This one was just ok for me. It started off strong but lost steam as it went. By the end I found myself kind of bored. I thought the premise was good though.

𝙸 𝚜𝚊𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚊 𝚏𝚞𝚗 𝚂𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐/𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚎. 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚏𝚏 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚗 𝙸𝙶 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚝! 𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚌𝚞𝚝𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝?! 𝙲𝚊𝚝’𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚂𝙾 𝚛𝚎𝚋𝚊𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚌𝚔 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚊𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚜𝚘𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚊 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎.

𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛 𝚍𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍.
𝙸 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚞𝚗 𝚙𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚍𝚘𝚘𝚛𝚜𝚢 𝚜𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚗. 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚑𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚕𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜. 𝙸𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝚟𝚊𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚙𝚘𝚘𝚕𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍.

I went in expecting very little from this book, but was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Melissa Ferguson has done a great job writing her characters and the story to this romance. It was not over the top, the characters were likable (even when I typically dislike all social media influencers irl and in text). The story had heart and was a sweet closed door romance (there are far too few of these today). All in all, I very much enjoyed and recommend this book!

To be honest I was surprised by this book. I thought it would be your run of the mill rom com but it actually had a lot of depth. I liked the idea of the National park and the reminder to put our phones down. I listened to the audio version of this book and the narrow room was well done. This book would be great to listen to on a road trip or enjoying the outdoors.

This was an incredibly fun and empowering read! One of the best I’ve read this year—and written with such heart and care, hitting really significant issues of today—social media addiction, distracted driving, the true cost of putting our lives online for everyone to see.

Cat, a disgraced social media influencer, moves to Montana while her life falls apart around her to take a temporary job at the national park her uncle runs. There, she meets Zaiah, a total hottie park ranger and legit mountain man—who absolutely despises social media and modern tech.

Going in, I was expecting a romance where they’re heavy on romance (thanks mountain air), and light on substance. This book was a complete 180 from that—in the best possible way. Told from Cat’s perspective, this focused significantly on her own process to heal herself, recognize her addiction, find herself outside of the likes and comments, and create a life she WANTS to live. Yes, there’s a hint of romance, but I can’t even give it a spicy rating.

I loved the growth we saw in Cat, and her ability to do the right thing even when it’s not the most pleasant thing. She truly grows into an independent, self-reliant woman, and finds that she had it in her all along.

My favorite scene in the book was the horse/ski race. Listening to the audio was like listening to a play-by-play of Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals when a first overtime is about to end. I was cheering out loud at one point!

Overall, a great contemporary women’s fiction read that I’d recommend to anyone.

I received this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

This book is a sweet and funny romantic comedy that follows Cat Cranwell, a famous influencer who has to escape from the city after her business partner is accused of serious financial crimes. She ends up working at a small national park in Montana, where she meets Zaiah, a grumpy and handsome ranger who despises social media and everything it represents.

I enjoyed the contrast between Cat’s and Zaiah’s lifestyles and personalities, and how they challenged each other to grow and change. They had great chemistry and banter, and I loved their interactions. The secondary characters were also fun and quirky, especially Cat’s family and friends.

The only thing that I was expecting more of was the romance. The book starts quite slow, and it takes a while for Cat and Zaiah to develop feelings for each other. The book focuses more on Cat’s journey of self-discovery and finding her true self. This is not a bad thing, but I was hoping for more sparks and swoons.

If you love enemies to lovers, forced proximity and slow burns.

This was a good read that makes you think about how much you really are on your phone. I have enjoyed all the books by this author.

Famous for a Living is a redemption story in more ways than one. This book follows our main character Cat through a life altering scandal that changes how she views her world and more importantly, herself. Thanks to her newfound open schedule and the desire to stay out of the spotlight, she finds herself in a completely different living situation.

The author fought the tendency to make a story like this very cheesy and predictable, and instead brought us a fresh story with very likable characters, real life situations, and an altered HEA. I found this story refreshing and a wonderful palette cleanser to many modern day romance books. This story has a romance yes, but I would label it more as a general fiction with a sub plot of romance. The characters that we meet throughout the book are likable, believable, and relatable. I listened to the audio book version, the narrator did a great job distinguishing between characters, and it was overall a great listen.

I wanted to love this book. I liked the characters, the concept, and the setting. It has everything one would want from a romance book; a successful young woman trying to rebuild herself, a grumpy hunk healing from a past relationship, and a small community where everyone knows everything about each other. Unfortunately, for me, it fell flat.

The story of social influencer Cat Cranwell and her rise and fall of fortune and fame seems like it should be interesting. And it is at times. When the characters talk wholeheartedly and get to know and understand each other, it is quite captivating. However there is far too much detail of the small town shenanigans that takes away from the romance plot. I found myself wanting to know more about Zaiah and about Cat and her uncle’s relationship. It is when we get small glimpses into this that the book shines.

As for the audiobook, I was not sure if it was the narration that let the story down or just the story. In the end I think the narration was ok and this just was not one of my favourite books in the end.

Many thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook arc for my honest review.

This romcom was fine. It’s a pretty basic storyline that I’ve read before and seen done in movies. Does that make it less enjoyable? No, it was still really good.

We follow an online influencer (or content creator) that falls from grace and ends up leaving the buzz of NYC to help her uncle out with promotion for his camp. There, she meets a grumpy pants that doesn’t do social media and she is baffled. If follows the usual line so it’s pretty predictable but it’s still good.

If you enjoy romcoms I think you’ll like this one.

3.5⭐️

Thanks NetGalley and published for the audiobook version of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a cute rom com of self discovery with a message on social media addiction. While I can see the faults I also had my moments of wanting to defend Kat, because that was her job after all.

As far as romance, this isn’t a hot steamy affair. I can understand why the romance fans might not like this book if they are looking for passion or steamy sheet sessions. However, if you want a slow burning sweet relationship that will make you smile complete with mischievous beard tugs and tucking strands of hair behind the ear- then you might like this book. The banter is fun, the plot is packed with escaping from moose, a last minute skiing tournament, polar bear plunging (I still don’t understand why this is fun- I can understand plunging to support Special Olympics but not just to jump into below freezing water in below zero temps!)

Overall, cute book that I did enjoy.

“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)! I also really enjoyed the audio narration of this book! I felt like I was right there in the story!

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

“With my phone. Or technology in general. Do you think I’m’—my lips shift their hold on a couple of bobby pins as I pull one out and use it to pull back another strand of curled hair— ‘obsessed?’ ‘Sweetie, of course you’re obsessed. Everyone in the world is obsessed. It’s a universally accepted fact. We’ve all taken a vote and decided we’re okay with it.’”

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 trolls documenting her disgrace, Cat accepts her uncle’s offer to work with him in Kannery National Park. Montana. And 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. 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.

This book is like taking a magnifying glass to our obsession with social media, our phones, and the perceived perfection we see every day by influencers. There is a sweet slow burn romance but it takes up very little of the storyline if I’m being honest. I loved Cat’s evolution over the course of the story and, I’ll tell ya, it definitely made me stop and think. Let’s all collectively agree to put our phones down and become one with nature every so often!

The audio of this book was fabulous! I found myself listening more than reading because I loved the narrator so much. There are some very funny characters and characters with a lot of sass and she captured them perfectly.

Thank you to Netgalley, Thomas Nelson Fiction, Zondervan Audio, and the author for the ARC and ALC.

Ok, so I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. When books incorporate "famous" people it's usually a hit or a miss for me and this one was a hit. Cat is famous for a living, brand deals, social media and is a founder of a new app. Life takes a dramatic turn and upends her entire career. The development of Cat throughout the story is so sweet and it made me really like her. I would say this book is contemporary fiction with a dusting of romance.

Overall this book was charming, heartfelt and just plain cute.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for my ALC!

Utterly delightful, Famous for a Living stole my heart with a ferocity I didn't expect. I went into this expecting an Alexis Rose from Schitt's Creek vibe, and it didn't disapoint. What I didn't expect was the fabulous cast of characters that I quickly fell in love with. Beloved uncles, hilarious young park rangers, and chemistry that came from as many friendships as the main relationship. The perfect read for the summer!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Famous for a living is a book about friendship, growing and learning about yourself. Cat Cranwell is an influencer, and when a campaign goes wrong, she takes a break and goes to her uncle on the other side of the country to work for him. Here, she learns about the wilderness, makes new friends, and learns more about herself.

I liked the book. It was fun, had some great people, and fun interactions. It's a fairly short read, but it keeps you entertained throughout the book.

This book makes you think about your own habits, and that's probably a good thing. We should all probably think about how social media affects us. And even though it has many good things, it's also good to be aware of how it affects us.

If you know me, you know I love a good spicy book, so for this book to be a slow-burning story with just kisses and STILL be 5 stars? It has to be good!

This book definitely gave off PG Schitt's Creek vibes and had me dying of laughter the whole time. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and the narrator did a STELLAR job!

I also highly recommend Melissa's other books
Meet Me in the Margins (an all-time favorite of mine)
The Cul-de-Sac War
The Dating Charade
She has others, and although I haven't read them (yet), I'm sure they are just as good!

Thank you, Thomas Nelson, Melissa Ferguson, and Zondervan Audio, for the ARC of this in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

After a social media post goes awry, influencer Cat takes on a role helping her uncle with the social media for the National Park he works for. While there, she comes to realize that not being on her phone 24/7 really isn't such a bad thing. There is a romance attached to the book too which I felt could have used more buildup. I still enjoyed this one though.

“From Park Avenue to the Parks Department—the world’s most beloved social media star is about to get a rude awakening.“

There was much to like with this sweet story. I enjoyed the settings (polar dips and hot springs and mountains, oh my!) the Opposites Attract trope, and the insider look at Insta Influencers.

I found the character development a little lacking, and the spice was non-existent, but I’d still add the next in series (I’m looking at you, Serena and Adam) to my TBR.

6.5/10

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ALC of this book. I'm struggling to rate this one - I felt for the most part that the story was fine. Bits of it felt familiar - the social media person heading to a different out of the way location to find themselves storyline has been done quite a bit recently. I do think I like this a bit better on audio than I would have just reading it. I also felt like I was missing a second POV to break up the storyline a bit. There were parts that dragged for me - and honestly for the most part this didn't really feel like a romance. The interactions between the two MCs didn't feel as compelling in the grand scheme of the storyline. Overall a cute enough story focused mainly on one MC who is in the process of finding herself. I did find myself thinking about the show Parks and Recreation a few times - which is one of my favorites.