3.5 rounded up to 4 stars. Finding Mr. Write is the first rom com by this author. This one was a little hard to get in to. I struggled to connect with the characters. The large amount of text messages in the beginning of the story made it hard for me to focus and the story didn't flow as well when I was reading. I attribute this as to part of the reason why it was hard to be fully invested. However the story was still cute and enjoyable.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) | Forever for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Kelley Armstrong is well known for her fantasy and thrillers, but this is her first foray into rom-coms. For a first try, it was pretty good! She did lean into the miscommunication trope, especially towards the end, which is not my favorite. However, I enjoyed Chris and Daphne and the setting especially, plus the premise is not something I've seen before. The ending felt rather abrupt since the first half was so detailed.

I was intrigued by the inside look at the publishing industry; I'm a librarian so I have some knowledge of how things happen, but there was a lot I didn't know. I can FULLY believe that a book would sell better with a male pseud because I see it every day as a children's librarian - parents and some kids (mostly parents of boys or boys themselves) won't read a book because the protagonist is a girl. It's so frustrating to see, and I'm sure it frustrating for female authors to know that their work is sometimes perceived as less solely because it was written by a woman.

As much as I wanted to love this from the title and description alone, unfortunately, I didn't. It's a slow-burn romance (mostly closed door) that reads veryyyyy slowly. I just didn't vibe with it. And the writing just felt OK, like nothing special that had me ferociously turning the page. And the HEA felt a bit forced and in no way where the characters were at from my POV. And from the author's postscript, yeah it's no wonder why she isn't used to writing rom-coms -- that is painfully clear. There were no indulgent tropes or anything like that. It was just like, meh. And for me, that last chapter took way to long to get to.

I'm not minimizing the author's effort because I know and get how insanely hard to write a full-length book, get an agent and a publishing deal. So, applaud her for that But as a story? This just wasn't it in my brutally honest opinion. I didn't connect with the material at all, which is not what I look for in a great book. So, respectfully I'm closing the book on "Finding Mr. Write" and leaving it on the shelf.

Daphne and Zane (Chris) take a book tour to remember. I laughed out loud, stayed up late to read and really enjoyed their journey. Armstrong did a great job with this book and I was surprised to learn that RomComs aren't her normal genre. I appreciated that this book wasn't super predictable and well developed characters. Now I need to go explore the Yukon!

This is a cute romance about a woman proving that men get further just based on being male. When her book is bought after she puts a male name on it, she hires an "actor" to play the author. Hijinks ensue.

The dual points of view stole some of the mystery from the love story but all in all it was cute.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for the eARC!

I was so excited for this one, but it missed the mark. The leads didn't feel fully fleshed out, and I found the MMC’s various personas hard to follow. There were just too many things going on throughout the story, culminating in an unnecessary (and quickly solved) third-act breakup.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

2 stars

Thank you to Forever for the ARC of Finding Mr. Write by Kelley Armstrong. All opinions are my own.

The premise of this book is great, and I think I could really picture an author doing this in real life (although maybe not to that extent).

I enjoyed the first half of this book a lot more than the second half. Chris was funny, and I loved reading about him and Daphne in her home territory.

The second half of the story wasn’t bad, but I didn’t like how spicy it got, and I thought the conflict was kind of stupid. Considering that they were both adults, they both acted kind of immature. I also just really don’t like it when characters jump to conclusions.

My favorite character was Chris because he was just really sweet and awkward.

Overall, I enjoyed a lot of the story, but I would only recommend it to certain people.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for a digital ARC of Finding Mr. Write.

This was a fun read! Unique premise that kept me wondering what the characters were going to do next and how they were going to handle the situation. I loved the MMC. I liked the FMC too, but really loved how nice the MMC was. I didn't think it was funny, but enjoyed it nonetheless. Sometimes it got a bit repetitive, and the character's thoughts were a little young, but I would still read another book by the author.

This is an easy beach read with big, over the top rom com energy. As Armstrong’s first foray into the romance genre, it’s funny and cute, ticking most of the boxes for a solid if not spectacular summer romance. The premise was a bit tricky for me to buy into, BUT I enjoyed the commentary in gender bias/privilege in publishing.

I received an arc from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

I love everything Kelley Armstrong writes, so I was exchanged to read her first foray into rom-coms. I loved Daphne. I love how she knows who she is and what she wants and learns to open herself up to love as she gets more involved with Chris.

I’m not a writer, but I feel like the concept of getting a book published under a man’s name is probably not too far fetched unfortunately. Of course, a bunch of shenanigans occur that makes the whole affair fun to read about, and also left me wanting to read more each night to find out how it was going to be settled. It was definitely a lesser kind of suspense than I normally feel when reading her books! I really enjoyed it and look forward to other rom coms if she decides to write more!

When I realized Kelley Armstrong had done a rom com, I had to double check it was THE Kelley Armstrong I love! A rom com!?!
Firstly, the description of the Yukon and all these amazing places made me feel like I was there. Daphne as our main female character was believable, inspirational and so funny. Chris as our main male was charming, funny, romantic and adorably dorkable. I couldn’t out this book down. I loved the look into women authors and how hard it is to get taken seriously like the male authors, how they are often pushed aside or put into categories they don’t want to be in. I hope Kelley writes more rom coms!!

I really wanted to love this book, but it fell short for me. I couldn’t relate to any of the characters and I didn’t fully believe the love story. I wasn’t eager to keep reading and finish the book. Just wasn’t for me. I didn’t hate it. It was fine.

I had a hard time with this book. First, the good - I liked seeing the behind the scenes of the book industry. It was interesting seeing how things came together for the author and why she made the choices she did.

Now for the bad - it felt like two or three separate books with conflicts that made no sense. I enjoyed the part at Daphne’s house in the beginning, but the tour seemed like another whole book. The conflicts that took place in the book were manufactured and stereotypical. If one of the characters just acted like an adult, the miscommunications wouldn’t have happened. The main characters had a romance that came from their first initial dislike of each other; they went from disliking each other to both secretly pining for each other within a matter of pages. The burn was so slow it fizzled out and I just wanted to scream at them to confront their feelings.

I applaud the author’s intent, but I had a really hard time getting through this book. I’d love to see more from the Yukon with characters who can communicate.

Armstrong excels no matter the genre, and this romance proves it. When Daphne decides to put her book out with a male pseudonym author, she doesn’t anticipate going to the lengths of hiring someone to pretend to be him when the book is successfully published. Accountant Chris isn’t at all like the description of Daphne’s author persona, but his face becomes the marketing of the book and Daphne pays him to be that role. Of course, things easily get out of hand and Daphne finds it hard not to resent the attention Chris gets, but also finds it hard to resist him as a love interest.

I mainly got started in Armstrong’s time travel books, but as I love romance I couldn’t pass this up.

I adore books that are about books in a book-ception.

I will have it known that I will love every single work that is dispelled from this woman's masterful mind. Every piece is flawless, and this book did not disappoint. While it did not hit peak perfection like her "A Rip Through Time", "Haven's Rock", and "Rockton/Casey Duncan" for me, it was still one that I wouldn't have missed for the world!

I am convinced Armstrong can write romcoms to high fantasies and many other genres that authors usually steer clear of, sticking to a specific genre for their writing career.

Similar to Armstrong's Casey Duncan suspense/thrillers, this novel's backdrop features the Yukon. This feels like the funny cute moments that her more intense, "Casey Duncan" books or more serious books feature. If she had, the atmosphere would have been ruined. In this one, it is fun and light and full of shenanigans and mischief.

Daphe McFadden is an author who insists on a male pseudonym, with a past of hardships and terrible people who taught her not to trust everyone. A bidding war ensues, resulting in a massive book deal.

McFaden hires Chris Stanton, an accountant, to act as this male counterfeit self when proof of this fake male character is needed to convince them that she isn't a farce. Why? Because it is difficult being an author as a woman, with seemingly all the odds against her. Even the world of book publishing has misogyny, unfortunately. Why would Chris agree to go from bookkeeping to acting? Bankruptcy.

The breakdown of the publication was interesting. Many scenarios were hilarious and cute. Yes, parts were cheesy. But what romcom is devoid of said cuteness?

I genuinely hope Kelley Armstong continues to go outside her comfort zone, exploring different angles and genres and perspectives. This book was such a delight. I don't think I could read a single book she writes and not absolutely love everything about it, as if each edition had been steeped in gold. Readers have to get a hold of this one to find out if the real author is revealed and if Chris's crush on her will ever be exposed. 🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 Stars!

4.5 stars.

This is super fun! The premise is a little convoluted but it unravels itself pretty easily as it goes. So FMC is an author and uses a male pen name. She needs a face for that name especially when she starts blowing up. So she hires who she thinks is an egotistical actor/model who gets the job done. But her book KEEPS blowing up and now he's coming to her house in Alaska to do an interview as her.

I found the MMC to be pretty charming. When he's down on his luck in between his business/finance-y job he stumbles upon this opportunity. He's trying to pretend who he thinks she wants, a himbo, but in reality as fit as his body may seem he's pretty soft on the inside and they are more similar than they may seem. He loves to read for one and has read and loved the book even when he pretends to be indifferent about it. So I honestly loved the forced proximity finally bringing them together after enjoying their long distance banter. Of course dual POV was well utilized in this.

The Alaskan setting and how badass our FMC is was great. There are definitely rom com situations to this which were not overly contrived and super fun. I recommend this for the romance and twists and turns!

Thank you to Forever for the eARC.

This could be the perfect romantic comedy ever written. It was definitely perfect for me.

Kelley Armstrong took a leap into new territory when she wrote Finding Mr. Write. The rom-com genre is not her usual style, which is why it will surprise her loyal readers. Honestly, I hope she gives us more!

In Finding Mr. Write, Armstrong delivers a behind-the-scenes view of being an author. Daphne McFadden has written a young-adult fantasy book that deserves to be published, but getting it in front of the right publisher is difficult. When we meet Daphne, she has already been rejected enough times that she makes a bold choice to submit her book in a male penname. Is that why her story finally gets picked up? Hard to say for sure, but what follows is quite a journey through the publishing world.

Suddenly the book becomes too popular for Daphne to remain hidden in the Yukon.

When her book wildly exceeds her expectations, Daphne suddenly has to make appearances. It's perfectly normal to write under a pen name, but her choice to hire an actor to play "Zane Remington" is clearly unusual. Now she's playing a role as his assistant, and Chris is pretending be Zane. Yet he's also pretending to be an actor just to remain employed as Zane, by Daphne. It's all a whirlwind of people acting out what is expected of them. People see Daphne and expect her to be the writer's assistant. When they see Chris, aka Zane, they get distracted by his overall attractiveness, and make assumptions about his outdoorsman qualities and stereotypical masculinity.

Daphne deserved recognition for her work, but it would be at the expense of coming clean with her fans.

Daphne and Chris naturally have that inevitable moment in a rom-com when they allow themselves to trust each other and take the romantic leap. Mind you, they were definitely a little bit spicy about that. I personally think Kelley Armstrong should write a spicy novella about this couple. She definitely leads our naughty imaginations to the edge of a voyeuristic cliff.

Finding Mr. Write had the perfect balance of romance, humor, and behind the scenes of an author's world. People sometimes assume that a hard-core book lover like me could also write a book. That is far from true. Writing a compelling story is truly an art. Kelley Armstrong has managed to show us a peak behind the curtain into the world of writing and publishing. This story was both enlightening, and entertaining, with romance to boot.

3.5 Stars 🌟

This was one of those quick and easy reads that is perfect if you have a couple of hours, need something light with a storyline where the characters don't really take themselves too seriously.

The story itself sounded interesting, but where it kind of lost me was when we were in the middle of the book. The pacing slows down a little and I had a bit of a hard time with how "crazy" the requirements got for a new author promoting a new release. Are they really going to call up an author and inform them that their book tour starts immediately and only give them a couple of days notice? Maybe? I honestly don't know but it didn't sound realistic.

The book itself introduces us to Daphne McFadden, who is a brand new author whose new book keeps getting rejected. She decides to change her name (the submitted author's name) to a male name- Zane Remington - and she creates a whole fake bio for him. Not only does her book then get accepted, it gets an unbelievable advance and a whole lot of marketing support.

When the publisher demands a photo for the book jacket, she has to come up with a solution and hires a supposed actor to play Zane. When the book shoots up to the top of the Best Seller list, things get crazy and all of a sudden there are photo shoots, film crews, and television interviews, along with a book tour. Sound crazy? Yep.

Mainly, part of the craziness comes from all of the different characters in play. First you have Chris Stanton (an accountant who is NOT an actor), who makes up the name Chris Ainsworth and creates an entire fake bio that says he is an actor. Chris is then playing the role of Zane Remington for the book. Make sense? And Chris plays each character differently which does make sense because Zane is supposed to be this "man's man" which is another way of saying he is an arrogant jerk while the real Chris is actually a nice guy. It does get a little confusing at time.

Regardless, the book has some great moments but then loses some of the steam near the end when it felt like Daphne's character undergoes a personality change. She goes from this amazing independent strong woman to insecure, indecisive and afraid. There is then the required third act "conflict" which just felt thrown in. It felt overdone, and it was somewhat annoying but thankfully didn't take too long to rectify.

So, do I recommend this book? Yeah, I do. The pro's outweigh any of the con's.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone.

pretty solid 3.5 stars.

I think I started reading this author, oh, gotta be 20 years ago or more, probably her [book:Bitten|18875499] (Women of the Otherworld) series-- which was also certainly an early, if the not the first, shifter romance series I read. I didn't finish that series, but I saw a lot of the author's books go in and out of the library. I started the [book:City of the Lost|25362841] series and really liked it, but the sequels were pretty same-y and I quit that series, too. I was thoroughly unimpressed with [book:A Rip Through Time|58724944]. And then when I saw this, a contemporary rom-com, I rather felt like I had to try it-- the author is trying her hand all over the place, and I was curious.

For a modern rom-com, this is perfectly adequate. For anyone looking for something in the beach-read category to read on vacation or while travelling, this will check all the boxes-- nerdy hero, strong and curvy heroine, self-actualization, and two lovers with baggage bumbling toward a long-term relationship.

This was giving me vibes of [book:Thank You for Listening|59314703], maybe because of the pseudonyms; between the two, [book:Thank You for Listening|59314703] is better. There's some unnecessary convolution-- the hero uses a fake last name and persona when he meets the heroine, and he then uses the pseudonym she created throughout the book. The heroine uses a fake name during the film interview, which also introduces a couple of side characters. The heroine's publicists change several times during the book-- all are named, but only the last one has screen time. I struggle with large casts already, so this didn't do any favors.

I had trouble suspending my disbelief for this story. I'm here for aliens, alternate worlds, fantasy realities, and the tropiest of romance. Maybe I'm too close to the industry? While I absolutely believe that a female author would have an easier time selling a book with a male/masc pseudonym, I couldn't believe that the trick would have to go so far. The comments about white male privilege in the writing community-- and the female experience in society in general-- were well-placed, realistic, and felt honest.

eARC from NetGalley.

I very much liked the idea of this story. As a woman, it is harder to be taken seriously in many instances, and I'm sure that goes for writing as well. The main character sent her manuscript out and got no bites and then decided to attach a masculine pen name and immediately got a lucrative book deal.

I liked Daphne, the main character. She seemed sweet and humble and that was well portrayed throughout the book. Chris, who played Zane, was also a likeable character -- a self professed nerd who finally grew into himself so he was a bit insecure.

All in all, I liked this book. It didn't blow me away but there weren't any glaring icks either.

The only thing I didn't love was when Daphne made a list during one of her chapters and there were footnotes... but you couldn't see what the footnotes referenced until the end of the chapter -- and by then I'd forgotten what they were for.