Member Reviews
I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I enjoyed this one! The setting was fun, especially since I have been there. I think the whole forgetting the phone issue was unrealistic but that's just me. Everything else was pretty good.
This was a cute rom com! It’s set in California & a lot of it takes place on Catalina Island which gave it summer vibes 🌞 it kind of reminded me of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days but more one sided (the MMC is not plotting anything). The concept was fun & very modern! The FMC has a podcast with her best friend and the storyline revolves around that. I didn’t love the FMC at first but she definitely grew on me as the book went on. I did love Declan, the MMC. He was so sweet 🥹 overall a cute, fun rom com read that I would recommend for your summer tbr when you need a good book to put you in the summer mood 🥰
Cute. Overall, I like Margo and Jo, silly friends that let business get in the way. Jo and Peter are getting married, and the whole bridal party ends up together on an island for 2 weeks. Declan and Peter are best friends, so Margo has to see her high school nemesis every day during the trip….what if he’s not her nemesis though?
The side characters did not get enough time - I needed more about Autumn and Lucas, needed more on Jo and Peter, and how this whole thing started. The story seems to start in the middle, because we missed all of who Jo is, how she and Peter got together, and how Margo found out. We get this info interspersed in the story, but honestly, they should have started with this.
Like I said, overall, I liked it, but there were some missed opportunities in this book.
This was cute summer romance, but it dragged a little bit for me. I'm interested in seeing what else this author writes.
This was a free copy via NetGalley.
I really enjoyed this book. It was a bit of a slow start for me, but that quickly changed once I got past the beginning podcaster stuff and I devoured it! I loved the enemies-turned-lovers, skeptic pessimist-turned hope-filled believer. The humor and witty banter between Margo and Declan had me laughing out loud!!
Thank you NetGalley and St.Martin’s Press for ARC!!
The Unhoneymooners meets The Ex-Talk in this enemies-to-lovers, maid of honor/best man, vacation setting rom-com with a side of a podcast!! Coming out on 5/16/23, Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts was funny, sweet, and hot all at once. Declan was absolutely lovable, and Margo was a really relatable character for me. The author really captures the feeling of being caught totally off guard by a relationship, and I thought it was a great read all the way through, with some great spicy scenes peppered in throughout!
I enjoyed the premise of high school enemies to lovers storyline. It was lighthearted and fun, and the dialogue was so easy to follow along. The female friendships were superficial and felt sidelined by the bigger romance but I enjoyed Margo’s emotional journey throughout. The love interest is easy to like and the romance was just a little steamy. Overall, I’d recommend for other romance lovers for a easy read but I wouldn’t put it in my personal top 5 favorite romances.
Great book! My favorite character, by far, was the hero Declan. Very well-developed! I will definitely be purchasing a copy of this book for my classroom.
This was such a cute book! It reminded me of the classic rom-coms of the 90’s & early 00’s. I think that Declan might just be my new book boyfriend! I only wish that we could have gotten chapters from his POV!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!
The dynamic of these two characters was really fun. The chemistry was clear. It was overall a decent story, and I had a good time reading.
A good read -- I thought the characters were well-developed and I really enjoyed their dynamic/chemistry.
I think that the book turned out to be pretty good. The first half i struggled a bit to get through. But once i was halfway through the book i found myself unable to put it down. I wish that there was a bit more after they made up. Overall, definitely worth the read
i really enjoyed this book, loved declan and margo! loved the setting and the other characters as well
it flowed really well, and i was rooting for them the whole time!! there were times when i wanted margo to give her head a shake but at the same time i felt for her.
i read this book in one afternoon because i just had to know what happened.
i only realize this was a debut novel when i went to review it and look for more books.
thank you to netgalley and st martins press for the opportunity to love this book
Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts is Kristyn J. Miller’s debut romantic comedy. It is a modern enemies-to-lovers second-chance romance.
20-something Margo Anderson hosts a viral podcast with her lifelong best friend Jo Hernandez. They are commitment-phobes so the theme of their podcast is seven rules for hooking up without catching feelings. When Jo surprises Margo by deciding to get married to a high school classmate, Margo is blindsided. Then Jo takes up a sponsor’s offer to host an all-expenses-paid wedding trip on Catalina Island.
Margo is left figuring out how to save their podcast, which is both hers and Jo’s livelihood. She decides to conduct a social experiment and deliberately break all her own dating rules. Margo selects the groom’s best man, Declan Walsh, who was also her high school nemesis. Declan sabotaged her professional tuba-playing dreams, among other things. Now Declan is a Sam Heughan look-alike and works for NASA, but he still annoys the heck out of Margo. As they spend the week together on Catalina Island, they fall for each other and have to find a way forward, considering the podcast.
Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts is an entertaining read which will appeal to younger podcast listeners and fans of Ali Hazlewood. The story is genuinely funny and it’s good to see characters that have unique interests, such as Margo’s tuba playing. As an older married reader, I don’t understand the hook-up mentality that the female characters promote. Margo matured over the course of the story and became a more likeable person, in my opinion.
I received an Advance Review Copy (ARC) from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Margo and Jo host a popular dating podcast about being happy in their singledom. But when Jo get's engaged she decides to take a sponsor up on their offer to host their wedding on Catalina Island, In a scramble for content to appease their disappointed listeners, Margo cooks up a social experiment for their final season. Break all her own dating rules, just to prove that it’s a bad idea. And she chooses none other than the best friend and high school enemy Declan. Except once the rules are broken she finds herself enjoying Declan's company and maybe even catches feelings for him. But how can she really let him in while keeping her followers and the podcast on her good side.
I enjoyed parts of this story, but overall I had a hard time getting into it enough. I just didn't find myself caring about these two podcasters and their trivial issues as influencers. First off if you are best friends and don't even know your friend is in a serious relationship that is close enough to get engaged, can you really call yourself best friends? I found Margo so negative and a bit annoying. In the end I enjoyed her character arc but it took a while to get there. Declan was a great cinnamon roll hero, and I enjoyed their budding romance.
Thanks to the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review. This book releases 5/16
I really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down. I loved the characters and the plot. It was a great debut.
Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts is honestly the perfect beach or poolside read! It's funny, light hearted, and honestly just really cute. The chemistry between Margo and Declan was fantastic, and I loved the banter between them.
Margo and her best friend, Jo, have spent years cultivating a podcast centered around their seven rules for hooking up without catching feelings. Jo’s decision to get married upsets and disappoints their listeners because it doesn’t align with the image they’ve built. Scrambling to come up with content to appease them, Margo decides to purposely break their own rules just to prove that it’s a bad idea. The last thing she expects is to actually fall in love…
Ya’ll, I am obsessed with this debut! The writing style, Margo’s voice, and the fun influencer/podcaster angle all had me hooked immediately. I will say that the whole breaking the rules for the podcast storyline was a little flimsy and could have been better developed, BUT that was made up for by the chemistry and hilarious banter between Margo and Declan. I also loved the self-discovery and character growth that was present. 4.5/5
Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Griffin for the eARC of Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts in exchange for my honest review!
I really enjoyed this fun and quick-paced beach read romance! I feel like this is one that will be extremely popular with Bookstagram and Booktok because the setting is perfect for the summer. I loved both Margo and Declan (let’s hear it for the red heads!!) because they both felt like real and tangible people. They were capable of being sweet, but also making mistakes/owning up to their mistakes.
The podcast aspect was a cute feature as well even if I’m not a major podcast listener myself. I feel like people who love podcasts will enjoy it even more for that!
I didn’t love the third act breakup (9.9 times out of 10 I just find it unbearable) and it felt very predictable that the story was headed that direction, but I thought the maturity of the characters shown through in their following actions/responses. A very solid HEA!
This was a cute one! Super fun setting, and the characters were enjoyable. I'd read it again! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.