This book was adorable! I definitely must have skipped the part in the synopsis where it said this was an Emma retelling, so as I started reading and realizing, I was even more excited! I love modern retellings of Jane Austen novels and I thought this one was so well done.

This is a cute, YA romance novel with likable characters - and the plot was unique and kept me captive. While I am not as mathematically inclined as Emma, I definitely feel her when it comes to her drive to win, succeed, and (in high school) get into my dream college.

I also loved hearing about all the matches - the good and the bad. What did they have in common? How did they couples end up doing?

Overall, this was well-paced, had lovable characters, and was just a cute, feel-good book. I loved the use of names and settings to draw back on Austen's original work, while giving it to modern audiences in a new way!

I am a sucker for re-tellings and so this book was a great choice for me! Jane Austen is a classical favorite and I have to say that this was a cute take on it. But, I do feel like it has been done before. I can't remember the book title. but this felt so familiar I found myself scratching my head.

I loved the premise of the book and I thought it was something that I need in my life with the way my love life is going (that was my attempt at a joke!). I thought that the characters were easy to like and it was a straightforward plot with a predictable end, if you've read the original book, which I have.

The Code for Love is about a girl who is a computer coding nerd and has troubles socializing with fellow high school classmates. She is co-president of the coding club and decides to make an app to find love matches for students at her school. She feels that math can determine who would best match a person best. Her friend, and co-president disagrees with this philosophy and really doesn’t want to help create the app for the state competition, The whole coding club decides to support her idea and they design the code to match people for the dance at school. Throughout the ups and downs of relationships at school, Emma finds that she also develops friends without even realizing it. However, she is troubled by the fact that her friend George is matched with someone else. This story is her journey through the challenging social structure of school and family. A thoroughly enjoyable read that helps address some issues young people may face.

I received a copy of this book from Inkyard Press and Netgalley.

This book is so precious! This is a fantastic retelling of Emma and it hits in all the right spots!

Sign me up for all the Austen retellings. This one offers a modern spin, complete with dating apps. Interesting that Cantor chose to make her Emma socially awkward, academically ambitious, and on the introverted side, departing from the original story and "Clueless."

**Review will be posted to my blog closer to publication date.**

Thank you to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

My Attention: took some time to get into story

World Building: high school romance

Writing Style: easy to read

Bringing the Heat: none

Crazy in Love: very slow love story

Creativity: I thought it was cool the story featured the Coding Club

Mood: mixed feelings

Triggers: parent health scare, bullying

My Takeaway: Sometimes you have to stop coding and get out there and have a little fun!

I Liked:
*This was a super quick read and I could recognize it as Jane Austen’s Emma retelling right away, since Emma’s name is kept the same and the other characters as well.

*Emma is fairly independent as her dad is always at work. Her mom had passed away and her older sister moved away for college, so a lot of the times, Emma is without family. She spends a lot of her time excelling at school and more importantly, coding. Emma doesn’t like social interaction much, she’s a homebody who likes to stay home and chill.

*George is a good friend to Emma, and yes they get into some high school drama with the matchmaking app they create for the coding club – but I knew they’d end up to together…because it followed the original Emma story. Are there sparks? Not really? But it’s a friendship that grows into something more, something safe and perfect for Emma. His declaration was really sweet.

*I’m glad the coding, STEM kids got the spotlight in this book. Coding is awesome and creative, just in a different way – but the little parts that come together to make the app was interesting to see step by step. They had to tweak it a few times to make sure it worked right.

Random Notes:
*Personally, I like a little angst in my rom-coms. I thought this was cute, not a little of angst, some drama yes, but it was slow to get into. I was bored at some parts.

*It’s a retelling so yes, it was definitely predictable but I was still intrigued to see how the author carried out the story.

*This is a perfect romance for teens. It’s pretty G rated and has that innocence of a first love.

Final Thoughts:
I think this story showed us Emma’s naiveté in the world of dating because she has no real experience with it. Yet she still had the strong desire to succeed at creating a winning matchmaking app! Creating this app gave Emma the courage to go out and try new things, like go to a dance, make new friends…and even fall in love. Overall, I think this was a cute but predictable retelling of a Jane Austen classic.

Ever since they were young, Emma and her older sister Izzy have been inseparable. Now Izzy is about to move away for college and Emma is left with no one but her coding group. Emma has always believed that math is way better than people, and she has always had trouble being social. But maybe things will change this year. Emma decides to create a dating app, The Code for Love, that uses algorithms instead of swiping to pick out the best match. Emma is convinced she has found the perfect system, until these perfect matches being dating the wrong people.
The Code for Love and Heartbreak is a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma. Or, for those who haven’t read anything by Austen, it is sort of similar to the movie Clueless, where the leading lady is a high school coder instead of socialite fashionista. I found Emma’s general disinterest in dating to be very refreshing for a young adult novel. Most young adult novels feature boy-crazy girls who will stop at nothing to get a boyfriend. Emma has her sights set on Stanford University, and no boy will get in her way.
I was able to read this book in one day, and I found the storyline to be very enjoyable. I just found that it is very forgettable, and it was a bit too predictable. I thought it was a cute book, but there was no “wow” factor that would persuade me to give it a higher rating. I could easily imagine this book becoming a teen romcom, and it would be wonderful to see more females with an interest in coding portrayed in popular culture.
I would recommend The Code for Love and Heartbreak to those who are looking for a light read with just the right amount of romance.

This is the story of Emma Woodhouse, who is very good at everything to do with numbers, but when it comes to people and everything not quantifiable (such as feelings), she’s not that gifted. That being said, she is co-captains with her friend George of their high school’s coding club and they are in desperate need of a project for a competition.

When Emma’s sister expresses her concern over Emma’s lack of friends and romantic relationship, Emma comes up with a plan for coding club and starts working on an app that matches people according to their compatibility.

Emma is pretty content with people finding each other all over school thanks to her app. However, that feeling quickly changes when both George and Sam (who is pretty dreamy and new to the club) also start dating their matches…

The Code for Love and Heartbreak is a modernised, young adult retelling of Emma by Jane Austen. As a big Austen fan, I love modern adaptations, but I am also deeply suspicious of them because the potential to disappoint is just so, so big. This book however, did the exact opposite of disappoint. I could not put it down and I was absolutely immersed in the story. I even sent continuous voice messages to my friend that were just me squealing and yelling “I LOVE THEM” over and over. I couldn’t wait to read what would happen next, which is odd, because I have read Emma multiple times.

The characters are fully rounded and I absolutely adore how everyone has at least one weird but very lovable quirk. It is so great to see Emma realised as a modern, socially awkward tech nerd who is absolutely fierce and knows what she wants (most of the time). If you have read Emma, you will probably have an idea who she will end up with in the end. If you don’t, I bet you will not see it coming. That being said, I need to mention the pining because holy everything, the pining game is so strong and Emma is completely oblivious to it, which results in the reader having the best time. For me, that meant squealing while re-reading paragraphs, pages, or even whole chapters and, for me that also meant sending a voice memo to my friend after finishing the book saying: “My heart is beating so fast right now.”

This story is absolutely giddiness inducing and I cannot recommend it enough. Cantor’s writing is just so spellbinding and wonderfully romantic, that it is impossible not to be excited, not to gasp to fall in love and to swoon. This is the book for everyone who loves a good romance, everyone who loves Jane Austen, everyone who is a bit socially awkward themselves and most of all, everyone who loves a good book. Short and simple.

Book: The Code for Love and Heartbreak
Author: Jillian Cantor
Rating: 5 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Inkyard Press, for providing me with an ARC.

This is so cute and bound to put a smile on your face as you read this. I wasn’t aware that I was in the mood for something fluffy, but I was. I just enjoyed reading this so much. Plus, it was a little bit different from other young adult romances that I’ve read. This one focuses on coding, math, and being smart. I liked that element of it. There aren’t a lot of books out there that feature main characters who embrace how smart they are and are into coding. Everyone wants to talk about diverse books, but they never actually feature any characters who are into more geeky things. This book is for those who have wanted that.

The book really doesn’t tell you how to code and on the hard math. Jillian makes coding a huge part of the book, but she doesn’t boggle it down with all of the tech terms. I was a little disappointed with this, but it does make sense. This is a YA book and if you get into too many complex terms, many of the intended audience would probably end up putting it down. Instead, we get to see the passion and all the hard work that the characters put into their code, which is for competition. We get to see how much they believe in their code and how much they want to win. Most of the time this drive, in books and in life, is usually centered around sports. By showing this drive to achieve goals, we get to see that other school clubs are just as focused and driven as sports. The difference is that they just don’t get the attention. My one regret is that I wish Jillian had made the school do something to recognize how far coding club went.


Another thing that is so true was also brought up in this book. The code is centred around trying to match people with each other using math. However, the cross country team uses it to see how many girls they can have sex with. To fix it, the coding club allows people to mark others for bad behavouir. However, the cross country team doesn’t like this and goes to the principal claiming bullying. Emma and crew gets called into the office and accused of bullying. The principal just assumes that the “good ole boys” did nothing wrong and blames the girls. This happens time and time again in schools. I like that Jillian brought this up.

Sorry I didn’t mean to go on a rate about sports….

Anyway, I really enjoyed Emma’s character and wish that more were written like her. She’s smart and shy. She would much rather spend her time working on code and math than hanging out at the mall. She isn’t popular and doesn’t seem to care. We see her struggle with trying to put herself out there, because her sister thinks she should. She misses a lot of social cues and knows it. This can make it difficult for some people to attach themselves to her, but for those who are looking for a different character will attach to her right away. Those who don’t, just give her a chance. I liked seeing a character who wasn’t sure of herself, who was awkward, and who was good at math and knew it. We don’t always need a main character who is sure of themselves, knows what they want, and is super popular. We don’t need that. Sometimes we need our awkward and quiet characters.

I had a great time reading this and think that a lot of people will enjoy this book. This book comes out on October 6, 2020.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/2YF0CjhN4LE

I love Emma by Jane Austen and I am always open to reimaginings in a contemporary setting (hello, where would we be without the amazing movie “Clueless”?). I love the idea of the storyline focused around a coding club in high school but some of the other plot lines fell a bit flat for me. I know it had to loosely follow Emma but some things felt forced. I am by no means a writer so overall I think this is a great book and it brought a fresh outlook to a beloved classic.

First, I have to say a big thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for giving me the ARC for this book. I was given a copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. The Code for Love and Heartbreak is out on October 6th, but is available for pre-order now.

In this Emma retelling, Emma Woodhouse spends her senior year in Code Club working on an app that will help the team get to Nationals as well as get her into her dream school. The Coding for Love app helps find the perfect romantic match for the kids at her school. But math and love don’t mix. How do you calculate for the look in someone’s eyes, for their sense of humor, for their passion?

As someone who isn’t into classics, isn’t into math, isn’t into technology, I still really loved this story. For me, it takes a lot for any contemporary I read to get 4 stars (I blame all the fantasy and sci-fi I read), so I hope when people see my rating they realize that this book is a top tier book for me. I think all of the characters felt like real people with their own problems and hopes and dreams. And, even if Emma can be a hot mess with trouble relating interpersonally to other people, the reader still feels a closeness to her and wants the best for her. I also really enjoyed George and Mr. Woodhouse. I think the author did a good job asking the questions about what creates a good romantic match, about what makes someone fall in love, and what makes supposedly perfect couples fall apart.

The two main problems that I had with this one were the usual ones I have with contemporary novels. One: the book felt too short. I felt like the resolution was over too quickly after the climax. I enjoyed the way the story resolved in the end, but it felt like it happened so suddenly. Two: not enough romance at the end. I guess this complaint is pretty similar to the first one. I think I struggle here because you saw Emma display her jealousy pretty obviously throughout the novel but then when she finally gets some resolution to those feelings the reader doesn’t get to enjoy it before the novel abruptly ends. Another thing I would have liked to see are more sweet moments between Emma and her father. I think it would have allowed the reader to bond more with the characters.

Overall, it was a quick, easy, and sweet read. Perfect for fans of retellings, contemporary enthusiasts, or people who love math/coding.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Inkyard Press for allowing me the opportunity to read a digital ARC of The Code for Love and Heartbreak by Jillian Cantor. This young adult novel will be released on October 6, 2020. All opinions are my own.

Emma Woodhouse is a genius with numbers, but a novice when it comes to social interactions and friends. She's always been a little bit of a loner and preferred to study or code than go out and make friends. Up until this year, she's always had her sister and best friend, Izzy, to rely on. Emma would eat lunch with Izzy and her friends and Izzy would often insist that Emma join her on the weekends when she went out with friends. Now, Izzy is over two-thousand miles away in California for college and Emma is on her own for her senior year. Emma is the co-captain of the coding club and she is determined to win the regional coding competition, so she can get into Stanford. Her fellow co-captain is George Knightly, Izzy's boyfriend's younger brother. George is the one person who seems to get Izzy and is the closest thing she has to a friend now that Izzy is gone. The two clash over ideas for their coding project. George wants to create a recycling app and Emma, taking a suggestion from Izzy, wants to create a code for love where the app matches students with their mathematically perfect romantic match. The club ends up creating the Code for Love app and as they work on it Emma starts to develop a social life. She also begins to realize that maybe some things in life aren't quantifiable.

The Code for Love and Heartbreak is a modern reinterpretation of Jane Austen's Emma. The novel has a cute, yet predictable (even if you haven't read Emma) plot line. I love the characters Emma and Jane. They are both quirky and unique. I like that Emma can be a math nerd and that she doesn't have to change her appearance or personality in order to get friends or form relationships. She is allowed to be fully herself. Emma has a lot of growth throughout the book and better understands herself and her social quirks by the end of the novel and learns that they aren't necessarily faults. The plot moves at a nice pace and has some fun moments. Canto did a great job of taking Austen's Emma and turning it something that is more accessible to a modern, young adult reader. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to those who enjoy quirky romance stories. I think it would be a good choice for fans of the Bookish Boyfriends series. I also feel that though a YA novel, this book would be appropriate for 7th and 8th grade readers.

Fairly standard romcom with mismatched teens, etc. The only real difference is the STEM focus.

eARC provided by publisher.

A retelling of Jane Austen's Emma, The Code for Love and Heartbreak follows math nerd Emma as she is beginning her senior year. Even though she’s socially awkward and doesn’t have a clue about relationships, let alone love, Emma’s determined to make her idea about mathematically matching teens at her school the leading contender for the first place coding prize. This was a cute story. While a lot of the plot seemed to stay at the surface level, it was a quick read and the characters evolved nicely. If you’re looking for a sweet, quick YA book, this is it!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

This book was fine. It was well written if a tad bit boring. If you've ever read Emma, you know everything that will happen in this book and the new take on a classic just wasn't interesting enough to keep me enthralled. I would give this author another shot but this book wasn't for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Inkyard Press for this free ARC.

This is a retelling of Jane Austen's "Emma." This Emma is in Coding Club, where they decide to create a dating app for a nationals competition. It's a lot like the original "Emma" and I could tell right away which characters were which. I saw that a lot of people are saying it's predictable and of course it's predictable, it is following the story line of Emma to the "T."

Both Emmas have the same stubborn mentality when matchmaking and thinking these people have to be together. I think it was done well as a retelling and I love the cover, it's so cute.

That said, I think I'm at an age where all YA contemporaries fall flat for me because they are no longer relatable and I find the characters juvenile. I wasn't a huge fan of her awkwardness and the coding. I did skim a lot, so it's a 3 star.

This book was so cute and light. I actually didnt know who the girl would end up with, which was very refreshing! If you're looking for a light, cute read, this is it!

The one thing that held me back from a full 5 stars is that the main girl was a little cliche. If I described "high school girl who codes," this girl would hit all the pins. That being said, this story was still very fun!!

A retelling of Jane Austen's Emma, The Code for Love and Heartbreak follows math nerd Emma as she is beginning her senior year. She is co-president of the coding club, along with George, her sister's boyfriend's little brother and her prime rival for valedictorian. Emma doesn't understand people, but she does understand numbers, and she needs a great idea for her coding club project so she can win in her senior year and get into Harvard. So, she comes up with the idea to create a system to match couples up in her school for dances. It starts off so well, but when couples start breaking up, Emma must rethink her approach to the math, and maybe even love.

This book was super cute, and reminded me of high school when we did matching services. I love reading about coding, I have no idea why but it really interests me in books. I liked the competition aspect of the plot line, and how the lessons in this book aren't just about life and love, but also about friendship and what it means to be a friend. Emma really grows and changes during the book, which is always a great plot line.

One thing that I didn't like is that Emma was unnecessarily mean at points in this book. Like, in most stories there is a conflict, where the MC loses friends, alienates people, etc. But I felt like it went too far in this book, and bordered on actual bullying. The same effect could've been manufactured without turning Emma into someone who says horribly mean and rude things to her friends.

Overall, the story was adorable and the way the love story progressed was super cute. It was a solid friends to lovers, and the big romantic gesture was super nerdy yet adorable. The main themes of this book were good, I just couldn't give it a full 4 stars due to the issues I had with Emma.

**Thank you to Inkyard Press and Netgalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

An ARC of this novel was sent to me by NetGalley for reviewing purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book for the most part. I really like the development of the characters and the writing style.

Ever want to know the secret code for love? This is your book! Such a cute book, love the "nerdy" characters, the happy ending, the mishaps. Just all of it!