This book would be a great read for a 20 something single female. Melanie is working in the IT field, but is not given a lot of credit. She does, however, get a lot of harassment from her male coworkers. That, combined with an unsuccessful dating life - a life filled with a lot of ghosting, failed dates, and unsolicited pics of the male anatomy, leads her to develop an app called Jerk Alert. Jerk Alert gives women a platform to share their bad dating experiences and other red flags with the online community. What was supposed to be a joke goes viral and Melanie is left to deal with the consequences.

She does have a strong group of girlfriends who help her weather any storm and they are there for her now. Trying to get away from the online dating world, Mel accepts a date with a coworker, Alex. She likes what she sees and tentatively moves forward - until she sees a not so positive review about Alex on her own app, Jerk Alert. Her paranoia rises and she begins to question his motives.

Quick, funny read with strong women characters and a shout out to the acknowledgement that women are still being left behind in the IT world AND being harassed in the workplace.

DNF at 25%. It's been over three years since I received this ARC. I gave it a go and have decided it is not for me. It interested me then and no longer does now.

This was a fun story of Mel who is a programmer working at a Help Desk for a company who works with startups or Hatchlings as they call them and is not only hating her job and hatchlings who bring her their computers to fix but her dating life sucks big time. After getting stood up yet again and then getting felt up on the train she comes up with her own solution of creating a website to rate the worst dates called JerkAlert. When she launches it takes off like crazy. At the same time so does her love life with a man in her office, Alex. That is until she comes across an alert on someone named Alex who appears to be her Alex. When she gets an opportunity to sell her app to the dating app that started her downfall she finds out about her noncompete clause at work at the same time she is fired. WOW! No job, no love, no app. Now it is time to gather her friends and really find out what networking is all about. If this is what dating is like now, I want nothing to do with it! Great story though and had me snickering along as I read.

This was a cute read. It kept me entertained although I will say that as a 40 + married woman I didn't relate to it all that much. Thankfully I never had to deal with dating apps! I did however relate to Mel and her group of girlfriends as I myself also have a circle of women who I know will always have my back!

It's not for me. Mel should leave her job, I know men can be ... men but to this extent? Girl just get out.

How to Hack a Heartbreak was an adorable and funny read that I thoroughly enjoyed. The characters were loveable and I couldn't help but root for them from the beginning.

I picked up “How to Hack a Heartbreak” on a whim and I’m glad I did! It was a fun, fast paced romance starring a fabulous lady coder getting back at sleazy dudes. Books with smart and accomplished women always peak my interest and the prospect of a “JerkAlert” website was just too good to pass up.

Mel Strickland is one of those characters that you root for while you are yelling at her to stop being stupid. I found myself often sighing at the lack of communication between Alex and Mel one too many times. Why can’t two characters just talk to each other instead of always going a bit crazy? But, despite this annoying little quirk, their romance was sweet and both characters experienced quite a bit of growth in a short amount of time.

Beyond the main couple, the side characters were great support to the story. All of the women were intelligent and stood on their own. And though I didn’t like Vanessa in her first introduction, I would absolutely read a book with her own romantic storyline. The men though, besides the main few, were the worst. I truly don’t know what I expected but there were so many mentions of dick pics and sexual harassment it made me cringe. So many women around the world have to deal with that everyday and it certainly made my heart hurt to read about it. While it was important to the character development, the harassment Mel had to face at work took away from the romantic plot of the book for me because I wasn’t prepared for the extent of it.

Overall, "How to Hack a Heartbreak" was an enjoyable and fast read that made me laugh as much as it made me cringe.

3.5 stars

As someone who met her husband on a dating app and received way too many dick pics, I absolutely loved that the main character in How to Hack a Heartbreak--Mel--decided to create an app that called out creepers! I spent the majority of the book wishing this was actually a thing back when I was hardcore dating! This book was cute and funny--it made me laugh out loud several times. I can't wait to read more by Kristin Rockaway!

Sadly I had to DNF this one. It just did not work for me. I was cringing a lot and just couldn't not get past the eye rolls. In the end the concept was okay, but it just didn't work for me.

I have attempted this book many times and have struggled with it. I love the premise and that it focuses on online dating. Feels to authentic in that way because that's how so many people meet these days. I just could not buy into the romance!

Thank you for the opportunity to read this title. Unfortunately, it is not for me. Since I didn't finish it, I will not post a review on Goodreads. Thanks again and best of luck!

I ended up marking this book as a DNF. The story unfortunately fell flat for me early on and I didn’t finish the book. I found that it wasn’t able to keep my attention enough.

Really enjoyed this book! It was a fun read with a protagonist I was really rooting for. The thread of sexism and professional life really set this apart from other books in the genre and tackled more "real world" issues, which I liked.

Love Kristin Rockaway's writing and stories. Clever, modern, and a fun read. And can someone please invent the JerkAlert in real life?

This had potential but fell a bit short for me. I liked the story enough to make it through the entire book, but the main character just got to be too annoying for me at times. The story also became a bit too predictable by the end. All in all, it was a cute story with fun references to the dating apps that are prevalent today. I did have a few laugh out loud moments and the supporting characters were great. 3 stars.

DNF
I really wanted to love this one, but I wasn't a big of the main plot. Thank you for the opportunity to read this title.

If you are looking for a romance, this definitely isn’t one. Lots of angst. If you have done any online dating, this book will definitely be relatable. I don’t like to have to wonder as much as I did if there was going to be a happy ending. I loved Melanie and her friends. But every male in this book was a tool. Not sure I even really liked Alex. I will say this book kept me turning pages. But oof this one was a stressful read. Reminded me how much online dating sucks. I thought this was a romance. Definitely more women’s fiction.

Melanie Strickland works at the help desk for a company that works with startup companies. She is surrounded with men who don’t think she knows how to do her job. Even when she’s not at work, she encounters horrible men on the popular dating app, Fluttr. Melanie decides to make her own website to alert women to the disgusting men on Fluttr, so she creates JerkAlert. However, the start up entrepreneur who she starts dating, Alex, appears on her website. Melanie has to hide her identity as the founder of JerkAlert while also navigating her own relationship with Alex.

This story tackles sexism in the workplace. Melanie was treated horribly by the men in her office, and her male supervisors didn’t see a problem with it. It was actually upsetting to read at times, because the things they did and said were so inappropriate.

Even though Melanie had to deal with sexist men, she turned her life around. She worked very hard to push past the limitations that men put on her in the digital coding world just because she was a woman.

I really enjoyed this story.

Thank you Graydon House Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

How to Hack a Heartbreak by Kristin Rockaway is SUCH a fun book!! It was unique, refreshing, and packed full of characters to love. I laughed out loud throughout the entire book and the romance parts made my heart happy. I also loved the focus on female friendships and Mel's girl gang is amazing enough to make any girl jealous.

This was a really quick read for me, and I decided to do the audio which was great! Amy McFadden is the narrator and I thought she did a really good job with it. She was also good on 2.2x speed in case anyone listens at that pace like I do! How to Hack a Heartbreak is definitely a feel-good novel which was not heavy on the romance although I would love to see it on TV in some form. This is what I would call Romcom perfection and it has very little steam which is perfect for me. I love the way Rockaway brought strong female characters into this book and it made me feel empowered while entertained at the same time.

If you are looking for a lighter, easy read and you love Romcoms then I highly recommend How to Hack a Heartbreak whether you chose to listen to the audio or read the physical copy. I loved the ending of the book and the last line was so perfect I immediately started She's Faking It even though it has nothing to do with this book. The only thing that made me give this anything lower than 5-stars is because it wasn't emotional for me which is what usually pushes me past that point where it becomes a 5. However, Rockaway clearly has an instant fan in me, and I am so excited to read anything and everything she writes!

Thank you to the Harlequin Publicity Team and the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy of this book! All opinions and thoughts are my own.

This was a rom-com I was excited about it, but it fell short for me. How to Hack a Heartbreak had the potential of being a great storyline with characters I could love. But Alex really needed a POV in this story to make it work. It was a quick read, but I'm sure some will love!