The plot follows Leonie, an American singleton who meets Irishman, Jack whilst in Paris. After spending the night together, Leonie doesn’t intend on ever seeing him again. That is until she turns up to work and realises that Jack has recently come on board for the latest project.

The storyline is an interesting one but unfortunately I just couldn’t connect with it. I found the relationship between Jack and Leonie lacking chemistry, I didn’t really care if they ended up together or not. The miscommunication trope missed the mark for me to the point that it didn’t add anything to the character development and instead was irksome. The relationship Leonie had with her step-brother and the secrets he made her keep felt very juvenile.

Thanks to Netgalley, Harper Collins UK and One More Chapter for the ARC

This was not good. I stuck it out so that I could honestly review it. I did not like the protagonists, and this is definitely NOT a romantic comedy. The combination of cheating, toxic friends, and manipulative family members turned me off, as well as the workplace sexual harassment that the readers are supposed to laugh off. I do not recommend this at all.

Leonie and Jack meet on an app that is based off of them being opposites. Even though they like totally different things, their chemistry is super hot. This book was very spicy and totally different than I thought it would be. A very quick, easy read.

Once Upon An Algorithm was not it. I don't think I've genuinely disliked a book or its characters this much in a really long time, and I was so hopeful for this one lol

Nope! No! Absolutely not!

I didn't like the writing style - too much inner monologue. I didn't find the book funny either.

But the real clencher was a revelation about the male MC at about 75% in the book that should have been mentioned within the first 20%. <spoiler> He's married and still lives with his wife. He doesn't want a divorce at the moment. </spoiler>

I enjoyed the story of Leonie and Jack, I wasn’t sure I was going to at first, but I ended up totally engrossed in their relationship.

Really enjoyed this romcom set in the world of coding and app development! Definitely learnt a bit more about the goings on behind the scenes. I really enjoyed the scenes with Leonie and Jack although did struggle with Jacks grumpiness/standoffish behaviour but guess one of the main tropes is that so would recommend for those who like that! The sunrise scene was incredible and of course we got our HEA even after that “goodbye” kiss!

I don't often give harsh reviews but this was really hard to get into and the romance did not illustrate romance unfortunately. I really like the idea of this but it just didn't translate well. I'm sure the author tried her best but this felt very forced like her friends asking her to go on a date with a complete stranger and then the guy character saying really mean comments and potentially sexiest which should NOT be happening in a work place environment ever. I don't what the storyline was trying to achieve because it was so chaotic with the characters and plot. Thank you to the publisher, the author (I would use beta readers next time), and Netgalley for this review.

I really tried with this one, but unfortunately it didn't click. The writing felt messy, and the story seemed to jump around the place.

There's cheating in the book, which I wasn't expecting going into it, and I didn't enjoy.

The terminology was unnecessarily technical and while I followed along, it was too much in a romance book.

I appreciate the concept but unfortunately not the execution.

Thank you #Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book which contains spoilers.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The main theme of the book is around people judging others based on appearance/perceived social and monetary status etc and the incorrect assumptions these can lead to.

The thing is the characters do unforgivable things to each other which are seemingly allowed/brushed off by others in the story, because of this theme and each character feeling so hard done by that they allow bad behaviour by others because somehow it just continues to cement the sentiment.

For spoilers the hero is married till the last chapter and goes back and forth about perhaps trying to make things work with his wife again. The heroine somehow doesn’t know the organisational structure of the company she is working for and so doesn’t realise the hero is equal owner and keeps him out of big decisions for the company.

In retrospect the hero’s attitude is completely immature and stuck in how he was treated as a kid and I think he will continue to make bad choices because he is so stuck in this narrative that he is determined to perpetuate it.

The heroine seems as lost at the end as she was at the beginning.

One thing I did like about the book was her descriptions of the work process of developing an app. I actually found that quite interesting. I like romance stories where we learn about something and I get ann insight into other careers/life paths.

I struggled with this one and it didn’t grip me, I pushed through and then found out the guy was still married!! This is huge no no for me and romances and it completely lost me when I found this out.

A really enjoyable first book that I have read of Clara O'Connor's.

I'm rather partial to a STEM romance and this is set in the world of tech, social media app start ups and bother main characters are involved in the project.

It's just that Leonie is only helping as a favour to her step brother Ed to help him get out of a mess, and well a few weeks earlier she had a hot encounter with Jack, in Paris and now they appear to be working together.

And Ed is making her lie to Jack too, which is never a good sign. There is plenty of sexual chemistry within these pages, and Leonie is convinced that there is no way that Jack could be right for her.

I found this really entertaining, and although I was slightly confused by some of the ending, I still really enjoyed the book.

Thank you to One More Chapter and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

This was a DNF for me. There was no chemistry between the characters and the male character was a cheater, a TW for me. Also, there was too much on the field of coding and apps that doesn’t interest me. Only made it about halfway and would not recommend.

This book was not for me so I DNF’ed before 50%. I’m not a fan of a cheating troupe so that really ended my desire to continue reading.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't hate this one but there is nothing special about it. There didn't seem to be a huge amount of chemistry between Jack and Leonie. They were both keeping secrets from each other which turned out to be a big deal to each other when they found out - but from my point of view these were just silly things to be caught up over. I liked bits where they were building an app and the process they went through. Jack however, given his position (which we don't learn aobut until much later in the story), let Leonie walk all over him - that didn't seem realistic. Leonie just took Eric's (her step-brother) word on everything, rather than chatting to her Mum or Step-Dad. Leonie's friends didn't really seem to add much to the story and the ending seemed quite unrealistic and rushed.
1 like

I really wanted to like this book. At the start it was interesting but it jumped in scenes and parts of the story that didn’t make it easy to keep up.

I didn’t vibe with the characters and found them hard to relate to, I think the storyline between the 2 main characters was very flawed and I didn’t respect the choices made.

There was no spice and the world building was lacking. Unfortunately I didn’t like this book

A cute story about modern life, breakups followed by meet ups and dating apps. Friends hook Leonie up with a stranger in Paris. Is it a one night thing? Leonie finds out that the world really is a small place when they meet up again.
Based on a tech company and an app development, some of the tech speak was difficult to understand, but the story was well written and interestingly different.
Very enjoyable.

The premise of this book was interesting AF but the writing got away from me. I also do NOT like cheating in a book (especially when I dont know about it). I ended up DNFing

While this book has a lot of potential, it fell a little short for me.

The amount of focus placed on the tech product and project management made me feel like I was at work and took away time I wish would have been spent developing our characters more. The chemistry between our MCs felt shallow and forced, and often immature.

Overall, I like the concept and end result, but didn’t fully enjoy the path that was taken to get there.

2.5/5

Thanks to OneMoreChapter and Netgalley for the ARC.

I so, so wanted to like this. I really enjoyed Clara's fantasy trilogy and was excited for this story, but it really left me wanting in so many areas. First, the level of tech in the story really took me out of it as I had no knowledge of app development and it felt like it was written like I should have. I like that Leonie is smart, and accomplished, but the emphasis on the jargon and process that I didn't understand made me not really care. Second, this was promoted as a "spicy" story and while I certainly wasn't expecting Sierra Simone levels of spice, this was the same as what many non-spicy stories would have so it didn't in any way feel spicy. Basic kissing, fondling and fade to black......I guess I just expected a level of hotness, and intimacy that would have made the characters have any kind of connection. Really bummed this story didn't live up to what I was hoping for.