Mel works at a staff help desk repairing the mistakes of supposed up and coming tech developers. After one to many bad dates thanks to Fluttr, she whips up an an app - Jerkalert to warn other women. A smart witty rom com.

I did not finish this book. After about 7 chapters I realized that it was just not for me. There was nothing wrong with the book I just did not connect with it in any way. I am from a pre-dating app era and I think that was the problem.

Such an interesting concept. I must say I haven’t seen many books about women working in tech, on the coding side.
The good:
The female friendships were awesome. They are there for one another and so supportive.
Looking at a woman in a male dominated environment is relatable.
Pointing out the over use of “I’m sorry” (I do it too).

The not so good:
The friends not telling their suspicions about the married douche. You gotta have the tough conversations too.
The men. Even the good ones are one dimensional. There was no depth. I was told they were nice but I didn’t see it.

It was an okay story. It could have been spectacular but the characters just didn’t jump off the page. It wasn’t terrible but it’s not one I’ll remember.

This was cute, funny, and a rom-com. I liked it but felt that the man-bashing went a bit far.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a nice read. The author illustrates the truths of the online dating landscape, as well as women working in tech. However, as others have pointed out, I struggled with Mel’s tendency to jump to conclusions about Alex. Overall, I’d recommend this book to fans of contemporary romance.

Thanks to the publisher for the advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my review.

I loved this book! It really resonated with me being a woman ion my 20's trying to navigate the dating world. I laughed so many times throughout this book, and I fell in love with Mel. Mel works at the help desk for a tech start up company that feels more like a frat house. She gets fed up with dating on Fluttr and creates Jerk Alert, more as a joke for her friends. Next thing she knows, Jerk Alert is the hottest trend on social media. Now Mel has to figure out what she wants to do with her love life and her new creation. It is the perfect chick lit book, and I highly recommend you check it out.

I had a bit of a rocky start with this book. I put it down twice because I couldn't get into it. Finally I decided to power through. I'm so glad I have this another chance and didn't Chuck it into the DNF pile. I ended up loving it once I got further in. I look forward to more from this author.

Did you like Startup: A Novel? Do you also like a little romance? Yes and yes? Read this.
I absolutely loved this book, though it's about characters a lot younger than me. The main character is Mel, who works the help desk at a tech incubator full of the worst tech bros and terrible, disingenuous bosses. The setting is NYC, but I'd argue the setting is online dating apps in general, and Fluttr (fake Tinder) specifically. Mel and her group of friends are burned out on terrible men (amen), specifically the ones they meet online. Except for Dani, who dates women and seems to meet fewer jerks. Mel gets so fed up in fact, that she creates a website called JerkAlert, where women can out terrible behavior of men they meet online (misogyny, unsolicited dick picks, racism, etc). Mel also meets a guy she likes, but isn't sure she can trust he's not a jerk himself. So, basically, the bulk of the story is Mel figuring out what's up with Alex and dealing with the popularity of her site and the shittiness of her job, all with help from her friends. The dynamic between Mel and her friends and her roommate Vanessa is realistic and positive, and I appreciate that. The book is a quick read, really engrossing, and I highly recommend it.

I love the premise of this story that is based in today’s world of digital media and dating apps. I didn’t like the heroines character as I thought she was too much of a shrew and kept jumping to the wrong conclusions rather than get clarity by communicating. The hero is a sweetheart but I almost thought him as a secondary character. There wasn’t much focus on his own character development. I would have really liked to know more about his history and opinions. The part about the book that I thoroughly enjoyed were the awesome relationships amongst all the women. They were beautifully portrayed and made me miss my own girlfriends. It feels more like a fiction read rather than a romance novel so if you are ok with that, it is a good book.

* I received this ARC and from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review*

This was an absolutely delightful read. From the all-too-relatable toxic tech-bros, to the nightmare of dating in the technology age, to the amazing female friendships, I loved it all. I loved that the love story was at the heart of the narrative, but the characters each had their own lives outside of each other. This will absolutely make my list of books to read this summer.

I really wanted to love this book more than I did! As someone whose always had a passion for the STEM field, I was looking forward to a romance book that involved coding! I mean we don’t see too many romance books involving scientists or engineers, so I couldn’t wait to devour this book. I was annoyed with how the book stereotyped men in the coding world. I’ve taken various science courses where I’m in labs, and most of the students are men, and for the most part, no one really thinks you’re dumb just because you’re female. I just felt like the book didn’t paint a realistic picture.

My main issue with the book was the writing style. From the very first chapter, I could tell that the writing style was going to put me off. I’m not a fan of books where the authors tell me what happens rather than show me. How am I supposed to get attached to characters when the author tells me “they lived happily ever after,” but gives me no details??? Come on, I wanted to FEEL something when I was reading!

I love the idea behind this book. The execution had its flaws, but overall it was a good read. Some aspects of this book were stronger than others. I really enjoyed the supportive relationships that Melanie had with her friends, especially her friend in PR, Whitney, who encouraged her to create her app and used her connections to promote it. The group of girlfriends was fun to read throughout. It was the romance that fell short for me. We didn't get enough of Alex, and Melanie turned into a paranoid and annoying stalker girlfriend before their relationship even really took off. Despite Alex's attempts to show Melanie how interested he was in her, it was clear she never fully trusted him from the beginning. It's a short cute novel that can be read in one sitting, but it's not one I would reach for to read a second time.

This book!!!! I absolutely adored this book. I read it in like two sittings, which says a lot for me these days! Mel is a girl who works in the tech world, and it is definitely “the boys club” at her company. I mean…how many of us have been there??? I don’t think I have ever worked somewhere that it wasn’t “boys club.” And she is also fed up with her co-workers and the online dating world, so she develops an app to expose the gross pervs and cheaters that are flooding the swipe right world. Her co-workers have no clue how talented she is, because she is stuck at the help desk. I loved Mel’s character and the whole story line. I definitely laughed several times throughout this book, and found the characters totally relateable.

Bottom Line: Totally cute romcom with a bad-ass female lead, read it!

** I received a copy of How to Hack a Heartbreak from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Well this was downright delightful. I really got a kick out of Rockway's book and the characters she introduced in this one. Besides the main character of Mel, she has some really awesome best friends (Whitney, Lia, and Dani) and a great roommate (Vanessa). I loved the book taking a look at women who are very good at coding (like Mel) and how hard it was to break into the tech world due to the douchebros that seem to inhabit it. The writing was very crisp and the flow was great. I loved the romance and the ending!

"How to Hack a Heartbreak" has 20 something year old Mel ready to hang up dating. She has used all of the dating apps, and the latest craze, Fluttr, is still not providing her with a guy that actually wants to date her. After being stood up and receiving one more "[redacted] pic" she has enough. After being egged on by her friends, she sets up a site called JerkAlert which women can anonymously post to about guys they have met or messaged on Fluttr. After JerkAlert goes viral, Mel also finds herself trying to start a relationship with her coworker Alex and wonders if she can trust him, or is he a jerk in sheep's clothing.

God, I felt Mel. I still am on some dating apps, but don't even check in anymore. Once you have someone send you a picture of them in full black leather (with a mask on) with a message asking can they call you a slave, I pretty much decided that books and my cat were sufficient. I regret nothing.

Mel keeps getting her hopes up, but she either meets guys that are just looking for a one night stand, ghosted her after a while, and or she gets the before mentioned "[redacted] pics." She wishes she was more like her friend Whitney who is not looking for anything serious and relishes her one night stands. But after her friend Lia has seemingly met the one on Fluttr, Mel is wondering as all women do, what's wrong with her. Mel is also a pretty great coder. She is stuck working at the help desk at a company called Hatch and sits around and watches a lot of men trying to get their start-ups off the ground. She's verbally abused and if she tries to stand up for herself, her jerk of a boss acts like she's being a bit too "female".

Besides Mel, I loved her friends. Whitney was fearless and also scared me a bit. She's protective of her friends and tells it like she sees it. Lia is a romantic at heart and no spoilers, but I was shrieking while reading about her and Mr. Right. Dani was good, but we really don't get in depth with her that much in this book. Not a criticism, but definitely she didn't feel as present in the book as Whitney and Lia did. I will also say that the girls remind me of my friends and I at that age. Getting together at night, wondering why all the guys we went out with were such a PITA and holding out hope for a nice guy.

The other characters we get, Vanessa (Mel's roommate) and Alex (her love interest) were written very well too. I get why Mel was apprehensive about Alex.

The writing was very good. I loved Mel's voice throughout. When her site goes viral you get her emotions about it (yeah she's great at coding and yikes what if someone finds out) and her realizing that parts of JerkAlert aren't that great. The flow was really good from beginning to end. I honestly couldn't put this book down once I started.

The setting of New York was pretty great. I loved how realistic it felt with Mel being stuck at her job at the help desk and she had to room with someone to afford to live in New York. I am always baffled at the romance reads I get into when some 20 year old is living in some sun lit two bedroom apartment somewhere. And there's no mention of the tininess of their apartment, commuting on the subway, and the insane rent.

Really loved the ending and the message it was pushing!

Cute read. Loved the concept of the whole story. Mel was annoying at times, think she could have stood up for herself more but it’s hard not to root for her. The story was interesting and the characters were so lovable. Definitely recommended for a light hearted romance.

I love Kristin Rockaway so I was thrilled when I received her newest book How to Hack a Heartbreak. Kristin's books are always light hearted and just fun to read.
Living in New York as a single girl isn't easy, and relying on a dating app to find boyfriend isn't the best idea. Fluttr is the most popular dating/hookup app, and after Melanie is stood up she decides that she's done with dating. Until..... the very sexy Alex sits down next to her. Alex introduces himself to Melanie and she realizes they actually work together. Melanie is smitten and starting to think her Flittr date standing her up isn't so bad, until Alex's date arrives, and she can't believe he's just another lying creep. What is he doing flirting with her and asking her to lunch when he clearly has a girlfriend?
After a very bad experience on the subway with a creepy guy, Melanie goes home and decides to make a website for women, a place they can share their bad dating experiences, warn other women about men they've come in counter with that they should avoid. After all, Melanie works at the help desk for a start up company, she knows her way around computers, and she's mistreated so badly by these men she works with that she'd love to create something to get her out of there. With the help of her friends Melanie gets JerkAlert out there for everyone to see. Word spreads and women are sharing all there "guys to avoid". Unfortunately Melanie can't avoid Alex, there's something about him that draws her to him, and she really wants to give him the benefit of the doubt. They have such an amazing chemistry and really do seem to hit it off, but she cannot tell Alex she is the inventor of JerkAlert, specially since he's on there!
Things with Alex are going well but Melanie is looking for all the signs he may not be Mr. Perfect. His ex Julie posted on JerAlert that Alex is a liar, and to not believe anything he says! Things are going well with JerkAlert and Melanie might have the opportunity to sell her site and walk away not only debt free, but have the ability to quit her shitty job and go find somewhere she's appreciated. Everything falls apart at once, with Alex, her website, and her job. Will this be the end, or just the beginning? You'll have to read it to find out.

How to Hack a Heartbreak was a really cute and fun read! Melanie was a relatable character to anyone struggling to find love via a dating app. I especially loved the main character is in tech (girls CAN code!). Alex was an interesting love-interest for Melanie, and I went through on some emotional rollercoasters while reading the book. I recommend this book to those who enjoy the Sophia Kinsella books; light-hearted and fun to read.

I have thoughts! When I read the synopsis for How to Hack a Heartbreak, I was all in. I loved a good romance and one where the main character fixes computers...um, give me all of that! And then you tell me she uses her skills to get revenge by starting her own app called JerkAlert?? I am 1000% in! But, unfortunately, this was not my favorite book. Maybe I gave it too much hype in my head (maybe I'm starving for a feminist romance) but while I did enjoy certain parts of it, there were certain plot points that almost made me stop reading. Let's get to the review!

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

By day, Mel Strickland is an underemployed helpdesk tech at a startup incubator, Hatch, where she helps entitled brogrammers--"Hatchlings"--who can't even fix their own laptops, but are apparently the next wave of startup geniuses. And by night, she goes on bad dates with misbehaving dudes she's matched with on the ubiquitous dating app, Fluttr.

But after one dick pic too many, Mel has had it. Using her brilliant coding skills, she designs an app of her own, one that allows users to log harrassers and abusers in online dating space. It's called JerkAlert, and it goes viral overnight.

Mel is suddenly in way over her head. Worse still, her almost-boyfriend, the dreamy Alex Hernandez--the only non-douchey guy at Hatch--has no idea she's the brains behind the app. Soon, Mel is faced with a terrible choice: one that could destroy her career, love life, and friendships, or change her life forever.

Mel is smart, hilarious, and fun, but works at possibly the most irritating job known to man (or woman). She is constantly undermined, talked down to, and deals with sexist bullshit almost 24/7. She is also dealing with online dating and dudes sending her dick pics, standing her up, and just being pieces of trash. Luckily, Mel knows her worth and knows she is a badass coder and just needs to catch a break to make an impact on the world. But when she gets stood up one too many times and gets one too many dick picks (one is more than enough!!), she decides to take action and create JerkAlert, allowing women to take back control.

I loved this concept and if I had any computer skills besides trying to figure out how to re-position a picture on WordPress, I would be doing the same thing. JerkAlert blows up with women posting all kinds of things about dudes they've spoken to or gone out with from Fluttr (ficitional dating app in the story). Mel can barely keep the website running smoothly with how many people are using it.

During this time, she also meets Alex who happens to be the nicest guy at her office. They both clearly like each other, so they start dating. It's nothing too serious but she really comes to care for him.

One night, she looks up his name on JerkAlert and is surprised to find two posts about him that pretty much say he ghosted a woman after they had sex. It's definitely a let down for Mel. But with no evidence of whether the post is true, she keeps dating him, even having him meet her friends at a party. That being said, she never tells him she is the person responsible for JerkAlert.

The climax of the story comes when JerkAlert becomes so big that Mel starts getting calls from major companies who want to buy it, including Fluttr. But things don't go as planned and Mel ends up having to make decisions that could affect her job, her integrity, and her future.

While this is happening, she finds a text and picture of a naked woman on Alex's phone and confronts him about it. It turns out he had been lying to her about certain things. Will they end up together in the end? It's a romance novel, what do you think?

Ok, let's start with the good. Mel and her friend's might be one of the best friendships I ever read. They are supportive, all have their own thing going on so you never confuse one for the other, and they are just amazing. Whitney is hilarious and fully supports everything Mel does with JerkAlert. I love them all! I also really like certain parts of Mel's story. Like I said, if I had the skills, I would make JerkAlert too. I also liked that despite what her boss says, she always tried to defend herself against the assholes in the office. She knows she is smarter than them and never tries to hide it.

Ok, the stuff I wasn't thrilled with. I HATE when the conflict in a romance is miscommunication. Sometimes it works, but here it just didn't. They were both lying to each other about certain things and ugh.

I also didn't love Alex. He thought ghosting was an ok behavior and he couldn't understand why Mel made JerkAlert. Is he totally clueless to what women go through?? It felt a bit unbelievable that he couldn't fathom why the app might be necessary or needed.

And maybe it's the world we're living in now with #metoo that makes me think this. It's kind of impossible to have not seen something in the news about what women have been going through.

Beyond that, I just didn't feel the chemistry between Alex and Mel. It didn't click for me and my personal red flags kept going up at his behavior.

There is also a point where Mel has to makes a decision about JerkAlert (whether to sell the database to Fluttr or not). The decision she ends up making feels like it goes against everything she is as a character. It gets "fixed" in a roundabout way but it made me question everything I liked about her to begin with. This decision is what made me almost stop reading the book.

Overall, I did enjoy most of How to Hack a Heartbreak. With the books I normally read, I am in dire need of a light, carefree story and that's what this is. Mel's friendships are written so well and I really enjoyed reading about a female coder. I am giving How to Hack a Heartbreak 3 out of 5 stars. If you're looking for a light, fun romance, give this one a shot. You might like it better than I did.

How to Hack a Heartbreak by Kristin Rockaway comes out July 30, 2019. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Graydon House Books for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a contemporary romance that dealt with technology and falling for someone behind the scenes. I liked the fact that a female was shown as brainy and capable in this novel.

In the vein of Doree Shafrir's Startup, Kristin Rockaway's How to Hack a Heartbreak takes on the most stereotypical "bro culture" elements of the tech world. Mel Strickland is withering away as the help desk manager for tech entrepreneurs who are pursuing start up success by day, and she's navigating the tragic world of online dating by night. Folks, it's rough out there. After encountering one too many jerks, she decides to use her coding skills to take matters into her own hands. There are many elements of this book that are formulaic, but the supporting cast of female friends are endearing, and it's an overall satisfying read.