This was such a fun #ownvoices YA fake dating romance between a nerdy STEM girl and a hockey jock baker. Where do I even start with this one?? I'm a huge Farah Heron fan and this latest YA love story was a pure delight!

From the Toronto setting, the math-smart, gamer girl protagonist, the great baking adventures and the diverse cast of characters. I really enjoyed Samaya and her fake boyfriend Daniel's opposites attract romance as she tries to move on from her ex and prove she's 'winning' their breakup.

Perfect for fans of books like Love, decoded by Jennifer Yen or My mechanical romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth and great on audio narrated by one of my favs, Soneela Nankani. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

What a cute and sweet rom-com!

I really loved this book. I had so much fun reading it. I know it took me forever to read it (three months), but every time I sat down to read it I had the time of my life, because this book is really fun!

The writing is great and very immersive. The characters had great development and the writer wrote/described teenagers almost flawlessly.

The diversity was everything to me. I loved it!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Get ready to fall in love with Farah Heron’s latest ya romance How to Win a Breakup.

Bring on the teenage drama and angst! Farah has done it again. She has created a warm, fun, and realistic YA contemporary romance story. It was easy to just sink into this book and watch all this high school drama unfold. I loved all the big emotions, the food talk, the characters, and the Bridgerton feel of this book. She weaves together themes of family, friends, relationships, technology, and cliquism and creates a fun story with excellent banter and a lot of depth.

I loved, loved, loved this modern take on Lady Whistledown’s gossip pamphlets. In this book, there is a mysterious Instagram account called Earl’s Whispers, which keeps its followers up on the latest gossip at Earl’s Jones Secondary School (Samaya’s school). No one knows who runs this account, but whoever it is seems to have it in for Samaya. I just thought this was such a clever story element to include, and I loved how Farah modernized a part of the Bridgerton world. It showed readers how toxic and dangerous social media can be and its impact on people’s lives. I enjoyed this mystery around who was running this page and found myself trying to guess who was the “Earl.”

Samaya has a lot going on in her life. Her break-up with her boyfriend was unexpected and did a number on her mental well-being. At the start of school, Samaya wants to step away from all this drama linked to her break-up and focus on school and volunteering. Unfortunately, escaping the limelight is harder, and she finds herself the target of Earl’s Whispers posts. I liked Samaya; she is smart and driven, and underneath that prickly exterior is a nice person. In this book, we watch as she tries to figure out how to deal with all the rumours going around, and tries to show the school that she has moved on from her ex. Her character makes mistakes and stumbles, but she picks herself up and grows. I liked spending time with her.

Daniel is a big old sweetheart, and I loved his passion for baking. Farah could have easily made his character one-dimensional and very stereotypical, but she didn’t. Daniel’s character comes across as this carefree jock with a glass-half-full attitude. It looks like he doesn’t have a care in the world. But in reality, Daniel is dealing with some tough problems and has been through a lot. I loved peeling away those layers and learning more about Daniel and his life.

The romance in this book has so much drama in it. You won’t enjoy this story if you are not a fan of teenage angst and big emotions. The main catalyst in this story is Samaya trying to show her fellow peers that she is over her ex and that she is living her best life. And that’s where Daniel comes in. Samaya and Daniel agree to help each other out; Daniel will pretend to be Samaya’s boyfriend until geek prom, and in exchange, Samaya has to help Daniel with his math homework. But of course, as they spend more time together, they fall in love. These two are sweet and have this lovely reverse grumpy sunshine feel to their relationship. I liked their chemistry, and they were perfect for each other.

How to Win a Break-up is a fun, drama-filled teenage romance that you cannot put down.

Thank you, Skyscape, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book went deeper than just a fake dating romance. It touched on racism in ways that were effective but not in-your-face or obviously added to check a box. The LGBTQIA+ characters had substance and depth and didn’t serve as just a character trope - Cass is the friend we should all strive to be! And the conversations around homelessness and Samaya’s reflection on what it means to be housed should give readers something to think about.

I Received an e-copy of this book from NetGalley in turn for an honest review!

I loved this one! I could not put it down! Farah gave us a refreshing YA with memorable characters. I was here for the pettiness, the character growth, the connection, the cooking, the gamer vibes and friendship representation that was found throughout this book.
You could say the odds were in Samaya's favour after her break up with Devin the way life unfolded in this delicious dilemma of relationship and friendship in a high school setting. Some would call it fate but Samaya was poised to come out on top of this break up unknown to her with a healed heart, stronger friendship, a sense of self much stronger that where she started and perhaps some cooking skills too.
This was a fresh twist on a fake dating/relationship of convenience that was meant to be!
Loved it!

Happy Reading!

This was a really cute YA book!! The writing was accessible and easy, so it's perfect book to read if you want something light and fun to read in one sitting.

This is my first time reading a book by Farah Heron and it will most definitely not be my last time reading any of her books. First of all, the cover was a quick win for me I am so loving it. I thought this book was about adults but after reading the synopsis I was hooked line and sinker reading his young adult book. I don’t usually read young adult romance but I truly enjoyed reading this one. Secondly fake relationship tropes are one of my favorites to read. Samaya is a high school senior who is a math genius and gamer who gets dumped by her boyfriend Devin and if that wasn’t enough he hooks up with her frenemy. He also sabotages her chances of working as volunteer counselor at a math camp. Samaya now finds herself behind with her community service hours. Devin wants Samaya back but of course Samaya is not having any of that. Daniel who is a pastry chef hockey jock who is also volunteering at the camp. Samaya comes up with a plan to get back at her ex-Devin by asking Daniel to be her fake boyfriend. Daniel agrees to help Samaya but he wants something out of the deal. He needs Samaya to help him pass calculus.

Will things work out for Samaya in her plan to get at Devin with her fake relationship with Daniel, how will things work out for Samaya and Daniel, will Daniel pass his calculus class?

I received an ARC via NetGalley and Skyscape and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

This book is all the high school drama in one story.

Break ups.

Enemies.

A little mystery.

Gossip.

Gaming.

Fake boyfriends.

Cute book that is completely YA. The main character is a little hard to care about at first but if you stick with it all changes.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review.

This was a fun, cute YA read. I enjoyed the focus on gaming and the connection through that. It's always fun to see in books being a gamer myself. I didn't like the element of catfishing, but that is just my personal taste. Overall, it was an enjoyable read.

Thank you, NetGalley and Skyscape for this this eARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a really fun read! Full of high school drama and gaming culture, it was really easy and quick to read.

There are a few little mysteries in here, such as who is Samaya's gaming friend and who is running the Instagram gossip account. I thought that it was pretty predictable how the mysteries were going to turn out, except for who was running the gossip account, where I thought the reveal ended up being pretty anticlimactic considering some of the stuff they were putting out there.

I did really enjoy the depiction of volunteer work and shelters; I thought it was handled really gently and with care, and I loved seeing that especially in YA as homelessness is not a topic often touched upon in that age range.

I struggled with the main character to begin with, as she was pretty self-centred most of the time to the detriment of her friendships, but I loved seeing her character growth throughout the book and being held accountable by her friends. This is where the side characters really shone as feeling well fleshed out and real, especially Samaya's best friend Cass, whom I loved. The romance between Samaya and Daniel is also really cute and I actually didn't mind when the classic third-act breakup happened, because you could actually understand the reasons behind it. Daniel was a lovely character and I really enjoyed whenever he was on page.

I do think the writing could be a little stilted at times, especially in the beginning where we were getting long paragraphs describing the exact outfits everyone was wearing, but that faded off towards the middle and from then on it was a lot more flowing.

Put How to Win a Breakup on the top of your list to read!

Math nerd Samaya Janmohammad just wants to get over being dumped by her boyfriend and friend Devin Kapadia by playing video games and losing her position as a volunteer counselor at a math camp. Now Samaya is behind on her community service hours but she can volunteer with baking at a family shelter. But now Devin wants to be friends again and Samaya needs to salvage her final year of school by beating Devin at his own game. Maybe she could ask hockey player Daniel Ramos who is also volunteering at the shelter to pretend to be the guy that she is playing with on Dragon Arena.

I loved How to Win a Breakup because you want Samaya to help Daniel learn his calculus and be the person that she was always meant to be. How to Win a Breakup will be in my list of top ten books for the year.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Included as a top pick in bimonthly March New Releases post, which highlights and promotes upcoming releases of the month (link attached)

This was a really cute book even with all the predictable twists and turns. I thought Samaya and Daniel were really cute together and I loved the setting and how the author incorporated a shelter into the story. I'm a sucker for any novel where we have baking or cooking anything. There is one scene in here where Samaya starts waxing poetic about a crush and how they will be together forever and ever and how much she loves him and I had to laugh because teenage me did that all the time. Definitely enjoyed this one a lot.

Recommended: sure
For a sweet story with some actual mystery to it, for a fun integration of nerdy gamer things that you'll be in on the joke for if you're a gamer, for characters who support being their true authentic selves

Thoughts:
This starts off with a premise that could easily fall to the lazy, boring trope where the conflict is driven by people simply not talking to each other. Happily, that lazy boring trope is not where this book draws from. Instead, there's a well-developed sense of identity and authenticity, as well as mutual support. Considering this is a fake-dating trope, it's really impressive that it still felt very genuine for the characters!

I loved that they were pretty honest with each other from the start. Even though there's the one obvious lie of pretending this guy is an excellent gamer, they both focus on staying true to themselves and encouraging each other to do the same. Daniel's interactions with Samaya's friends was focused a lot on who he genuinely is, rather than solely on his assumed persona. They even call that out to each other after, which was a heartwarming moment of clarity. This is a critical basis of any relationship, so I was quickly invested in them, regardless of if romance came or it stayed as a strong friendship.

As a sense of identity is a core of this story for both main characters, there's also a side dish of racial commentary. Devin's parents look down on Samaya's family for not being Indian-Indian; Daniel gets all kinds of micro-aggressions about being a great player for a Filipino -- and even that feels like an improvement over the outright racism and violence he'd dealt with previously. It's not the full core of the story, but they each find ways to deal with it and commiserate together to find community and support.

One little aspect of this that niggled at me as a gamer was how some of the gaming things just seemed incorrect. Now, note: this only annoyed me because I have done these things and could see the logic holes, but realistically, they didn't affect the story of the novel (and were usually being used to propel it, in fact). One weird idiosyncrasy was that Discord, an online platform for voice chatting, was acknowledged to exist. Yet somehow their gaming guild was only able to play and talk by being in a room together, instead of using Discord to connect like just about every other gaming guild around???

But to be fair LAN parties can be hella fun so no shade at the end result, the excuse for it just didn't make sense. xD

Anyway, I definitely enjoyed this one and was pleasantly surprised at the depth brought to what's usually a bit of a fluffy trope for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Skyscape for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review.

I am on a bit of a YA kick, and when the books are this good I do not hate it! I am a big Farah
Heron fan, so I knew this one was going to be a delight. Big thanks to #netgalley and Skyscape for the ARC to read and review.

Samaya is a very smart, self-proclaimed nerd girl who is going through it as she enters her final year of high school. Her boyfriend broke up with her over the summer. Her parents and school counselors are on her to strengthen her resume for college applications. And the rumor mill is working overtime with the help of an anonymous Instagram account. Her exboyfriend has already started dating someone new. The only brightspot for Samaya outside of good friends Aimee and Cass is LostNight - someone who she games with but hasn't met IRL.

Samaya ends up volunteering at a local shelter, and it changes everything, especially meeting Daniel, her very cute co-volunteer.

I love a coming-of-age story that feels authentic - because teenage girls are messy, and often selfish. and Heron does such a great job in crafting her characters with this level of nuance. Were there times I was frustrated with Samaya? Sure, but it felt so real. Lord knows how frustrating I was as a teen! But this also delves deep into tough issues - socioeconomic status and classism, racism and homophobia.

I tore through this one, and when I finished had a big ol smile on my face. What a delight!

I will post this review on my bookstagram, @scottonreads, goodreads and retail sites.

In this novel, we meet Samaya just as she heads into her senior year of high school. After being unceremoniously dumped without warning, her ex sabotages her summer job so badly she quits and spends the summer wallowing in self pity and playing online games with a mystery guy. Now she needs to get in her community service hours before graduation and the only option is a family shelter where she must learn to bake. While working there she meets Daniel--except she's seen him before. Her online mystery man sent her Daniel's picture. Except hockey-playing, baker extraordinaire Daniel is definitely not her mysterious online gamer. Desperate to get the school off her back and ensure her ex knows she's moved on, Samaya proposes she and Daniel fake-date in exchange for her helping him pass calculus. What could go wrong? Or rather, what could go right...

How to Win a Breakup is all you could ever want in a YA romcom: fake dating, secret identities, revenge (or at least pettiness) and more. Daniel and Samaya make such a fun pair, and Daniel has one of the more interesting backstories I've seen for a character in a while. I also love how this book kind of both leans into and out of stereotypes, with the nerds at Samaya's school being the popular kids, and Daniel, the jock, worried about fitting in. It's an interesting twist that was fun to read.

Thanks to the publisher for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 8/10

How to Win a Breakup is the excellent story of Samaya- a talented gamer who just got dumped by her boyfriend, the school’s golden boy. Suddenly, the school is questioning Samaya’s math skills and ability to game. It’s unbearable- so Samaya leaks a picture of her with her online friend. It should be harmless- until she meets them in real life while getting her community service hours. However, some of what her online friend has said doesn’t match with Daniel in real life. Samaya must uncover who she was cat-fished by and why. Luckily, Daniel agrees to be her fake boyfriend to help with the cruel gossip. Samaya is horrified when she starts to develop feelings for the funny and sweet Daniel, which is strictly against their fake-dating rules. Samaya must choose if she will go against the parameters Daniel set for them and decide how much she cares about what her friends think…

Farah Heron is becoming one of my auto-buy authors!! I love how immersive and warm her writing is. Samaya and Daniel both feel so realistic and the type of people you’d want to be friends with. Heron’s writing is witty, while not shying away from important real-world issues such as discrimination, homelessness, and mental health. I loved how the fictional game felt so real! I became so invested in Samaya finding her way and deciding what/who was truly important to her. Samaya’s best friend Cass is another one of my favorite characters! I really enjoyed how they were so supportive of Samaya and also knew when to give her tough love.

How to Win a Breakup has fake dating, gender role reversals, and excellent representation. This book would be perfect for fans of Emma Lord, Talia Hibbert, and Tashie Bhuiyan. I would highly recommend it to anyone and I can’t wait to read what Farah Heron writes next!!

How to Win A Breakup is available March 21, 2023. Thank you to Farah Heron, Skyscape, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc

Samaya is recovering from the very public breakup with her boyfriend and her best friend. Her summer was blown up by the one person she thought she could trust. Now she has found someone online to who she can relate. she has the new year to deal with and her boyfriend is now dating her friend. she can't be seen as the one losing although she is for sure over the ex.

She happens to run into the boy whose photo was sent to her by her mysterious online friend and this person is for sure not him. so they develop a fake dating plan in exchange for her to help him with his math

Daniel and Samaya become fast friends and genuine feelings start developing.

This was such a nice story, I loved Samaya and Daniel and the mystery they had to figure out with the person who catfished her this summer.

I truly enjoyed learning more about Samaya and Daniel - they were good at communicating with each other.

Some chapters in the middle could have been taken out to make it a touch shorter but all in all, this is a great read

Very cute premise. A lot happens in the very beginning and it’s chaotic much like a teenagers thoughts during a wildly public break up, so keep that in mind. If you don’t enjoy hijinks and fake dating this may not be for you.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity. All thoughts are my own

I found this book to be a delightful read that brought back memories of my youth and the naivete that is so common during high school years. I particularly enjoyed the gaming aspect of the story, as it introduced me to a new world of possibilities that I had not considered before. The main character, Samaya, was well-developed, and it was satisfying to see her personal growth throughout the book. Her transformation was significant, and it was inspiring to witness her journey. Daniel, a thoughtful character, had an optimistic outlook on life that I found refreshing. He provided a counterbalance to the main character's struggles, and his presence added depth to the story. Overall, this book was an enjoyable and thought-provoking read that I would highly recommend to others.