This is a story about a ghostwriter named Bryony who dreams of becoming a published author to raise awareness for a struggling ESL organization where she teaches. Along the way, she briefly becomes entangled with her agent. The romance in this book is minimal and clean, with only a few kisses.

The plot was decent, though I wasn’t thrilled with how the author Bryony was ghostwriting for was portrayed. She came across as unlikable, which made me feel more sympathy for her than rooting for the main character. I also wasn’t fully satisfied with the ending.

Overall, I rounded up and gave the book 4 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced reading copy.

3 Vainglorious Stars ⭐️
Spicy Level: 0/5 Only Kissing

They say don't judge a book by the cover, and that should possibly also extend to "don't judge a book by its title". I thought I was getting a romcom, I MEAN it's IN THE TITLE... and while there is some element of romance to this plot... this is not a rom-com. This is VERY CLEVERLY DISGUISED CHICKLIT. The problem is while I am "open" in my romance reading, I am PRIMARILY A ROMANCE FOCUSED READER... so I am not the best target market for Chick-lit.

𝙎𝙮𝙣𝙤𝙥𝙨𝙞𝙨:
This follows Bryony Page, an ESL teacher with a mission to save her grandmother's legacy, a foundation and teaching school that helps immigrants learn the English language. To help save this cause she has written a debut novel and is attending a book conference in the hope of finding a literary agent to take on her book. She completely messes up her pitch with one of the most ruthless agents in the business Jack Sterling. But somehow she sparks his interest in something else... so he makes her a proposition to be a ghostwriter for a socialite. Two years later that book became a bestseller and the few after finding similar fame. Now Bryony finds herself in the contractual obligation of being a ghostwriter, all the while still trying to get her book published.

𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙁𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨:
I don't have a problem with chick-lit, but it doesn't hook me as much... so given that 90% of this book was chick-lit which focused primarily on Bryony and Bryony's journey, it was hard for me to be invested. It is a first-person story, so we don't see the other characters' thoughts and opinions except through her eyes. While I love what she stood for and what she was hoping to achieve, I find that given the choice of solely focusing it on her, we lost a lot of the connection with the other characters and so their foundation is lacking.

Bryony really shows a lot of dedication and compassion for her cause. She has this profound sense of loyalty to her family and to her grandmother and the legacy that her grandmother started. She is an amazing teacher and shares such a unique and special bond with her students. She's that type of personality that you can't help but instantly connect with and like, and it's one of the things that I think attracted Jack to her the most. One thing I didn't like about Bryony was her "Relationship" with her long-distance ex. They never talk, never interact - he is never featured. His presence felt like it was there just to cause DRAMA...

I didn't really like Jack because I felt like I did not know him. Besides a few snippets, all their interactions are spoken about previously happening and you are never shown their connection really forming. This is one of my pet peeves in a book as I like being shown and not told. By the time the "story" starts years have passed and Jack and Bryony have already established this codependent friendship. It frustrated me that all their moments of "romance forming" were conversations and reminiscing.

I found Jack completely manipulative, and he irritated me that he lied and used Bryony and that he wasn't able to talk to her and communicate. Yes, a few things he did were sweet and cute and can be sappy and perfect for a little rom-com, but the problem was that there wasn't enough of that romance foundation to keep me hooked in the story.

The one element that I did truly like about this, and found interesting was the aspects around the insider world of traditional publishing. It was the reason I kept reading. Seeing all the different elements that it takes to publish a book, with all the steps, hoops and caveats. It's not something that a regular reader like myself is exposed to, so it was pretty interesting to see that element of the plot and how that played into the overall story.

𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨:
▶ Strangers to Lovers
▶ Agent X Author
▶ Workplace Romance
▶ Chicklit
▶ Under Table Touching
▶ Slow Burn
▶ Forced Proximity

Overall, if you LIKE Chicklit, I think you might like this book since it's about a woman finding herself, finding her passion, standing up for herself, and in the same process finding love in an unexpected place.

Thank you to Melissa Ferguson, Thomas Nelson Fiction and Netgalley for the gifted copy.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.