How to Hack a Heartbreak was great! I thought it would be a cheesy romcom, which I love, but it was much more than that! There was depth to the characters. Mel’s whole take on the world of dating apps is so true! Everyone woman that has tried one out will relate and enjoy her story! We have all been there. With one disaster after another you will enjoy this quick-paced read and laugh out loud!

I’m sure this is a good book, but I just couldn’t get into it. I made several attempts but I couldn’t stay focused. The part I did read was well written, just not for me.

Although I enjoyed the feminist themes in this book, I was distracted by sayings and terminology that seemed set in other countries.

How to Hack a Heartbreak is a delightful book – a breezy read that grabs the reader from the first page. What amazes me is although I know that Rockaway could not possibly have written Heartbreak yesterday, it reads that way; it’s so of-the-moment. I can see readers juggling Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill with Rockaway’s How to Hack a Heartbreak because they share common ground. Women frequently get the short-end of the stick when they’re overlooked professionally or contend with sexual innuendo and worse: the #MeToo movement is here because it’s needed.

Melanie Strickland is a computer science graduate who lives in New York City. She’s burdened with debt but hey, she’s working in her field, albeit peripherally. She works for Hatch, a “startup incubator”, but Mel’s not a “Hatchling” aka fledging programmer/creative genius because she lacks the essential equipment – yes, that equipment. Good segue to one of the themes of How to Hack a Heartbreak – dick pix. Mel’s day job is manning the helpdesk for all the bros who infect their laptops with viruses from verboten porn and gaming sites. They download crap and Mel cleans up behind them. At least Hatch has good health care benefits.

What’s a girl to do? Borrowing liberally from Guys and Dolls, Mel’s ‘time of day’ is the nighttime; she hangs out with a fabulous posse of friends, she chillaxes with Netflix, and lives the Brooklyn life, checking out a different exercise class each Thursday through the good auspices of Groupon… before she swipes left or right with the “ubiquitous dating app, Fluttr.”

Mel’s mad, sad, frustrating life coalesces one evening. She’s in a bar waiting for Brandon, her latest Fluttr date. While she waits, she checks out a few more Fluttr prospects: Joe looks promising, but suddenly her office crush, delicious Alex Hernandez shows up at the bar. Friendly, verging on sexy banter ensues, until a girl slides in possessively beside Alex and plants a kiss on his shapely lips. Time to adios and find her friends. Brandon’s a no-show. Mel has had it with a social life designed by Fluttr swipes.

“I just wish there was a way to weed out the profiles of people who aren’t interested in a meaningful relationship,” I said. “Or people who say they’re interested in a meaningful relationship, but really aren’t.”

“Like people who ghost out of nowhere after weeks of pointless messages,” Lia added.

“Or people who stand you up,” Dani said, with a swig of her martini.

“Or people who send you dick pics,” I said.

Dani cringed. “I’ve never had that problem.”

“Of course you haven’t. You only date women.” “I love how they’re always non sequiturs, too,” Lia said.

“Like you’re just texting about the weather and out of nowhere—surprise! It’s a penis. What’s the point?”

“It’s pure exhibitionism,” Dani said.

“It’s borderline abusive.”

“An abundance of Coors Light,” karaoke, and questionable street food later, Mel wakes up, alone. She’s queasy and worn out. Suddenly, a “Fluttr alert. NEW DIRECT MESSAGE FROM JOE. Hope springs eternal – maybe Joe is one of the good guys out there.

Feeling hopeful, I tapped the notification to bring up the message. And there, in all its swollen, veiny shame, was a blurry close-up of Joe’s dick.

Goddammit.

Mel has had enough and she’s not going to take it anymore. How can a woman pluck out the weeds in the meadow of online dating in the Big Apple? Why is it impossible to find out before dating someone whether he’s a frog or a potential prince. And voila! “That’s how JerkAlert was born.”

Not surprisingly, women love JerkAlert. It goes viral as hundreds, then thousands of women share the dirty, sad details of the jerks they dated on Fluttr. Watching Melanie sort out the highs and lows of a life that suddenly spirals into a kaleidoscope of coding and nibbles from West Coast high tech companies, all the while juggling her job, her friends, and a burgeoning relationship with Alex, is so much fun. I couldn’t put down How to Hack a Heartbreak. Mel and Alex’s HEA is a heartwarming part of the ending but it’s only part of Mel’s coming-into-her-own; she’s a woman in full bloom, raising up other women in the process. As with Mary Tyler Moore, we wave goodbye to Mel knowing that she’s ‘going to make it on her own’, surrounded by love and laughter and a new self-created (or should I say ‘coded’) life!

I found the heroine incredibly annoying. Her constantly jumping to conclusions about Alex was more than I could handle.
I really enjoyed her working in tech and the issues that women in tech face frequently. But as feminist as the 40% of this book that I read was, I am not sure the women ever talked about anything other than men or something adjacent to men.
I did like the author's voice and will be willing to read her again.

How to Hack a Heartbreak reminded me that the "rom-com" type of book is a thoroughly enjoyable and fun read! While nothing groundbreaking happens, it is a good read. It's well-written, it moves quickly, and it's utterly satisfying. Aside from the generic cover, this is a great book and definitely worth checking out! Very highly recommended.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

** Read my full review on momwithbooks.wordpress.com **

We are introduced to Mel Strickland. She is the voice you hear, or the person you see, when your computer at work is not working. The underappreciated and underpaid IT help desk worker. She works at a company, Hatch, that invests in startups, so she constantly sees new “Hatchlings” cycling through. Each time, it is a frat-house, male dominated culture. Mel also is on a dating app, known as Fluttr (think Tinder). It is par for the course that Mel, and many other women, receive unwanted pictures of men of…well..let’s just say the type of pictures that made Anthony Weiner famous. She’s been stood up by Fluttr dates. And she goes on public transportation only to have an unwanted “run-in” with a guy that pushes her over the edge.

It turns out that Mel is not just an IT tech, but she is also a coder. She creates a website she calls Jerk Alert, to help women find out that if that guy they are messaging with is worth it, or if he is among the losers that stand women up, send unwanted pictures, or worse. With the help of a good friend who works in PR, all of a sudden Jerk Alert has gone viral! Couple that with a review popping up on Jerk Alert of a guy Mel is dating (who she also works with) and Mel has a whole new world of confusion to deal with!

** SEE MORE AT momwithbooks.wordpress.com **

I really wanted to like this one, especially because of its cute color. Sadly this one wasn’t for me. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and I felt the story to be very bland and dragged out.

First off, I have to say that overall I did like this novel but I'm having difficulty putting my thoughts into words when it comes to this story. It was an enjoyable read, it had laughable moments, and it had moments that made me cringe. However, for the most part, the majority of this novel read similar to any romantic comedy that is on the market in abundance. Due to this, I'm having difficulty distinguishing what could be considered unique in this particular novel.

One of the elements of this story that did stick out to me was the theme surrounding the importance of friendships. Yes, there was romance within this story, but I felt this novel seemed to revolve around the message of an individual's independence, self-worth, and friendship. It showed that even with the character at her lowest point, she was able to make it through to the other side with her friendships.

As well, towards the end of the novel, there's a different message being promoted surrounding getting off the internet and social media in order to become more present in relationships (whether it be platonic or romantic). I appreciated this message as it's an important one to be reinforced in this day and age.

This was a read that combined an aspect of fun and humour with the important message behind the impact of the internet on relationships. Although the main character of Mel had me shocked at times through her actions, I think many could relate to her paranoia based on her assumptions. It was a quick read that along with being enjoyable gave me more of an insight towards online dating.

***Thank you to the publisher for supplying me with a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

Oh man, where do I start. This was a cheap rip off of The Right Swipe (not actually, as I know they came out relatively close together), but what I'm trying to say is the Right Swipe was so much better. I really couldn't care less about the main character or the love interest. She kind of treated him like garbage and this book came across so preachy with the message that all men are scumbags. Sure, there are definitely some terrible guys out there on online dates, but this whole story made it seem like it was the rule, not the exception. Also, I found it completely inplausible that she would have put up with that toxic of a work situation for that long. She has incredible skills, she would have been sought after by so many tech companies

I very much enjoyed reading this book, although I would not recommend it as a romance. It's very much contemporary fiction, as the romance is more of a side plot. However, I loved reading about Mel's job in the IT world, startup culture, and loving the revenge they got on some of the douchey male characters. The side characters were also well developed and I just enjoyed the whole thing.

This was a great book! I've never read this author before but will definitely in the future. The last book that I had read was a little heavy and this light hearted romance/women's fiction is just what I needed! I really liked the theme of friendship throughout the story as well. Recommended!

This book was okay, I didnt hate it and I didn't love it. The story is about Mel who creates a new dating app when she gets tired of all the abuse from men on other apps (totally relate to that). The writing and story were a little meh and I struggled to connect with Mel. I enjoyed some of the side characters. Enjoyable but could have been better.

HOW TO HACKBA HEARTBREAK by Kristin Rockaway is such a fabulous take on dating in this time. A Chick Lit book that’s well worth reading. Recommended.

If you’re looking for a quick, cute read with strong female friendships at the core...check out How to Hack a Heartbreak! This was my first read by Kristin Rockaway & I wasn’t sure what to expected but I enjoyed it a lot.
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Mel and her friends encounter some of the worst men ever (well, except two) and handle them well. I loved the friendships, the take no shit attitudes, and I’m forever grateful that I haven’t had to endure online dating. I really enjoyed the story and how easy to read it was.

How to Hack A Heartbreak has typical romance features that I love with misunderstandings and a bit of self-sabotage but it also fully embraced the messiness of life making this feel like a more realistic story. Melanie works in a male-dominated field in the tech industry and is at her limit in dealing with jerks both in her professional and her dating life. The issues and frustrations she voices about sexism were understandable but at times it felt overwhelming with how much of a focus that was to the storyline. While some of Melanie’s decisions weren’t the best in the end I loved how her character grew. There were twists I didn’t expect and I found myself reading late into the night having to see how it ended.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Thank you for netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book for an honest review.

I have been so into Adult Romances lately and I saw the synopsis for this book and just had to pick it up. It was a quick fast paced read. I really enjoyed the strong female relationships and empowerment in this book. Melanie had such amazing friends who backed her up and were always there for her. I really enjoyed the Romance too but like in a lot of romance book communication was what ruined a lot of the relationship. Other than that I loved the story and everything about this book.


I thoroughly enjoyed it and will really recommend it if you want a quick fix on romance.

This book fell a little flat for me. The characters were pretty one dimensional and I found the plot to be overall not interesting.

What a great, fun read about the realities of dating in the current times. Everyone is swiping, men are sending unsolicited and inappropriate photos, and no one is connecting. The author does a great job of showing how the dating life works nowadays. There are a lot of funny moments with different misadventures and I love the main group of friends that she has. I enjoyed seeing a woman with excellent coding skills!
Th synopsis of the book is that Mel is working at a startup incubator, dealing with a lot of sexual harassment from the promising, future tech geniuses... who can't even fix their own laptops. While working there, Mel have some dating adventures and decided to create this app where women can go warn each other of potential duds in the dating world. She ends up having to lie to a lot of people to keep the app under wraps and of course it blows up on her.
Recommend if you are in the mood for a romance with a smart main character and great friendships.