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.

I read this in one sitting, I didn’t want to put it down. Josie and Will are so cute and fun. I laughed as much as an Emily Henry makes me laugh and that’s impressive lol

But parts of it felt cheap, like cheesy but in a way that makes me feel slighted or robbed. Because everything else about this was great and then these big moments happen and they just don’t have the oomph.

The part of me that relates hard to Josie’s burnout and debilitating social anxiety wants to give 4.5 stars. The scenes with her internally spiraling deeper and deeper into self deprecating thoughts made me feel very seen. I also love how mature Josie and Will both were, no third act breakup!!

It’s the kind of love story I wish my 16-year-old self had consumed rather than the toxic nonsense they fed us in the ‘00s & ‘10s.

I can’t express how wonderful this book was. The story was beautiful and tender and the writing immersed me fully. Incredible!

Josephine Davis is CEO of an up and coming sustainable clothing company. At 28, she the epitome of she boss as her company is in search of a consultant to help secure VC funding and B Corp status.

When on her way to work, a biker runs into her car. Really? It’s a high school acquaintance she had HISTORY with. When she helps him, and she realizes he’a a bid as her new consultant, is a fan, and wants to take her business to the next level, Josie doesn’t know what to think.

As they work together closely, it’s clear that even though there is a lot of baggage from the past, these two have an attraction that cannot be overlooked.

The undercurrent of this book is awareness of founder burnout, social media intense scrutiny, unhealthy use of social media, and the cultural scrutiny of women in power. I agree and have experienced this in different parts of my career.

The pacing of the second half of the novel seemed rushed, and I it was painful to see Josie have so much self doubt and scrutiny over trivial things. Women and men have different standards in positions of power. When accountability of held, women are seen as petty and mean, men are just doing business.

Overall, this was a nice romance about pretty heavy subject matter. It hit a little close to home! 🏠 🫶

Clare Gilmore has quickly become one of my favourite authors, and her sophomore novel was no exception! Beautifully written, full of humour and wit and heart, I absolutely fell in love with Will and Josie's story. They are characters that push each other in the best ways, but also stand by each other with so much love and support, it was everything I wanted in a romance and I already can't wait for Clare's next release!

This novel is a poignant work on self-worth and the love that you can find when you let someone embrace all of your imperfections.

Clare Gilmore’s writing drew me in from the start. She effortlessly paints a vivid picture of Josie, Will, their shared history and Revenant within the first 10% of the book.

For a wunderkind CEO, Josie is so relatable and you’ll root for her. Her intrusive thoughts were empathetically handled and her vulnerabilities felt familiar and realistic. Will’s patience and their communication throughout the book was exemplary.

Also, who would have thought that snoring could be so swoony 😊

While this was an easy read, it wasn’t quite a perfect fit for me. The main characters just weren’t likeable for me, and I can’t even really explain why except that Josie let one experience in high school determine her entire adult life. The whole book read as if the characters were much younger than they were supposed to be. I did like that there wasn’t a third act breakup, but it almost could’ve used one because the ending was quite anticlimactic and boring.

Overall not for me, but obviously I’m in the minority for this one!

I loved this book pretty much from the first page. Josie's voice drew me in right away and she was both delightfully capable and sympathetic at the same time. I related to the themes of perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and burnout, which were explored with empathy and depth. The female friendships--both old and new--were perfect. I also LOVED that the "breakup moment" wasn't contrived. Josie and Will came across as real people with real issues who loved each other deeply and helped each other work through their difficulties. The story leans a little towards women's fiction as the romantic plot and Josie's personal plot carried equal weight--which is exactly what I look for in a romance. Fans of Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez will love this one, as will readers who love awesome, vulnerable, capable women.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I love a story about a smart woman learning to reach out, change her course and respect her creativity for the force it is. And it doesn't hurt she has to have a group of pals I'd sit down with any evening, along with a second chance with both the right guy and his sister, Josie's one time best friend.

The story just flowed and I missed the characters as soon as I finished.

Honestly, Perfect Fit was absolutely precious! I loved Josie and Will were just too adorable, and I was so happy they got their happy ever after

There were some parts of this book that shined and others that dragged. I enjoyed the premise of following Josie's career as the CEO of her own fashion brand. I loved her journey of finding what makes her happy and taking a step back. Will was so sweet, especially when he took care of Josie when she was sick. I liked them together, but didn't love them together. A lot of this book I found to be boring. I had trouble connecting with the characters.

I loved this book! I started it not really knowing what to read and proceeded to binge it because I couldn’t stop.

I love Will Grant and how amazing he is for Josephine, and also just how amazing he just is. From how they met again, to how their relationship evolved, to their chemistry, how they make each other better, how they show up for each other and how they fall in love, I just loved it all.

In the middle of all the romance the story also touches on some important topics, like imposter syndrome, social media, how women are perceived differently than men in the workplace, female friendship, soft living and finding yourself.

It was such a positive and beautiful book.

It was my first book by Clare Gilmore but it won’t be my last.

This was so fun and cute ! It’s a CEO(FMC) x Consultant (MMC) romance that was nicely done and the first book I’ve read from this author. Josephine has to work with Will, who is the twin brother of a best friend she fell out with. They share some history and the book has a second-chance aspect to it that I enjoyed. Josephine is such a realistic character and I really liked her. She’s such a hardworking businesswoman and I love how much she cares about her company, friends, and her family. We also see some of the struggles she faces as a female CEO in the corporate world, especially with burnout and managing a work life balance. I liked seeing her character develop as she realized that her worth shouldn’t be tied to only her accomplishments because she is so much more than that.

Will Grant was the ultimate book boyfriend! I adored the way he did so much for Josephine, considering their history. He was so patient with her, understood her well, and always met her where she was. I loved their chemistry because the pacing of the slowburn was so satisfying. I also appreciated the lack of a third act breakup because the communication between them was done well.

This book could have been better with less pop culture references because it felt cringey whenever mentioned. I wanted a bit more from that ending and the plot. I felt that the reconciliation with Zoe should have happened earlier in the book for better pacing. A lot of it felt more like “telling” rather than “showing” since she only came up in their conversations.

But overall, this was really enjoyable and I loved the characters and romance!

I'm so glad Clare Gilmore is back with another awesome book! I really enjoyed Love Interest and was excited to dive into Perfect Fit and it did not disappoint. I love how she writes about female characters who are having success in their careers while also facing very normal work struggles. I'm not a CEO, but even still I felt I could relate to a lot of her struggles and feelings. There is so much great character growth, side character development, and humor throughout. All a recipe for a new favorite of mine!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁:
🪡 Work proximity
🫶🏻 Second Chance
💜 Ex best friend’s brother
👏🏻 No third act break-up

All hail queen of workplace romances - 👑 Clare Gilmore

I loved everything about Perfect Fit.

Josie and Will are two flawed individuals but when they come together, they make each other the best versions of themselves in all aspects of their lives. 🥹

Josie is strong FM who is a CEO and is juggling her work and still being there for her friends/employees. I was able to relate so much to Josie because I often struggle with overachiever syndrome as well.

And Will… 🥰 he supported Josie through everything, was there for here and never was intimidated by how strong and independent she is.

The chemistry between these two LEAPS off the page and will have you falling in love with them.

Also, you know how much I love a second chance so the flashback’s to Will and Josie’s moment together as teenagers was 🤌🏻