Book about a book my favorites! First off loved the cover, catchy and perfect colors. Reading the description dragged me even further in…! But I think it might have missed the mark a little, it was a long dragged out in the beginning and not enough banter, enemies to friends or something to make me devour the book but I found myself struggling to get into it. Wish we would have gotten to know more about jack and his side…and even some banter?!! Overall it was a good clean rom com and have a few friends in mind to recommend it to! Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for allowing the early read in turn for my honest opinion.

The Perfect Rom-Com by Melissa Ferguson (narrated by Karissa Vacker) is a lighthearted, feel-good read with a charming premise—but as a romance, it didn’t quite land for me.

Bryony is an aspiring author struggling to sell her first book when broody literary agent Jack Sterling offers her a ghostwriting gig. While she finds success writing under someone else’s name, her real goal is to get her own novel into the right hands—both to launch her career and to raise the funds needed to keep The Bridge, her grandmother’s financially struggling ESL organization, afloat.

The setup had potential, but the romance between Bryony and Jack never truly takes off. The book leans heavily into the cute side of romantic comedy—very vanilla, very safe—but ultimately, it lacked depth and real romantic tension. Jack’s personality shines early on at a literary conference, but after a time jump, he becomes much more muted, almost fading into the background.

About a third of the way in, I started wondering why there wasn’t more chemistry between the characters—then I realized this was a Christian romance. I read a mix of closed-door and mildly spicy books, so I have no issue with tamer romances, but this one felt too dialed-down. There’s nothing worth closing a door for. The connection between Bryony and Jack reads more like a close friendship than a love story. While there are a few passionate kisses, the emotional build-up and tension that make a romance compelling just aren’t there. If you prefer a romance that leans more into sweetness than intensity, this might be a great fit, but for me, it fell flat.

That said, the audiobook narration was a highlight. Karissa Vacker brought the characters to life, especially Amelia, the bratty romance author Bryony ghostwrites for. Her performance made the audiobook a more engaging experience than the story itself.

In the end, this wasn’t a perfect rom-com for me. The plot meandered, the characters lacked depth, and the romance felt awkward and unconvincing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was incredibly.... fine. Predictable but cute, engaging but forgettable. It was very middle of the road and nothing overly imaginative.

My only major criticism (and even then, it was probably just a technical glitch), but my audiobook didn't finish until about 130%. There were probably 5 or 6 chapters plus the epilogue beyond the 100% mark which was super strange??

Genre : Romance
Format : Audiobook
Rating : 3 stars

<b>Summary</b> :
<i> She’s written dozens of smash-hit romance novels. Too bad no one knows it. Aspiring author Bryony Page attends her first writers conference bursting with optimism and ready to sell her manuscript with long-shot dreams of raising awareness for The Bridge, her grandmother’s financially struggling organization where she teaches ESL full-time. But after a disastrous pitch session, she stumbles into correcting another author’s work in a last-ditch attempt to make a good impression with the agent. And she, as it turns out, is spot on. No one is more surprised than Bryony when the agent offers her the opportunity to be a ghostwriter for Amelia Benedict, popular rom-com novelist. Bryony agrees on one condition: she’ll write books for this vain, demanding woman just as long as Jack Sterling, literary agent of the legendary Foundry Literary Agency, works to sell her own book too. What nobody predicted, however, was that Bryony’s books would turn Amelia Benedict into the Amelia Benedict, household name and bestselling author with millions of copies sold around the world. And just like that, the Foundry Agency can’t let her go. But on a personal note, Jack is realizing he can’t either </i>

<b>Review</b> :.
The audiobook of The Perfect Rom-Com was well-narrated and the writing style itself is easy to follow, making it an easy read. Now, this one is heavy on inner monologues. I will address below how I think this negatively impacts the chemistry between characters. As for the ending, it was… interesting, but ultimately, I found the reveal of Bryony’s identity to be rather disappointing.

For me, this book didn’t quite hit the mark. However, I think you could enjoy this book if you’re looking for an easy read without spice or complex characters with intricate dynamics.

<b>Characters</b> :
I believe this book is a not overly obsessive take on “he falls first” and while the MMC did have his cute moment revealing his love for the FMC, it was nothing particularly worth a mention. Now, when it comes to the characters and their relationship, I didn’t find myself particularly invested. The relationship between the main characters felt underdeveloped and lacked emotional build-up as well as depth. I think if we would have gotten more scenes with just the two of them, you know little bonding moments, their relationship would have been much more believable. Which brings me to the fact that they wouldn’t have had little bonding moments right, because the FMC had a long distance mysterious boyfriend for a good portion of the book. For me, this was absolutely unnecessary. If the author was trying to depict her as emotionally unavailable, I believe this could’ve been achieved without adding the long distance cheating boyfriend we know absolutely nothing about.

Absolutely loved this book! I love bookish books and love that it gave a different perspective (from a ghost writer). I also loved the romance and Jack 🥰

I kept meaning to share The Perfect Rom-Com last month and it just slipped my mind. I really enjoyed it and honestly just like everything that @ourfriendlyfarmhouse releases. This story had everything from embarrassment to silliness to excitement. The characters were all written so well and you can just see them when they were having conversations. Through some random happenings… Bryony ends up being one of the most sold romcom writers… but she happens to be a ghostwriter. She is working for Amelia the author and Jack the agent… just no one realized how good of a writer she would end up being and it throws a wrench in everyone’s plans!

If you want to read a fun one, I would highly recommend this one!

Amazing SOLO NARRATION

This was just a super fun & adorable listen and there's NO DOUBT that Karissa Vacker elevated this one for me with her crazy & wicked talent. She is so fun to listen to! Melissa Ferguson has a fun and unique writing style. I definitely know that I enjoyed this book more on audio rather than if I had eyeball read it.

Bryony is an aspiring writer. Her character was fun. She's determined, sassy & hard-working. She meets Jack at an author agency while pitching her idea. She's on a mission to save her grandmother's legacy & her book is part of that journey. She's been turned down over & over and jack is her last hope in getting this book published. Testing the waters, Jack offers her an opportunity to critique a well known authors book and to his surprise, Bryony goes totally off on it. Offering a list of things that needs to be fixed. This takes Jack by surprise but in a good way. He decides to offer her a position as a ghost writer.

She's thrilled but over time it starts to become tough watching HER work getting published & praised but not getting the recognition for it. She can't quit. She hasn't gotten her own book published yet & she's extremely frustrated.

There is fantastic banter between these two. Jack fell so bad for this girl and it was so obvious but Bryony is totally clueless to his lovesick heart. There's some miscommunication between these two & its frustrating. Things that could have easily been avoided.

🎧Let's talk narration: Karissa is so talented. She was the perfect voice for Bryony. She gives all the determination & frustration to this character. Bryony's character has such a passion for her project & Karissa was able to convey all of that & the deep and genuine love she had for her grandmother. She always delivers everything for me. Her ability to perform multiple characters with so many different accents is absolutely amazing. This is one of the things that makes her narration so enjoyable. Solo narration can be tough, but no one does it better than Karissa!

This really is just a light & fun listen. No spice. Kissing only. A really fun & interesting look into the publishing world. The red tape, hoops & roadblocks that a writer experiences. A great one if you're just looking for something easy to listen to. It's Chicklit that's about a woman finding herself, her journey & discovering love in the most unexpected of places.

📚Workplace romance
📚Strangers to lovers
📚Slow burn
📚Closed door romance/kissing only
📚Forced proximity

Adorable and yet beautifully frustrating.

Amelia was the bane of my existence throughout this book and it was glorious to feel teamed up with Bryony against her. It was a story of triumph over a flawed system.

There was something very calming about the vase majority of this book. The ease of Bryony and Jacks relationship felt so centered and honest. They just clicked together and his support of her warmed each page. I liked that they just kind of came together.

Overall this was a heartwarming story and I find myself wanting to read more by this author.

This was such a cute rom-com. (Although not perfect like the title would suggest) It had the friends to lovers trope, workplace romance, forced proximity, you name it. I really did enjoy the glimpses into the publishing world, and seeing how our own passion for a project can often leave us blinded to its flaws. The big surprise at the end seemed a little far-fetched, and I still am unsure how they got around the reveal of her ghost writing for Amelia. But I also was too glad to really care. My heart ached when she handed over “her baby” to the undeserving, ungrateful monster that Amelia’s character was.

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

4.5⭐️ - I really am a romcom girlie, but I'll say that so many of the romance novels today has so much less storyline and so much more smut and I don't enjoy that. Imagine classic 90's romcom with all the silly giddiness and the infuriating "they just don't know how the other feels" and the ultimate big ending that brings the couple together and gives you that satisfying swoon moment. That is this book!! So much richness to the actual story and not just a romance built on sexual tension. I can appreciate that!!👏🏻

At one point in the middle of the book, I did start to lose a bit of interest. But the story looped me back in after a couple chapters and ultimately was so fun and attention-keeping.

Dare I say... this may be the perfect romcom.

I absolutely loved how awkward and oblivious Bryony is. She is by far one of the most relatable characters I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

Is this “The Perfect Rom-Com”? No. Is this a super sweet story about an EL teacher turned aspiring author and the twists life takes her on to get her story published? Yes. Bryony is a fun and plucky character with a heart of gold, but she has become jaded while working for Amelia Benedict. While the characters lacked depth and the story stalled in some parts, the overall feeling and plot make for a fun read. I enjoyed reading about Bryony, Jack, and all the students at The Bridge. Think of this as a blend of Emily Henry, Emma Lord, and Katherine Centers. Add this to the top of your TBR.

I enjoyed it but wouldn't say I loved it. The narration was really good (the reason I kept going), but the story lacked depth. Jack's character was a bit shallow, and I know the story wasn't from his POV, but I didn't find him very lovable. There wasn't much that happened between the couples, as you would expect in a romance novel. It was more like Bryony's struggle to be a cherished author and to have her first work published, she signed the contract for ghostwriting.
The concept was good, but it was hard to put it under the romance category as I couldn't find any love chemistry between Jack and Bryony.

This book was really good!

Bryony Page is a teacher, a writer, and a valued member of her community - teaching classes at her grandmother’s ESL organization, building community bonds with the students, and spending time with her sister. But when she finds out that the organization she treasures so deeply is in financial turmoil, she decides to write a book to try to show how impactful it is. After jumping through hoops after hoops, she eventually gets noticed for her authorship talents…to become a ghostwriter for the beloved Amelia Bennett - an heiress and an asshole (the latter is unbeknownst to her fans). Her agent, Jack, is persistent in pushing Bryony to continue refining her craft for the cash-cow that is Amelia but with the promise to try and get Bryony’s story heard.

The banter was electric. I loved every moment of Jack and Bryony’s hilarious dynamic. I loved Jack’s appearance of cool confidence that was disarmed by Bryony from the getgo. You can tell he is fully enthralled by her and her shenanigans throughout their adventures. It was so hard to read the dynamics with Amelia because damn she is insufferable. But it says a lot about the talent of an author to make my dislike a character so deeply haha.

This was my first read by Melissa Ferguson and I flew through it. I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I loved watching Bryony grow and grapple with the fact that she has talent and skill but can’t control everything. She has a solid heart and it was special to see people show up for her the way that she tries so hard to show up for others.

I was given a copy of this audiobook from NetGalley and I adored it. The narration by Karissa Vacker was exceptional - she always does a marvelous job with tone, inflection, and character voices. The story was lively in text and Karissa made it just as lively in voice! Thank you Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Fiction Audio and NetGalley!! #ThePerfectRomCom #NetGalley

Ooof, more like a terrible rom-com.. maybe if this was titled different, my expectations would have been slightly different too, this is no way brought anything perfect, romantic or comedic.

Unbearable main characters and miscommunication the whole way through, which is a personal hate of mine. I wish our main character Bryony would have stood up for herself in so many situations and Jack, well he was just a jerk and he was way too easily forgiven for his lies. There was also 0 chemistry, it was all very forced and no humour, which was a disappointment.

My only slight positive from this book was the “villain” of the story, Amelia Benedict - she was serving Angelica from Rugrats vibes and was the most developed.

Thank-you NetGalley, Harper Collins Christian Publishing and Melissa for a Digital Advanced Readers Copy, in exchange for an honest review.

Would rate this one 3.5 stars- was a very lighthearted, easy read (or in my case, listen). There were some parts that were slower, some parts that seemed confusing because more context was never given, and some plot holes throughout- including a random 2 year time jump towards the beginning that seemed rather out of place. The FMC, Bryony (weird name btw) got on my nerves sometimes and I didn't really see or feel the romantic connection between her and Jack. Their interest in each other, besides being work associates, kind of came out of nowhere and felt very random and rushed. Overall, it was a cute story and I did for the most part like how it all played out/ended. This did feel more like a chick lit type book over romance, though. I would be interested in checking out other books from this author, this was my first! Thank you to Thomas Nelson Fiction & NetGalley for the ARC!

3.5 stars
I think the title of this book was a teeny bit deceiving. I went into this thinking it would be a light-hearted, swoon-worthy romance, but it definitely felt more like “chicklit” than a rom-com. The focus of the book is on Bryony and the struggles she’s facing as she tries to save her beloved ESL school and her journey as a ghost-writer. It felt like the romance was a side story, not the main focus. It was sweet and had a happily ever after and I did enjoy it so not complaining- just wasn’t what I expected!

I thought the narrators did a great job

Loved it (rounded up)

This may not have been the typical "romcom," but it was really cute. I love books about books. Bryony and Jack were so cute together. I love their meet cute, even though it's not a romance meet cute (work related), and the whole subplot of The Bridge and what they did. The secondary cast of characters (while sparse) really added to the narrative of what Bryony was trying to achieve.

Jack and Bryony have the cutest friendship that evolved so much further than just a working relationship and he really had been dating her for years. I loved their dynamic. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of one party being completely blind to the attraction of the other, but in this story it just kinda worked.

The whole ghostwriting aspect was a lot of fun to read. The "celebrity" and author she was writing for was THE WORST! That whole plotline also was quite fun to read because she was just such a nightmare and I love a character you just hate to the core. She's not a terrible person per say, but she's totally a terrible person haha!

This book is really light on the romance, and the comedy is definitely mixed in a little. It's definitely not a romance, but more chick lit which is fine with me, but just beware. There is romance, but it's definitely not the main point of the story. It's about so much more.

The grand gesture at the end was fun and a great way to wrap it all up.

Karissa Vacker (as always) did such a great job with the single POV narration. She's honestly the reason why I requested the ARC and she did not disappoint!

Thank you, NetGalley and Melissa Ferguson for the ARC.

What to Expect:
Sweet & Clean Romance
Ghost Writer FMC
Agent MMC
Strangers to Friends to Lovers
He falls first
Grumpy x Sunshine

I love when I can relate to the FMC. Bryony Page’s mental spirals are reminiscent of my own! This was my first read/listen by this author, and I could not put it down. Bryony is bound and determined to get her first novel published to save her families legacy ESL school, The Bridge. When she tries and tries and fails to get signed on with her novel, she is signs on as a ghost writer for a popular Romance Author with a really crap attitude. I was so ready for her to take a flying leap at the end! The narrator, Karissa Vacker, did an amazing job! Her character distinction was great! I was so immersed, I was panicking with Bryony.

Thank you, @netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this book!

This story was a little all over the place, but I loved the two leads and their relationship and their banter, it was really great and the narrators were excellent for the autio book