Thrilled, elated, overjoyed to have received this ARC. It was a mature, sexy look at love that left me clutching my kindle. Josie was an ACUTAL relatable FMC- MORE BURNOUT REP IN ROMANCE! MORE GIRL BOSSES ADMITTING THEY ARE TIRED BC THEY'VE WORKED TOO HARD! And the decisions she made in light of that were mature. I love the role friendship played in the story. Will, thanks for helping our girl feel supported. I appreciated his patience.

Thank you for an ARC for my honest opinion!

Thank you #netgalley and the publisher for the #AdvanceReviewCopy

Expected Publication: Oct 29 2024
Genre: Romance, Women’s Fiction

Josephine is an over worked CEO of her fashion company. Will is a business consultant and Josephine’s ex best friend’s twin brother. 9 years have passed since ‘The Kiss’ that ended it all (or started, depending on perspective) and when Will and Josephine accidentally meet again and end up working together, they soon realize that The Kiss was more than the catalyst that broke up a friendship.

Firstly, I’m not sure this is a traditional romance. It didn’t have the usual romance arc: No compelling reason why the two MC’s couldn’t be together, it lacked the 3rd act climax and there was more to this than the romance arc. Women’s fiction seems more appropriate given that it’s more about Josephine’s journey. Keeping this in mind, and having expected a true romance, I had mixed feelings about this one throughout. Overall, I loved the characters (including the side characters) more than the storyline. Some scenes were unnecessarily long and that made it difficult to keep my attention. I liked the strong, supportive friendship between Josephine and her best friend; a strong secondary character is always a win with me.

Overall, it was good and I’d recommend this to anyone looking for more than just romance in a book.

My rating / 3.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
rounded up to 4

#perfectfit
#womensfiction

Perfect Fit has cemented Clare Gilmore as the queen of the business romance- and never before have I been just as invested in the corporate forecasting aspect of a book as I am in the romance itself!

📚 Perfect Fit
✍ Clare Gilmore
📖 Contemporary Romance
⭐4.5/5
🌶️ .5

🙏 Thank you to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley and the author for an advanced copy of Perfect Fit. All opinions are my own.
◾
🎯 What I loved: This book was well-written, interesting and compelling from start to finish. Gilmore did a fantastic job of creating a world for her characters that was just as interesting as the characters themselves and where it was as easy to root for Josie and Will as it was for Josie's company Revenant. I adored Josie and Will's initial encounter and the pace and way their relationship developed. Most of the tension took place outside of what they were building together, so this felt (unironically) like a perfect fit relationship, built on mutual respect and communication which was refreshing. You'd think with a healthy relationship developing that this wouldn't have been propulsive (seriously, there are so few romances that do low-tension well), but it absolutely was and I couldn't put this down. The conversations about seasons of friendships, burn-out and starting over were relatable and I was genuinely sad for this to be over when I flipped to the last page...especially when I got to the last little cliffhanger!
◾
Read if you love:
*second chance romance
*ex-best friend's brother
*corporate settings
*goal-driven main characters
*Austin setting
◾
See also: Fool Me Once, Will They or Won't They, Just My Type

2.5 ⭐️

May thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was just okay for me. Not bad at all, but not great. The term “B Corp” was mentioned 31 times, so that got on my nerves. I also didn’t really connect with the characters and felt the same insecurities were just repeated over and over. Could be a cute summer read for some.

3.5 stars rounded up for the emotional maturity shown in the (later) relationships in the book.

clare gilmore’s latest work, perfect fit, explores the life of josie - a woman in her late 20s who is serving as CEO of her own fashion brand. she’s pondering what’s next for the business and what’s next for her in relation to the business. her best friend cami is by her side and, at the direction of her largest investor, she’s also welcomed a consultant into the fold. she and will (said consultant) knew each other growing up…what will that mean for their present day relationship?
the book flashes back to a few key dates in her high school life which helped shape the woman josie is today. otherwise, we’re looking at current day friendships, relations between colleagues, and romantic partnerships from the present.
i enjoyed josie’s experience with burnout and the way that she handled the larger “what if” questions as they pertained to her company. she was very much a “this business is me. this business cannot fail or i will fail. failure is not an option.” style of owner and her exploration of what constitutes success was refreshing.
to me, the book sets itself up well for a sequel but it wouldn’t be necessary. i’d enjoy reading more of josie’s story but, if it ended here, i’d be fine with that.

thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. all opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Clare Gilmore
Enjoyed the premise, the characters, the friendships, and the relationship between Will and Josie.
Very easy read

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

This book was so cute! Josephine and Will were a really cute couple, one that you wanted to root for. It wasn't a cut and dry love story, and their journey to each other made a lot of sense. I can't wait to read more of Clare Gilmore's work!

Thank you again for the ARC!

This was a very fun read! This read is perfect for contemporary romance lovers and readers of Emily Henry and Tessa Bailey. The characters are absolutely lovely and I love that we follow their story and second chance romance. It was a bit of a slower read, but I do prefer more fictional romance over newer contemporary romance. i love the main character josie and really related to her and i love her relationship with will. i would love to read more from this author in the future. thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc!

Such a cute story about learning about priorities and being a good friend. It made me sad to see Josie and Zoe had absolutely no fight in them to try and rebuild their friendship when both deep down wanted that. I also liked some of the things said about how things aren’t always fair or 100%, but if you keep giving your best, other people can and will help.

I plan to share this book a day or two before publication date. I will come back to update once it is planned.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

"Perfect Fit" by Clare Gilmore is a warm, heartfelt, second chance romance that I really enjoyed. Our main characters, Josie and Will, are thrown together for a major work project and have to confront the regrets and feelings from their adolescent history together. There is a fantastic cast of supporting characters who round out the personalities of the leads. The setting is perfectly rendered through atmospheric descriptions of Austin, TX and its food scene; it made me want to go back to visit the city. I also really appreciated the realistic and emotional plot lines regarding burnout, regret and closure, personal emotional growth, and the importance of friendship. This was such a well-rounded story; highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

This was so cute! I really enjoyed the storyline and the setting. I've seen others talk about how it gave Intern vibes and that's just SO true. And I loved loved loved that movie!! Josie and Will are so loveable! Will is amazing in every way. A genuinely good man with a big heart, great personality, and a sense of humor. The communication between these two was top tier. Thank goodness for no miscommunication from them!

This was a fun romance! I found myself invested in the characters and flipping the pages to find out what would happen next.

I feel like I don’t have too much to say about this one. It was cute and fun to read but it didn’t have me in a chokehold with any of the characters. I think there was too much conflict involved in the MCs and the romance didn’t feel fun or effortless to me.

It might be a book I’d go back and read and I would still recommend it, but I feel like I read it and forgot about it.

Thanks so much NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC.

A delightful rom-com with heart and humor. The plot is well paced with a few twists to keep the reader invested. The exploration of work-life balance, personal growth, and forgiveness adds depth to the narrative. A read that will leave you smiling.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was such a cute rom com! The characters were very likable, had so much growth and I really enjoyed the book. I felt like it was very character driven and just overall a good story

Perfect Fit by Clare Gilmore is a lovely, romance story about getting one's priorities right in life & finding happiness. Stress, work, and compulsive anxiety are not healthy for anyone, especially when building a business. Through friendships & and romance, Josie realizes she can't keep up the pace she's been going before becoming totally burnt out.
Will, the male lead in Perfect Fit, rekindles a relationship from the past with Josie & they both have positive growth together. Not as much passion in this story as others, but quite a bit of romance & swoon.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book on #NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own, but please add this wonderful romance story to your TBR list.

Thank you St. Martin’s and NetGalley for my ARC

4.25 🌟

I would describe this book as cute, swoony, a bit spicy, and a fun romp in Austin with a female CEO and her suuuuper sexy consultant (who’s also her former best friend’s twin brother).

I found this to be really easy to get into and an enjoyable ride. The MMC was great, and I was rooting for the FMC to figure herself out. I also appreciated how the 3rd quarter romantic conflict was handled — not just conflict for conflict’s sake.

I’m excited to dig into more of Clare Gilmore’s books!

Perfect Fit was my perfect fit, literally. This book made me cry so much. The romance is so pure, so well written, so healthy and beautiful. It’s the romance you want. It’s full of communication, helpfulness without overprotecting the other, without overshadowing your other half. It was so well developed, everything made sense.
I love the way this book really talks in depth about burn outs, what it means, how it looks (even though it’s still very different for everyone). How you can be a girl boss and still think about yourself. How unhealthy it can be to be over productive, driven by your job, your company. How beautiful it can be still. The ending of this book made me cry so bad because of how perfect it was. It leaves you hanging just like I was hanging on every word written on the pages of this book. P E R F E C T F I T.

To call Perfect Fit a romance would be both the truth and yet not fully encompassing of what Clare Gilmore does in this story. The book starts with Josie’s car getting run into a bike. A bike ridden by Will Grant, the twin brother of her high school best friend who she kissed in a drunken moment that ruined her relationship with Zoe. As the CEO of a fashion company in Austin, far away from her hometown of Nashville, Josie has been completely focused on her company and career, and Will’s reappearance in her life slowly makes her start reevaluating her priorities. The slowly burgeoning romance between Josie and Will is enjoyable, but also really enjoyable was Gilmore’s exploration of how difficult it is to be a female CEO. Let alone a young one in the startup industry. She shows the difficult decisions Josie has to make, her failures and the criticism she has to take because people want people like her to fail. She talks about how self destructive social media is to Josie, how she acknowledges it, even while realizing how important it is to her company. But she also shows that Josie has great support from her friends, and an older male advisor that actually isn’t awful, and actually is pretty great and wants to see Josie succeed. The other elements that make the story enjoyable is the friend and family support Josie has, and how Gilmore grounds the story very realistically in a vibrant Austin community. Read it for the romance, but really, read it for everything else too. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

In the least cliche way possible, Perfect Fit is, well, just that, a perfect fit for my interests. It's everything I want in a light-hearted contemporary romance. It has heart. It has love. It has rational adult relationships. But you know what it doesn't have. A third-act breakup!

Clare Gilmore is a master at writing a compelling story. I can't say I care much about fashion, but Gilmore crafts such an enthralling story that it hardly matters. Because the fashion element isn't important. The characters and their relationships, and the setting and how important it is to those characters, are.

But perhaps most importantly, no one writes a leading man like Clare Gilmore writes a leading man. After finishing Perfect Fit, I think Will Grant jumps to the top of the list of ideal men, and it's not even close.

Perfect Fit is a top-five read for me in 2024—maybe even my very top read. I can't thank NetGalley enough for the advanced copy.