This book was cute and fun, but a bit underdeveloped in some ways. First of all, Finn hated Lavender for the first 180 pages, with no indication that those feelings would change. And when his feelings did change, it was in one day, and then the book was basically over. The main climax of the book at the end also felt rushed.

Overall, cute premise, and I would still read, purchase and recommend to others. Giving this a 3/5 as it was an enjoyable read, but could have been better.

How to Plot a Payback is a laugh-aloud romcom by Melissa Ferguson. Although the setting is LA, the two main characters have a history dating back to school days in their hometown in England. Finn is a screenwriter who gets a job writing for a Friends type sitcom. He believes that the main star of the show, Lavender Rhodes, has sabotaged his life and career and plots several paybacks. Each one does not work and only reveals how sweet and innocent Lavender is. Finn, for all his grumpiness with Lavender, is a softie too. It is easy to see how they fall in love.

I loved the behind the scenes look at a major tv show, the two main characters and their interactions with each other, the supporting characters, and the humor. Great fun!

This was such a wonderful and enjoyable read!!!! I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre. Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this light hearted, pretty innocent romcom. It brought all the elements of a well written, light hearted story that was just pure fun to read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!

This romcom is heavy on the com and a whole lot of fun. Just a light enjoyable read.

Give me any Melissa Ferguson book and I will read it. I was so excited to start this one and it didn’t disappoint. I loved the enemies to lovers aspect and the history between Finn and Lavender and just the comedy also between the pages. It was a feel good book that didn’t give me anxiety—I was firmly just able to enjoy the plot and story and romance.

Lavender Rhodes is an actress on a sitcom “Neighbours.” Finn Masters had his acting career derailed by Lavender (who was blissfully unaware of this) and is now a writer on “Neighbours.” The two have known each other since they were kids and now he has the perfect opportunity to make sure Lavender pays for what she has done to him and his life.

This book was more comedy than romance, but I was okay with it. The author has a great sense of humour and I caught myself laughing a bunch of times. It was very slow and I wish it picked up. I’m also not sure how someone (Finn) could hold a grudge for 10+ years when Lavender is really a sweetheart, it just reads as petty. I wish that instead of Finn writing a list of all of Lavender’s wrongdoings, there were flashbacks for both POVs to solidify his hate and her unawareness,

If you like dogs, comedy and sunshine x grumpy books, this one is for you. Overall, this was a really fun read, and I’m looking forward to reading more books by Melissa Ferguson. 4/5

Thank you to Net Galley, the publisher and author for the eARC.

This is a super cute, G rated happily ever after read. Finn is a screen writer, who just got hired to work on the hottest comedy on air. The only problem is his nemesis is the star of the show. As he works payback into the plot, turns out he might just be falling for his former enemy.

It's cute and relatively fast paced, but I wasn't sure about the chemistry for the characters.

3.5 stars but rounding down.

Thank you Netgalley & Thomas Nelson for the advanced reader copy.

This was a fun and quirky grumpy/sunshine romance. The premise was cute and original. There were so many funny moments- a little far fetched- but funny! I enjoyed the story, the character development, and the ending. Another good one by Melissa Ferguson!!

How to Plot a Payback is another delightful novel from Melissa Ferguson. I first discovered Ferguson’s work with Meet Me in the Margins in summer 2022. Since then I’ve gone back and read all of her books. Like her other works, How to Plot a Payback is a cute rom com that will leave you feeling happy. The characters are flawed, but likable. While we come across some of the usual tropes found in romance novels, they work without feeling too cheesy. Another big plus for me is that I can happily recommend this book to friends and family without not a single content warning. It’s a nice change to find a completely clean book that’s is well written and fun!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Finn and Lavender’s history was a charming way to begin their tumultuous coworking relationship! I enjoyed the supporting characters, especially Paula, and the peek inside sitcom life- but a couple parts of the plot felt thin to me. I would have liked a little more detail into what made Lavender fall in love with Finn.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for sharing this ARC!

I found this book difficult to get into. I am not sure if it was the writing style, the plot, or the characters, but everything seemed to fall flat and I ended up DNF-ing at 30% (which is a surprise, because the premise seemed promising!). I have not read other Melissa Ferguson books so I'm not sure if that is just the author's style or it was specific to this book, but at any rate I did not enjoy anything about the characters in what I read. I have seen some reviews saying that the plot gets better midway through, so I may pick this up again later to see if that is true.

“No more holding my breath while watching that woman systematically destroy everything I have ever held dear. No more holding back. Lavender Rhodes, mark my words. I will plot a payback.”

4.5 stars
This was such a fun and unique rom-com. The story pulled me in without even realizing it, and I was eager to finish.

There was a good balance of action, dialogue, and introspection. I’ll admit the first couple of chapters took a minute for me to get into, but after that the story flowed smoothly. At one point I intended to read “just one more chapter” (famous last words) and the next thing I knew it was midnight.

This was such a fun and unique plot idea that lent itself perfect to a rom com. I couldn’t wait to see what new sort of chaos Lavender would unintentionally inflict on Finn’s life and how he would handle it. Some of the mishaps really had me laughing, and I was fully entertained. And getting a glimpse into screen writing for a tv series was an interesting as well.

There are no clearly stated religious or Christian themes, but the story was very clean and had nice morals. While Finn is in the perfect position to get revenge on Lavender (and he does try) he still can’t help but show kindness to her. Themes of forgiveness, avoiding materialism, and showing kindness to people are depicted nicely. I loved this quote: ““No, Lavender. I very much do not deserve your forgiveness.” “Maybe, maybe not,” I say, “but that’s the beauty of forgiveness. You don’t get the say. I do. And I say”—I shrug—“I forgive you.”

Finn is definitely the most nuanced character. His desire for “justice” and payback is at odds with his good heart. His somewhat broody personality is belied by his selfless acts of kindness. He’s a good guy but he still has his imperfections. I especially loved his connection with his neighbors (so sweet.)

Lavender’s personality is a nice juxtaposition to Finn’s. (Definitely a Grump x Sunshine vibe here.) it does, however, take some time to see a deeper look in her character, and I think it would’ve been nice to see that a bit earlier in the book. She was likable, however, and this complaint is minor.

A note about the romance—The first 50/60% is heavy on the comedy and light on the romance. We don’t see much more than a very slight attraction. I don’t mean this as a negative, for the shift from enemies to lovers felt believable, and once it happened, the romance paid off. And it wasn’t shallow—no sudden insta-love or waxing about their physical attractiveness. They each fell in love with the other’s admirable qualities, which made the connection more believable than some other romances I’ve read. It just took a little bit to get there. But I was very entertained by their interactions while I waited, so I really have no complaints.

Bottom line: An entertaining, clean rom-com I thoroughly enjoyed.

Content: No sex. No profanity.

Thank you to Thomas Nelson, the author, and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

<b>2.5 stars, rounded down? I guess? I’m very undecided about this one</b>

Right off the bat, I had trouble connecting with the writing style. It just did not work for me, which is odd to me because I’ve read other books by this author and enjoyed the writing style. This was just flat and very surface level. Finn’s reasons for disliking Lavender might have been reasonable at the time, but his first grievance against him happened over a decade ago. I think the foundation of the hatred might have made more sense if it had been presented as a series of flashbacks where we got to <i>see</i> Lavender do these things to Finn. Just putting them on a list was very much told and not shown.

I didn’t really like either one of the characters. Because the reason for the hatred wasn’t well developed, Finn just came off as really petty and Lavender was just too perky for my liking.

I did love all the dog elements (that puppy was so cute!) and I liked Finn’s community of neighbors. They were all so sweet. There were some funny moments as well, like all the strange plot twists Finn came up with for the show. Those were really fun.



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

Each book I read from Melissa Ferguson just gets better and better, and this one is at the top of the list for me. Finn and Lavender's chemistry had a screwball comedy feel to it. Like all of her books, there isn't any steam, but I personally didn't miss it because the story kept me engaged the whole time. I would love to see this book made into a Hallmark movie, it had that feel to me. I recommend for her fans and people that like a well-paced enemies to lovers romance.

3 ½ stars rounded up

Finn Masters is done. How many times can one person ruin his life? As he applies for and gets a new writing gig he is over the moon happy, until he realizes who the star of the show will be- Lavender Rose. As he sees her sabotage even this new work opportunity, he is ready to make things difficult for her for a change. But he never could suspect what will happen to himself and his opinion of her as their interactions increase. This was adorable. Lavender is such an airhead, but ultimately has such a great heart. I love her and her quirky character traits. And I loved watching Finn’s transformation in this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received a copy of this for my honest review.

Our MMC is a TV writer and gets offered the job of a lifetime to take over the top rated show as the new head writer. The only problem is, our FMC, the star of the show is the same woman who has been wreaking havoc on his life.foe the past 15 years, and he can't stand her. I. Taking the job, he promises to shake things up - which is the perfect opportunity to exact some revenge, right?

I always enjoy Melissa Ferguson's books because they are comfy, heartwarming reads. I would recommend this one to anyone that has vengeance on the brain but also need a little love!

How To Plot a Payback was a really enjoyable read. It had a good mix of everything. Revenge, a slow burn romance, a tv show set, quirky side characters, a mention of Tom Hiddleston, and more. Lavender and Finn were both interesting characters to follow. They had great chemistry. They could be considered grumpy/sunshine (even though Finn isn’t that grumpy), enemies to lovers (even though the dislike is one sided), and a slow burn romance.
This was a funny read that kept me entertained the whole time. I loved all the revenge plans and how wrong they all went.
Ferguson did a wonderful job with this story!
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to post a positive review. All thoughts expressed are strictly my own.*

This was ok, it wasn't great but I did have fun! I thought the idea was fun and you can't go wrong w a celebrity type ish romance.