i enjoyed the awkward, nerdy characters within this story and didn't feel like this personality was forced or looked down on in any way. I think this also brings coding into a genre that it isn't necessarily as prominent in, which would be great for young readers to see and experience. I really enjoyed this read and think it was a cute, simple read.

Fun, G-rated, STEM, girl-power, YA romantic comedy

Emma Woodhouse is an extremely introverted, high school senior who is a genius at math and also gifted at playing the piano. She is trying to expand her extracurricular activities on the advice of her academic advisor in order to increase her chances of getting accepted to her dream school, Stanford. One such activity, Coding Club, which she has participated in during previous school years, seems as if it could become a real addition to her Stanford application when Emma comes up with what she considers a terrific idea for a computer programming project which might take their team all the way to the top in the annual State competition. Her idea is a dating app which she dubs, The Code for Love. It uses algorithms to calculate romantic compatibility.

Prior to this year, Emma’s best and only friend has always been her older sister, Isabella, in spite of social-butterfly Izzy being Emma’s complete opposite. But Izzy is now a college freshman. She has been madly and mutually in love for many years with a boy named John Knightley, and she has followed John all the way across the country to California for college. Emma feels lonely and abandoned when she no longer has Izzy to talk to and generally help her relate to the rest of the human race. John’s younger brother, George, who is Emma’s age, is someone she’s known for years, but they’ve never been close friends. And as co-presidents of the Coding Club this year, they immediately butt heads over what project the club will do for the State competition.

George dislikes the whole concept of Emma’s app, which he views as an intrusive form of meddling in people's lives. But he and his allies in the club are outvoted by those who like Emma’s idea, and The Code for Love becomes the app they develop.

At first the app seems to work really well, and all the students in their high school who use it to gain a match are delighted. But then, suddenly, to Emma’s dismay, many of the matched couples begin to break up. And along the way of figuring out why, Emma’s competitive and often combative relationship with George begins to shift in ways that no computer code could ever have predicted.

This is a G-rated novel suitable for all ages and is a fun retelling of Jane Austen's Emma. The author uses the same character names from Emma, and each character she recycles is a modern update of Austen’s characters. Unlike in the original, instead of George Knightley being 17 years older than Emma, who is 20 in the Austen book, in this story the two are both 17. In addition, instead of Emma’s sister Isabella being much older than Emma and married to John Knightley for many years, in this book they are only one year older and not yet married. Mr. Woodhouse in this story is not a hypochondriacal old man but a vital, middle-aged attorney. Mrs. Weston is currently still Miss Taylor. She is a teacher at Emma’s school and faculty supervisor of the Coding Club. During this book, in a humorous subplot, Ms. Taylor is courted by Mr. Weston, who is a nerdy calculus teacher at Emma’s high school. Frank Churchill, Jane Fairfax, Harriet Smith, Robert Martin and Phillip Elton appear in this book as student members of the Coding Club.

Emma is a cute and lovable female protagonist. I could relate to her struggles with social situations as an introvert, and I enjoyed the emphasis on her as a STEM heroine. I also liked this version of George Knightley. Humorously, he has some of the same stuffy bossiness as the original, and his competing idea for an app is quite funny.

I rate this book as follows:

Heroine: 4 stars
Hero: 4 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Romance Plot: 4 stars
Coming of Age Plot: 4 stars
Writing: 4 stars
Overall: 4 stars

I started reading this at just the right time. I'm a sucker for an "Emma" story. I like knowing what's going to happen and how the author makes the story his/her own. Bringing a coding club and algorithms to match-making is just perfect for today's audiences.

At one part of the book, Emma states she hates "Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movies". Why does a screenwriter get to determine these two will fall in love? A tongue in cheek reference to the book the words are written in.

There wasn't a character I didn't like. Bringing in todays elements of the #metoo movement and gay/lesbian romances weren't pointed as major plot points, but included in the story as a reflection of our teen world.

I'd recommend this for grades 6 and up. Anyone who needs a happy ending - knowing it's coming but still reading anyway - will fall in love with this Emma-version.

Such an adorable book! I think it is going to be an instant hit! The cover art is awesome and the story is so sweet!

I received a free E- ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. The following thoughts and opinions are my own!
Can the problems of the heart and love be solved by math?
First off I want to say this book was really fun and cute. It is the nerdy high school version of Jane Austin's Emma.
Emma is a student in her senior year of high school and finds that it is math, not people, that is always predictable as well as reliable. She is, at times, socially awkward, but loyal to her friends and family. While this book has a slow start, as the story processes, the pacing picks up. This book centers around Emma and her journey to discover who she is in the light rather than hiding in the shadows of her sister, her brain, and a computer screen. I enjoyed her relationships with her family and friends especially with George, the co-president of the coding club along with Emma. Their senior coding competition entry is an app that calculates a student's perfect match based on a math algorithm. While the code seemly works perfect for those around Emma, she is unclear why some matches are breaking up and some matches are not suitable to be put together. George is so cute and patient with his desire to be more than a friend with Emma. The friends-to-lovers troupe is one of my favorites and this book hit this troupe really well. The writing was good and age appropriate. The ending of the story was very satisfying. I would recommend this book to those who loved the movie Clueless and/ or Jane Austin's Emma. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

This is a cute young adult romance. It does a great job working in the ideas of coding and technology with teenagers and is a good retelling of the story of Emma. It was a very quick read but cute, likeable characters in a nice retelling of a classic tale. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

This YA novel will appeal to fans of coding, dating apps, romance, and retelling's of Jane Austen. The protagonist is a senior in high school but lives a pretty quiet life which could interest some teens. It's a sweet, loose retelling of Emma.

This book proves one thing: I am a sucker for books about High School nerds. Maybe because I am one, so I consider myself to have a pretty informed opinion. While I not on the robotics or Girls Who Code team, I did just submit my final project for my AP Computer Science class. That being said, this book excelled at accurately portraying high school life, especially the club aspect. I loved that that the kids weren't all cookie cutter - each member of the club had their own unique personality and background. Which brings me to my next favorite thing: the complex non-romantic friendships. I went in totally expecting a YA romance, but I lovvveeedd the friendship between Emma and Jane. The way they had secrets and drama added so much to the story. The plot of the book was highly interesting and the romance was not forced at all which is really hard to find in YA. The fact that the reader didn't know who she was going to end up with added a layer of sophistication and anticipation that made you want to keep reading. My only minor qualms are that it started a bit slow and the main character is a bit unlikable at the beginning - however, these problems work themselves out as you get further through.

This is sweet, smart and creative new look of Jane Austen’s Beloved classic. I enjoyed the premise and quirky, socially awkward characterization but some elements of the story, approach to the abuse and bullying between young adults and negative effects of cyber dating weren’t reflected powerfully. I respected to the effort and visionary mind behind story-progression and but conclusion is predictable and flat. So here comes another 3 starred –let’s meet in the middle and stay in Switzerland kind of I didn’t adore it but I didn’t unlike it kind of reading.

I don’t know how many retelling of Jane Austen I’ve read lately and I only gave one book to 4 stars (it was actually rounded up to four) I think when you read passionately the original classics several times, you become tough grader and you start to expect too much from your retellings. So I try to keep my objectivity intact when I start any of those books and consider them as independent stories not to overshadow my judgment and write unfair reviews.

I hooked from the first pages of the novel: we’re introduced Emma Woodhouse, math prodigy, living, breathing and eating numbers! She teams with dear best friend George Knightley (names are same) for special coding task. And they create something fresh, unique, a brand new dating app called: “Code for Love”: filled with algorithms to calculate and find out your match made in heaven.

George doesn’t approve Emma’s emotionless and direct approach, acting like puppet master who pulls the strings and control the people’s love lives. But according to Emma, maths never goes wrong! The proof stands before their eyes! Her app works so well and everyone in the school starts to find their matches. But why people start to break up and why incompatible people start falling in love with each other. Sorry Emma but emotions and feelings cannot be calculated!

In the middle of the story I started to lose my interest but I resume my reading with great patience and I can easily guess the outcome.

Overall: It was mostly enjoyable, light, sweet reading with promising plot. Predictability and its approach to the delicate matters made me lose my interest. But I still want to give a try to new projects of the author.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for sharing this ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

This was such a cute read. I related to the main character, Emma, so much and really enjoyed seeing her grow throughout the novel. She became comfortable in her own skin and was not embarrassed by who she is.
Emma is a flawed character and she also admits that she knows what her struggles are. She works on them and pushes herself.
The first third was a bit slow but it quickly picked up speed from there.
If you like light contemporary with a message, The Code for Love and Heartbreak would be a great pick.
Rating: 5/5
Crude Language: N/A
Romance: 5/5
Spiritual: N/A
Violence: N/A
*I received a copy from the publisher. A positive review was not required and all thoughts are my own.

This is Emma with a modern YA spin. Emma wasn't my favorite book by Jane Austen and she certainly wasn't my favorite character. I find her too annoying. BUT the Emma in this book was relatable and sympathetic. It's a fun book and I really enjoyed it.

Okay, confession. I was looking for an easy read. And an Emma retelling sounded easy.

This book FELT like reading the original Emma, lifted into a modern setting. I had all the same emotions I had reading the original, which, I suppose, means it succeeded beautiful. However, this means it was not easy. It was wonderfully frustrating.

I got about 25-percent of the way in and wasn’t invested enough to keep going. I loved the premise—a socially awkward coder who makes a dating app for a high school competition—as an Emma retelling, but I just didn’t feel like I knew the characters well. The plot moved quickly, and some of the drama with the cast didn’t fit with how little I knew them.

The Code for Love and Heartbreak is a fun, fast paced young adult novel taking place in high school.

Emma is so used to relying on numbers that she believes they are better than people. When her older sister - and only friend- moves across the country for college, Emma must learn how to survive her senior year of high school alone. Emma is at the top of her class, co-President of coding club and a piano player so her calendar is filled, just not when it comes to social commitments.

That quickly changed when the coding club decides to create a matchmaking app for their regional competition.

Even though this has romance elements, I found it to be more about the main character Emma learning about herself and how to be the person she wants to be.

I enjoyed how the characters seemed like realistic high schoolers. Their concerns are about college applications, who to take to the dance and getting rides after school. Not like the high schoolers on television shows where everyone is rich and is doing everything but going to school.

I also appreciated the message of how it is okay to be a nerd and you don’t need to recreate yourself to find friends and maybe even a boyfriend.

The book is billed as being a retelling of Emma but seeing as how I haven’t read Emma, I cannot comment on that.

Super cute read that was incredibly readable with a believable and comfortable pace. It has messages that can be appreciated no matter your age.

4 stars

Emma has always understood math better than people. When her sister and closest confident goes away to college, Emma is left feeling like she doesn't fit. A budding romance between 2 teachers gives Emma an idea - maybe relationships are about the numbers - if you can figure out how to quantify it. Emma and her coding club friends embark on a journey of app development to see if they can use math to find matches among their classmates. Not that Emma wants a match, she just wants to crack the code for love and win the regional competition with the app. As is life, nothing goes to plan and Emma will learn more about people than she anticipated.

This was a cute teen romance with a little bit of computer programming thrown in. I personally cannot relate to it as a re-imagining of Austen's Emma, because in retrospect I realize that I have not read Austen's Emma. If you are looking for something light and fun, look no further.

Just finished my ARC and it hit the spot for my all consuming Jane Austen craving. It does a great job of adapting Emma for a YA setting, only Emma uses a coding app for a competition as her incentive to play match maker. I absolutely LOVED the way Cantor adapted the Elton plot line, and was please with how many changes she made in the processing of adapting; it’s not a direct retelling but it’s got enough of the main cues to be a sold YA adaption. While I don’t think I love it as much as Emma Approved, I can’t wait for this to come out so I can talk to other people about it!

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48713839-the-code-for-love-and-heartbreak" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Code for Love and Heartbreak" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1581369579l/48713839._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48713839-the-code-for-love-and-heartbreak">The Code for Love and Heartbreak</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1651861.Jillian_Cantor">Jillian Cantor</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3216924915">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Just finished my ARC and it hit the spot for my all consuming Jane Austen craving. It does a great job of adapting Emma for a YA setting, only Emma uses a coding app for a competition as her incentive to play match maker. I absolutely LOVED the way Cantor adapted the Elton plot line, and was please with how many changes she made in the processing of adapting; it’s not a direct retelling but it’s got enough of the main cues to be a sold YA adaption. While I don’t think I love it as much as Emma Approved, I can’t wait for this to come out so I can talk to other people about it!
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5923662-courtney">View all my reviews</a>

”Everything can’t be solved with an equation, Em. If you feel something…just let yourself feel it, okay?”

The Code for Love and Heartbreak was so stinking cute. It takes a bit to really find its pace, but once you really dive in with Emma, her family, and her friends, you will not want to stop reading. This is described as a retelling of the classic, Emma, but I’ve never read that, so I’m going to say for myself and others who also haven’t read it, that TCFLAH is like the socially awkward and brainy version of the movie Clueless. (Also a retelling of Emma)

Emma is socially awkward and openly admits to missing some social cues. She relates to things better when they involved numbers, and people are nowhere near as reliable as numbers. I think it might be hard for some to connect to Emma at the start,but my advice is to keep going. This story is about her journey, and while it is a bit rocky, it is worth it to see her blossom.

This book focuses on Emma’s senior year and what she’s looking forward to most, which is winning the team coding competition at the state level. To do that she comes up with a sort of love match app that calculates compatibility based on data, formulas, and code. She has to work hard to convince her team that it’s a winner. That an equation and some code is all it takes to find someone a love match. Along the way she uses the app to set people up, and she finds that maybe love isn’t actually quantifiable.

All in all this was a great YA read. It was sweet and while our lead character was not perfect, she was relatable in so many ways. The feeling of young love. The confusion of being ready to leave home and start your adult life, but also not wanting to leave everything behind. It’s just, good. Recommend for anyone looking for a sweet YA.

Confession: I've never read Emma - I really only know the story from having seen Clueless. But, even with my limited knowledge of what this was based off of, I really enjoyed it and could recognize who was who and vaguely know the overarching plot going in. I like how the coding aspect was brought into the story naturally, and it wasn't super technical, but enough to go "ah-ha!" if you have coding knowledge. Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable book, and I think if I was late high school/early college, especially going into a STEAM field, I would enjoy it even more!

Absolutely loved this book! It was based off of Emma by Jane Austen with a modern spin. I liked all the characters and the coding club! I would probably want to hang out with them in high school!

Yet another book written that parallels Jane Austen's Emma except this one has to do with the main character being awkward with people but highly skilled at math and numbers. Along with her Code club president they make a dating app called "the code of love." What can possibly go wrong?

This was light hearted and much needed. A young rom-com. Loved the two main characters but it was somewhat predictable. Still an enjoyable read overall.

Thank to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Available: 10/6/2020