✨ Publication date: June 25, 2024✨

Finding Mr. Write is a contemporary romance by author Kelley Armstrong. I’m a big fan of this authors paranormal, mystery, time stitch novels. I believe this is her first book in the contemporary romance genre.

Daphne McFadden finds herself in a bit of a situation. As a debut author she was struggling to get her book noticed…until she put a male name as the author. All of a sudden, her book is getting noticed and published. Except she isn’t Zane Remington the supposed author and now she needs to find someone to play him for her!

In comes Chris Stanton…..Daphne’s hired actor to play the author. The deal is, Chris will take a few pictures, answer a few emails and do a few virtual interviews with Daphne instructing him the whole way.

Except Chris isn’t an actor, he’s an accountant that needs the money to help dig him out of a financial hole his thieving partner left him in. He needs to tell Daphne the truth sooner rather than later.

The publishers want more, they have booked a small book tour and now Daphne and Chris need to travel together and figure out how to keep the charade from damaging Daphne’s new career and explore the budding romance between them.

This was a cute introduction into this genre for the author. I enjoyed it but definitely not as refined as her other genre work. This is a 3.5 star for me but I’m a huge fan of this authors writing so will definitely check her out again!

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#NetGalley #kelleyarmstrong #findingmisterwrite

A comedy of errors ensues when a writer decides to use a male pen name to sell her book, but then is caught in a web of lies when the book is a bestseller and she pays an accountant pretending to be an actor to pretend to be the author. Chris and Daphne were hilarious together. I listened to the book on audio and that format worked well. I love a romcom like this full of relatively low stakes (but feel high stakes) hijinks. Would recommend!

I enjoyed this bookish romcom about a female author who uses a male pseudonym for her book, and is then faced with filling that role when the book is a huge hit and she has to go on tour. The look inside the publishing industry was enlightening, the characters were likeable, and I loved the Canadian setting. A good quick read.

DNF @ 45%

I was really disappointed that I didn't enjoy this more. I really liked the premise of the book, I've read a few romances with the ghostwriter trope and I thought this would be a little similar. I just didn't really connect with the characters well and I was really bored for most of it. :(

When I saw Kelley Armstrong had written a romantic comedy I could not wait to read it. As usual with all her books I was not disappointed. Finding Mr, Write was witty, set in Canada, in an area that reminded me of home. Her two main characters were so fun to read about! Daphne felt very relatable when her anxiety would get the better of her, but also the times when she was more impulsive really made her character feel alive. Chris was also a very fun character, using his high school drama classes to bring about the “character” he portrayed for her book. Finding Mr. Write is about a young female author who uses a male pseudonym to sell her books, that is until she needs a real life man to appear when her book takes off. She hires an “actor” to play this outdoorsy man who also writes. When these two meet things start off rocky, but later turn into something special, as they explore this new adventure together!

3.5 stars

After pitching her book under a male pseudonym, Daphne has to hire a man to play the role of “Zane” for the press tour and author photo.

Chris needs some legal help. In exchange for acting as “Zane,” Daphne’s friend will provide him with free legal council. He’s a Canadian accountant now tasked with playing a rugged woodsy man. A few photos and interviews? Easy. Then, Daphne’s publisher coordinates an interview at “Zane’s” aka Daphne’s cabin. So the two have a weekend of forced proximity and faking it....or are they?

It’s third person, dual POV.

Overall, this was a sweet book. I did find myself getting bored after the 30% mark until they start to worry about it being found out.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced digital copy!

I’m used to Kelley Armstrong, the paranormal writer so this new kind of book took some getting used to, but her signature banter and chemistry between main characters remain. Fascinating premise that’s as frustrating for readers as it is for Daphne. And Chris is played so many characters, just for himself! I enjoyed this book.

Mistaken identity. Forced proximity. RomCom slow burn energy.

Book Review: FINDING MR. WRITE by Kelley Armstrong

🌲 Book Synopsis: Daphne knows the book she’s written is good. But after she assumes a man’s name and sells it in a bidding war, she needs someone who can pose as her male author alter ego. Except Chris isn’t an actor and he’s definitely not the macho outdoorsman he pretends to be. He’s an accountant. A very attractive accountant.

🌲 My Take: Daphne and Chris both share a charming tangle of emotions throughout the book and the press tour close calls kept me riveted. My favorite part though was how both Daphne and Chris share and work through their respective insecurities. It was really endearing and added to their slow burn, “will they, or won’t they” romance.

Read FINDING MR. WRITE for
💕 Dual POV romance
🎟️ Book press tour backstage pass
🔥 Forced proximity
🥾 Outdoorsy heroine
🤓 Lovable geek hero
🥰 He falls first
🐻 Wildlife encounters
☎️ Older sister voice of reason

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5 stars)

😘 Thanks to @ReadForeverPub and @NetGalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

While I was really excited about the premise of this book, I struggled a bit with the pacing which made me rate the book lower than I would have hoped. The characters were really well developed which I enjoyed. It was also interesting to have the challenges women face in publishing as a main aspect of this story.

Thank you to Forever for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Daphne has been tired of receiving rejection letters from publishers so instead of submitting the last one as a female she does so as a male. Lo and behold she is offered a book deal and after discussing things with her lawyer friend she hires Chris Stanton to play her character Zane Remmington. It is from there that the story takes off for Chris is a total city person and is just by chance the few times he can make it work with people around being in the outdoors. Here it is the woman who is the outdoors person. This whole book works from the characters and the entire story. I found this to be a very good book and worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Forever, and Kelly Armstrong for this ARC!

I am so sad to write this review because I did not like this book as much as I thought I would. I will keep this short and sweet because I am not here to rip a book apart if I didn’t like it. Some things I did like about the book were that the characters seemed genuine and really cared about each other, I also liked that the author highlighted issues that female authors may face in the publishing world.

I was not a fan of this book due to how the plot moved along. It did not feel cohesive. Once I thought I knew where the story was going and what the goal was, it would change. If she’s gonna be the assistant, let her be an assistant, or a fake girlfriend, or whatever. It changed many times. I also did not appreciate that we got to hear so many things that Chris would say to audiences and did not get the same thing with Daphne. I think we only actually saw quotes from her in the last chapter speaking to readers. The side characters were very hot and cold and did not have specific personalities. The third act conflict was not my favorite either. I think that what Daphne did was very out of character.

I’m so sad that this was a miss for me. 😔

One of my favorite romance reads of the year so far, so mad at myself for taking so long to get to it! The plot was solid and well-executed, and in my opinion a very realistic scenario that brought to light an extremely important topic for female writers trying to break into the publishing industry. The slow-burn romance during the first half kept me wanting more, and I think the "fade to black" scenes were actually necessary for this novel to keep the reader's focus on the relationship and premise of the story, not all books need spice to be good! I really felt for Daphne in so many chapters as she dealt with her anxieties and learned to overcome them.

DNF at 34%. Although I like the banter between Daphne and Chris, I was just bored. I kept hoping with one more chapter I would get more invested in their story, but it just wasn't happening. This book sadly isn't for me.

Thank you to Forever and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

Finding Mr. Write is so over the top and a whole lot of fun while also shining a light on issues women frequently face. The characters were fun, flawed, frustrating and endearing. I was already a fan of Kelly Armstrong and look forward to more romcoms from her!

⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️

The whole premise of this book was ridiculous in the best way. I loved the first half of the book, the internal monologue of both main characters cracked me up and the set up was great. However, something about the last section of the book was just...too much drama for me. Back and forth and back and forth over the same things. It went on for too long. Still enjoyable overall though!

This was a fun book to read about the publishing world. It touched on how things are different from men and women.

This had an interesting premise and I was excited to dive in. A female aspiring author, after being rejected multiple times, decides to submit her transcript under a males name. Of course, it is accepted, and now she has to decide how to move forward with everyone on her team assuming she is a man.

So, Daphne chooses the weirdest possible option: hire someone to pretend to be the author. Because why choose to remain anonymous which many authors do when you can pretend to be a hot lumberjack that has a way with words?What could go wrong? Insert the eye roll emoji.

Enter Chris, a sexy tax accountant. He wants the job as the manly man Zane Remington that is to be the face and the name behind the book. Only for some reason he doesn’t just come and talk to Daphne, he pretends to be a super douche to convince her he is right for the job, because why not do that instead of just… interviewing like a normal person? At this point she literally just needed a model for the book. But Chris was very excited to try out acting… full time all the time… and lies about his acting background which I feel like could be easily verified and proven wrong…. But let’s move on.

So fake actor Chris gets the job, does some modeling for author photos, even does some phone interviews (which seems like a Very Bad Idea), book is published. It blows up and the world can’t get enough of Zane! They want more interviews, tours, shirtless pics, signings, a house tour - because not only are they pretending Chris wrote the book, but also lives where Daphne does: the Yukon! Obviously they say no because that would be too complicated to fake… right??? RIGHT?

WRONG. The ruse is full time now, not just a photo and short interview here and there. Now Chris has to LIVE as Zane Remington. And he is still for some reason pretending to be a dbag to Daphne which I still don’t understand why he has to act in front of her but ok.

Anyway they continue on and pretend Daphne is just an assistant. Chris/Zane continues to successfully fool the world into thinking he is a hot idiot but also a best selling author. And answer any and all questions about the book. And no one discovers that he is actually a partner at an accounting firm. Somehow.

But this is a romance and of course Daphne falls for sexy fake lumberjack Chris and he in turn falls for …. Daphne. I have no descriptive words for her other than she got big boobs.

You may clearly see that I was not sold on the plot. Nothing was believable to me. Not just the plot, but the characters too. As I said above, Daphne doesn’t have any unique or redeeming features. She just seems like a robot who feels sad and horny sometimes.

Chris is not much better. He is perfect. He aces all of his tasks, he is sweet and understanding and always says the right things, he BAKES. Give me a flaw!!

Then I guess I get what I ask for as the big conflict at the end is caused by Chris just being very very dumb all of the sudden. In a change of character, he now says and does all the WRONG things for a few chapters. Ok then.

I might have been too critical but once one thing didn’t make sense to me everything else started bothering me. I know this is fiction but I expect rom coms to be pretty realistic, but every other chapter I was like “no way that would happen in real life”.

Fun idea, poorly executed in my opinion. It wasn’t so bad that I DNFed, and I did appreciate it for what it was: a low effort read. If you are not like me and can still enjoy a story even when it seems too absurd at times, you will likely enjoy this! It is entertaining and the love story is pretty cute.

A quick, fun summer read! I really liked both Daphne and Chris. A few predictable moments, but still thoroughly enjoyed.

This was my first book by this author, but it was a promising start! It has humor and heart and interesting characters and I was invested in their story very early on. I will definitely be looking for more from this author.

I made it to 13 percent into the novel. i just couldn't finish or go any further. I didnt like the writing. Qnd both characters were already getting on my nerves. I even tried the audio book and had to put it down. But this book was just a no go. Maybe its just me because i was excited for it because i lived the cover but thags where it all ended for me