In „Famous for a Living“ we follow the story of famous Instagrammer Cat Cranwell. Her life takes a drastic turn when a collab fails, she has to think about alternative paths for her life. She has bills to pay, so she needs to come up with a solution real quick. This failed partnership and her broken trust are heavy on Cat’s heart. Serena, her best friend, encourages Cat to take a job offer – working in a National Park in Montana. Serena hopes that this change will help her friend calm down and set new goals, aside from her social media fame. Uncle Terry turns out to be chilled down and also able to provide a stable environment for Cat. Cat uses her publicity to help the National Park so, it’s a win-win situation for both of them.
The cover and blurb left me under the impression, that I was about to read a cheesy love story. In fact, the book is more about Cat’s journey to finding her purpose in life, while still being true to herself. I liked her as a person, even though I wasn’t able to understand each and all of her decisions. I like how she learned to find joy in the small things and be more present in the moment. The plot is social-media-related, which once again showed me, that social media can be great – but it also comes with many downsides that we need to be aware of.
Zaiah, the male main character, is the total opposite of Cat when it comes to using social media. He is very down to earth, but not judgemental of Cat’s passion. I was very impressed by his gentlemanly behavior and the slow and steady connection that was built over time.
The setting was stunning and matched the cover’s vibes. A rural area, mountains, pine trees, and a whole bunch of wildlife – that’s exactly what I was hoping for!
I was listening to „Famous for a Living“ as an audiobook, narrated by Talon David. Both her voice and the way she brought the story to life were simply amazing. I usually enjoy reading over listening to audiobooks, but this was a blissful experience – highly recommend it!

Thank you NetGalley for providing a free copy of this book.

I didn't know what I was expecting going into this. I was ready for a cute and fun summer romance with mentions of fame and its impact on someone's life.
What I got instead was disappointment, this isn't a love story, this isn't a book about redemption, this is a book about an influencer who gets dragged into a scandal and has to flee the backlash that follows said scandal.
She gets sent to live with her uncle in the forest and becomes the social media manager of their Instagram account.

The cover would let you think it is taking place in summer, but it is set in winter.
You'd also believe the character have chemistry throughout their love/hate relationship but it's another fail. Kate and Zaiah have nothing in common, never have and never will. She's very shallow and he's deeeeeeep on the surface.
But apart from that, they there is nothing connecting them, no particular moment in this book that would lead you to believe they are in love, or at least attracted to each other.
All the characters are just cliché of themselves, with a special mention to Kate who is the queen of everything. Anything she touches turns into gold. It's ridiculous, she doesn't even have a redeeming arc in the story, she stays the same throughout the book, she's just a better person now that she runs a small Instagram account.

Being an influencer is walking a tight rope, and Cat Cranwell finds out the hard way when her influencer career is blown apart. She takes her uncles offer to come to Montana to the small national park where he works as a Ranger and become the social media manager for the park.

Another good book from Melissa Ferguson!

In this story, we follow the life changes of socialite Cat Cranwell, when everything she takes for granted disappears.
As the media turns against her, Cat has to take some time away from the city and goes to Kannery National Park, where her uncle lives.

This book is full of fun, as expected when a city girl goes into the snowy mountains. But also because of the well-spirited characters Melissa created for us.

Cat starts to rebrand herself while working on making the park more attractive to get more tourists to visit.

We have the beautiful scenery descriptions, the friendship between the park workers, and the banter between Cat and Zaiah - I loved reading about these two.

One of my favorite aspects of this story was reading and understanding the differences in Cat‘s perspectives about the world. She ended up a much better and more centered person than she was in the beginning.

As for the audiobook, I have nothing bad to point out. I enjoyed the narration and the voices.

Following a dramatic fall from grace, superstar influencer Cat accepts her uncle's offer to work at Kannery National Park. Suddenly she's negotiating waist-deep snow instead of product endorsement deals, and falling for a rugged park ranger who dislikes anything "virtual." Dropped into a new life, Cat begins asking hard questions. Can she love herself without the world watching?

@our_friendly_farmhouse writes such charming books. This was no exception. I loved these two characters and their very “opposites attract” relationship. Time spent in the mountains is my favorite thing and this book took me there in the best way with characters I didn’t want to let go of. Pick this one up this summer, take it camping with you, and soak it up by the campfire.
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This book had so much potential and though I did not hate it, I also did not love it. This book was marketed as a romance but there is hardly enough romance in it. It follows Cat Cranwell, a famous influencer whose deal with an app goes horribly wrong. In an effort to escape the city and her situation, Cat accepts her uncle's job offer as a social media strategist to save Kannery National Park. During all of this she meets the handsome and grumpy ranger who absolutely hates social media. This is a journey for our lead character, from living in a penthouse to now living in the country without all of her usual luxuries. Enemies to lovers story. It is a quick, easy read but I find that it need more romance.

I tried and tried to get into this book - it had such potential. But, it was just boring. Unbearably boring. I had a lot of, "How is this not over yet," while listening. I devour audio books during my 2 hour long daily commute and throughout my workday, often finishing books in two days. Famous for a Living was not devour-able, in fact, I stopped numerous times to begin listening to other books only coming back to this when I had to.

I had high hopes, but Cat was unlikable and shallow.

Such a cute romance, grumpy vs happy, big city vs country living. This book is such a good slow burn romance and the audio just added to the wonderful story. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a great summer romance to read.

A really fun books and lover the narrator. Really thought they brought the characters to life. A really enjoyable story will reccomend

I actually really liked this book. The romance aspect was sweet and had almost a small town Hallmark vibe, which was well done, but my favorite part of the book was the interesting cast of friends and co-workers at the park and how those relationships were built up. I really loved not only getting to see this cute relationship grow from two seemingly different people but also the personal growth and how people outside of the two main characters affected that.

This was a cozy and overall lighthearted book that did have some realistic life issues touched on with a dose of fame and a beautiful setting.

Cat Cranwell is a popular influencer who shares her lifestyle with her millions of followers. She started posting her life online when she was a mere teenager but this has moved her out to New York and allows her to live in a safe and secure penthouse. When a collaboration goes terribly wrong, she makes the decision to stay with her uncle, Terry, in Montana working as the social media manager for Kannery National Park. Her goal is to boost the park's social media platforms and get the park more visitors all before going back to her life in the city.
This book was extremely light hearted, low drama, and an easy listen. I listened to the audiobook and enioyed the narration. It wasn’t one of my top picks.
Thank you to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5⭐️

Cat Cranwell is the worlds most beloved social media star living the dream in her penthouse suite in New York until she’s suddenly blacklisted and her whole life goes up in smoke. Now Cat is on the outs and can no longer pay for her extravagant lifestyle, so she takes up her Uncle Terry’s offer to take a job at the national park of Montana. Little does she know the fate of the park now rests on her shoulders as the new social media strategist and she has to raise the number of visitors. She also has to deal with her new coworkers including Zaiah, who owns a flip phone and despises all things social media.

Famous for a Living is a first person single POV, dislike-to-lovers, opposites attract, grumpyxsunshine, HEA ‘romance’ book.

It’s hard to not pick up this book for the cover alone, it’s perfect and draws you in. While this is a romance book this is also a women’s fiction book. There is romance but there are heavy themes of self discovery, learning ones purpose in life and actually enjoying life.

I know so many books are advertised as ‘enemies-to-lovers’ or opposites attract but they are actually two characters disliking the each other for two chapters and then boom insta-love. This is not the case, the romance in this book builds slowly and the two MCs actually take the time to get to know each other and understand one another. Also Cats growth throughout this book is gradual, which is refreshing as these types of changes do not occur over night. This book has some great food for thought regarding social media and the dangers of living with your face in a phone. Its a great reminder to put the phone away and actually enjoy the life you are living.

I received an audiobook which was narrated by Talon David. Talon did an awesome job and was really engaging!

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for an advanced audio copy for an honest review.

I am unable to review this audiobook honestly because I was approved and downloaded it the day before it was archived. I was only able to listen to it briefly on my commute home that day and am now unable to open it in the NetGalley app now to listen to the rest of it.

First of all, Thank you so much to Netgalley for providing me my very first audiobook with the platform, and this is in exchange of an honest review.

So, at first I was really happy and motivated to listen to this story, hear me out:
• she’s an influencer
• he uses cellphone
• she has to a park ranger and leave the city
• he had to share time with her
• slow burn romance
• clean romance

That slow burn was sooo slow and I didn’t even feel the tension neither the actual like they had to each other. So after I finished this book I understood that actually it isn't a real romance, but women's fiction, even thought this was sold us as a romance...

Yup, I lost interest at 45% of the book and that made me sad, but every time I played te audio I was so bored of it that finally I had to leave it as if it was “atmosphere soundtrack”… I’m sorry but I couldn’t connect with the main characters neither. I think it had a good potential but not as much as I expected.

This was cute but not a fav. I didn’t feel very swept up in it- not did I really feel like I could connect with Cat, the main character. This didn’t read very much like a romance. It was much more about her journey and growth than it was about the two of them growing as a couple. I loved the Montana descriptions and lifestyle- the setting and people were fun to read about.

I did really enjoy the epilogue which gave some fun future facts that not all books give you.

Thanks @NetGalley for the chance to read this arc.

There were some laugh out loud moments, I really enjoyed and closed door romance that I prefer in books.
I read the ebook and the audiobook also , I really enjoyed the narrator, I definitely recommend.

Cat Cranwell is a big-time influencer, living in New York City. When a business she's been working on goes very wrong she escapes to Kannery National Park in Montana where her Uncle Terry is a ranger, and she tries to rebuild her image and her life. Living in the middle of nowhere gives her a new perspective and has her questioning everything she thought was important.

I liked this book better than her previous books, but I definitely don't think it should have been marketed as a rom-com. I'd put it more in the women's fiction genre. There's not so much as a kiss until almost 90% of the way through the book, and I definitely didn't feel any actual sizzle between the main characters.

Overall, it's a fairly light story, but with a few touches of heavier topics such as phone addiction, abusive parental relationships, internet trolls etc.

I felt like this book had Simple Wild vibes, but without any steam.

What happens when a tech-addicted social media influencer needs to go off the grid? For Cat, running into the wilderness may help her find what she didn’t realize she’d lost… plus a hot park ranger and some lasting friendships.

✨ Book Review: FAMOUS FOR A LIVING by Melissa Ferguson ✨

🌄 Book Synopsis (from the publisher): 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. 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.

🏞️ My Take: Cat’s personality and single-POV storytelling are laugh-put-loud funny. But she’s also got depth, especially once she starts realizing how out of touch she’s been while in the NYC see-and-be-seen circuit. Really liked Cat’s character growth through the book and absolute loved the full cast of national park characters, especially love interest Zaiah and roommate Mina. This book was so much fun and a great listen on audiobook.

Read FAMOUS FOR A LIVING for:
- Hilarious situations
- Quirky characters
- Sweet, opposites-attract and grumpy/sunshine romance
- Nature and wildlife appreciation (national parks)
- Notes on social media and work/life balance

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5 stars)

😘 Thank you to @ThomasNelson and @netgalley for the FAMOUS FOR A LIVING audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This book was darling! It was a bit predictable but I enjoyed the characters and the overall story. It would make a really good summer read.

This was a really fun read. Honestly lots of fun and very “Hallmark” but it also really touches on some really great topics. For instance, ageing in the time of social media and how that can affect ones confidence and psyche. The narration was great and the character was super relatable (I am a slow ageing millennial who also makes content on the internet). If you are looking for a solid read this summer that isn’t too heavy check this out.

GENRE: Romance, Grumpy X Sunshine
Rating 3.5