Book: Meet Me in the Margins
Author: Melissa Ferguson
Publisher: Thomas Nelson – Fiction (thomasnelson.com)
Release Date: February 15, 2022
In a recent attempt to increase my awareness of new and upcoming releases in the book world, I created a NetGalley account. As a publishing student, I think it’s important to know what’s trending right now. And let’s face it — as a book lover, I couldn’t imagine anything more exciting than advance copies.
I didn’t expect to be approved for much, and I certainly didn’t expect to fall in love with the first book I read, but sometimes you get lucky, right? I got very lucky.
Summary: MEET ME IN THE MARGINS by Melissa Ferguson is a story about Savannah Cade, an assistant acquisitions editor at Pennington, a small publishing house in Nashville, Tennessee. The CEO of Pennington is very particular about what the company publishes: nonfiction and literary fiction. Highbrow works. Ms. Pennington would sooner walk the Arctic tundra in a bikini than publish commercial fiction, much less romance. Savannah has been given the chance of a lifetime — the top romance editor in the biz wants to read Savannah’s romance manuscript.
After a close call at a staff meeting, Savannah stashes her manuscript in the secret tower room of the old Victorian house that serves as Pennington’s office. Later, she is shocked and hurt to find that an anonymous editor has marked up her hidden manuscript… and not been particularly kind about it. But with a submission deadline fast approaching, Savannah begins to rely on this mystery editor, and as they exchange notes in the margins, she begins to wonder if they might take their relationship beyond friendship — and off the page.
My Thoughts: The premise of this book hooked me immediately — the blurb compared it to You’ve Got Mail meets The Proposal and I was IN, and what I found did not disappoint. If I’m being honest, this book may have been written *for* me. It takes place in a publishing house that’s not in New York City (my dream), it has a strong leading lady who isn’t afraid to be true to herself, and it’s a romance with all of the swoon and none of the spice. Savannah even explores the idea that romance isn’t all about physical attraction, which is something I really appreciated reading in a romance.
As a romance, this book delivers, even without a ton of actual romantic relationship happening. It’s almost entirely build-up, but we get to see Savannah really connect with Will, the love interest, and we learn a lot about both of them as characters as they get to know each other. Will is attractive in a buttoned-up, smirky, secretly sensitive kind of way, and he acts as the perfect balance to Sav's totally genuine but slightly chaotic nature. While it's fun to watch their relationship unfold, I appreciate that this book is also so much about Savannah finding herself. She comes into her own as a publishing professional, she finds her voice as a writer, and she patches up old wounds with her family — she just happens to fall in love along the way.
All in all, I loved this book. I loved it so much that I DMed the author on Instagram to tell her that I loved it. And now I’m telling you: if you love books, work in or have ever wanted to work in publishing, and/or go nuts for a slow-burn romance and a secret turret room, pre-order MEET ME IN THE MARGINS from your local bookstore now!
Rating: 5/5
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