A Mini Review of Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson, a contemporary romance novel
*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary e-copy of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts below are my own and I was not required to post a positive review. Also, this blog post includes affiliate links. You can view my affiliate disclaimer here.
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Delightfully clever - wholesome romance, amusing predicaments and a bit of mystery!
Meet Me In the Margins offers book lovers of all kinds an insightful, often humorous, taste of the publishing world and what happens behind the scenes at a publishing house. My book-loving heart found the setting of a small publisher and the unique exchange of secret notes in the margins of a manuscript to build a love story both brilliant and clever.
Continue reading for my full review…
You’ve Got Mail meets The Proposal—this romance is one for the books.
Savannah Cade’s dreams are coming true. The Claire Donovan, editor-in-chief of the most successful romance imprint in the country, has requested to see the manuscript Savannah’s been secretly writing while working as editor herself—except at her publishing house, the philosophy is only highbrow works are worth printing and commercial fiction, particularly romance, should be reserved for the lowest level of Dante’s inferno. But when Savannah drops her manuscript during a staff meeting and nearly exposes herself to the whole company—including William Pennington, new publisher and son of the romance-despising CEO herself—she races to hide her manuscript in the secret turret room of the old Victorian office.
When she returns, she’s dismayed to discover that someone has not only been in her hidden nook but has written notes in the margins—quite critical ones. But when Claire’s own reaction turns out to be nearly identical to the scribbled remarks, and worse, Claire announces that Savannah has six weeks to resubmit before she retires, Savannah finds herself forced to seek the help of the shadowy editor after all.
As their notes back and forth start to fill up the pages, however, Savannah finds him not just becoming pivotal to her work but her life. There’s no doubt about it. She’s falling for her mystery editor. If she only knew who he was.
“Meet Me in the Margins is a delightfully charming jewel of a book that fans of romantic comedy won’t be able to put down—and will want to share with all their friends. Readers will lose themselves in Melissa Ferguson’s witty, warm tale of Savannah Cade and the perfectly drawn cast of characters that inhabits her world. This literary treat full of missed opportunities, second chances, and maybe even true love, should be at the top of your reading list!” —Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times bestselling author of Under the Southern Sky
★★★ | Having read, and thoroughly enjoyed, Melissa Ferguson's previous titles, I was eagerly looking forward to the release of Meet Me in the Margins.
This delightfully imaginative storyline was creative and offers book lovers of all kinds an insightful, often humorous, taste of the publishing world and what happens behind the scenes at a publishing house. My book-loving heart found the setting of a small publisher and the unique exchange of secret notes in the margins of a manuscript to build a love story both brilliant and clever.
Related Post: A Five Star Book Review of The Cul-de-Sac War by Melissa Ferguson | A Romantic Comedy Novel
However, this novel isn't your typical romance or romantic comedy (which I expected)... Instead, Ferguson offers a very slow, but comical, dance with a prominent back story and significant events happening around main character, Savannah Cade, an assistant acquisitions editor for a locally owned publishing house in Nashville. As she seeks to publish her first manuscript, her personal life and work life become increasingly surprising when changes happen all around her, causing her to find a bit of herself in her story’s own main character. Little bits of romance, several amusing predicaments and a bit of mystery is sprinkled throughout, enough to keep me just barely enticed. While always a fan of Ferguson's writing style, it wasn't until about 3/4 of the way through that I really began to enjoy this novel. It suddenly came alive, with more hilarity and romantic spark, which caused me to want to devour the remaining pages, much as I had when reading Ferguson's other books, The Dating Charade and The Cul-De-Sac War, two of my favorite must-read recommendations.
Overall, a good read, though in my opinion not quite as lovable or heartwarming as Ferguson's previous titles. With that said, this novel deserves all it's own merit for setting, clever premise and laughable scenes with relatable main characters and two smile-inducing secondary characters (shout-out to Oswald and Lyla!). I recommend this novel to readers who enjoy clean, wholesome romances.
Content Note: I did not find this novel to be faith-based or inspirational. There is a bar scene and the characters consume alcohol.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Author Image Courtesy of https://melissaferguson.com/
