A cute and light romance between two techies...a woman who doesn't quite believe in herself, a man who is unusually not like other techies. The paranoid behavior heroine has about men in general can be a little annoying at times, but all in all the story is entertaining and worth reading until the end. The heat level of this story is fairly low - lukewarm so if you are more into steamy romance, this would not be for you. Also, all aspects of story is rather based on the real world, nothing exaggerated about romance or work place experiences.

While I enjoyed the story of a woman and her friends looking for love and finding dating disasters on a dating app I didn't love the characters. Melanie worked hard at her job and was treated badly by her male coworkers but didn't do much about it until the end. Her disgust with them, her dates, her current boyfriend, and tech execs made her sound like whiner to me. She didn't even read her contract or work MOU to see what her options were. Alex, her off again on again boyfriend sounded sketchy and his behavior was atrocious. All his apologizing was a big turn off too. Put your phone away, set boundaries, and pay attention to who you're with. This seems to be the lesson Melanie finally learned in the end.

I read this book in one sitting. It is funny, poignant, and a true representation of what it feels like to be a working woman, especially in a male dominated field. It's fun and funny while still ringing true. Well done.

How to Hack a Heartbreak by Kristin Rockaway 5 stars

I consider myself lucky to have received an ARC of this book. This book depicts the world of online dating and the tech industry in a realistic manner. Mel Strickland is a female IT worker in a tech incubator living in New York City. Trying to meet guys she uses the app "Fluttr", however the guys she swipes turn up to be no show or jerks. After her last bad experience, she is mad enough to create JerkAlert.biz to allow people to post reviews of people on Fluttr. Her website goes viral and she is confronted with the highs and lows of social media. Complicated her life is the fact that she is attracted to Alex Hernandez, one of the tech entrepreneurs she works for. Alex seems to be a nice guy, but he got a bad review on JerkAlert. Is it true or a bad misunderstanding in the treacherous world of online dating? Read the book and find out.

Some of the issues that are present in the background is the overwhelming lack of equality in the tech industry. The industry is dominated by men and women are not taken very seriously. Some of the "entrepreneurs" that she works with maybe caricatures, but I think the author was not exaggerating very much.
This is also a book about female friendships because Mel has help navigating through several crisis. I enjoyed this book very much.

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin/Mira for this ARC>

A great story about the power of friendship and the importance of not only having a strong support group (be it family or friends), but of accepting help when offered. Empowering and positive.

This was a really great book. It spoke on a lot of issues from online dating, workpalce harassment, and women in IT. It touched on all topics and did so really well. I felt really frustrated for the main character. I didn't really love the "love" aspect of this. Alex wasn't really that interested and there was too much drama for me too feel like they really got over all their issues.... I would have liked more romance!

Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars

I received an e-arc of How to Hack a Heartbreak in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

How to Hack a Heartbreak is a fast-paced and compelling contemporary romance that unflinchingly criticizes the rampant sexism in the workplace, specifically coding. The novel follows Mel, a twenty-something stuck at a dead-end job filled with men who constantly patronize and diminish her work and her worth. Fed up after yet another unsolicited dick pic from online dating and a rough day at work, Mel creates JerkAlert - the response to all the dicks (people and anatomy) from online dating. At the same time, Mel strikes up a relationship with the only redeeming person at her workplace, Alex. Mel's life kicks into high gear as she attempts to juggle work, her website, a new relationship, and her established friendships. While I loved the feminism of How to Hack a Heartbreak and Rockaway's unwavering look into sexism in the workplace, I wish the romance was just a little more fleshed out. I believed in everything, Mel's talents, her economic standing, and her friendships. But the romance felt surface level, making last act feel a bit too perfect and tidy.

How to Hack a Heartbreak is a solid romance novel that stands out because of its feminism. If you're looking for a new favorite couple, this probably won't have it, but it is filled with dynamic female characters that I hope to read more of.

I give How to Hack a Hearbreak 3.5 Stars!

This book is a prefect read for a single girl who has swiped right and been disappointed! Though this book goes beyond the difficulties of online dating and also exposes the struggles of being a woman in a very male dominated field.

I really enjoyed this book and there were times when I laughed out loud as well as timed when I was so angry on the main character, Mel’s behalf I almost threw my iPad.

This was also a very cute romance, though I think the room nice played a secondary part to Mel believing in herself and having wonderful friends to help her along the way. This book is more about girl power a female friendship tan romance and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

3.5 stars -- This is one the rare examples of "chick lit" that I really enjoyed, though to be fair, it reads as somewhere between contemporary romance & chick lit, so I may have enjoyed it more for having had some romance DNA mixed in. I so appreciated that this book actually inhabits what the dating/romance landscape looks like in 2019, and I really enjoyed the exploration of the pros & cons that technology has brought to people's love lives. I also absolutely loved that the heroine was in STEM & good at it, and that one of her central conflicts was confronting the misogyny in her workplace. And finally, I enjoyed the friendship aspects of this with her core group of women who all really supported each other.

The thing that dinged this down from a full 4 star for me was that the "lesson" the heroine needed to learn... she didn't need to learn. She wasn't being paranoid or overly suspicious, IMO. She drew completely reasonable assumptions based on the evidence in front of her and I wish that the book hadn't spent energy trying to convince me (and her) that she needed to stop drawing those reasonable conclusions.

Fed up with her workplace bro-culture, no-show dates, and unsolicited pictures of the male anatomy, Melanie decides to use her programming prowess to create a place, where women could warn other women about these jerks. Lo and behold! JerkAlert went viral, but would Mel be able to get it off the ground as a "girl programmer" in a man's world?

First thoughts: This story was funny, fun, and relatable.

I remember, interviewing during my senior year of engineering school. All the girls were being offered sales positions, while the boys were getting the R&D jobs. A few years later, I encountered the bias again, but in IT. It's no longer the 90s, but it seems these biases about women in science and technology are still alive and well. With that said, I obviously had no problem rooting for a woman trying to break through that barrier and succeed on her own terms. I was all about Mel escaping the job she was over qualified for, and reshaping the world of online dating. In fact, I enjoyed it very much.

I also really appreciated the commentary on how technology has changed and shaped the way we do things. I always feel as though we are losing a little of our humanity, since technology allows us to do and say so much from a distance. It also keeps us from living in the moment, and I loved seeing these ideas challenged by the characters in this book.

On the human interaction side, Mel was blessed with some incredible friends. Her core group was comprised of some interesting, strong, smart, and successful women. Each had their own unique strength, and they had a great synergy together. Mel's roommate, Vanessa, was another fabulous character. I admired the way she could harness the power of Pinterest. And, most of it, it was pleasure seeing them all rally around each other. Their support and encouragement was everything, and I am just all about that.

Then, there was Alex. He seemed like a unicorn-man in Mel's world. Their relationship was up and down, mostly because of Mel's tainted past, but also because she was "investigating" him via the internet, which is sort of like looking up your symptoms on Web MD - don't do it! I did adore these two together, though, and I kept hoping Mel would come to her senses and choose honesty.

Rockaway ended this book on a really high note, too. It was the culmination of everything Mel had experienced, all the lessons learned, and it was perfect.

Loved: the female friendship, the female empowerment, the bit of romance, the exploration of human connection and dating in a high tech world.

This book was so fun, and much more than I expected! It was a great rom com, but also a wonderful story of the power of female friendships. I loved that the lead female character was in STEM and excellent at coding (computer science grad). Really well done story, and I’m definitely looking forward to more from this author! I voluntarily reviewed an ARC through Netgalley.

This book made me so happy that I never had to deal with online/app dating 🙂 the perfect rom-com for women who are tired of the dating scene this summer! It also is a great story about women empowerment and female friendships - I need more books like this asap!!

Thanks to Harlequin and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Online dating is hard, and Melanie has had enough of the jerks she meets through the online app Fluttr. So she decides to fight back by creating her own app to out all the jerks using Fluttr. With a group of supportive and fun friends, Mel navigates the dating world and her venture into entrepreneurship.

I enjoyed this as it was relevant to today's world. However, Mel was not fully likable as a main character. Nor was the main male character, Alex, fully developed. This could definitely be a good beach read!

What a fun read! I liked that this book was more than "girl meets boy." It also celebrated friendship and encouraged entrepreneurship. While I am very happy that I'm not a twenty-something and out in the world of dating apps, I was entertained the entire time I read this book and completely rooted for our main character, Mel, as she navigated her way through love and career.

This book was good, and such amazing potential but it just didn't reach it for me. I loved the characters, but the behavior was very child like through out the whole story and then suddenly just flipped into oh yeah? they're adults. The main character is portrayed as though she's working hard to not be scared to raise her voice when needed, but yet every single character in her office was a tool and even when she wasn't concerned for her job.. she allowed them to walk all over her. It was a very true representation of many work situations, but it wasn't handled in a way of strength, but surrender and allowance. It really had potential, and it peaked my interest in Kristin's future work, just wasn't my favorite.

This was very fun! I loved all the girl power friendships. I didn't LOVE the main characters, but they were fine overall. I think this is a cute, quick read.

This was a cute read. I expected more romance but I was still pleased with it.
Pockets for having a woman in STEM as the MC. She codes without help and (clearly) is a beast because she made a website, an app, fixed a work-jerk’s computer, and installed a keytracker without him knowing.
Snaps for the best friends as well. Each were separately successful in their own right and came together to help their friend start her business.
Also. Props for a (small) POC & LGBTQ+ rep. I’d have loved to have seen a bit more of Dani, but I understand that this was Melanie’s story.
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Thank you to the publisher for granting me this free copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book - fun characters, clever plot, and good resolution. i think it is a good addition to the new modern romance genre.

I started the book and had to put it down several times because it did not keep me glues to it.

The relationship of Alex and Mel didn't feel real enough for me to believe their relationship in this book. Just this story did not grab me so it took me a long time to finish.

This book was not my favorite but I will read others by this Author.

To anyone trying to date in this sea of online dating apps this book is for you! Our main character Mel Strickland is fed up with online dating after one bad date too many! Whether it's being ghosted, no shows or unsolicited pictures of certain areas, it all just becomes too much for Mel. Deciding that she has had enough, she uses her Computer Science to develop her own app to prevent further bad dates and to let people out there know about the creeps online.

What another fun rom-com! It has been such a good year for this genre and I find myself sticking to this genre more than usual! And why not? I'm usually left smiling and entertained! This read was super adorable with lots of wonderful moments and maybe a good underlying tone about realizing what is or can be right in front of you.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Graydon House, and Kristin Rockaway, for providing me with an ARC to read and review