Eli’s heart was broken, but he was determined to win back the one-who-got-away. Though they didn’t necessarily agree with his goals, his friends were committed to helping him become a rom-com hero. As such, his training included a deep dive into all the best rom-coms which I adored, but it also brought Leah into his world.

This book was a lot of fun. I know it was a romance, but it was the friendship/found family that took center stage in my heart. Eli had such a wonderful group of supportive people in his life, and I won’t pretend that their meddling didn’t delight me. It absolutely did. I loved all the shenanigans as well as the honest and tender moments they shared. What made this group even more special to me was the way they embraced Leah and brought her into the fold. I reveled in Leah’s personal journey, in her becoming part of what she always longed for, a family.

I know people had issues with the way Eli pined for his ex during the story, but I didn’t see it that way. It’s true that there was pining, but the more time he spent with Leah, the more he began to question his intentions towards his ex. It was clear that something was growing between them, and they shared some sweet and swoony moments along the way.

Overall: An amusing and lighthearted story with lots of classic rom-com moments that was filled with laughter and love.

Unfortunately, this book just didn't work for me. I found the storyline to be cringeworthy, Though the characters in this novel are adults, they were sophomoric and immature. It would have been better if this book had been labeled as YA and the characters were actually in High School. Sadly, the characters, of Leah, Eli and Victoria just didn't work for me, based on how they were portrayed. This is the case of my being the wrong reader for this novel.

This sweet rom-com about found family would be the perfect entertainment for a chilly winter afternoon. I love the focus the author put on the resilience of the female lead, Leah, although I didn't like the male lead (Eli) as much. I appreciated the unique plot, as well!

The idea behind this was cute, but the execution fell a little flat for me. There were times the writing jumped to a new scene/setting and I had to go back and see where the jump came from. I also didn’t feel particularly attached to any of the characters. They felt like sketches of people versus being “real” people. There were a lot of stereotypes and tropes thrown in to describe people and scenarios, but none felt that believable.

I appreciate the advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

Oh wow, oh wow, I truly couldn't have asked for more out of my last 2022 read. This book gave me the slow burn/friends to lovers warm fuzzies I needed alongside the wonderfully quirky secondary characters and I was here for all of this. Watching Eli and Leah fall in love was truly wonderful and I felt all of it down to my very marrow. I cannot wait for more of this incredible author and I am so grateful that this is how I ended 2022.

Delightful and fun rom-com

Leah has just spent the last year taking care of her terminally ill step mother. Eli is holding out hope his self centered ex girlfriend will come back to him. Eli's family wants him to move on. After befriending Leah, they recruit her to help the find a new love for Eli . Turns out it just may be Leah. Hilariously funny and chaming. This rom com will leave you feeling happy and hopeful that love can conquer all.

Thanks NetGalley for the preview copy. Also reviewed on GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5209044934

Eli is terrible and Leah deserved so much better. The obsession with winning his ex back was taken to the extreme that it made Leah seem like a consolation prize. Who wants to feel like they are a second choice?

The book went from strangers to friends to lovers, which I did not love. It lacked the depth of relationship that I like to see in a friends to lovers book.

The only redeeming thing about this book (and the reason it was just one star) was Zoe. That precocious and serious nine year old was the absolute best thing about this book.

I wanted to start the New Year reading something like and fun and why not a rom-com? Here’s what I thought:

+ There’s a great cast of characters. Eli’s friends become a found family for Leah and they are fun. And you can tell they are close-knit because of the humor in their group.

+ Eli and Leah’s slow burn romance starts off as friends first. Eli is actually going through a make-over his friends are putting him through to improve himself so he can win his ex back! Leah is there by coincidence – she is everywhere they are and a friendship grows as she helps them help him. But she doesn’t think he needs the help and is perfect as is. There’s not a lot of heat in this story it’s all sweetness!

+ This would make a good rom-com movie. I think the way they try to make Eli watch rom-com movies was funny. Maybe a little overkill? But it was cute at times.

~ Eli is pining over his ex for half of the book, which is how he and Leah become friends but he was a bit clueless at times. I wanted a bit more heat between Eli and Leah but that’s a personal preference.

Tropes: friends to lovers, found family, slow burn

Why you should read it:
*sweet romance, no heat, slow burn, friends to lovers
*funny situations, mentions of rom-com movies as they make Eli watch them to learn something about making a big gesture
*fun cast, which becomes a found family situation for Leah

Why you might not want to read it:
*it’s predictable and Eli could’ve gotten a clue quicker

My Thoughts:

I thought this was a cute one and actually would make a good rom-com movie. Eli and Leah’s slow burn relationship worked well and gave all the sweet feels by the end. I really enjoyed the found family trope – that was fun and heartwarming. Overall, I thought this was an enjoyable, light-hearted rom-com.

The Rom Com Agenda by Jayne Denker
3.5 stars
Clean romance
Pub Date: 1/10

After Eli gets dumped by his girlfriend, Victoria, his friends decide that if he plans to win her back, he will need a makeover inside and out. This involves a new wardrobe, dating lessons, and watching infinite romantic comedies to learn how movie heroes get the girl. Leah gets roped into helping when Eli’s sister, Jenna, befriends her. She has spent the last year caring for her dying foster mother and hasn’t had time for friends or dating. She’s enjoying being part of a group and spending time with Eli while trying to convince him that he’s perfect just the way he is.

I really liked Leah and Eli together. They had a funny, playful relationship that started off as friends and eventually evolved into more. Leah is a great character. She’s complex and well-fleshed out, and I could feel her anguish and indecision when it came to her feelings for Eli. She’s a fighter, and it was easy to get a sense of who she was. I enjoyed the chapters from her POV.

Eli is another story, unfortunately. His POV was told with an almost neutral tone of voice, and I never got a feel for his personality. He was described as sensitive and laid back, but he seemed clueless. His obsession with getting back together with Victoria went on for way too long and got old, in my opinion.

The “you have to change everything about yourself to win this person back” angle was problematic for many reasons. Dressing nicer or shaving a beard is one thing…but to tell someone to change everything about themselves, so they’re loveable is wrong on so many levels. This was a cute premise initially, but as I previously stated, it went on for too long. The miscommunication this caused got on my nerves, and I started skimming chapters after the halfway point.

I LOVED Eli’s friends, who became a found family for Leah. They were the highlight of the whole book, and I’m hoping there’s a plan for future books involving them. Maybe a second chance romance for Delia and Gray?

There’s a lot of witty banter, fun pop culture references, and heartwarming moments throughout the story. With a little more intention from Eli and a shorter length, this could have been a much higher rating from me.

This would be perfect for fans of Sophie Sullivan or Sara Adams. Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy to read and review. The Rom Com Agenda is available on 1/10.

Rom Com Agenda

Leah has had some trauma in life, and is working hard to create a better life for herself. Then there is Eli, who is completely distraught over losing his girlfriend. Leah sees Eli as a solid project, to make him the man of someone else's dreams. While his ex is studying abroad, Leah and her group of friends work together to make Eli the perfect specimen of a man.

While there is an awesome friend group in this story, it felt overwhelming keeping all of them straight. They all blend in together, but I did love that they were a family. I wish there had been more chemistry between Leah and Eli, I just did not really feel it. The ending also felt rushed, so that might be right.

I love a good “friends to lovers” romance, but this one felt underwhelming.

I will post this on my Goodreads on 12/29/22, and will post on my Instagram within the first two weeks of 2023!

While I did enjoy the writing style and characters, I am choosing to DNF this one due to running into one of my triggers early on. I may still pick this one up again in the future, but I am not in the headspace to read it now.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

TW for parental loss, cancer and grief.

Love, love, love!! I love the friends to lovers trope, found family. Leah was such a cute character, I did feel like Eli spent a lot of time just reminiscing and wanting his ex back. I did love the story, plot it was a great fast and easy read. It is a cute romcom. Thank you St Martins press for the ARC!

This was an middle of the road rom com, it has a bit of insta love that I’m not a huge fan of. The fringe characters were more interesting than Leah and Eli, even Blanche the cat had more sass.

Loved this book and the way the story unfolded, it was the perfect book to read after all the busy times during the holidays. It’s a feel good romance story and while I had a good idea of all that would transpire I still enjoyed reading. I found myself giggling quite a few times at all the attempts to make Eli the main character into a better version of himself for a girl….quite a few 80’s references. In the end girl gets the guy she thought was unavailable and boy wakes up and realizes changing for a girl does not make a good basis for a relationship. Throw in a family and group of friends who are a bit crazy and it makes an entertaining read.

I would recommend this book to family, friends and my book clubs.
I voluntarily received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and all opinions are my own

I don't know what is happening to romance books these days. The rom-coms are funny. The books aren't sweet. They're overly cliche' with no real depth. I hate to say it, but those are the first things that come to mind with this romance book (and so many newer ones I have read lately).

This book is painfully slow. The author tried to create unique characters, but none of the characters in this book stand out. They are very cookie cutter with a twinge of something, but nothing that really made them a fun group of friends.

I really tried to like this book. I really, really tried. It took me forever to read it. I continually stopped, read a couple other books, then picked it back up. This book just didn't do anything for me.

I really wanted to like this book, I loved the premise... but I'm struggling, I'm easily distracted and dont really care about outcome or the characters.

Gray is a jerk, Eli is pining over girl who broke up with him and said she was done and is clearly into Leah, but refuses to see what is in front of him, Leah is the best part of the book - she is sweet and a hard worker and actually cares about these people... the rest of them well, I just dont care!

DNF'd.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you, Jayne Denker, St.Martin’s Press, and NetGalley, for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

DNF’ed at 20% - I had issues with the book that others may be able to get past, but I personally couldn’t.

Things you’ll find in this book:
- Small-town romance
- Parental Figure death (off-screen)
- Slight love triangle
- Closed-door romance

Things I enjoyed:
Leah, in general, was amazing, and I wanted to know more about her. She’s working 3 jobs to try and make her way out of a small town while dealing with the death of her foster mother. From the small bit I read, she was the small part that kept me reading.

Things I didn’t enjoy:
Eli really set the tone of the book, which for me, just wasn’t a great tone. We’re gonna hit a spoiler-y rant, but this happens in literally the first five pages, so not really a spoiler.

Eli dates Victoria for four months, and just before she leaves for a planned sabbatical, he proposes to her. When she calls him out on the why behind the proposal (trying to make things official and lock her down so she won’t cheat in the 10 months she’s gone) and also set boundaries (that she wasn’t that into him and didn’t realize he was taking their hookups so seriously), he tries to tell her that she’s the one for him and when you know you know. It’s painfully obvious that she’s not into him and that it isn’t fair of him to spring this on her when she’s literally about to leave.

This causes Eli to go into six months of a breakup depression (longer than the relationship he had with Victoria), and when we see him talk to his sister and friends about her, somehow Victoria is the bad guy for rejecting the proposal. It’s so backward because, as far as we see (from Leah’s POV), Victoria was only setting healthy boundaries for a guy she's only been dating for four months. (This, by the way, is the segway into the rom-com of the book, which is their plan is to makeover Eli into a refined guy good enough for Victoria to win her back)

It doesn’t paint Eli in the greatest light, and honestly, he’s a walking red flag.

My DNF point was, honestly, a conversation between Eli and his friend where apparently liking the movie Little Women wasn’t masculine enough. It just really killed it for me, especially after reading books before this, where it fights against these stereotypical conversations.

Overall:
It wasn’t for me. I can see an audience for it, and from other reviews, other people really enjoyed it. I didn’t. With the tone of the conversations and the plot, I honestly think this would have been better set as a YA rom-com than an adult romance.

(3/5) The fact that it took me an entire week to read this book and I still wasn’t into it is kind of telling 🥲🥲🥲 I loved the idea of this book, and I’m all about rom coms and appreciated all the references! The characters are endearing and I thought the pace was fine. HOWEVER, what ruined this book for me was Eli spending SO long pining over a woman who clearly from the beginning wasn’t right for him 🙃 Like sure, use that at a plot device at the beginning, but only for so long. This book was not great, not bad, but affirms that friends-to-lovers is either the inferior trope or is just really hard to do well

WOW!

I absolutely loved this book! I thought the whole storyline was so perfect. I loved that there’s was comedy but also some serious topics talked about and it was so easy to read. I could not put it down once I started!

I am looking forward to this potentially being a series??👀

I will put my full review on my Instagram account within the next two weeks!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the E-Arc. I loved this rom com. I loved the male MC and how he was so willing to go along with anything. I also loved the how close the family and friends were. Overall this was such a cute and easy read