The thing about these illustrated romance covers-- you either get a cute PG story (like this one), or you can get something super steamy. I realized the first moment the author describes Will Pennington- he's obviously very handsome, but in a... wholesome way.

This book was all-around cute. I am an emotional reader-- so when embarrassing things happened, I tend to squeal, hide, and come back to the book later. I read off my phone and ended up accidentally hitting my husband when I threw my phone behind me to get away. So there are a few "ahhhh cringe" moments. Slow-burn romance, with very little tension between any characters, even between the two main leads. The two characters were never really fleshed out, and so the big reveal/climax of the story felt a little lackluster. At the same time, it was an enjoyable read. I know I've said it two times already--- but "cute" sums up this book pretty well.

Thank you Thomas Nelson Fiction and Netgalley for an ARC e-copy of this book. One of my favorite parts of the book was reading about all of the ARCs that characters received of books as part of the story- I was just as excited as the characters to get free copies of books!

Well-written sweet and clean romance featuring a hero and heroine working at the same publishing house. However, I couldn't get past parts of the plot that were cheesy and too-good-to-be-true. A secret room in a place of business used by adults for all types of purposes during all hours of the workday? And they never ran into each other and never got caught? With so many scenes overdone, overly detailed, and unbelievable, this book just wasn't for me. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 for great editing and a clean writing style. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my eARC to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Savannah Cade has a dream. She’s drafted a romance novel and needs some help getting it up to scratch and into the right hands.

She comes from a long line of high-performing overachievers, but she has yet to achieve her ultimate goal of becoming a published romance author.

The thing is, the publishing house that she works for as a low-level editor does not do commercial fiction under any circumstances. Especially the worst of the worst: the dreaded romance titles. Shudder.

Amid dwindling book sales and cutbacks during the pandemic, though, Pennington Publishing isn’t doing so well. Enter Will Pennington, hotshot son of the big boss, fresh back in Nashville from the Big Apple. Things are about to get shaken up like smooth bourbon and sweet tea.

To keep her secret, Savannah places her work in progress in her (supposedly) private reading hideaway. She soon finds she isn’t the only one who uses it, though, when notes from a mystery editor begin appearing in the margins of her manuscript.

Through their messages to each other, they establish that they share a love of stories. Their words ultimately blossom on the page and grow into their own love story. Along the way, Savannah realises that it’s not just her book that needs an edit.

Meet me in the Margins is a cute, sweet, funny, love story with more Southern charm than spice. Highlights for me were the banter and fun between Will and Savannah, bestie Lyla’s arguments with authors, the awkward nights on the couch with Olivia and Ferris, and the ARC room of dreams. It is a slow burn, but I was never bored. It’s a book about books and words and love. Melissa Ferguson, you had me at bailiwick.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the opportunity to read this charming story.

When I started this book, I was expecting a book with a secret work romance. A mystery editor helping out our main character and aspiring author Savannah, without knowing who the other is. Don’t get me wrong, that is exactly what I got, but it was so much more than that.

While I do my best to give honest reviews about the books I read, this quote was just too good to pass up on.

“It turns out, racking up accomplishments doesn’t mean anything. Life is not simple some game where the person with the most plaques wins. It’s not about a perfectly organized home or acquiring degrees you’ll never use or the number of inches around your waistline or, most especially, counting steps. Life is about movement, and pause. Work, and rest. It’s about relationship. About valuing others and truly taking the time to show them they are precious. About valuing yourself, too, and your uniquely given, whispered-into-your-DNA goals and dreams… It’s about appreciating the miraculous gift that is existence. It’s about loving on others as much as you can.”

I know right! I also didn’t know I would be given the meaning of life right in the middle of this story. I actually had to take a minute after I read this to just absorb it and really soak it in. While people may shrug it off or say this isn’t new information, you just never know you need to hear something until you hear it. And damn, did I need it.

Now to get back to the real reason we’re here -- for the actual review of this book.

I can’t lie, it took me a while to get into this book and here’s why.

1. We start the book with our main characters ex-boyfriend being engaged to her sister.
a. Ew, gross and totally, TOTALLY unacceptable.
b. One should not be expected to be OK with that and listen to them wedding plan
c. SHE LIVES WITH THEM! OMFG COULD YOU IMAGINE
2. Savannah’s sister, Claire is a bitch.
a. Overachiever to the max, created a step counting app and is a health freak (but like not in a healthy way, ya know?)
b. Her sister makes snide comments that she’s fat. Like, do I need to explain more.
c. While I know everyone struggles and goes through hard times, I was a little too happy when karma caught up with her in the end.

I could list a couple more, but at this point you get the idea. Like I said, not the strongest start to a book in my opinion, but I am so happy I stuck with it. The banter and conversations were so good and I just love a book that has a happy ending.

Overall, this book was a great read. While I feel the ending was a little rushed and there were a couple questions left unanswered, I thought the concept and plot were unique and that it was so well-written.

Looking forward to read more by Melissa Ferguson and if you decide to give this book a chance, you won’t regret it!

Book Rating: 3/5
Spice Rating: 2/5

I really liked this book! It was just so cute. So wholesome. I just loved everything about it. Savanah was such a real, amazing person. She’s the kind of woman everyone would love to have as a friend. And her relationship with Will was just adorable. I kind of wish we’d gotten to see more of them together, but the whole manuscript part of the plot kind of made up for that, so I understand. Overall, just a great sweet romance.

I was feeling like the book just wasn’t as interesting to me as a regular romance. I was mostly bored, and then I realized this is a Christian Fiction book. I have looked at everything in the promotional materials and I don’t think that was made clear. I wouldn’t have picked it up knowing that. Not for me unfortunately, but I hope it finds its audience.

What a charming book!!
This is my first book by this author and I found it really captivating. The setting is a publishing company and It was fun to learn more about this industry. The characters are endearing and the romance was very sweet. Savannah and William were both interesting characters and I loved their dialogue. This story hooked me in the beginning and the pace was great throughout. Definitely a book I would recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson Publishing for letting me read an early copy of Meet Me in the Margins! This book did not disappoint!

I was hooked from the very beginning of Savannah’s story. Learning about her aspirations on becoming an author and living up to her “Cade name” made her very relatable. No matter what she persevered and kept working at making her manuscript something she should be proud. With the help of a secret editor of course.🖤 I would love to see a sequel come from this but I enjoy it as a stand-alone as well. Also, anyone else want this to be a movie? Because I sure do!

This was so cute and amazing. I listened to this in one day and enjoyed every moment of it. The heroine was perfect representation of how I personally feel and I related a lot to her. The hero was Also super well written and I fell in love with him together with the heroine

Well, I am highly disappointed with this novel. As someone who adores books and the world of books, such as publishing, editing, writing, etc... I signed myself up for this book based on the blurb, title, and cover alone. I thought this would be another instance of the Love Hypothesis, where I get over the fluffy romance, because of the science aspect, with this one centered around books instead of STEM. I was wrong.

I DNF'd at 9%. I did not like the writing style, nor did I like the main character at all. Honestly, I couldn't care less about her story.

I am disappointed that I couldn't even make it to the margin scenes, but as pointed out right at the 9% mark, the MC is gaslighting the dude, and I just couldn't personally handle that. Gaslighting isn't a tool for novels.

Thank you for the opportunity to review.

This was a quick and cute romcom in the same lane as The Hating Game. The couple doesn't hate each other the way Josh and Lucy do, but Savannah and Will don't get off to a great start. The characters and story won't stick with me for a long time.
The idea of a secret hideaway was really cute and led to a little bit of drama, but I felt like the "reveal" at the end was anti-climatic.
The heroine was plus size, but the author only mentioned in moments of insecurity. Fat people aren't just insecure in their bodies. I wish that would have been explored more.
It's a little ironic that the main conflict of the book was that the heroine's book wasn't original enough, when there wasn't really anything original about this one. There's nothing wrong with that. Romance readers love the formula and tropes. I guess this one didn't have a third act breakup , but it did have the hero/heroine separated because of a miscommunication so... Overall, this was fine. It would be a cozy read to any romance reader.

Meet Me in the Margins had a really good premise, but a lot of flaws in the execution. I was hoping for an inside view of the publishing industry, great exploitation of the Nashville setting, and a storyline that alternated between vibrant witty marginalia and tense in real life interactions. Unfortunately, what I was hoping for was different than what the book delivered.

This book will definitely appeal to a certain subset of readers. The language of the book is very clean, so clean that it is almost comical. The female protagonist was used “heck” instead of “hell,” and somewhere in the book was actually an “ Abso-flippin’-lutely.” The other curse words were nowhere to be found. The relationship between the male protagonist and female protagonist is very chaste. Aside from the courthouse elevator on St. Valentine’s Day scene (which had other couples kissing), the book waited until the end for the couple to have just one good kiss. And that was in the office so it wasn’t the perfect kiss.

I liked the gradual reveal of the male protagonist’s real personality and lifestyle, which was in contrast to all the assumptions that the female protagonist held about those in publishing in New York City. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for the female protagonist; because this story was told in the first person from her perspective, we learn much more about her through her telling us rather than showing us through her actions and dialogue. My favorite character was the female protagonist’s best friend, who added color and contrast to the story. Digital media and marketing specialist by day, aspiring country star by night, the best friend was almost a caricature of what a New Englander like me might think of Nashville girls.

The identity of Mystery Editor seemed obvious to me from the beginning. But the author seemed to fail to leverage the alter egos of both male and female protagonists to develop more tension on both sides of the equation. The attempts to persuade the reader that the Mystery Editor would turn out to be someone different seemed disingenuous. Working in Contracts myself, it makes me wonder if the author has truly met any of our kind. Rather than try to lead the reader down the wrong track, I would have preferred to see more tension developed in the unknowing.

I thought that the Ferris subplot was both awful and unnecessary to the story. While that helped the sister’s character develop and the sisters’ adult relationship to level up, any crisis scenario could have done the job. I also thought that the persistent reference to the family standards was overdone. While I understand that the author chose to develop and reference these to underscore the female protagonist’s feelings of inadequacy, it just seems to be relied on unnecessarily. Between the Ferris subplot and the unobtainable standards of being a Cade, the family seemed just awful.

I also thought that the ending seemed sudden and contrived. What happened to the publishing company seemed like an option from the start, so the fact that it happened was credible. What was rushed was the female protagonist’s discovery of who the Mystery Editor was and the male protagonist’s discovery of who her preference was. The double whammy of career good news and love interest good news in one fell swoop for the female protagonist seemed too neat to tie up all the loose ends. And that also made the epilogue not feel credible as two years henceforth.

Overall, the book was a fun read. What would have turned it into a great read is if the author spent more focused energy developing the differences between the protagonists and the alter egos that they used in the ARC room.

I received this book as a digital advance reader copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

This book is sweet and funny, and I had mostly a really good time with it. I enjoyed myself and I am really happy to recommend it if you want a romance with the publishing setting (and let’s be honest, we are bookworms, being an editor, even vicariously is pretty great in itself, right? Or maybe it is just me? Anyhow…) and an original romance in it. And I would talk more about the things that I enjoyed later on, but first thing first, I need to vent a bit, because there were two points that really irked me. And, the main one (point 2) it is not really the book’s fault, it is just that it is a thing that irks me and that rubs me in the wrong way, but in general, it has more to do with real-life than the book itself, but since we have in this one the perfect portrait for it, I would vent a bit here too. But please keep reading, or skim-reading, also the second part, because the book is good, and it deserves some love!

And now, let’s start with the sore points!

1) I like Savannah, but she can really be quite slow, to be gentle about it. What I mean is: she has a secret nook (more about it later on, I promise) and since it is a secret she is the only one that knows of its existence. Since the fateful day: she left her secret manuscript in there, and when she went back to retrieve it someone has annotated it, hence her secret place is not so secret anymore. But who would be this new and mysterious person??
Well, let’s see. She works in a really small press and since that day no one ever intruded in the nook. It is a small place of work so everyone knows everyone, it is not a public place, because it is not really open to anyone like a park, for example, and it is private property. But on that specific day, one other big thing happened: there is a new co-worker!
So… really, it is not that hard to piece together, right? But she starts to think about it around 50% of the book. She is constantly there wondering who the mysterious editor would be, and not even once for the first half of the book, she thoughts that the new coworker (that incidentally is not only an Editor, but he is the son of the Boss, so he should be quite knowledgeable of the premises, too, just to add something more to an easy equation) could be the mysterious person. I really really wanted to scroll her and scream at her. Because, come on!!!!
It is not that she has to know from the beginning, because obviously there are happenings that murk the water and confound things, and that’s okay. What I am saying here is that she should have thought about it.

2)Her family. They are simply awful. And they are awful not because they are bad people, or your classical bad family, with physical abuse or addiction or violence or neglect. Not at all. At least on the surface. On the surface, they are the perfect family. They are considerate, over-achievers, invested in the community and they do good deeds at every turn, and for them, family is the most important thing of all.
So they will seem great, right? Maybe keeping up with their expectations can be hard, and the MC feels like she is not really up to them. And all this would be quite normal and not bad. What is bad is that the family, as a whole, is not good with Savannah, at all. They are not considerate of her. They don’t really see what she needs, and they are not even trying! And this is what is maddening for me.
And as I was saying before, it is not something I am mad about with the book. The author did a great job portraying this kind of family, but I just want to say that this can be abuse too. Sure, it is not the “worst” kind of abuse, if saying something like this can make sense, but it is abuse all the same and it has to be acknowledged.
Case in point: Savannah’s ex-boyfriend, who was with her for years and years, left her for her sister (yep, this is pretty shitty!) and after three months he proposed to said younger sister (and this is another thing that gets me mad, but again not at the book, at life in general, because we are pretty good at being shitty with the people around us!). This is not an ideal situation, and it is even harder because Savannah and her sister live together (at her sister’s house). But what is worst is the way in which the family is all on board with it because he proposed, so he would become a member of the family too and so, since family is all, Savannah has to keep it together and just go with it. Because they are family. And even if the way in which this thing happens seems pretty considerate and sort of… well, it makes sense, it is not really fair or right.
And there is more. As a family, they have a date on which they all went together to donate blood. Other families have lunch family days, they have this. And it is sweet. And it is unique. And eccentric in the best possible way. But Savannah is not so happy to donate blood. She is anxious about it, she has low pressure, and it is always problematic for her. So since they are a family and family is all they should just stop. They can and should donate blood, sure. But they should do something else as a family activity. Even if you want to keep the trend and do something for the community too, there are a ton of things that you can do together that would also help others. And it is highly probable that amidst all that different possibilities there are some things that would make no one uncomfortable.
It is true that Savannah should speak for herself, but in this case it is even harder than in other cases. But it is abuse, even if it seems like all done in good faith. You can’t just ignore like that one member of the family while saying that family is the most important thing.
And these are only examples but you can find more of them while reading this book.
But my ranting aside, I had a great time with it! In part because it was nice to read about an Editor’s life. And the room in which there is the secret access to the nook is the ARC room. A room full of ARCs. Amazing! Simply amazing! And yes, the publishing world is interesting and I enjoyed this set a lot.
I know that lately, romances with authors in it, or that rotate around the publishing world, are becoming THE thing, but I enjoy them, from time to time, so no complaints here!

And then we have Savannah, our MC, who is a nice girl, with a big heart. Sure, she is not so used to speaking up for herself, in general, not only with her family, and usually, I am not a big fan of this kind of character, but she is kind, and I loved her relationship with Lyla, her friend, and coworker. Also, Lyla is great and thanks to her we get some really funny scenes.
And Will is really nice. I liked him from the start. He is a frosty with a nice heart if you just have the time to de-freeze him. Joking here, at least a bit. But I really liked him from the start, and even if it was not easily assumed, he is the funny one! And there is a scene that made me love him a bit too, and if you have read both my ranting and the book you would know what I am talking about here. He was just amazing!
And these two together are quite the pair! And I am not only talking about the romance, but they are also pretty good in general and together they bring out the best in each other. It is really a nice thing!

And, last but not least, I devoured it. Sure, it is a fast-paced book and it is light-hearted and smooth, but it made you so invested in their story that you just turn page after page. I am really happy to have read this one, and I have to recommend it if you want something to take a break from more demanding reading. It is really a cute romance, and it talks about books too!

Loved it! This book was cute and charming. The plot is one any booklover would love! Overall an adorable RomCom and highly recommend adding it to your TBR

I REALLY wanted to like this book a lot. The concept set in the publishing world and being about reading and writing books combined with a romance. Totally a formula for a hit!

But.

This was a miss for me. The first third of the book felt a bit stilted. It just didn't flow and felt clunky. I really did not like Savannah's family. And felt the whole storyline with Ferris and Olivia was just weird.

As other reviewers have said, much of the mystery editor's advice in the novel should be taken to heart to actually fix THIS story. Much of the feedback in the story was spot on. LOL!

I LOVED both The Proposal and You've Got Mail and this could have been a great combo of those two stories. It just fell quite a bit short to me. And I think a lot of it had to do with the writing. Great story idea, just could have been executed much better.

I do appreciate the opportunity to read it by Netgalley and the author. Thank you!

Meet me in the Margins was everything I want the Roughest Draft to be and more. We follow Savannah and Will who both work and Pennington Publishing. Savannah is an editor and Will the son of the owner. Savannah aspires to be a writer and hastily leaves her manuscript at work one day in her secret space. She comes back to find notes on it, and then continue to work anonymously in the margins. A very well done book and I can't wait to read more from Melissa Ferguson in the future.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

3.5stars
Savannah works for Pennington Publishing as a new low-level editor – a publishing house for the most prestigious books and non-fic.

She has been using the publishing company’s ARC room to write her own romance novel, which would put her own publishing house to shame. One day, after leaving her manuscript behind, she comes back to find that someone discovered her hidden place, organized her manuscript, and written edits in the margins.

Who is this mystery person? She ends up asking this mystery editor for help editing in hopes it will get published.

The two start exchanging notes back and forth, first regarding the manuscript – and then more personal. Savannah can’t help but start falling for her mystery editor.

This was cute. I really enjoyed how the writing and pace made it exciting. I read it in two sittings and it just flew by!

It was impossibly predictable but it was just what you wanted to happen, you know? From the beginning as Savannah falls for her mystery editor, you can’t help but love it and fall for him too.

Savannah is the most basic of characters. In a way even boring. She has a normal job, lives a normal life, and even her ex-boyfriend chose her sister to marry instead of her. And guess what? She is living with the two of them! She is relatable and I couldn’t help but see a bit of myself in her.

Our mystery editor is totally worth falling for and that’s all I’m going to say. Even if you don’t read the synopsis you are going to know who it is right away so, just go with it.

It’s a slow burner and it totally made me have a smile on my face throughout. Overall this was cute and fast paced, perfect for a nighttime relaxy easy read.

4 stars

Mostly fluffy? Yes. A lot of fun and pretty much just what I needed (and thought I was getting from another book recently)? Also yes. I enjoyed most of the characters, the setting in the publishing world and with all kinds of writing/reading/book references was lovely, and the plot was easy to follow, if a bit predictable. I’m kind of a sucker for books about books, and this was a delightful little rom-com that checked many of the most fun boxes for me.

Samantha Cade, assistant acquisitions editor at Pennington Publishing, is burning the candle at both ends trying to meet the demands of her job, please her exercise-crazed sister, as well as finish writing her first romance novel. Although Pennington Publishing is known for its nonfiction and fine literary titles, they do not, under any circumstances, publish romance fiction. So, Samantha is an unknown author making her way in the competitive publishing industry. Through a series of events, she leaves her romance manuscript in a "secret" room in the attic of Pennington Publishing. When she comes back to retrieve it, an unknown editor has left her revision notes.

This slow-burn and funny romance was the perfect weekend read!. I would recommend it for fans of contemporary romance, rom-coms, and anyone who enjoys a story that leaves you smiling at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, Melissa Ferguson, and Thomas Nelson Publishing for an advanced eBook in exchange for my honest review.

The characters in this book were very real and flawed and it’s always nice to see characters that aren’t perfect. The premise of this was fun and I think executed well. I would recommend this to other readers, specifically other book lovers.