This didn't quite hit the mark for me. 😕 The pacing felt sluggish, and Lucy's inner monologue seemed to wander without purpose.

While I appreciated the incorporation of an AI chat bot, it felt overshadowed by Lucy's relationship woes. And those Ask Adam posts? So many loose ends left untied!

Overall, "The Love Hack" had potential, but it left me wanting more from the storyline and character development.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of Love Hack.

This book takes a bit to get into, but overall it was an enjoyable read.
The conflicts were a little lacking for me, I understand our protagonist's issues, but I found that there was a lot of complaining and not a lot of doing! The miscommunication in the story was so frustrating, but I also love that, because I love to feel the emotions the characters are feeling while I'm reading. The authors ability to make me feel the awkward tension was great.
I would recommend this book to a friend, it's a semi closed door romance. I don't think I'd categorize as a rom-com, I did not giggle once. However, I could picture this as a cute movie, I would love to see the characters a little more developed.

I hope you give this book a read when it comes out in June!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy

This book just didn't do it for me. I found the protagonist to be underwhelming in terms of connecting with her and with the potential romantic interest. I definitely wasn't the reader for this one.

This book was very cute but it wasn’t something that was incredible, I wish there was more of a love story between the main characters.

Thank you NetGalley, Storm Publishing, and Sophie Ranald for the ARC!

Release Date: June 7, 2024

I actually really liked this book. It was super short and fast paced. The characters are super relatable and fun. I loved how the romance didn’t take anything away from the other parts of the story and nothing felt super rushed or too strung out.

The love pack was a cute and a little emotional. I really thought our main female character was fine and relatable. She took a job opportunity that she didn’t have a lot of experience with still able to come up with successful ways to handle each situation. While she didn’t have fitting in with her new colleagues, I wish there were more chances for us as readers to get to know our colleagues on a one on one level we got some opportunity to meet a few of the colleagues that way, but I’m curious if there could have been, more camaraderie within the group if that happened. Her love interest in the story was also a colleague that worked at the online magazine. Lucy was pretty tight left about her feelings for Ross however, those feelings were put into place when Ross turned up at Lucy‘s sisters bachelorette party. Ross ended up with one of Lucy’s sister’s friends, and Lucy started to realize that her feelings were a little bit more than what she originally thought. As the story goes on Lucy and Ross continue to be friends and really relationship with each other that has trust and understanding until Lucy starts to get messages that come across as if they are written from Ross asking for advice. Let him know that she is received her column and most of the time she doesn’t answer them , but she is a little more confused on where she stand. Lucy sister gets married and moves to New York with her new husband, who is starting to not be as great of a husband as he should be. Lucy super worried about her sister so she tries to stay in touch and check in on her until she receives a email for her column. That’s written as if this person is her husband. Now that she got this email Lucy is super worried about her sister and heads over to New York herself. While she’s in New York, she tries to discover if her intuition is correct or if she is thinking too much into things. During this time she and her sister have to overcome some difficulties between the two of them and figure out how to be a support for one another. Still in New York ends up meeting up with Ross, who is visiting due to a family commitment. Lucy and Ross reunite and their romance begins to bloom. As the story continues, the issues that arise are solved and the romance that was a slow burn finally ended up happening.
The story was a just right amount of everything. From the conflict to the romantic confusion and hopefulness, fit pretty seamlessly. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends, especially those that love a quick romantic, fun, and relatable story; that also has a little bit of heartbreak and a little bit of an emotional roller coaster.

This digital ARC was obtainable via NetGalley for an honest review.

"The Love Hack" did not feel like a romance to me. I think it focused more on her relationship with her sister than building a relationship with Ross. At times I did smile at some situations, but I did more cringing in general. lol I think the most interesting part of this book was the "Ask Adam" entries.

I was SO excited to read this book and to love it but it kind of fell flat to me. The FMC is not written for the girls and it’s just not one I would recommend to my audience

Thank you Netgalley, publisher Storm Publising and author Sophie Ranals for providing an ARC in exchange for a review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3 stars

She’s a rookie advice columnist. He’s her office crush. It’s about to get complicated. Lucy Masters becomes agony uncle “Ask Adam” and two emails that landed in her inbox are going to set her life upside down. Firstly, this cute romcom is set in the UK and flooded with British terms, slang and humour, which was such a breath of fresh air and I, as someone who used to lived in the UK, really enjoyed. 

The premise was promising and interesting but, unfortunately, I reckon there was too much going on at the same time and none of these story lines were tackled properly. Let’s start with Lucy and Ross’ relationship, which started with both of them developing unrealistically instant crushes, even though they do not really spend one on one time together and barely know each other. I found it a tad bit difficult to like our FMC, the affair with her coworker was hard (as in “girl, wake up! he’s manipulating and taking advantage of you”) to read, and she could’ve tackled her sister’s situation with much more care and communication! 

Despite all of this, this was a quick and entertaining office romcom, perfect for when you need a break from reality and an easy book to distract you for a bit. If you love Sophie Kinsella, Emily Henry and Beth O’Leary, you should give The Love Hack a try.

Wasn’t too bad at the start and enjoyed reading it but then after a while the main character began to make me cringe. Had to put it down.

I read this book twice because I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. A lot happens in this book but I really liked it. I liked that the main characters were complicated and felt real. I liked that it was an office romance even if it took a little while to get there. It made me appreciate NYC more seeing it through the eyes of someone who loved it and someone visiting it for the first time. I could see how some readers may be triggered by some of the behaviors of the men in this story though (none of them being done by the MMC, Ross).

The Love Hack is a light and easy read romance centering around Lucy, a e-magazine columnist who's been made redundant following the axe of the magazine. As a last ditch attempt to keep her job as a writer, Lucy pitches taht she could be the men's equivalent of an Agony Aunt for the unaxed male version of the magazine. Problems arise when she quickly realises that she doesn't understand men and can't solve problems.

There were elements of this story that I absolutely loved - attention and solutions to mens' mental health and problems being the biggest one. It was great to see how Lucy's perspective on the problems changed over time and how her relationship's with her male colleagues and female friends helped her to answer the questions posed to her.

Other elements of it, I disliked completely- the use of AI to write the "Agony Adam" responses when Lucy's entire reason for keeping the job was to write, the love story between Lucy and Ross having very little development until instalove hits about 80% in, Amelie's absolute meltdown at her sister despite the two of them being very close.

I got about 50% of the way through this book before I had to call it. The main character feels a little too immature and flighty. The romance aspect halfway through this book feels incredibly one sided and a little stalkerish. I’m more invested in what is wrong with Lucy’s sister than I am with Lucy. Even then it’s not enough to keep me reading. The AI sub plot made me so uncomfortable. Why any writer would even come close to considering using AI for writing and think it’s okay is beyond me. I was hoping she’d get caught and fired for it.

I had a hard time believing some parts of the plot and characters and that there was something missing. The main character is not described at all and only a few details here and there about gaming, converse shoes and her cat. When the love interest shows up in New York and when they explain why, it was not believable or fit the story. I don’t know, I think it was trying to be too many things at once.

I enjoyed this book but it did take me a while to warm to Lucy. I enjoyed the premise of the storyline, particularly the ending; I was so glad Amelie didn’t stay in New York!
Without wanting to ruin the book for those who haven’t yet read it, Lucy loses her job but discovers a passion for her new role and finds love along the way. I didn’t enjoy Lucy’s apparent possessiveness but I could also understand why she felt the way she did. Discovering herself along the way definitely helped with her character growth.
Overall I’d recommend the book and expect most people to enjoy reading it.

The Love Hack …..
i was really excited to read this! The first couple chapters made me feel like i was about to read almost a remake of “How to lose a guy in 10 days”
But as i kept on reading, i cringed…. A lot. I will say i pushed through and it was an easy read. I was expecting a heart warming, slow burn, work romance but instead i felt like i was getting a view into a awkward/cringe worthy situation. It was not my cup of tea but I could see this reaching the YA community!


Thank you NetGalley/ published for the opportunity to read and share my honest thoughts.

1.5/5
I hate to be so brutally honest, but I hated this book. The FMC was so wishy washy and spineless. Literally all of her problems would have been solved if she would have put her foot down. Even just mildly spoke up. And, to be honest, I didn't even know she had a love interest until she decided to start bawling like a teenager and throw a fit when she saw him snogging her sister's friend. She never expressed that she even had feelings for him like at all throughout the book. I feel like the concept of the story was good, but it just wasn't well-written.

Thank you to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of The Love Hack in exchange for an honest review.

After the magazine that Lucy works for becomes an e-zine and cuts down on staff, Lucy finds herself working for the men’s e-zine as the new agony uncle, Ask Adam. Unfortunately, Lucy is not exactly an expert on men, so she finds herself reaching for the help of an AI assistant to answer the questions sent by all kinds of men. In the meantime, she gets to know her new co-workers, including Ross, who makes her blush and feel butterflies that she wishes weren’t there, and her sister is getting married to a man Lucy is not very fond of, especially after receiving an anonymous email which describes a very familiar situation. Will Lucy get to understand men and succeed as Ask Adam, ignore the tingles she feels around Ross, and help her sister?

First of all, this book is set in London, and there are tons of British terms, references and humour, which I personally appreciated as I live in the UK. However, it might not be for everyone, so keep that in mind. I liked the premise of this book and as I said, I enjoyed the British humour; I do think it’s more of a women’s fiction book rather than a romance. Lucy is besotted with Ross right away, and crushes hard on him - maybe too hard, too soon? There are not enough interactions between them in the first half of the book that justify all of Lucy’s feelings, and at points the way she acted was very reminiscent of a teenager with a crush. It all felt more justified once they started interacting more. However, there is very little romance compared to the rest of the book, which is why I felt it was a women’s fiction.

There is a lot (A LOT) of the story which is just Lucy’s internal monologues, and whilst mostly enjoyable, there are moments in which you can’t help but be annoyed at her. Learning about her last relationship helps you understand her behaviour in the present, but the situation just made me very angry!

The actions she took to help her sister were a little bit crazy, let’s be honest… No spoilers, but if you have concerns, the reasonable things is to talk to your sister, not what Lucy did! Regardless of that, I enjoyed most of the interactions between the sisters, and for me they had more importance to the overall story and Lucy’s character development than the interactions with Ross.

The part I enjoyed the most was the different emails featured in the Ask Adam column, and how she started to understand men a bit better.

Overall, Sophie Ranald does a good job at setting the scenes and locations, the premise of the book was interesting, and the dark and sarcastic British humour was enjoyable.

A fairly average read. I wasn’t completely obsessed and some of the actions of the FMC I found quite frustrating but it’s fairly light and fluffy.

this was a pretty average romance book in my opinion. I liked the premise and the characters were enjoyable.