This was such a fun and quick read! Super refreshing and a great summer read!

Cat Cranwell is an influencer living in the big city. After being falsely identified in a huge business scandal, she finds herself in Montana as staff on her uncle’s national park ranger team

What could go wrong when a girl used to glitz and glamour is thrown into a small town? And what about Zaiah, the handsome employee of her uncle that truly despises all things cell phones and social media?

This story delves into the transition of Cat Cranwell from an uptown girl to a quaint mountain girl. But of course not without a few hurdles!

This book just dabbles on romance, there isn’t even a kiss until over 80% of the way through! I would consider it more women’s fiction or chick lit myself. But I truly enjoyed the witty banter and flirtation between the characters. I adored her roomie Mina!

I want to thank everyone for this early gifted copy of Famous for a Living by Melissa Ferguson.

Going into this book, I was very excited about the storyline and idea, especially after loving Melissa's last book, Meet me in the Margins. Did I like this book? Kind of, but it just didn't really do it for me all the way. It was a very easy read (read in about 3.5 hours), but almost felt more like a novella in the way it was written. Fast paced, clean writing, but lacking depth and overall character development.

Things that worked for me:
-story setting in a national park
-clean writing
-a few fun and relatable characters

Things that didn't work for me:
-lack of character development: I felt like I didn't really know any character well (including MCs) and never really truly got to know them
-too many loose ends
-it felt like I should have already known way too much about the town and area, but no explanations

Overall, this book had some cute parts to it, and I think it will work for some people. I just wish I could have gotten more out to the characters and the storyline.

I absolutely adored this story! I couldn’t stop reading. I think this is the author’s best work so far. Such a wonderful message too.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson for the copy of this ARC!

Cat Cranwell is a well-known social media star, and when one of her partnerships goes south, she takes a position at a small national park in Montana to lie low and try to help her image. There, she takes over social media for the park and meets Zaiah, a bearded, flannel-wearing nature social-media-hating ranger. This is a quick and light closed-door romance amidst beautiful scenery and lots of small-town charm. I often struggle with social media influencer MCs, but I loved how Cat had a really positive growth journey in this one to make her and Zaiah a good match.

Read if you like:
- flannel-wearing, nature-loving men
- closed-door romance
- social media star MCs
- small town settings

A lovely story about fame, the perils of social media, and escaping it all in the mountains of Montana.

A Hallmark level small town in Montana meets a girl who has only called New York home. This book is definitely more along the lines of women's fiction with a bit of romance. The story primarily focuses on Cat distancing herself from her social media obsession/influencer lifestyle and learning to live in the moment. While I loved the amount of growth that her character went through, I wanted more romance. Cat and Zaiah were adorable (I love it when the men are grumpy!) But honestly, I wanted more pining! It was still an adorable read and I can't wait for what the author writes next.

Things to look forward to:
-beautiful descriptions of Montana wilderness
-Alexis Rose and Mutt main couple vibes
-quirky side characters (I would die for Mina)
-emotional backstories and hallmarky small town

#BookRevew: FAMOUS FOR A LIVING by Melissa Ferguson

Famous for a living was a light and fun read. The cover looked very summery but it was actually set in winter with blizzards. As an influencer, Cat was famous and led a luxurious life until things fell apart. She got herself in legal issues. She had to lie low and decided to stay with her uncle at a National Park in Montana.

Social media addiction is real, and Cat Cranwell knows all about it. I was not a fan of Cat and her monologues. But I continued to read, hoping for a change. Cat changed some and I was okay with that. Cat’s character growth was relatable.

I enjoyed the minor characters and the town’s unusual activities. Even the grumpy Zaiah can be sweet. His back story was interesting. He loves the solitude in the park. We also need a friend like Serena in our life. She stayed with Cat even when she hit rock bottom. She continued to help Cat emotionally as well as her business. If you like romcoms and sweet romances, this one's for you.

Rating: 4 stars
Pub date: 16 May 2023

Thank you Thomas Nelson--FICTION and #netgalley for the complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Thomas Nelson for the gifted e-book ❤️ #gifted. My review is comprised of my honest thoughts.

Read if you like: Opposites attract, influencer, scandals, small town

I liked it. It started off making me laugh out loud but shortly after it lost me. I don't consider this to be romance. She barely looks at him until midway through the book. The blurb reads like it will be heavily romantic. It's not. It's more a women's fiction about a woman learning her place in the world after a scandal. There were parts I loved, and some I didn't. The more serious parts were woven in well. I really felt Cat's story. Overall, this was a cute, funny, and light read. I do recommend it.

Melissa Ferguson has written a fun book about influencers and social media. Although this book is advertised as a romantic comedy, this book is more about personal growth than romance. The romance doesn’t really come into the story fully until the second half of the book. But that did not stop me from enjoying this book.

Despite a slow start to the story, Cat became someone you quickly cared about. Life as she knew it changed in the blink of an eye. And a change of scenery was everything she didn’t know she needed. I loved the journey Cat went on discovering who she truly was and the impact social media and her phone had started to have on her. It was great to see Cat understand that she didn’t need to completely change herself, just start to make some changes to her life. Also understanding that her skills could be adapted and help more than just herself.

If you are looking for a light-hearted book with strong character development and a little bit of romance, I am sure you will love this book.

Cat, leaves New York and her social media life to go to a small national park in Montana. Life is much different here in this small town. However, with some new friends, some adjustments and learning, she will help everyone along the way and most importantly learning the impact social media has on her life. This book definitely makes you think about the impact of social media and our phones, it is so crazy to think how addicted we can become. I felt like this book had some hallmark ish vibes to it too. Overall , it was a cute read.

I received this book from netgalley. These are my honest thoughts.

Cat Cranwell is an influencer that has to do a “forced” hiatus from her millions of followers after a deal gone wrong.

We follow her journey while working for her uncle to vamp up his social media sites for a (fictional) National Park and realizing that the lifestyle she had isn’t everything.

This book was marketed as a romance novel. Sadly, this is not really the case and the book is more woman’s fiction and a personal growth type journey.

A few other things didn’t make sense in this story and I kept putting it down.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was my first Melissa Ferguson book and it certainly will not be my last! It was such a cute read, while also being funny (especially on audio) and sweet all at the same time. The perfect book to get me out of my reading slump!

This book was honestly more of a chick lit type book than a romance book. There is a romantic aspect with the main character Cat and park ranger Zaiah. She goes from being a beloved social media influencer with millions of followers to a nobody. After a bad partnership with an app she is shunned by the social media influencer world and loses her followers.
I'm a big fan of the slow burn type romance and this book did not disappoint on that aspect. It was definitely a great book and made you think about the dangers of social media. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

I devoured this adorable romcom with timely themes around social media use and the influencer lifestyle. Ferguson brings us another adorable romcom with all the swoony chemistry between the two main characters that we love - and a very relatable, timely message around the downsides of phone use and the new lifestyle influencers of our generation.

Set in both New York City and a fictional National Park in Montana - this delightfully, sweet romance is just the escape into a great story that I needed this weekend. I loved both characters and the depth she gave them with their backstories and lives that they've created despite their childhoods.

I have only read one other book by Melissa Ferguson, but I have ordered several more since reading it and Famous For A Living. The content of the story is not particularly new, but it is sweet, and fun, and uplifting, which is a type of book everyone needs sometimes. I would be hard-pressed to point out anything objectionable in either book I have read by the author. In this one, the instagram influencer lead is grating at times and comes of extremely judgmental and vapid at others. The book presented a formula for getting cancelled and coming back from that cancellation, which rang extremely true with what can be witnessed in everyday life. I appreciated how the book, though ostensibly a fish-out-of-water romance, refused to JUST be that. Kat was in fact, not really too far out of water. Her romantic interest had valid reasons for hating the IG lifestyle.

Famous for a Living is cute and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone!

From Park Avenue to the Parks Department—the world’s most beloved social media star is about to get a rude awakening.

With her millions of followers, Cat Cranwell is adored around the world. But when an app partnership goes very, very wrong, Cat suddenly finds herself shunned from the community that not only fed her soul all these years but paid her bills. When Cat’s closest living relative, Uncle Terry, offers her a position on his staff at a small national park in Montana to get away from the city, Cat hesitantly accepts the opportunity.

What she doesn’t realize is that as the new social media strategist her goal is to save Kannery National Park from being absorbed into Glacier National Park by boosting the number of visitors. And at least one of her new colleagues—namely, handsome and rugged ranger Zaiah Hudson—thinks social media is the root of everything that’s wrong with the world. Written with bestselling author Melissa Ferguson’s signature wit and charm, this romantic comedy of opposites attract is full of hilarious romp and a romance that will melt readers’ hearts.

I've been looking forward to this novel since I read Meet Me in the Margins by this author which I absolutely enjoyed.
I liked the message of Famous for a Living, the challenge to really pay attention to whether we are addicted to our phones, but the writing didn't flow as well for me though. I had to reread a little to make sure I was following what was happening.

I did really like most of the characters and the camaraderie between them in Montana. So while I did appreciate this one, it just wasn't for me.

I wouldn't say this was a romcom per say. Don't get me wrong, there was a love story but I think it's important to acknowledge that this is more about character development and the realization of what's important in one's life. It was a decent read. I received an ALC of this. Overall, it was okay. Found myself a bit bored because nothing happened.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for the eARC.

I thought this book had great potential, a coming of age story in a world where social media literally takes over peoples lives. Cat Cranwell's character overall just didn't do it for me. I wanted this book to just be a bit more.

When her life crumbles around her, influencer Cat Cranwell runs off to Montana to work in a National Park, complete with a cute park ranger and amazing new coworkers.

It sounds like a grand time and while the book had some great moments and Zaiah is super cute, the book also felt kind of flat. Sure, it makes some good points about social media and how we’re all kind of addicted to it but K wanted more.

I wanted more romance and more shenanigans and more character development. I didn’t hate the story, as a matter of fact I enjoyed some bits quite a lot, but it also lacked something. I think the character arcs could have gone deeper and that we could have heard more from the secondary characters and that the romance (though it had very cute moments) could have been explored a little more.

All in all, it was an okay book and like I said, I really liked some moments and the discussion around social media and influencers was good, but I just didn’t love it and that’s okay. Maybe mountains and park rangers aren’t for me, who’s to say?

🌶️ no explicit scenes, kissing only

Thank you @netgalley and @thomasnelson for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Famous for a Living has many attributes of a romcom, but comes with a deeper meaning woven through it. Influencer Cat Cranwell is facing legal issues due to actions of her partner and decides to escape the news by moving to Montana where her uncle is a head ranger in a national park that needs saving. Cat adjusts to her new world of living in the wilderness, with the help of ranger Zaiah. The opposite attraction trope produces fun banter and adventure.
While Famous for a Living is a romance, I came away from the storyline with a conviction, like Cat, that I spend too much time looking at my phone. Cat's development to love living in the present and not being as concerned with making life look perfect was just as good as her romance storyline.
I received a complimentary copy of Famous for a Living thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson, but all opinions are my own.

Goodreads needs to stop labeling everything in Women's Fiction as rom-com.
Cute and Fun, but Unmemorable, this is a coming-of-age story with a dash or romance.