantic relationship.

The Rom-Com Agenda is a sweet, hilarious, and somewhat angsty read perfect for friends-to-lovers, found family, small-town romance, and rom-com fans.

Dreamscape Media provided an advanced listening copy via Netgalley for review.

The premise of this book is interesting. Boy and girl break up and boy wants to improve himself to get girl back. Boy's friends think he needs a makeover so go about it by making him watch rom-coms. Hmm...Leah, who has had a time with taking care of her ailing foster mother, is roped into helping Eli and even though he thinks he wants another woman they develop feelings for each other.

This book was cute but didn’t really pull me in. I was infuriated that the MMC was so stuck on something that was so clearly not going to work out. But it is what it is.. then we get to the end and she’s complaining about needing a place and then what does she do??? Turns down the house??? What? I think that irritated me the most. She wanted to feel wanted and when she finally gets confirmation, she just tosses it aside? She has to be convinced to work for it.. Girl.. c’mon..

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read the book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute little romance. The characters were well developed, and you could feel their feels.

Good audio narration

A cute, quick read. I don’t know maybe I just wasn’t in the right headspace for this because it felt meh in parts.

I enjoyed this light romance. The characters with both believable and likable with none of the sickly sweet that I dislike about some romances. A fun read and I look forward to picking up another by this author.

This was a great book. I do not seeing myself using it for education, but definitely will recommend for those looking for something good to read.

Friends to lovers, slow burn meets insta-love if that’s even possible, found family, and makeover tropes. Had the potential to be cute, but it was just way too long. There were so many meaningless plot points that could have been cut. At one point, I was so excited it was over only to realize I still had 3 hrs of audio left. Eli reads more desperate/stalkerish than romantic. All in all, it felt very immature. Narration was fine.

Thank you so much netgalley for the opportunity to read this book! Unfortunately this one fell flat for me and I DNF’d it

I received an advanced listener's copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This may be a case of it‘s me and not the book…

When Eli goes through a devastating breakup, his family and friends decide he needs a makeover to win back his gf. Leah, who happens to work multiple jobs and overhears said breakup, is quickly roped into the shenanigans.

Personally, I have issues with changing oneself to fit the perception of someone…maybe that hits too close to home for me. It just seemed way too over the top. I did love the movie references…it was a good reminder to me of some of the rom coms I love to watch! I think in its own way this book pays homage to these ‘80s and ‘90s films, but it misses the mark. I wasn‘t exactly enamored by any of the characters, either. The voice narration was good - I think that kept me engaged in the book.

I really wanted to like this one, but it felt like I was running toward something only to find out i was on a treadmill. I feel like the author kept beating us over the head with themes and I wish they had been able to incorporate that in a more natural way.

I had very high expectations of this book and it really fell flat.

I was waiting for something exciting to happen and it was just mundane the entire book.

The audio was okay, not my favorite. I really wanted to like this book but it was missing something.

A sweet romcom but very surface level! I enjoyed the characters and the story and overall vibes but will likely be a book I’ll forget within a few days

As an avid movie watcher especially one who enjoys just about every romantic comedy out there, this book was right up my alley. I was pulled in at first by the title alone but all the references to some of my favorite films and how excited the characters got discussing them really sold me. Now if you aren’t much of a movie fan it doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy this read. Jayne Denker has just the way to hold your attention every time Eli and Leah get together. I also really loved that Eli and Leah had their group of friends to fall back on instead of one character always giving them advice we had a whole group ready to help any way they could, much like the tv show Friends. I hope you’ll read and enjoy this slow burn as much as I did. Now all I want to do is microwave some popcorn, put on pjs, and spend a whole day watching all my favorite rom-coms.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

I had high hopes for this book, but I struggled to finish it. It just didn’t hold my attention. I never really got into the characters to care what happened to them. I prefer a book that I feel like I’m right there with the characters and vested in their lives. Unfortunately, this book did not do that for me.

3.5⭐️ (rounded down)

Leah Keegan is used to being alone. Over the last year she has taken care of her sick foster mother and now that she has passed there is nothing holding Leah in Willow Cove anymore. Thats until Leah gets roped into a plan for Eli to win back the woman her loves, Victoria. For this plan to work Eli needs a classic makeover, the physical appearance is easy but he’ll need to watch some classic rom-coms and take notes. Will Eli be able to win back the woman he loves? Will Leah be able to leave their sweet small town? Or will Leah and Eli get in each others way?

The Rom-Com Agenda is a standalone, dual 3rd person POV, small town, found family, slow burn, friends to lovers, closed door romance book.

At times I wanted to shake both Leah and Eli and their friend group. Leah needed more confidence in herself. Eli needed to open his fricken eyes and the friend group needed to give Eli some tough love and stop with this makeover stuff. Eli actually reminds me a lot of one of my friends lol. He’s a hopeless romantic and will do anything for someone he loves, even if that person isn’t meant for him. Just like how Eli wants to remake his whole personality so Victoria will love him. The scene at the airport literally happened with my friend (SPOILER) his ex asked him to pick her up at the airport so they could talk and then said she was exhausted from the flight and they didn’t talk at all…. literally just wanted a free ride home from the airport lol. I wasn’t expecting the found family trope and it was perfection. Its just so heartwarming and I love what this group has done for Leah, especially when Patrick came to town 😡

This was a very easy listen, I finished it in two days, it gives major hallmark vibes and is perfect for anyone that likes a sweet romance book with a HEA.

The narration was good and Erika Schindele did a great job. I just found that with dual person POV’s two narrators are preferred, especially when dealing with third person.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced audio copy for an honest review. I love you guys 💕

this book was ok. It had a lot of rom com movie references. A boy is pining over a girl that has left his but meets new girl that he becomes friends with. He thinks he needs help transforming himself to be the kind of guy that his ex wants. So his friends go about to do that. Turns out the right girl for his was in front of him all along.

Boy pines for his ex. Boy is cluelesssss that the best choice for him is right in front of his face.

This had all the cute moments you love from a rom-com, but it was a bit too predictable for me. I did love the theme of found family and the foster care system.

I wish there would have been dual narration with the dual POV story.


Recommended if you like:
-makeover montages
-rom-com movies
-small town settings
-friends-to-lovers

CW: cancer

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my ALC. The Rom-Com Agenda is out now!

The Rom Con Agenda is a cute, clean romance that follows Leah and Eli. Leah accidentally witnesses one of the worst days of Eli's life. She watched him propose to his girlfriend, only for her to reject him and break up.

Now Eli is more determined than ever to win his ex back. With the help of his friends, he begins a make over process and Leah is dragged into it, despite the fact that she doesn't believe Eli should change.

I thought the story was cute and funny and definitely kept me interested. It is a clean romance, so don't expect spice like I did.