A perfectly sweet rom-com, but I just found the pace quite slow and I got a bit bored early on. I feel like the romance element could have been a lot heavier in a book that's literally labelled a 'rom-com', but having said that, it's a cute read that I did enjoy overall. This will be a good book to read by the pool this summer!

One thing I’ve noticed after reading a couple of books by Ferguson is that her romcoms tend to be very light on the romance. This one in particular felt more like it belonged in women’s fiction, in my opinion. I didn’t mind that much, but it’s definitely something other readers might want to know going in.

As for the writing, I enjoyed it for the most part, though I did find myself losing focus at times when the prose got a bit too flowery for my taste.

The publishing aspect of the story was fascinating—especially as a writer myself—but I do wish we’d gotten to spend more time at The Bridge. That part of the book had so much potential and I felt like it was a bit underused.

Now onto the characters—Bryony was a bit annoying at times, and while I liked Jack, he could have been more fleshed out. I especially wish we’d seen their friendship develop naturally at the beginning instead of jumping ahead two years, where they’re suddenly besties. That would’ve made me root for them a lot more.

Thank you to NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

This book was cute but left me wanting more. It is centered around writer Byrony & literary agent Jack who meet when Byrony is going around trying to sell her book. After they have a less than good first meeting, there is a time hop a few years into the future and byrony is a ghostwriter for a very famous author under Jacks company. She’s still trying to get her own book published but all in all she’s doing well. And she and Jack? They are the best of friends…

I liked this book enough but the FMC was a little annoying with her persistence in trying to get her book published and ignoring everything MMC told her about her book. Did she ever stop to think maybe there was a reason? And MMC was a liar, he should’ve just told her from the beginning that he didn’t think her book was good. It would’ve saved her a lot of heartache and time. Especially since he knew that getting the book published was so important not just to her but to other people in her life. I feel like this had a lot of potential but unfortunately just fell flat for me.

Have you ever read a book that felt like a friend?

The Perfect Rom-Com by Melissa Ferguson was that book for me. Thank you NetGalley for my copy.

I received my copy during a hard season and this book was the joy I needed. The lovable character of an author turned ghostwriter who falls for her literary agent? And has mishaps along the way? This was my perfect rom-com!

I even found myself reading a scene out loud to my husband. I, like the main character Bryony, have also taught ESL students. And the joy and laughter it brings is so special to my heart

Perfect read for spring!

The Perfect Rom-Com by Melissa Ferguson is like a love letter to book lovers, writers, and anyone who’s obsessed with the publishing world. It's a book about books and it’s got a quirky, ambitious main character, a swoony literary agent, and a whole lot of chaotic writer struggles.

Bryony Page, our FMC, is an ESL teacher and an aspiring author. She decides to take a chance on her writing and goes to a writers' conference. There, she meets Jack, a hot and charming top-tier literary agent. They start off on the wrong foot but he sees the potential in her and she somehow ends up ghostwriting for the biggest romance author ever, Amelia Benedict. Which sounds amazing—except Amelia is getting all the credit, and Bryony is stuck watching her books blow up without being able to say a word.

I love the character's journey to finding her voice, taking credit for her work and fighting for what was important / her beliefs. Seeing the relationship grow, and having the right amount of slow burn from a good friends to lovers is magical. We can feel that both characters share a deep connection and how they really know each other and are each other's best friends.

This book is so fun, full of bookish humor, and has all the behind-the-scenes drama of publishing (which, let’s be real, we all love). The romance takes its time, but when it finally happens, it delivers. If you’re into rom-coms about writers, slow-burn tension, and characters figuring out who they are while falling in love, this is a great read!

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review, and thank you to the publisher and Melissa Ferguson, for writing this incredible romance.

A romcom about writing romcoms? That concept had me immediately hooked. Melissa Ferguson's writing kept me there.

Bryony has written a book. A big, long, book for which she cannot find representation. But one agent has a proposal: will she ghostwrite for another author if it means a chance to publish her own work? She does, and the story, and relationship, ensue.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for the advanced reader copy!

i found this book to be an easy light read but wasn't that special or memorable and as a result, I havent posted a detailed review on my page as yet but will do and update with link when done

*3.5 stars*

I received this book as an ARC. This was a cute story. I enjoyed Bryony as an FMC, it was really interesting to follow a ghostwriter/author as she went through the publishing field. I also liked that she was a teacher for ELA students as well. I loved that Melissa Ferguson mentioned in her author’s note that she drew from her own experiences for Bryony’s character. Jack was a good MMC, but I honestly didn’t feel like I fully got to know his character in this book. Additionally, while I enjoyed their relationship development, I felt like I needed a bit more of them together as a couple or having romantic moments for me to fully root for them. The book focused a lot on Bryony’s character, which I did enjoy and it was great to see the way her story wrapped up. Overall, this was a fun and lighthearted read.

I really enjoyed this read, but found myself disconnected from the characters. The plot itself was intriguing but Bryony and Jack were both distant and closed off characters to me.

A light and easy read. Loved Jack’s character. Will be a great plane or holiday read for people who don’t want a romcom that’s too dense. First third stood out and was the strongest, in my opinion. Story didn’t go in the direction I expected and I wanted more from it overall. I found myself skimming a bit but that’ll be down to author’s writing style not being the best fit for me. Definitely think other readers will really enjoy.

This rom-com was really sweet and cute... I loved Jack... the little moments like “Believe me, Bryony. You’re the only one getting this look.”
or loved this moment:
“How often do we see each other?”
I shrug, my anticipation rising. “Well, every other day or so, I suppose. But we’ve got a lot in common. Work, like on this tour.”
“Which I chose to go on with you.”
“Bowling.”
“Which I signed up for, for you.”
“Mutual friends.”
“Your friends. Your friends whom I’ve made my friends.” He must see the electricity in my eyes and adds, “I’m actually far less needy than you and can exist happily with only two or three important people in my life. All of which proves my point.”
“Which is?”
“That for all intents and purposes, up to this point, we have been dating.”

the opening moment at the writing conference was amazing, I was really hooked in... when she has his phone and text messages start to arrive, that little peek into Jack's personality made me giddy... I knew I was going to love the story...
I only wish more of the falling in love happened on page and it was like fast-forward two years Jack is in love with Bryony...

I've gone back and forth on my feelings about this book! I think the story really wasn't as much as a romance as I anticipated and that can be fine - I'm all for romances that also handle more things than the romance itself - but I think even the other storylines fell a little flat. The romance doesn't really seem to start until 2/3s into the book and the FMC is still technically in a relationship with someone else for the first half... I had a hard time getting invested with where the romance would go (when we would eventually get there). I think maybe a dual POV would have helped this. The singular POV in the FMC could have been helped with some POV chapters from our MMC just to develop the romance to it all a bit more. It all just felt almost a little flat.

I'm also very annoyed at how unrealistic the very end is. I couldn't see a realistic ending while the plot lines were starting to wrap up and REALLY think that the chosen ending was too ridiculous for the professions that these characters have.

I was certainly intrigued though to continue this story to the very end. I wanted & needed to know how this could end happily for our MCs.

So I do think I enjoyed this book… eventually. It was a slow start and I was at least half way through before
I was fully invested in it. Once I was into it though it was cute. Jack has a good mysterious side. But he also has a seriously wtf side? I was back and forth.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

Bryony Page has a passion and a purpose. Or maybe a purpose and a passion. She dreams of one day finding success as an author, but most importantly, she dreams of saving The Bridge, the language school her grandmother established to help immigrants find their dreams of gaining U.S. citizenship.

To that end, she spends every spare minute writing a love story she believes will achieve both goals. Summoning her courage, she travels to Nashville, TN, to attend a writer’s conference and pitch her manuscript to three agents. The first two gently explain that her novel’s mixture of genres won’t sell. Jack Sterling, the rising star of Foundry Literary Agency, might be her last hope. However, the pitch goes awry. Jack criticizes her manuscript (too long, too many genres), and she shares her honest opinion of his famous client, Amelia Benedict’s latest work (awful).

Bryony rushes out of the conference before she bursts into tears and promises to set her dreams aside. She doesn’t expect Jack Sterling to show up in the elevator at her hotel as she’s rushing to catch her plane. And she never dreamed he would offer her a job ghostwriting for Amelia Benedict. Jack convinces Bryony to come on board in exchange for promising to pitch her novel (and a healthy paycheck).

As each new Amelia Benedict book sells, Bryony contributes more and more to her passion project—keeping The Bridge afloat. Amelia Benedict, who treats people like peons, becomes a nemesis whom Bryony can’t escape. And Jack Sterling becomes her best friend but a lousy agent—never managing to sell her manuscript despite his promises.

Bryony’s books—the ones she ghostwrites for Amelia Benedict—have heart, romance, and relatable characters that fans love. Since her book, which she hopes will save The Bridge, languishes, Bryony does something no author should do—she contacts an editor without her agent. What happens next brings her relationships to a plot twist from which she may never recover.

Can her friendship with Jack recover from her betrayal? Only if she can write the perfect rom-com in record time. Unbeknownst to her, Jack has his own plot twist in the works—one that will expose Bryony’s nemesis.

What I Loved About This Book
Melissa Ferguson pens yet another perfect rom-com, this time about a struggling writer who creates a perfect rom-com despite her own messy love life. Readers will swoon over the best-friends-to-lovers plot and cheer when the villain gets her comeuppance.

I enjoyed this one overall, but I think I expected it to be more of a romcom, and instead, it was more women's fiction with some romance on the side.

I didn't like that so much of Bryony and Jack's relationship developed off-page. I wanted to understand where their friendship and love sprouted from, and instead, I felt like it was just assumed that the reader would take the author's word for it and come along for the ride. I didn't love the deception piece of this story, and I also wish we got both Bryony's and Jack's perspectives instead of just Bryony's.

Where I thought this story shined bright was in the audio! Karissa Vacker did an incredible job of bringing these characters to life! Her narration is always so powerful and evokes so much emotion, and I loved that.

Thank you so much to Melissa Ferguson and PRH Audio for my gifted audio copy!

Lacking the novelty of a romantic comedy. This novel focused more on the publishing industry versus the romance. Even though the story line focuses on ghostwriting a romance novel the chemistry between the two leads was not always there. Even though it was a clean romance you can still initiate chemistry or that love connection.

The first half of the book in my opinion was very, very slow and it was hard to get through. I wouldn't really consider this to be a rom-com and the story was mainly about the publishing industry. There wasn't much character development and the ending between the MMC and FMC felt very rushed and random. The story lacked momentum through most of the book. Thank you Net Galley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

(This review was posted to Good Reads)

⭐️3.5
just kisses
🎧audiobook performance ⭐️4

Bryony desperately wants 2 things; to save her beloved ESL nonprofit school “The Bridge” and to find a literary agent to represent her first novel SO she can use it to promote support for “The Bridge”. After all the rejections of her novel, in a last-ditch effort, she takes a meeting with famed literary agent Jack Sterling. When he asks her to critique another writers work and her comments are spot-on she unintentionally becomes the ghostwriter for famous author, Amelia Benedict. After years of ghostwriting and no published works to her name, will Bryony get to fulfill any of her initial goals and will she find something she didn’t even know she was looking for?

This was a sweet story. It did make me chuckle a few times. I loved the dynamic between Bryony and Jack, I just wish there could have been more banter. I also enjoyed the stories of the ESL students but rarely did they happen in real time as well. It felt like a huge chunk of the story was Bryony’s inner monologue where I wished it was playing out in the dialogue more.

Overall, a sweet and fun read.

✨ghostwriter x agent
✨ESL representation
✨workplace romance
✨forced proximity
✨closed door romance

Thank you to Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Fiction Audio for the digital and audio ARCS of this book!
Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

2 ⭐️

a bit late on my review but it took me a great time to get invested in the story...

this book wasn't for me, it feels like the title is a bit misleading since there's barely romance in the books and it centers more in the FMC's thoughts.

thank you netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

This book was such a great light refreshing read! I loved the banter, cute romance and light heartedness. This is a perfect book to read between heavier books, I will definitely be recommended this.