Omg omg omg. I love this book and I love Jenny L. Howe so much! She is definitely an "instant buy" author!

The premise in a nutshell...female MC has a male MC BFF. Female MC wants to take a break from dating, but can't do so without giving it the ol college try, with her family and close friends involved, of course! Each of the 5 loved ones gets to set her up on a date, all of which range from disastrous to pretty dang perfect.

This book had me sneaking open my kindle at every opportunity, the situations (while sometimes hilarious) were so relatable, and Howe kept me on my toes waiting for the ending!

5 star read, thank you to the publishers & NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

I loved this sweet and angsty story. It felt so real as Haleigh and Jack negotiated the hidden depths of a relationship that should have been simple, could have been settled so easily, EXCEPT: Dating is difficult, It's an uncomfortable venture into vulnerability with a high likelihood of disappointment. Haleigh has had enough. She's DONE. Bravely, to prove her point, she lets the most important people in her life take the wheel and select her next ten dates. Ten Hail Mary last chances, followed by a lifetime alone? The result is a clever, amusing, sympathetic look at dating reality for a beautiful, baggage-laden young woman on the cusp of broken-heartedness. I went through the ups and downs right along with her, loving her courage, cheering for her right up to the ending that made me smile through a few tears. Jenny L. Howe continues to write the real, the honest, and the poignant stories of life for the positively plus-sized heroines in our lives., and we are all enriched by reading.

Thank you to St. Martin’s press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I’ve read Jenny’s first two books and really enjoyed them, and I really really wanted to love this one, too, but unfortunately, it’s more of a “like” for me because there was one glaring aspect of the book that really didn’t work for me.

Here’s what I did love:
* Jenny’s writing is engaging and funny without trying to be too clever. She’s wonderful at writing a likable protagonist—I was rooting for Haleigh so hard through this book.
* Jenny captures really well what it’s like to have a family to pressure you to be “paired up” in your 20’s, especially the aspect of said family members trying to set you up with another person solely because they’re single, “nice”, and maybe there’s one thing that you have in common with them. Maybe.
* LOVED the bi-/queer rep in this book.
* The plot device of the individual bad dates worked really well and had me both laughing and cringing.
* I enjoyed the easter eggs connecting to Jenny’s other books. I hope that bodes well for possibly getting a more Brian-centric book in the future!

Here’s what I didn’t like (SPOILERS ahead):
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* Haleigh’s family is pretty awful towards her. For her character growth, I really wanted to see her start to set some boundaries with them and their meddling/pressuring, which would have been appropriate for a 25-year-old who’s finding her independence. I know that romcoms need their HEA, but I almost would have rather seen this one go the women’s fiction route and have Haleigh just attend her sister’s wedding solo and be happy with finding herself…which leads me to…
* I couldn’t stand Jack, the main LI. He’s super moody, continually critical of Haleigh, and only decides to tell Haleigh his true feelings when he gets scared that she’s legit starting to connect with someone else. I felt like they ended up together mainly because they were comfortable with each other and had known each other forever, rather than them actually being good for each other.
* On the other hand, Brian, on the losing leg of the love triangle, is a total sweetheart. No, he doesn’t devour books the way that Haleigh does, but he’s Haleigh’s biggest cheerleader in their interactions, is flexible, and in general, I thought was a much better balance for Haleigh’s anxiety. I had really hoped that Haleigh would choose Brian, as that would show Haleigh moving out of her comfort zone and choosing a partner based on how he treated her, rather than having every possible interest in common.


Overall, I enjoyed the book, but at the end, I felt that Haleigh deserved a better partner than the one that she got her HEA with.

Where do I even start, I should probably be honest. I did receive this book as an arc from the publisher since I have read and reviewed 2 of the authors other books but this was by far my favorite book by Jenny so far! I loved the friends to lovers aspect and the date set up scheme the plot centered around. But most importantly I love that I got to see a plus size woman get the love and attention she deserves. You don’t always see a bigger woman get treated the way she is supposed to but I’ll be damned if Jackson and Brian don’t make up for society. I highly recommend this book, I devoured it within a day. I could not put it down until I knew what the ending would be.

I loved this book. I had SO much fun reading it. Jenny Howe does a phenomenal job navigating what it’s like to be alone as an adult, fatness, and family relationships. I laughed, I cried, I will absolutely be buying this book. 5/5 for me.

I thought this was so cute! Very early 2000’s romcom vibe with the best friend who didn’t want to miss his chance! There are laughable bad dates, awesome plus size leads, and a friends to lovers you can’t help but cheer on!

As with all of Jenny L. Howe’s books, this represents life and love in a plus sized body so well! An absolutely delightful read.

I would give this 3.75 stars. I had mixed feelings about this book. One is the synopsis of the book is not fully the true storyline of the book. I did enjoy Haleigh's character and her rawness as she struggled with life and her dates. The different dates she went on were hilarious in their events. I also loved the friendship between Haleigh and Jack. The things I struggled with were the timeline between their disastrous weekend from college and the present time. There were parts where the story seemed to drag and then went full force. One part I struggled with was her almost hooking up with Brian when just the night before Jack was confessing his love for her and her making out with him. This part that had her balancing back and forth between the two was not a favorite part of mine but I do love how the story then played out with her letting Brian down gently and every ending happy. Overall, I enjoyed this story and love Jenny Howe's writing.

loved this romance of two friends who had a great week but then friend zoned each other. she wants to find someone for her sister's wedding and goes on 10 different dates. she does meet different people and almost matched with someone but ended up finding love with her person and best friend. loved the family. Loved that they both realized that they loved each other.

Thanks to the publisher St. Martin’s Publishing for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

So if I weren’t a Jenny L Howe fan before this, I for sure am now (though I def was before). This book reminds me so much of the sorts of romcom movies I loved as a teen, except better because this time the romantic lead is a hot fat girl.

The premise of this book is pretty simple: After a string of bad dates, Haleigh is ready to call it quits on the whole dating thing and just be single a while. That is, until her always-perfect sister announces her engagement party, and Haleigh is in need of a plus one. She and her BFF, Jackson, come up with a plan: her family and friends set her up on two dates each, and if there are no love matches, then none of them get to complain about her singleness for at least six months. Haleigh’s sure this is the key to setting herself free— of her dating woes, and her lingering romantic feelings for Jackson.

What follows are a lot of fun, disastrous, and disastrously fun dates for Haleigh to go on. Each of the dates are both funny and realistic in the ways that they go wrong. Haleigh doesn’t go out with any cartoon characters, no evil people. Just people who don’t mesh with her in very funny ways. This whole thing is what made me feel like I was reading a classic romcom. The “fun and games” section of the book is very well executed and paced. I breezed through this book, and always wanted to go back for more.

It’s such an enjoyable ride to go on with Haleigh, all the while giving the reader a very sensitive and realistic portrayal of anxiety and the struggles of making your place in the world with it. One of my favorite things about this book is how it handles mental illness with its characters, namely Haleigh and Jack. Howe tackles the subject with care and empathy, and I think it helps the characters ring true and complex. I definitely rooted for Haleigh to make her own way in the world, outside of the expectations of her loved ones around her. Jack has a similar character arc, which was really lovely to see.

My last favorite thing about this book is that it is packed full of Easter eggs for fans of Howe’s other books. How to Get A Life in Ten Dates takes place in the same setting as Howe’s other two currently published books, The Make-Up Test and On the Plus Side. I won’t give away too much, but several beloved characters from those books make an appearance in Ten Dates, and it feels like a treat for fans. I know I personally was delighted. It feels like a bit of a victory lap for Howe, but not in a forced or self-indulgent way.

I highly recommend this book as a lover of romcoms, of positive fat representation, of characters with creative careers making it out there. I am now and always a fan of Jenny L. Howe’s work, and I look forward to her future work! Howe is an auto-buy for me!

3.5 stars.

I will start by saying I am a friends to lovers hater. If you enjoy this trope, you may like this a lot more. I was really rooting for the other guy even though it's obvious from the beginning that he's not the one. There was also A LOT of pressure put on the FMC by her family to get her life together but she's only 25! Why is everyone acting like she's a spinster.

Things I loved: Bisexual FMC. Fat representation. Funny blind dates. Dogs.

Thanks Jenny L. Howe & Netgalley for the arc

Unfortunately, How to Get a Life in Ten Dates was underwhelming, with a bland story and one-note characters. ☹️

I loved The Make-Up Test and think Howe is a great writer. In this book, though, the individual chapters moved quickly but the overall plot was both too fast (why is Haleigh expecting to get an engagement party date after, at most, two months of dating??) and also too slow (there was barely any narrative conflict and the main love interest was properly introduced close to the end). The main conflict stems from Haleigh and Jack (still) being in love with one another but being unable to admit it because they hooked up on vacation years ago and it ended badly. Then, after not speaking for months, they made a list of rules to prioritize their friendship over their romantic feelings. But now Haleigh desperately wants to bring a date to her sister's engagement party in three months, so she decides to give her "nosy" friends and family control of her (otherwise abysmal) dating life so that they will stop “harassing her” about why she hasn’t settled down. …And Jack, at the 75% mark, decides he’s a viable candidate.

Great! But I had two main complaints:

One, although Haleigh has diagnosed anxiety, Howe made her quest to “figure things out at 25” into The Worst Possible Thing To Ever Happen. I understand that the novel is written in Haleigh’s POV so things are going to seem out of proportion, but continuing to harp on Haleigh’s “inability” to “get her shit together” when she's so young just became annoying. Every little upset in Haleigh’s life was made out to be this high-stakes thing for which her overbearing mother and perfect sister judge her, and at some point, it moved from accurate character development to lazy writing. Having two part-time jobs is perfectly normal, even beyond 25. Living with a friend because you don’t have enough money to live alone is also perfectly normal. Comparing yourself to your “more successful” sibling is, again, perfectly normal. But Haleigh is 25!!!! A literal baby. Maybe if Howe had kept her sister aged 27 but made Haleigh 30 (or even older) then yes, not having full-time work and still living with a roommate and not having a person to be your plus-one to your younger sibling’s wedding… okay, I get it. Fine irl but much more narratively interesting.

Two, the disastrous vacation hookup between Haleigh and Jack happens YEARS before the start of the book, which means they stayed friends and pretended that hooking up didn’t change anything in their relationship—yet still insisted on rules so that they never cross that boundary again? HMMM. (Haleigh also pining for Jack? When, for all she knows, he’s moved on and doesn’t want to be in a relationship with her? Ugh.)
[SPOILER] Because a lot of the groundwork for their eventual pairing is written as a result of their decades-long friendship, we hardly get to see Jack doing typical love-interest stuff. They basically act like they’re already in a relationship, but because that’s normal for them, it doesn’t feel very romantic on-page. (Another love interest is introduced way before Jack is, but as soon as Haleigh gets an inkling that Jack could have feelings for her, Haleigh very suddenly gets the ick and they break up… which IMO is the laziest end the more interesting love interest.) Ultimately, I felt that this novel would have worked so much better if Jack and Haleigh were in their no-speaking stage post-Hawaii when the story opens. Then, Haleigh’s desperation about finding a life partner has more stakes (will anyone live up to the potential with Jack?) AND his eventual return to her life feels more fulfilling. Them getting to work through their emotions when everything is fresh feels way more authentic, and Jack getting a kick in the ass to confess his feelings after seeing Haleigh (potentially) move on is more warranted. [/SPOILER]
Instead, we got a boring and predictable story where the romance between two people feels stale and all of their problems are fixed because they finally communicate after years of staying silent.

Jenny has delivered again. I was so excited to get early access to this one and it did not disappoint. Thank you for the opportunity to read it!

I absolutely loved this book! It was such a fun story. And it deserves all the stars! I read this book so fast because I just couldn't put it down. Haleigh is an amazing character who I could really relate to which was nice. And the dates were super cute! Plus the slow burn/friends to lovers was done so well, chefs kiss! If you like romance with humor and heart then this is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read this book ahead of release in exchange for my honest opinion.

How to Get a Life in Ten Dates by Jenny L. Howe is a great novel! Although I had a hard time with it in the beginning as it felt a little slow, once it got going. A fun story with some well fleshed out characters who knew how to handle their stress and anxiety and what to do when it got overwhelming. Loved it! Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I loved how this was about a fat woman who was not “fat and…”, but just a human being trying to find love (or really, wanting to take a break from finding love!) The dates were a lot of fun, with some really funny weird scenarios and some really sweet ones. I struggled a little with Haleigh and Jack not realizing that they were meant to be - honestly, it annoyed me enough that I was rooting for one of the other dates to win Haleigh and surprise me! - but ultimately they were cute together and seeing the “why” unfold helped them make more sense.

Fun read about Haleigh and the many supporting characters in her life. Jack is her lobster, though it takes a while for both to realize and settle in. Not a deep read but a perfect summer vacation one.

This book was a delight to read! The characters are lovable and funny. As Haleigh is having trouble dating and wants a plus one for a big party for her sister, she agrees to let her friends and family set her up on dates. Each date opens with a questionnaire that Haleigh has devised with some quirky questions. There are a few dates that go awry in hysterical fashion. This is the perfect rom com to add to your reading list.

Jenny Howe ate with this one. I really liked The Makeup Test, and I thought On the Plus Side was fine, but this one was great. Loved Haleigh, loved the slow burn/friends to lovers of it all, loved the dates. It was just so much fun! Maybe 4.5 stars because, ultimately, the conflict between Haleigh and Jack in Hawaii didn't feel like it was THAT bad to drive such a wedge between them but I can look past it. What an excellent read!!

a young woman who's fed up with dating challenges her family and friends to set her up on ten dates, but gets more than she bargained for when her best friend adds himself to the roster.

This one had so much potential but unfortunately fell extremely flat. The dates were hilarious and the mental health representation is refreshing and very well done but too much of the plot felt immature and silly. I felt like it was being stated that you NEEDED a partner to be happy and that’s simply not true. Sure some parental units/families put pressure on this and maybe I’m just lucky to have never felt that; but the main characters family was just being way too dramatic and over the top. I also thought it was cute how the author threw a nod to her other book On The Plus Side; but then it quickly became thrown into every second paragraph and ended up just being annoying.

Overall, am I glad I read it? Meh. It was alright but could have lived without.

Absolutely loved this! The heroine's journey through her dating adventures was both heartwarming and relatable. The plus-size representation was authentic and empowering, making the story even more impactful. The writing was top-notch, with vivid descriptions and emotionally charged scenes that kept me hooked from start to finish. Five stars for a beautifully crafted tale.