This book was a challenging read. The dialogue felt disjointed and difficult to follow, making it hard to stay engaged. Despite hoping to be drawn into the story, that moment never came for me. Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review

4.5

I loved this so much. It had me hooked right from the beginning, the characters were so funny and the banter and friendship between them was perfect. Jack Sterling is now in the ranks of my favourite book boyfriends! This story had romance, comedy, heartache, and many struggles that the character was dealing with aswell as helping her students with. I will say that the ending was a little bit far fetched but it was so much fun to read that I don’t really care. This is my first book from Melissa Ferguson and I can’t wait to read more!

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A fun, banter-filled romance! I have enjoyed Melissa Ferguson's books in the past, but I think this book has her best banter! It was so fun to read about Bryony and Jack's relationship throughout the book. I appreciated the development of their relationship from agent/client to friends to lovers. Jack is Bryony's agent and at first has her ghostwriting for a popular author with the understanding that he will represent her book that she wrote. I really enjoyed the characters from the Bridge program and the dialog overall between Bryony and the people in her life(especially her sister Gloria who is hilarious). I felt like the conflict was a tad drawn out and that Bryony's response to the conflict was a bit immature for her character.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend for a feel good quick read!

Thank you to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for a digital ARC of The Perfect Rom-Com.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I LOVED this book. Melissa Ferguson is a new to me author, but I've already planned to order her backlog. One of my favorite things is a MC with a unique voice that allows for the breaking of grammatical or traditional rules in exposition, and this book was full of them. The author did a great job at making me forget I was reading. I loved the premise and the execution. Both the FMC and MMC were great, as well as the supporting characters, except for one in particular which I haaated (as I was supposed to). I devoured this in two days. Such a cute, clean story. Loved it and can't wait to recommend to other people!

The Pefect Rom-Com is a story about Bryony Page, an aspiring author with dreams of her manuscript being published. She became a ghost writer for a popular author after meeting an agent.
The story describes her love for an organization where she teaches ESL, in which her manuscript is based on, and her relationship with her agent, Jack. This story felt more contemporary fiction with less romance, however, the relationship between Bryony and Jack was sweet. Some of the supporting characters and relationships could have been more developed but overall this was an enjoyable read. This was a fun and entertaining story with clean romance.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I want to give this book 50 stars!!!!! I'm not even completely finished with it yet, but chapter 13 and 14 are some of the best stuff I have EVER. Read in my entire rom com reading life. When I tell you I literally stopped and did a silent squeal and got my hand repeatedly on the bed in glee. My goodness!!!! THAT IS LOVE. I am unwell In the best possible way. This for sure is going to be a re read for me and go on my top ten fave romance books. I am deceased in a puddle of ooey gooey Lord please give me a love like that bliss.

** spoiler alert **

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for this ARC copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

The beginning of this book i thought was great. However, after that the book was extremely hard for me to get through and I ended up getting annoyed with the two main characters. I thought the relationship between Bryony and Jack was incomplete from the beginning and there was no back and forth between the two of them and then all of the sudden they are dating? It was clear from the beginning that Jack was not being honest with Bryony about sending out her book for people to read. And I hated the fact that we never had a real scene where Bryony and Jack spoke about his intentions behind why he did what he did before things were resolved in the end. Instead we just got Bryony who just ignored him the whole time. Overall, I skimmed most of the book because it seemed to drag on.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I thank NetGalley for offering me the e-ARC of this title.

3 stars!
This was a delightful read! However, I would say that this is NOT primarily a romance. While the book (at first) appeared to mimic the structure of an Ali Hazelwood book (FMC and MMC meet, have a misunderstanding, then years pass by as he was pining for her the whole time with her having no idea) after the two year time jump there is minimal romance other than to create enough context to believe his motive to do a big gesture at the end to solve the problem. There is one night they spend together (out to dinner & talk) which is cute but overall you get little to see and believe that she loves him back. They get together and kiss at the end but you don't get much of them mutually in love or see them be together. Meh.

TLDR: Not a romance, but a lovely casual read about an author who loves her first manuscript and what it means to her (don't we all!!) but then realizes that she has grown along the way and adapts it to reflect her growth (to its major success).

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/5a761a1f-bd45-4a05-a929-ba782df50e6e

This was a 3.5 read for me. It’s a lovely story with beautifully written characters. The romance was not there a lot though and the focus laid more on bryony’s life and how it all plays out. Not that it is a bad thing but I just expect to read more about her and Jack together. The ending was gorgeous though. I adored it. Smart move there honestly.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc! I absolutely enjoyed it, Bryony and Jack were so cute. I devoured this in a few hours cause I was hooked on their story. The perfect rom-com was indeed the perfect rom-com!

Thank you Netgallery and Thomas Nelson Fiction for chance to read an ARC of this book!

Melissa Ferguson is the queen of clean romance. The most romance you will get is kissing and holding hands. She is amazing at building romance without being detailed or having sex scenes.

Likewise, I really liked this book. There weren't any grammer errors that I saw or noticed. The characters had developed over the course of the book that was realistic and not overwhelming. The only thing I wanted more of was The Bridge. I wanted to learn more about the students, how The Bridge impacted students and people lives other than it made it better; basically I wanted more.

I absolutely devoured this book! Melissa Ferguson’s writing always makes me giggle, cry, and smile! One of my favorite things about this book was the heart of the story. Bryony is such a wonderful FMC, and I loved the heartfelt aspects of her teaching career as well as her writing journey. This book was definitely giving Two Weeks Notice vibes (one of my favorite movies EVER). I imagined Jack as a Hugh Grant style, British, and grumpy publishing agent! The writing in this book had me hooked and it was such a creative technique! Overall, this was such a great book and I’m so excited for release day!! 🤍
I would certainly categorize this book under fiction, rather than a regular rom-com, but it still had some great early 2000s rom-com vibes! This read was fast paced and so intriguing! Super fun tropes and NO spice!
I received a complementary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own!

Bryony Page has a wild ride trying to navigate the publishing world!

Bryony, an aspiring author and all-around dream chaser, heads to her first-ever writers' conference, hoping to sell her manuscript. Things take a turn when her pitch completely bombs, but she ends up saving the day by correcting someone else's work and impressing a big-shot agent, Jack.

Next thing you know, she’s got an offer to ghostwrite for the Amelia Benedict, a famous rom-com author.

I loved this book!

It’s got that perfect slow-burn romance which is my favorite!

Bryony’s journey through the cutthroat publishing world was fascinating, but watching her grow as a person and fall for Jack? The best!

If you’re into slow-burn romances, you’re going to adore this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson fiction for this ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this book. This was a romantic comedy set in the publishing world with the female main character is an author working as a ghost writer and the male main character as a literary agent. This was a light, easy, enjoyable read. Once I started reading this book, I could not put it down. I highly recommend this book if you are a fan of rom-com's.

The Perfect Rom-Com has many of the required pieces of a heartwarming Romantic Comedy. Overall, I found it this read to be less than perfect, lacking in both the Romance and Comedy departments. Nevertheless, I read this in entirety within 24 hours - it was fun, easy, but perhaps just not for me. 2.5 stars rounding up to 3.

Liked: Byrony, Jack & Penny's characters. They painted a picture of the inner world of publishing, friendship, and conflicts of interest. I thought there was genuine chemistry between Byrony and Jack and very much believed in their potential as more than just friends.

Didn't like: The main character's internal monologue was...exhausting. I felt like we were trapped in her manically pace fasted mind- it was disorienting when juxtaposed against the slow-burn 'romance' and wheels of bureaucracy. Wished there would have been some variety to the pacing. Very picky but I was very distracted by the consistent usage of phrases like "as if to say" and "in a way that said" - sometimes multiple times a page. Generally, lots of repetitive language & distracting formatting issues (understanding this was an E-arc). Felt dumbed down - was all tell and no show. Despite appreciating the characters, I felt the overall character development was lacking - a bit surface level & one note (i.e. Bryony only thinks about the Bridge, Jack only thinks about publishing, etc.). Made other characters/ plot points seem pointless when I didn't know enough about the main characters themselves (i.e. why was Parker included if he was entirely forgotten? Could have picked up from the 2 year jump with them having broken up instead of randomly mentioning him & using him as an off-page catalyst for Byrony & Jack). The ending was also confusing. We had just had it laid out how Byrony & Jack are up against a cabal in publishing and yet...their way out was via public humiliation on national TV? Didn't find this very logical or satisfying as all their roadblocks seemed to melt away just in time for a happy ending. Honestly, much of the above could have been looked past if it wasn't for the lack of Romance and Comedy. I didn't find myself laughing out load and I truly didn't encounter enough romance. There was certainly a connection between the two main characters, but I was never entirely sold on the transformation from platonic to romantic love.

Thank you to Thomas Nelson Fiction & NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Cozy and heart warming are two words I’d use to describe this book! Definitely one of those books you’d love for a chill read-a-thon

First of all, can we talk about that beautiful cover? Prepare to be even more hooked when you open it! This was a cozy, witty, lovely Rom-Com.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Bryony Page dreams of selling her novel in the hopes of bringing awareness about her grandmother’s organization, The Bridge, where she teaches ESL. She attends the American Society of Writers conference in the hopes of pitching her manuscript, but those dreams are quickly dashed when she finds that not a single agent is interested in her novel. With her final attempt of securing an agent hanging in the balance, Bryony attempts to impress him by correcting another author’s work. It works and she’s offered the chance to be a ghostwriter for a popular novelist. Seeing this as an opportunity to get her work published she agrees as long as the agent works to sell her own book.

Jack Sterling is a literary agent at the famous Foundry Literary Agency. He knows a hit when he reads one, and Bryony’s book is not a hit. When she impresses him by editing another’s work, he asks her to ghostwrite for one of his clients. Surprised by the success Bryony garners for his client, Jack can’t let her go. For professional reasons of course. But Jack is starting to realize that his reasons may go beyond a professional capacity.

There’s a two year time jump that I wasn’t crazy about. I thought we would get to see more of Bryony working on the novel and the development of her relationship with Jack, but we miss all of that goodness. This book could use another round of edits. For example in one scene, Jack and Bryony mention people they are dating, and in another scene, Bryony’s sister mentions he’s not dating anyone. Another issue is the author mentions that Bryony is 29, but that she’s been teaching ESL for 15 years, which would have made her 14 when she started if that was the case. The book feels like it’s in between tropes in a sense, as if it can’t decide if it wants to be an enemies to lovers story or a friends to lovers story or a workplace romance. I also felt that we could’ve done without the long distant relationship. There are never any texts, FaceTime calls or emails that show the interaction between Bryony and her boyfriend other than throw away comments here or there until he finally calls her to break up. In my opinion the agent/client relationship is enough of a conflict that could be played upon. I enjoyed the banter between the two. I just wish we could’ve seen the relationship of agent to friend to lover develop more.

I found Bryony’s desperation to have her book published a bit off putting. I didn’t understand why she wouldn’t take constructive feedback, and make edits to her book. Most especially after having been a ghostwriter for a couple of years and being aware of how the process works. It shouldn’t have taken her until the end of the book to finally admit the book needed editing. I also felt that her plan of publishing a book in order to save her grandmother’s ESL school didn’t make sense. There are too many unknown factors such as how the book will do in sales and will it become a best seller, that it didn’t make sense she would pin all of her hopes on selling the book.

There isn’t much romance in the novel, and I agree with another reviewer who said this is more a woman’s fiction book with romantic elements. With a title like, The Perfect Rom Com, you would assume that romance would be the star of the show, but what we really get is a look at the inner workings of the publishing world, which is interesting, but puts the romance on the back burner.

SPOILERS

The third act conflict was weird and dragged out. I understand she was upset about Jack lying to her about not reaching out to editors, but it seemed odd that she wouldn’t give him the opportunity to explain himself, but does send him her updated manuscript in order to send the book out to editors. It didn’t sit right with me.

I think there’s an audience for this book, it’s just not for me.

First things first- thanks to NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own!
Secondly, I thought this book was so cute. The dialogue reminded me of Emily Henry in the fact that the characters spoke like real people. Sometimes, especially in romances, the dialogue is very cliche and not what actual people would say. The FMC and MMC were supposed to be friends for years prior to us getting to the main part of the story and it truly felt like that due to their banter.
This book had a classic HEA, which reminded me a lot of the classic rom-com movie finales with big romantic gestures and lack of realism. But honestly I liked it. I love HEA’s (so sue me!) overall I’m glad I read it
4/5 ⭐️
0.5/5 🌶️ a slow burn ending with a kiss and a few pecks here and there but otherwise no spice

For a perfect rom-com, Melissa Ferguson's novel came relatively close. Bryony's journey allowed the reader to follow her journey into both love and publishing. With distinct characters and developed subplots, I found myself enjoying the novel overall. However, while the concept and plot were lovely, the pacing at times felt off. Bryony's struggle at the beginning felt longer, yet the ending did not feel fully fleshed out enough. The Perfect Rom-Com was enjoyable, but not fully memorable.