tl;dr pen pals...but in a book?!
Premise
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.
Rating
3.5/5 stars
Review
i'm gonna say this upfront, this is like tell me three things but adult fiction & about authors/editors. it's rly cute.
meet me in the margins follows savannah, an editor for a small publishing house in nashville. the love interest, will, just came from nyc to help with the family business (the publishing house). savannah secretly working on her own romance novel and finds inspiration within a hidden room in the publishing house. one day, she leaves behind her manuscript and returns only to discover someone has written notes in the margins. at first, she's defensive, but then she realizes that she needs this mystery editor's comments after all. and then the comments take a turn to the romantic, and savannah finds herself falling for one person on the pages and a different one in real life...
when i tell you this book gives me tell me three things energy, i'm not lying. the relationship between savannah and will is so beyond cute. their banter and their dynamic is so entertaining and adorable. swoon!!! will is definitely a "i hate everyone but you" type and savannah's the only one who can get behind his shell.
i found the plot about savannah writing her own romance novel pretty interesting. there's an important comment about why savannah writes romance (because she wants to show the happy endings of perfectly normal, flawed people with a normal, flawed relationship, and she feels like sometimes romance novels "presume instant attraction magically leads to a lifetime of happiness"), and i really liked that.
my favorite part of the book was the romance and especially the mystery editor aspect, and i wish we got more of that. the mystery editor thing only began to play a bigger role about halfway through, and savannah's relationship with will also took some time to ramp up, and i would've liked to see more of that. i think sometimes the different plotlines (savannah's job, her novel, the mystery editor, will, sav's relationship with her sister) got lost in each other.
overall, cute read!
Other Info
Standalone (releases February 22 - thank you to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for an eARC!)
18+ (just because it's adult fiction; the book itself is clean and there's nothing explicit/no spice)
CW: negative body image/comments about weight
Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Meet-Me-Margins-Melissa-Ferguson/dp/0785231072
Would I Recommend?
Yes!
Similar Books
Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum (young adult)