3.5 rounded up

Read this if you like: books about writers, opposites attract, slow burn

By day Miles Franklin, named after the famous author, is a successful lawyer. By night, in secret, she writes historical romance novels under the pen name Emma Browning. When 'Emma's' novels win one of Australia's biggest literary awards, Miles's perfectly ordered life begins to get wild.

Lars Kristensen, CEO of the publishing company contracted to publish the prize-winning books is insisting on meeting the author. They are immediately drawn to each other. Besides mutual antipathy and sexual attraction, socially anxious Miles and supremely confident Lars have nothing in common. Ugh, I love opposite attracts so much and this book does not disappoint. The tension with them is so good.

Miles is determined to both protect her privacy and to keep writing despite many hurdles. Like the heroines in her books, Miles has the grit to stand her ground. Lars has the smouldering looks, arrogance and pride of all her romantic heroes rolled into one. I love Lars and Miles together. He is so tough but so sweet to her.

I didn't love how Miles was getting treated. It made me quite frustrated. I wanted to slap her family. She Never really stood up to them. They are ridiculous. I didn't love the ending. I wanted it to be completely different. I won't spoil it. I still enjoyed the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author Penelope Janu, and Escape Publishing for the ARC! ❤

I started reading this a few weeks ago and just finished it. It's not the kind of story where you'll pull an all-nighter to find out what happens next.

I chose this book because of the cover, and it was my first book by Penelope Janu. Miles' character was not for me; I tried to understand her point of view, but I couldn't really relate to her; however, when it comes to hard work, you can rely on her; being a lawyer and a writer was not an easy job.

Overall, the story was amusing, particularly Jack, who kept me reading until the end. And her relationship with Lars has been slow-burn, and I look forward to seeing how it develops.

Thank you Netgalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a difficult book to follow. It felt a bit chaotic and I had trouble distinguishing between the actual book and the book the character was writing. It all of sort of jumbled together. Miles is sweet and endearing (I do wonder if she is perhaps neurodivergent?) and although she was extremely likable, there just wasn't much relatable about her.
Thank you to NetGalley and Escape Publishing for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really loved reading this book. I felt like I could easily relate to the character of Miles in many ways, most specifically her social anxiety. While I wasn't too sure about Lars, I grew to understand him and like him throughout the story. I loved the dichotomy and comparison between the chapters of this book, and the chapters of Miles/Emma's books, specifically chapter 45, 54 and 55. I thought it was so clever when it clicked in my head. I thought the writing was really well done, and it was an easy read that I finished in a day. Any book where the main character writes/reads, and with multiple comparisons to classic literature couples is pretty much an automatic pick-up for me, and On The Same Page did not disappoint.

Thank you to Escape Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

On the Same Page by Penelope Janu is a lovely rom-com that will appeal to fans of Pride and Prejudice or Bridgerton. The story revolves around Miles, who works as a lawyer, but is secretly bestselling historical romance author Emma Browning. When Emma wins a prestigious award, her new publisher forces her to go public. Is Miles ready to reveal her secret to the world? And how does she feel about her handsome new publisher?

Here is an entertaining excerpt from Chapter 1 that introduces us to Miles:

"'Hi, Miles,' Pippy says, appearing in the doorway. She straightens her pencil skirt. 'When did you get back?'
'Not long ago. The meeting at the Copyright Council finished early.'
'Is that one of Emma's files?'
'Yes. I'm working out this month's royalties.'
Most of my clients, like the writer Emma Browning, are romance authors, but I also look after a gardening writer named Clinton, an expert on orchids and bees, and a reverend who writes philosophy texts.'"

Overall, On the Same Page is the best rom-com I've read year! One highlight of this book is how romantic it is. I love how Miles had a secret identity that the male love interest doesn't know about, and I love how she has to undertake a lot of "missions" to help her writing become more realistic. Another highlight of this book is how it is about writers and the publishing industry. For some reason, I really love romance books about writers or books. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of rom-coms in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in April!

I wanted to love this book- it has a very eye catching cover, but in the end it was not for me. I felt that there was too much back and forth between the actual book and the book that the main character was writing. I couldn't connect with any character on any sort of level.. and the romance was not there for me. Tons of fade to black moments- just casual mentions of the romance that takes place. It was not my favorite read, but I am hopeful that other works by Penelope Janu are different!

Quite honestly, I've never read a romance like this, and I absolutely loved it. It has such a unique voice and I adored Miles, so refreshingly smart, strong-willed, blunt and ambitious. I did wonder if she is neurodivergent, something I'd like to ask the author.
The writing style is very sparse, nothing like I've ever read before. Janu manages to convey as much tension and angst in the space between words as other writers do in a paragraph. I will definitely be seeking out her back-list - especially as it promises more Norwegian heroes!
Lars is now one of my favourite book boyfriends. His actions to support Miles were so swoon-worthy, what a man. The steamy scenes were fantastic, just wonderfully written and leaving the reader breathless and flustered.
I loved how the book explores so much more than an enemies-to-lovers story-line - Miles' relationship with her parents, the work she has had to do to deal with the trauma of their horrible treatment of her and their terrible snobbery and lack of respect. I also really appreciated the other relationships in Miles' life, and how she is so kind and always reaches out to help the women in her life. The pole-dancing lessons were a great touch, and Miles' insistence on doing proper research for her love scenes was fantastic and at times hysterically hilarious.
In short, will be recommending this book to everyone.

Thank you to Escape Publishing and Netgalley for providing this ARC. This was not my favorite book as I did not love the main characters personality or the writing style. This may be fun for other readers though!

This unfortunately was not a book for me. I initially requested it cause I adore illustrated romance covers and I like to try all of them. However, I did not like the writing style of this book as it felt really young to me and I could not get past that. I liked the main character well enough but again, the writing style was the reason I did not enjoy this one. I definitely think many romance readers will enjoy the romance though and I do not want to dissuade them from reading this book.

First I wanted to thank Escape Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

While scrolling through NetGalley I saw the cover of this book, and I can't pass up a drawn cover. I read the synopsis and I was so intrigued to read a book based in Australia. I am so happy I requested it and got accepted cause it provided a Sydney fix I didn't even know I needed.

What I Loved:
- Sydney, I don't read a lot of books based in this amazing city and it always adds more to me when I know EXCATLY where the characters are meeting up or places they are experiencing
- Jack, I think everyone needs a best friend like him. He is super supportive and continues to go above and beyond for Miles throughout the book
- The ladies from class, I don't want to give much away but I enjoy Miles' interactions with these ladies and how they support each other
- Maurice and April, they are a sweet old couple you get to know and are the type of couple I associate with #relationship goals
- Book excerpts, I LOVE that the story includes excerpts from Emma's books since they were so well placed and fun to get a little historical romance in the middle of a contemporary romance.

This story is a little chaotic at times, but there is so much great humor, growth and romance that I couldn't put it down. If you enjoy stories with romance authors, unlikely romance and a great cast of characters I would encourage you to pick this book up!

This book comes out on April 1st, you can find where to buy here - https://www.romance.com.au/9781867244486/on-the-same-page/

I received a complimentary copy from the author and all opinions expressed are my own

On the same page tells the story of lawyer by day and romance writer by night whose life is disrupted when her publisher wants to meet her. The author weaved together such a beautiful story that was heartwarming ,funny and a perfect read for a lazy afternoon. I look forward to reading more books by the author

I had two major issues with this. The fact that the story is told only from Miles point of view make it feels like there is something missing. I could have lived with this and still enjoyed the book (although I always prefer dual povs) if not for the fact that Miles was such a horrible, annoying character! Even while witnessing her internal monologue and therefore being part of her thought process she still came across as irresponsible, unreasonable, impulsive and overall unlikeable.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I haven’t come across a heroine this difficult and unlikable recently. Dear god, I wanted to shake her many many MANY times THROUGHOUT THE BOOK.
She didn’t give an inch to the hero, always being dishonest and running away from things she doesn’t want to deal with.
Also the protagonists had zero chemistry.
I disliked majority of secondary characters. Don’t make me start on her PA’s unprofessionalism. And heroine’s too. She constantly ignored important calls, meetings and emails.
Even the climax I found over the top dramatic and that too not in a good way.


The only thing I loved was hero Lars. He was patient (much needed in his dealings of the heroine) honest, honourable and smitten with heroine from the beginning itself (don’t know why). Though it wasn’t conveyed very clearly.

Miles Franklin is a successful lawyer, representing writers, but what people don't know is that, behind very closed doors, she's "Emma Browning", historical romance writer. She hides this from everyone because she not only is named after a famous author, but she's the daughter of two very high-bow, uppity, stuck-up parents who are also accomplished writers and who think that romance novels are less than trash. 

When "Emma" wins a prestigious literary award (courtesy of a well-intentioned meddling assistant who submitted her work unbeknownst to her), Miles has to deal with the CEO of the publishing house attached to the award and with the fact that "Emma" is going to be now published by Iconic and she's contractually obligated to do promotion for them. There is no way in hell that she's going to come out of the literary closet. The problem? Lars Kristensen is too hard to ignore and to resist and soon enough he is the model in her head for her heroes. The battle of wills begins and who's going to win?

This novel, on paper, seemed to have everything to make me love it - the romance novelist, the secret identity, the banter. Unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me. 

Told exclusively through Miles' point of view, we only see her side of things and after a while she doesn't feel tenacious, just stubborn and sometimes childish. I understand she comes from a horrible background of neglect from her parents and her anxiety plays a gigantic role in her life, but to someone like me, who suffers from anxiety herself, it came to a point that it was triggering. 

I also couldn't see the chemistry between the two main characters, mainly because Miles spends 70% of the book avoiding Lars like the plague. Maybe if we had his POV it would have me it more believable that they were falling in love. 

There are also too many secondary characters whose roles in the actual development of the story are very unclear to me. 

I loved that it is a book by an Australian author actually set in Australia! 

Sadly, though, this wasn't a favorite. 

Possible Triggers: extremely distant and judgmental parents, young women in vulnerable situations, anxiety and panic attacks (on page)

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you, NetGalley for the advanced copy.

On The Same Page by Penelope Janu is a story of a woman living two different lives. She comes from a family who have always been hard on her and never accepted the things she loved. I truly appreciated this story for the representation of therapy, anxiety, and panic attacks. The CHEMISTRY, and I mean CHEMISTRY, between Miles and Lars was HOT!! I could feel them coming apart off the pages. From the moment they met each other, you could just feel how they felt and it as such a good time reading about them. I also loved how she added Emma Browning’s stories into the mix of this story, it was definitely a unique take. I also adored the simple, but spicy scene because I could feel the emotions between the characters even more, which is hard to portray. This book was really well written and had a lot of heart put into it. I adored all but one of the characters, because I did not think he was necessary, and he came off really sleazy and it made me uncomfortable. I also have a hard time with more than the two back and fourths between the couple in the story, it felt like it went on a little too long, but I think that is a me thing. Overall, this book was genuinely a lovely to read, and I would definitely read it again.

I had high hopes for this book but it did not meet them. This felt like it attempted a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice but instead of finding the balance of Darcy the author just made the male lead mean. He had very little redeeming and his moments of kindness were immediately met with cruelty. I was barely able to finish this book and only did so to see if it was redeemable.

ARC provided by NetGalley, all thoughts and opinions are my own and left voluntarily!

On The Same Page by Penelope Janu is about attorney Miles Franklin, growing up with famous writers for parents, Miles has always been around books. When Miles is caught with a historical romance book, her parents deem that literary trash, essentially. Since Miles loves to write, she develops a strong pen name, Emma Browning. When Emma wins one of Australia's biggest literary award, Miles's secret is soon to be exposed especially when the CEO of her new publishing company demands to meet "Emma". While stringing along CEO Lars, writing her book, and trying to run her law firm, Miles is very busy trying to keep things as authentic as possible.

I do not like Miles's parents, they were absolutely horrible to Miles! For what her parents put her through growing up, I was surprised she did as well as she did. I think having the people in her life that she did definitely helped. The personalities of the characters in her books were so interesting to learn about, I love when Miles compares the parts of Lars's personality to the male main characters of her books, it was probably my favorite part. The writing in this was a bit slow but good, but I love when Miles finally stood up for herself. Overall, it was super cute!

I've never wanted a book to end more than this one. Miles was awful.and if I'm honest this book is a 2.5 star. I'm glad she finally gets the balls to say who she is but omg it was hell to get her there. She was just an awful character and I didn't buy the romance between her and Lars. I did predict that she'd have sex by chapter 45 because that's what all her characters did in her books. I did like she gave you glimpse into her book. That was a cool aspect. I'm mad it took me til the middle of the book to realize Pippy didn't know about her being Emma. This book was not a good time

Miles a lawyer who is writing historical romance novels under the pen name of Emma. Lars is the CEO of a company who is trying to acquire Emma as a talent thanks to a contest that Miles' secretary entered her in. As Miles tries to fend of Lars on "Emma's" account, there is a battle of wills and attraction that may just destroy everything.

This book is written from the point of view of Miles, so you always knew where she stood. I could never tell whether or not Lars was really interested in Miles or if it was just a ploy. Even if that had been part of the plot, I still would not have been a big fan of Lars. I feel like he was just in and out of the story and there wasn't time for us as readers to connect to him and Miles as a couple.

Overall, I do think this was a good read and I would recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

On paper, this premise really seemed like something I would thoroughly enjoy. But as the novel went on, I found myself getting more and more frustrated since it became clear that it was all shallow with no depth--something that is vert possible in romance.

But this, I mean that the novel sets up this Important Literary Award and how impossible and even disgraceful to the literary community it is when a historical romance novel is nominated, and later wins. And it is true that romance as a genre is one of the best selling in traditional publishing, and even in self-publishing. But the story doesn't go into any depth with this, and while I did enjoy how we got to read excerpts from the so-called award winning historical romance novel, the writing was stilted.

In a romance, the least I ask for is a relationship that has chemistry, and at least believable dynamics. After all, this is a romance! I don't care if there are sex scenes or not, I just want to believe that these people fall in love. I am willing to overlook awful cliches and poor execution of a premise, but alas.

Unfortunately, that wasn't present, and I fail to see how the mains even saw in each other. On the topic of characters, all of the "non-literary world" people were all variations of the same quirkiness, as if to show that they have personality, but it was all stale since they overlapped a bit too many times.