This book is fun, cozy and cute. It’s exactly what is promises to be, a romantic comedy.
For my taste it was a little a miss, I didn’t feel very connected with the characters and was not giggling with their relationship. It felt rushed in some parts and then to descriptive in others.
The theme of the book is really interesting, and I enjoyed some parts but overall, it was a book that I would easily put down while I was reading and get distracted with other things, it was not captivating my attention.
I would have like to see more banter and attraction and building for them.

Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this!
3/5 stars
This is a story for people who love the publishing industry and loves romcoms: Bryony, an aspiring author with a debut manuscript that is not-quite-right, becomes the ghost writer for the biggest rom-com icon of the era...but has to hide it all from everyone but her agent, Jack.
Jack and Bryony's banter is adorable although maybe a bit lacking in real depth: a perfect pinch of chemistry, tons of humor, that teeny glimpse into two people who have become best friends but probably secretly want more. I liked watching them sort of stumble into the opportunity to be together and how just truly PG-13 this was. The romance wasn't the focus, and I enjoyed that! Their 'third act break up' was a bit silly, but its hard to drive up the tension when the physicality is a bit lacking.
I loved all the insights into the publishing world, Bryony's time as a ghost writer, the ins and outs of how to get yourself in front of agents: all of it. Its such an ode to publishing, even if this instance it isn't always so cheery.
I do think by the end you have to suspend a bit of reality: this wraps up a bit too nicely for my taste. But overall, an enjoyable quick read.

The Perfect Rom-Com was sweet, cute, and a fast read. A go-to rom com book. This book has no spice so it is perfect for readers of all ages looking for a good romance. This has heart, but could use a little bit more depth as it is a fairly light hearted book. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the complimentary advanced reader's copy. All opinions are my own.

This is my first book by Melissa Ferguson. It is just okay for me. I don’t hate it, I don’t love it. The pacing is a bit too slow and I expected more romance. However, I like the way things wrapped up and I enjoy a happy ending.

Two years ago Bryony Page attended a rom-com workshop/conference to try to get an agent for her book, which is a super-long genre-defying fictionalisation of her grandmother's work setting up an ESL school, where Bryony also works. She never got any interest in her book (she's still trying), but the last agent she met, Jack Sterling, offers her a job as ghost-writer for Amelia Benedict, a successful rom-com writer, famous for being the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the US.

Two years on, Jack hasn't been able to get even a whiff of interest in Bryony's own book, but she has proved herself a brilliant ghostwriter, successfully increasing Amelia's sales and critical acclaim. Bryony has tried to walk away from the contract many times, but she is paid handsomely for her work (including a percentage of sales) which she uses to anonymously donate to her grandmother's school, and Jack can talk her out of anything, she's such a pushover.

Jack and Bryony have become friends, maybe even best friends, over the past two years. They eat together once a week and play on the same bowling team. If it weren't for Bryony's boyfriend Parker (also an ESL teacher in Aukland, Russia) and Jack's girlfriend Chloe (or is it Claire) ...

Amelia is a nightmare. She only wrote the first book and since then has relied upon a series of ghostwriters, but Bryony is so good that over time the others have been let go. Amelia doesn't even read her own books and has made some truly awful gaffes about characters and scenes when being interviewed or when talking to fans.

Bryony wants to complain about the ever-shortening deadlines and pressure to write two books a year, on top of her dayjob, with Amelia's mindless twittering about how she wants the books to be written, but instead she gets railroaded into going on a two week book tour with Amelia and the rest of the team to perform damage limitation after saying things like she based one of her characters (a murderer) on her father.

Two weeks on the road with Jack and feelings are starting to develop, but when a multi-millionairess relies on you to write the books that get her fame and publicity she has a vested interest in forcing you to stay.

I wanted to like this because I loved Meet Me in the Margins, but sadly there were too many flaws with this. Firstly, the convenient boyfriend who's been overseas for 27 months - puhlease that relationship is so dead. Second, to have become a successful writer and not realise that your original story was an overblown, confusing mess? Smacks of one of my favourite films Teacher's Pet (amazing film starring Doris Day). Third, the way in which the conflict was resolved was pure end of the film Singing in the Rain. Fourth, Bryony was just so wet. And finally, Jack said something to Bryony which I imagine was supposed to be sweet and romantic but came across as slightly alarming and a bit of a red flag. (view spoiler)

As above, I liked it but I didn't love it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Just when I think that Melissa Ferguson can't surpass her previous works she offers me something as wonderful as 'The Perfect Rom-Com'. This book is an absolute delight! The author's profound way with words in many instances touches me with their beauty and truth, and I add them to a quote list I keep for when I want to feel inspired about the goodness in life. There is humor, romance and exposure to the literary and publishing world that all combine to bring about a joyful experience. I enthusiastically recommend this to one and all!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

This was a cute read. It’s not something that will stay with me very long but I enjoyed reading it. I did wish we had more of Bryony and Jack actually being together before it ended and the whole 3rd act felt rushed.

Great story!! Loved the plot and the characters ☺️


Though sometimes I felt really distant from the story and wasn’t grounded in what was happening.
The first chapter for instance: I had no idea what was happening and it wasn’t really explained properly. But then I loved how the story progressed. But there were times where it felt like we were just inserted into a scene without any context and were expected to know what was going on.

Loved loved loved the concept of this. Super unique and also really interesting how a ghost writer has to live without saying what they do.

I definitely enjoyed this read! Loved the banter and casual relationship between Jack and Bryony. I felt that sometimes things got a bit "wordy" and I had to re-read to understand what was going on in the story. Otherwise, I like the progression of their relationship and of Bryony's sense of self. Quite the enjoyable read!

She does it again!! Another amazing rom com. I fell in love with the characters and their story from page 1. I also loved the peek we got into the world of literary agents. This was such a fun story.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! This was an easy read and I enjoyed it on a flight across the country. Generally, I liked all the characters and the plot development, though there was a bit in the back half of the book where I was annoyed with the protagonist. Overall, feel good read about books!

This was a cute book but I felt like it was lacking the romance relationship building. It was hard to feel like it was believable when there was barely mention of their romantic interactions. The ending confused me when the characters were talking about how they met in a bowling shop? Maybe it went over my head but I just found that to be confusing.

I liked the inside world of ghostwriting and how the main character struggled with making these her stories but not getting credit.

Loved this cute and short love story. The comedy was there and OK. It is also relatable to modern day stories.

While I've really enjoyed Melissa Ferguson's previous books, this one just didn't do it for me. It just seemed...rushed. And Byrony just annoyed the crap out of me. I will say that my favorite part was 100% the final climax scene at the end. So basically--the last 3 chapters. LOL.

This is a clean read--but definitely isn't anything in it to make it Christian fiction. (which annoys me these days as some of the authors keep being published as CF without a single Biblical anything or even church attendance).

*I was given a complimentary copy of this ARC from the publishers and NetGalley to review. All opinions are 100% my own.

First of all, I would like to thank NetGalley for giving me this free ARC for my honest review. I would also like to thank the publisher of this book, which is Thomas Nelson Fiction, for giving me the opportunity to read this book. Lastly, I would like to thank the author for writing this beautiful book. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I liked the description of the book, and that's why I picked this ARC from Netgalley. It's my first time reading one of her books, and I'm excited to read it. I added one of her books to my TBR list, which is "How to Plot a Payback.".
 
I liked the story of the book, like the writing, the plot, and the characters. I like the Bryony Page character, which I think she's fun and likable. While Jack Sterling, literary agent of the legendary Foundry Literary Agency, works to sell her own book too. Then Bryony's agent offers her the opportunity to be a ghostwriter for Amelia Benedict, a popular romance novelist. This book is fast-paced, which is more likable to read, but some of the chapters are too long to read.
 
I still recommend this book for readers. Similar authors of this book are Emily Henry, Meghan Quinn, Ali Hazelwood, Annabel Monaghan, etc. I gave this book 4 stars because it's also deserved 4 stars rating.

This was my first book by Melissa and I will be reading more of her books. As the title suggests, it was a romcom, but as I got into the book, that felt like a secondary plot to the main storyline of an author, trying to save the community center that she loves and the story of her community, which was beautiful. Don’t give me wrong. The romance was so cute as well, but it was bolstered by a truly wonderful story of community and overcoming.

For me, this book got off to such a great start, but unfortunately around the 45% mark it started to lose me. Maybe not my favorite read ever. Just not for me! Well written though.

Thank you to Thomas Nelson Fiction & Netgalley for the chance to read this ARC.

I want to thank Thomas Nelson Publishing & Netgalley for the ARC. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I had previously read “Meet me in the Margins” & “ Famous for a Living” by Melissa Ferguson and really enjoyed them. I have stated this before in a review of “Famous for a Living”, but I think it’s important that people know her books are low on the romance and have no spice so others know what to expect for her stories before they read them or ask for an ARC expecting a rom-com. Her stories are really fun and have heart, but I wouldn’t quite categorize them as “Rom-Coms” just like I probably wouldn’t categorize this book “the Perfect Rom-Com” as one. Which I found that it is quite ironic that Amelia talked about Bryony’s stories having “cartoon covers” and should be rom-coms because of that , but I feel Melissa Ferguson books are quite the same way. They are marketed as rom-coms but don’t quite fit into that category even though it pushes having a love story and a cartoon cover. Maybe this was her way of showing she understands how she is marketed and it doesn’t quite encapsulate what her category her stories fall under.

I really thought this story was unique having the lead as a ghostwriter and love interest as her literary agent. I felt their friendship was genuine and how their relationship developed was very authentic. Bryony’s journey through the writing & publishing world was definitely the main plot for the story. Just like I mentioned in my review for “Famous for a Living” I also feel this book was just slightly lacking the depth I needed. She’s always almost there with it and in the end I don’t quite get what I need. With this story maybe leaning more into the students would have helped round it out, having them more involved instead of the bus/tour/Amelia side would have gained some more of that true “found family”, and heartwarming feel it’s missing. I really enjoyed that I couldn’t predict the ending and had no clue how it would turn out which was fun. I will definitely read more of her books. Hoping the next one she digs a little deeper for her characters because she could really write a fantastic story.

I know before I turn the first page of a book written by Melissa Ferguson, that I will love it, and that I must allow plenty of reading time, since most likely it will be difficult to put down. So very true for this delightful story.
Bryony works at The Bridge, fulltime, teaching English as a Second Language. Her grandmother founded The Bridge, that now has major financial challenges. Bryony also desires to be an author and has written a book, that details The Bridge, however, she’s not been successful at getting it published. She’s told it has far too many characters and is about 150,000 words too long. She disagrees however and continues to experience failure whenever she does get an appointment to pitch her book.
After being turned down yet again, Bryony turns around and marches right back into the agent she was given 15 minutes with because she still has 12 minutes, and a few seconds left. The result of her perseverance doesn’t help her case any with her book, however, it does land her a job as being the ghostwriter for a well-known women’s author.
As I got further into the book, I was cheering Bryony on. Her ghostwriting stories are a huge success, although the author taking all the credit becomes more difficult each day. There are many twists and turns, a bit of romance, and some unforgettable characters I’ll be thinking about for quite a while. This is a beautifully written, heartwarming story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. All comments and opinions are my own.

The Perfect Rom-Com

This story is a romantic comedy about an ESL teacher, Bryony, whose dream is to get her manuscript published to help her grandmother’s organization, The Bridge. Bryony attends a writers’ conference in hopes of gaining an agent for her book. She meets with well-known agent Jack Sterling. She is determined to get Jack to represent her, only for him to reject her within a few minutes. Bryony still tries to persuade Jack, but Jack decides to give her a different manuscript and asks her what is wrong with it. She only has a few minutes before her time is up with Jack, so she reads some of it quickly and basically tells Jack everything that’s wrong with the manuscript. Jack was impressed by Bryony so he offered her a job as a ghostwriter to Amelia Benedict. Amelia is a bestselling author, but only has ever wrote her very first book. Bryony accepted the ghostwriter gig because Jack offers to represent her and try to sell her book if she becomes Amelia’s ghostwriter. After two years, Bryony is forced to go on tour with the ungrateful Amelia. On the tour, feelings start to emerge for Jack once she breaks up with her boyfriend. (The book really doesn’t mention a long distance boyfriend until she breaks up with him). Bryony believes Jack is working hard to help her sell her manuscript until she learns otherwise.

It took me a little bit to get into this story. There isn’t a lot of romance in the story. It’s almost an afterthought. The more I read, the more I enjoyed the story about the Bryony and her trials to get her work published. I really enjoyed the ending of the book. I feel it was a good ending for this story. I would read another book by this author.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me this free ARC. I would like to thank the publisher, Thomas Nelson fiction, for giving me this opportunity to read this book.