I thought this book was really cute and I loved the dual POV. Lately I've been on a friends-to-lovers kick so this book was perfect! Eli and Leah were characters who I thought played well off of each other and that ultimately led to them being such great friends. And while I do think the whole "makeover" for Eli was a tad drastic - "Never change yourself for someone else." - it worked out in Eli's case just because it meant more time with Leah. Now jumping to Leah, I love that this book created a found family for her. She was a great female main character and she deserved good things going her way.

Unfortunately, I think parts of the middle could've been cut because it started to lose my attention. It was just more of the same thing: oh we like each other - oh wait Eli still wants Victoria - oh wait just kidding he doesn't want Victoria - now he wants Victoria again. I honestly thought about skimming to the end but in hindsight I'm glad I didn't because then I wouldn't have seen the whole fiasco with Patrick, who I think we can all agree SUCKED.

Hoping we get a Delia & Gray book in the future!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for and ARC of this book! I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book was SO cute! There was so much pining and simmering feelings throughout, I was very giddy the entire time! I loved all of the romance movie references and the small town setting. The Rom-Com Agenda was a wonderful read all around.

Read if you like:
💜 Found Family
💜 Friends to Lovers
💜 Self- acceptance
💜 Fake dating
💜 Slow Burn
💜 Great Friend Group
💜 Makeovers Gone Wrong

This one was so swoon worthy and cute! I had all the things and was a perfect rom-com. I love how it had so many things that felt like an ode to the early 2000’s Romcom era as those movies are the peak of Romcom movies in my opinion and will never be topped.

This one also has well developed characters and supporting characters that help bring this story together!

If you are looking for a slow burn, cute romance with all the throwback vibes I highly suggest checking this one out!

I received an e-galley of The Rom-Com Agenda by Jayne Denker from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Small town romance, second chances at life and love, a makeover and a list of must-watch romantic comedy movies. This combination that makes up Rom-Com Agenda was the perfect winter holiday light romance read that I was looking for. I really enjoyed the dynamics of the characters in this story aside from the main characters. I also thought that the makeover for a guy who is going to extreme lengths to win back a girl was such a fun and new take on the whole makeover plot. There was also some great conversations about the lengths we go to for love - and whether it is truly love if you need to completely change who you are in order to fit into someone else's life. I enjoyed this one.

The idea of this book was cute, but the execution was very "meh" for me. The plot was not linear- the author kept introducing ideas and topics and not going into detail, just to bring up the topic again 5 chapters later. For example- Leah's childhood and time with her foster mom, and her foster moms passing were a main topic of discussion in the book. But by the end of the book, I still felt I knew nothing about Leah's past and childhood.

And the theme of Eli pining over his ex-girlfriend, it just got so repetitive about how much he loved her, with very little detail of their past together, or any memories or flashbacks.

And Eli and Leah's developing relationship- there was no build-up, no spark, just all of a sudden they liked each other. As told from dual perspective (something I liked about the book!) they both liked each other- never mentioned why, no spice, no relationship building- but at about 25% into the book they just liked each other. And Eli still just kept whining about his ex.

I did, however, enjoy the characters. Leah was strong and independent, and I loved seeing her make friends with Eli's friend group, who were great additions to the book. And I loved the pop culture references.

This novel was really sweet and cozy. I absolutely loved the movie references throughout along with the movie worthy makeover montage.

The aspect of found family was heartwarming. I felt I ended up more invested in the side characters though versus our main couple of Eli and Leah. I didn't initially buy into their chemistry but like a slow burn, it built over time for me.

The premise of “The Rom Com Agenda” was cute which is what initially made me what to give the book a try, however I sadly did not enjoy it.

There certainly were part of the book that were fun to read, but Eli pinned over his ex too much for me! I liked the 90s references and some of the dialogue, however most of the book fell flat.

The Rom-Com Agenda by Jayne Denker could be and should be a breakout romantic comedy read of the year! I feel a movie coming on!! This was such a cute and fun book. This rom-com was spot on and had me in stitches with its comedic writing. I loved the characters and everything they brought to the table. As an avid rom-com, romance reader, this one definitely surpassed all expectations. LOVE IT! I'm looking forward to more reads from this author!

Thank you to St Martins Press for the review copy of The Rom Com Agenda. There was a lot to enjoy with this read, a lot of delightful connections to tropes many of us love and solid rom com movie references, which I enjoyed. For me though somehow the story didn't get up and going for me, it felt flat despite so much I wanted to love in this book. It's a fine read and escapist fun but I think what I didn't like was Eli's enduring pursuit of someone clearly not interested in him, it felt a little uncomfortable for me especially for an adult (as compared to a younger character learning to manage relationships and rejection/first love). There were a lot of fun moments but perhaps that underlining disconnect for me, and some dialogue that felt stilted, kept this as a like but not love book for me.
I do think it is a fun read and that I would look to see what this author has in the future. This might work better as as well as an audiobook with a narrator who can bring the dialogue to life in an engaging way.

Eli thought he’d met the love of his life in Victoria…so much so that he professes his love and makes a semi-proposal before she is set to jet off to Rome. Things don’t go according to plan, leaving him crushed. Months later a plan is set in motion to help remake Eli into a man Victoria can’t resist. Leah, who was witness to the unfortunate failed proposal, gets caught up in helping with Eli’s makeover. While at times it was a bit frustrating that Eli was so blind to what would truly make him happy I guess sometimes we just can’t see what’s right in front of us. I’d like to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review an eARC of Jayne Denker’s The Rom-Com Agenda.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R21Q3B43GLDEWW/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

I really enjoyed this book.
Things I loved:
There was no third-act breakup. The characters were very mature, communicative, and trusted each other.
Their relationship built over time; it wasn’t an insta-love connection. I loved how they got to know each other through friendship before they took the plunge into a relationship. Although I do think it took a tad too long for that change in their relationship.
The found family between Leah, Eli’s sister, and friends. I liked that those relationships developed before and outside of Eli, which made it so much better because they saw her and got to know her before she became anything to Eli.
Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, for this eARC!

WHAT I LIKED:
Leah was really likable and a great heroine. I loved her sweetness, her heart, and I love a heroine with a pixie cut!

This book had great found family and I adored all of the pop culture movie references.

WHAT I DISLIKED:
This plot seems really cliche and overdone. I didn't like that Eli's family and friends forced this many changes on him. Eli himself was difficult to like. He was a very wishy-washy hero. I like a nice-guy, but Eli needed some backbone.

I found this story much too slow. The pace was really lagging after the first 1/3. I think there was a lot of really unnecessary scenes that just made the book drag on and on.

𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗟𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗟: Rated PG / Kissing and awareness that characters sleep together. Closed Door.
𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦: foster care, past death of parent, past parent abandonment
𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟𝗦: 3/5 - You will definitely feel some feels.

This was such a cute and fun book. This rom-com was spot on and had me in stitches with its comedic writing. I could literally hear myself laughing out loud! First, Eli was very endearing, I did want to smack him on the head a few times, but I still liked him. I had a great time getting to know his family and friends. The stories they shared and the conversations they had were truly enjoyable. It was nice to hear their background stories and be part of their lively banter. Leah was also a likable character and she and Eli were truly made for each other. It is a clean book, meaning it doesn’t have any smut, but I enjoyed it so much, it was cozy, cute, fun, and everything you need from a chick flick type book. The overall plot of the book is perfect and the romance between Eli and Leah is cute, but since the whole book was about rom-com and what they learned from them I was expecting a grand gesture at the end. Other than that, I absolutely recommend this book and I will need a copy for my shelf.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin's Press for this eARC in exchange for an honest review 

Review:  ️3 .75 Stars

This book begins with Leah unexpectedly hearing Eli being dumped by his girlfriend, Victoria who is going abroad to Rome for a sabbatical. Fast forward to many months later when Eli was at dinner with his sister and husband when his sister proposed a makeover to win Victoria back as he wasn't over her. Thus begins hilarious moments where Eli gets dragged to a clothing store, and hair salon to get a Mani/Pedi. During this duration, he meets Leah, who is working in many odd-end jobs in these places, and she gets recruited for the makeover.  Eli and Leah bonded over the movies that Eli was assigned to watch to understand what heroes do to win a girl back. 

I did enjoy the movie references to Love Actually, When Harry meets Sally, Dirty Dancing etc, while Eli and Leah bonded over this, the wonderful friendship moments and the sweet tension between Eli and Leah. This book was a light and fun read with a supporting cast who means well and loves to meddle in a sweet way. 

However, there were some parts of the book where it fell flat for me, and there were some draggy moments. The writing was just okay where certain parts felt undeveloped and were missing that spark that would take it from okay to amazing. One main part was how long Eli took to get over Victoria and how he waffled between being sweet to Leah and then would go back to thinking about Victoria. 

I would recommend it if you are looking for a sweet and light read as it will check off all your boxes in a good way. Just a note that while there is some sweetness, and love tension, there is minimal spice and would hit closer to a rom-com read. 

Read if you are interested in the following:
- Small town setting
- Friends to lovers
- Familial and friendship bonds
- A nod to romance movies
- Slow-burn romance
- Quirky female lead
- Sweet male lead

I loved this so very much, it was just so very cute, it melted me completely, I loved both Leah and Eli so much, but I also loved the supporting characters too, they were just as well developed and I love a found family book. It was just such a nostalgic read too, I thoroughly and highly recommend this book to all romance book lovers

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy in return for an honest opinion

This book truly felt like a romcom! I enjoyed the credible development of the friendship between Eli(MMC) and Lia(FMC). I enjoyed their banter, which felt organic and not at all forced.

The main premise — Eli changing himself for someone who doesn’t want him — is definitely kind of ridiculous. However, romcoms usually have elements of silly. This book was not an exception.

I really liked that despite the challenges Lia faced, she didn’t told resentment over them.

My only complaint was Eli’s stubbornness when it came to remaining fixated on Victoria despite her obvious disinterest and HIS obvious interest in Lia.

Read if you like
✔️Banter
✔️Pop culture references
✔️Dual POV

Rating: 3.5/5

3.5 ⭐️
This book was cute and I enjoyed it but it wasn’t my favorite romance novels. The biggest thing is I think this book could’ve been shorter. It dragged on at some parts and I found myself easily distracted from the story. I really adored the friend group and the characters though and that made it a little better. I also loved the whole aspect of the “rom-com” agenda. I liked how they were trying to help Eli win back his woman by giving him a “make-over” there were many parts that had me laughing and then somehow Leah keeps getting thrown right into Eli’s atmosphere. And of course, show him what really falling in love feels like even if it is by accident.

📚✨Book Review✨📚

The Rom-Com Agenda
Author: Jayne Denker

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Note: I received a copy of this book to review via NetGalley, but all opinions are my own.

What I Liked:
🧢while reading this book I found myself laughing and smiling at the mention of every single Rom Com. I might have even made my own little “to watch” list even though I’ve seen them all a 100 times. There is something so pure and lovely about a Rom Com that makes you laugh, cry, and generally feel good inside.

🧢The contrast between Eli’s relationship with Victoria and Leah is obvious to the reader but not to him. As the story unfolds, and it becomes clearer, you as a reader can’t helps but get butterflies in your tummy thinking of will they won’t they.


What I Didn’t Like:
🧢This Book was surprisingly heavier and more emotional than I had anticipated. There are mentions of cancer, death of a parent, and foster children. Not easy things to read about. While they were beautiful written, they could still be hard for some reader so please be sure to keep that in mind.

Final Thoughts:
🧢 Overall this was a sweet and emotional ride. Fade to black scenes make this a pretty wholesome read as well. I really enjoyed this heartwarming read and think that fans of Hallmark movies will enjoy this as well!



#bookreview #reviewsneedlovetoo #readforeverpub #unpopularopinion #booktok #bookstagram #bookfriend #books #bookish #booklover #instablog #romancereader #romcom #fantasybooks

Even though I like (and love) other genres, romance is the backbone of my reading experience. I was hooked when I started reading Harlequin book of the month romances in middle school. I also love rom-com. If I am in a bad mood or feeling blah, I can turn on Netflix and find many of them. So, when I got the invite to review from the publisher, I didn’t hesitate to accept it. But I was disappointed with The Rom-Com Agenda. Not that I didn’t like it (I did). The story fell short of my expectations.

The Rom-Com Agenda is a medium-paced book set in upstate New York. Leah had returned to Willow Creek to care for her sick foster mother. Now that her foster mother passed, Leah is at a loss for what to do. She holds multiple jobs, trying to make ends meet, when she overheard a disastrous proposal and break-up. Leah meets that man, Eli, when his sister and her friends are determined to give him a makeover and goes into the shop where Leah works. Leah is welcomed into the group by everyone (including Eli) and learns that Eli is determined to win back his girlfriend. That is when the Rom-Com agenda is formed. Eli must watch every rom-com movie the girls recommend to him to become a swoon-worthy man. They hope that he will learn something from them. Leah volunteers to watch them with him, and a connection is formed. Leah starts to fall for Eli, but she knows she is on limited time. Her foster mother’s son is coming back to town to sell the house, and Leah won’t have a place to stay. So, falling in love is the last thing on her agenda. Will Eli learn anything from the movies? Will Leah have to leave Willow Creek? And most importantly, will Leah and Eli admit their feelings for each other?

I loved the secondary characters and Leah in The Rom-Com Agenda. They were fleshed out, and I did form an attachment to them. The main characters were tough to like. Well, not Leah. She was sweet and reserved. It was Eli, and I’ll explain it in his section below. Let’s say that desperate is never good and comes off poorly.

Leah—She was a sweetheart. I wanted to scoop her up and shield her from the bad things in the world. I also couldn’t believe how reserved she was. I get why. I’m not going to get into her backstory, but it was excruciating and affected how she thought other people saw her. She decided to help Eli because she was a kind person and knew he was hurting. I loved seeing her character grow and understand her self-worth.
Eli—I couldn’t stand him. He is the reason why I rated this book three stars. He came across as desperate. What he did to Victoria (his ex) was not cool. They had only been dating for maybe two months when she went to Rome for a year. What did Eli do? He proposed marriage and then refused to accept the break-up. I was like, “what the heck, dude?” When his sister and friends decide to make him over (to help him get over her), he obsesses over her. I couldn’t even with him. I wanted to smack him and say, “Helloo, Leah, idiot.” This went on for almost the whole book.
The Rom-Com Agenda did fit into the romance genre, but it was slow-burn. The author went for a more relaxed, natural feel for the romance. While I did appreciate it, I sometimes wished it moved a little faster. But, overall, it was a good fit for the book.

The storylines in The Rom-Com Agenda felt a little meh to me. I was not too fond of that pseudo-love triangle in which the author tried to put Eli, Leah, and Victoria. As I mentioned above, it came across as forced and super creepy on Eli’s end. I did like the storyline where Eli’s friends tried to help him out of his depression, but I did find it odd that they wanted him to watch rom-com instead of him diving back into the world of dating. As for the storyline with Eli and Leah, I did like that one. It was sweet to watch them fall in love (even if Eli didn’t admit it to himself and kept obsessing over freaking Victoria).

There were a couple of trigger warnings in The Rom-Com Agenda. They were the death of a loved one by cancer, mental illness, foster care, and caregiver burnout. If any of these triggers you, I recommend not reading this book.

The end of The Rom-Com Agenda was your typical HEA. I liked that Eli and Leah got their HEA. I would love to see more books in this world. There are several characters that I would like to see more of.

I recommend The Rom-Com Agenda to anyone over 21. There is mild violence, mild language, and very mild sexual situations. Also, see my trigger warnings above.

"Trust issues - she had them, and with good reason. She was perpetually braced for the moment something would be taken away from her - a home, a place in the world. Someone she hoped to love."


*THIS REVIEW INCLUDES SPOILERS*


I really enjoyed this book overall... however, there were a couple minor things that allowed me to only give it 4.5 stars instead of the full 5. So, let's get into it...

First thing, TW/CW: Death of a parent, foster care, mention of cancer and bipolar one

Leah, our FMC, has spent her life in and out of foster care, feeling like she doesn't quite fit in anywhere. After aging out of foster care and moving to Florida, she quickly finds herself back in the place she so desperately wanted to get away from when her foster mom gets diagnosed with cancer. After her death, Leah works every job imaginable to save up the money to get back outta dodge as soon as possible.

What she WASN'T planning on was inadvertently overhearing a proposal (immediately followed by a break up) during one of these odd jobs...

Months later, while working one of those odd jobs, she comes face to face with the guy she heard proposing, and then being unceremoniously dumped... Eli.

Eli is on a mission to win back his ex, Victoria. After turning down his proposal and breaking up with him within 4 seconds, she jumped on a plane off to Rome to study art for a book she's writing. It should be noted that they were only dating for about 4 months when he proposed (#SummerFling) -- so you can't entirely blame a girl for fleeing internationally.

Yet, Eli remains on a mission to win her back. And to do this, his sister and friends have gone into full "makeover mode" to turn Eli into the sophisticated man they think Victoria is looking for.
New clothes - CHECK!
New hair do (and removal of a massive beard) - CHECK!
Lessons in cooking, art, and place settings - CHECK!
A long list of rom-com movies to watch and study - CHECK!

After running into the group at her job at the clothing/tailor shop, as well as the hair salon, and contributing suggestions to the makeover plan, the group slowly starts to essentially adopt Leah and she gets more and more involved with not only the plan, but their lives too. Which is ABSOLUTELY the opposite of what she needs/wants with her plans to leave town asap.

And she really didn't need or want to fall in love with Eli either.

To finish summing this up, we go through a lot of "will they/won't they" with Eli and Leah, all while he's still very focused on winning Victoria back for 85% of the book. Don't worry, he eventually comes to his senses. There's a lot of excellent rom-com mentions, especially if you're a fan of the movies from the 80's. We see some grand gestures, but we also see our MCs dealing with some pretty heavy issues, like grief, mental health, feelings of not being wanted, and narcissistic POS foster brothers.

So, here were the things for me...

There were two things that made me give this 4.5 stars instead of 5:

I would say about 65% of the way through the book, the MCs get together -- so at that point, I would say a lot of the rest was pretty predictable? There were still a few things that popped up that I wasn't expecting, but I could pretty much call it for the most part.
The ending was very abrupt - like, it just ended. I was at least hoping for like an epilogue or something -- did she get the house? Where did she end up living? Will Gray and Delia get their story?!

Would I still recommend this book? Absolutely! Speaking of... it's now available! 😁

Thank you Jayne, St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!