A fun read. Haleigh hatches a plan, to be set up on 10 dates by her friends a family. Will she meet the one, or is he in her life a!ready?

Haleigh Berkshire is over dating and is thinking about taking a sabbatical. Her friends don't seem to understand how difficult dating is as a plus-sized woman and believes that she will find her person if she keeps putting herself out there. Haileigh and her best friend Jack come up with a plan. Haliegh agrees to let her family set her up on 10 dates and if she can prove to them there is not a match, they will let her take her sabbatical without a fight. She is surprised to find that not all the dates are disasters but when Jack decides to include himself as part of the dates, Haleigh must determine if dating Jack is worth risking their friendship.

This book is the perfect description of a romantic comedy. I was laughing hysterically in public with the description of some of the dates and loved the banter between Haleigh and Jack. I enjoyed reading Haliegh grow as a character throughout her dates and realize that she could do more in her relationships with family and friends but also put herself out there in her career as an editor.

I loved reading On the Plus Side last year and was excited to see that How to Get a Life in Ten Dates was a spinoff from that book. The author always does a great job in being respectful with plus size characters as well as mental health disorders such as anxiety, panic attacks and OCD. Her author's note gives a detailed representation so the reader can make an informed decision of if the book is a right fit for them.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to review How to Get a Life in Ten Dates. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love a plus-size romance, and I love a queer romance, so I set off with this title and some moderate hopes. And while it was good, and I enjoyed our fat heroine living life without needing to meditate on the fact that she is fat, I did not find this love triangle to have a satisfying conclusion. Also, the conflict sort of felt like a watered-down version of People We Meet on Vacation, so that just didn't feel quite right for me. This is my second Jenny L. Howe book, and in neither title has she convinced me that the hero is the right one for our heroine. I love a fat hero, I just want a better fat hero for our girl.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC! This was a fun and lighthearted book! This romcom is a good pallet cleanser and I enjoyed all the characters.

Haleigh Berkshire feels like a mess becuase she's not in the same level of life as her friends and family. She's also having the worst luck ever with dating and she wants to be done with it. But a bet with her family makes her accept going on dates they set up to show that dating truly is the hell she's been telling them it is. Things really are bad, but is it that the people she meets aren't for her or that her heart is already set on the best friend she refuses to acknowledge her feelings for?

This is the closest I've come to a DNF in a really long time. The writing is decent, and the plot isn't bad; I just found it really boring. Haleigh's problems feel way too familiar and there's honestly not much to make it stand out. It also feels like we're only following along at a superficial level, so there's not much to connect with.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the chance to read it.

Following Haleigh, this novel takes us on a journey with her while her family and close friends set her up on dates to help her find the one. She’s prepared to take a break from dating when these dates go horribly wrong, which she fully expects, but is willing to give it a try if it means getting those close to her to get off her case about dating and her job.

I loved ‘On The Plus Side’, it was such a great read and this started off so strongly for me. I enjoyed reading it, though Haleigh annoyed me a little bit - to be fair, I annoy myself so I pushed on because she had enough redeeming qualities for me.

However, I could not stand her “best friend”, Jack. How she remained friends with him and still romantically interested in him is beyond me. He did some lovely things for her, sure. But, nothing to ever come back from some of the things he said to her and how he treated her. Every scene with him in it made me cringe, it’s been a long time since I’ve disliked a character in a book this much.

Jack really annoyed me, I couldn’t get over my distaste for him throughout the book.

Overall, if I ignore that Jack existed and the somewhat predictable ending, it was a fun read that I really enjoyed, just a shame that I had to read so much about that insufferable man.

3.5/5, rounded up to 4.

I received an e-arc in exchange for an honest review, and I’d like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Jenny L. Howe for the opportunity.

Haleigh asks her friends and family to set her up on dates.
Best friends to lovers
She said she didn't judge this guy cause he said he didn't like to read but as soon as he said that he was a pretty much gone

**Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Jenny L. Howe for an ARC of this book!**

Haleigh Berkshire is already fed up with love...and at only 25 years old, you can only imagine what the last 10 years have delivered to leave her THAT ready to throw in the towel. So many of her potential mates can't seem to accept her for who she is (anxiety and adulting fears included) and then of course, there's the one that (sort of) got away...her best friend, Jack. Although the duo finally took things to another level one night years ago in college on a trip, the end result wasn't good. It was so messy, in fact, that the two established 10 'rules' to help keep the boundaries in place and repair their best friendship. Structure seems to be working for them, and they settle into their new normal...although one (or both of them) MIGHT just have some feelings left over...

Nevertheless, Haleigh is almost excited for her break from the dating hamster wheel...until her sister announces her engagement. An engagement, of course, means an engagement PARTY and Haleigh feels strong-armed into bringing along a 'plus one.' Much to her chagrin, her friends and family decide that THEY can try to find the perfect mate for Haleigh to bring along not only on this occasion, but potentially the person who will end her dating woes for good. They have 10 chances to make it right and Haleigh needs to go along with all of their choices, no questions asked. To her surprise, she actually begins to ENJOY some of the dates (and let's face it, some of the disasters make for pretty amusing stories!) and hope begins to return to her heart. But when Jack starts pointing out some of the many, many flaws he finds with each and every potential romance (especially one that is RIFE with promise), Haleigh starts to wonder if all of the 'rules' are such a good idea after all. Has her plus one been by her side all along? Or is Jack simply jealous of the person 'encroaching on his turf' who could TRULY be Mr. Right?

I've read all three of Howe's novels thus far and sad to say, I am still waiting for one of them to rival her first. While On The Plus Side had its moments, I missed all of the quippy, witticisms present in The Make-Up Test, and found the plot a bit thin and the characters 'On the Trite and Stereotypical Side' instead. And it's also a bit hard for me to say, but I don't feel that this novel at all lived up to the promise its premise offered...and I found myself so disappointed in the MC's choices that I sort of lost interest halfway through her Decathlon of Dating.

I think part of this is due to bad timing - I had the pleasure of reading Sophie Cousens' "Is She Really Going Out With Him?", which is ANOTHER book about family setting up the MC with dates of their choosing mere weeks before picking up this one...so I felt like I was being sent the Temu version of the story after swooning about the real deal. Where Cousens' heroine was mature, real, accessible, and JUSTIFIED in her frustration with the dating scene, she was also in her THIRTIES and recently divorced. Howe's character Haleigh has all of the jaded frustration...but NONE of the life experience. At 25, she is seriously ready to tap out. I mean, this IS sort of stereotypical behavior for young people, to have believed they have seen and done everything worth seeing by this age...but the contrast was overwhelming, and unfortunately, hard to ignore.

Haleigh's issue seems to be a whole lot less with not finding the perfect partner, and a lot MORE with not being content with her life and secure in her convictions, good or bad. She resists 'adulting' (heavy, heavy sigh), although I'm not exactly sure what she thinks the alternative is...? She finds reasons to write off many of her dates immediately (even the good ones!) and frankly, the bad ones are so comically bad they aren't grounded in any sort of reality at all. Meanwhile, rather than being SUPPORTIVE, her best friend essentially sulks in the background and mucks up the works. It's hard to say more without giving anything away, but the relationship between these two characters reminds me of one of those couples in high school that would break up and get back together again, over and over, but yet still believe they were each other's soulmates even though CLEARLY the relationship was unhealthy. It's a relationship that is, at its core, hard to root for...and don't get me started on the DISASTER of Hawaii. (Which didn't seem much like a disaster at all...rather just a halfhearted attempt at the miscommunication trope without the proper depth.)

And then there's the One That TRULY Got Away...and my boatload of disappointment about that. (Yes, boatload is the ONLY correct unit of measurement here!) I won't say any names or drop any hints, but there is one of these individuals that seems spot-on for Haleigh...until they just all of a sudden AREN'T. They are so kind, supportive, genuine, etc. and bring next to no drama to the table...until quite randomly, on one date, they miraculously become SO DIFFERENT from Haleigh in every way that there is no POSSIBLE way they should be with her anymore and she drops them like a hot potato. I found this almost offensive to the reader: we spend so much time getting invested in this character...and for what? Just to have OUR hearts broken?! Color me crushed. (And Haleigh's nasty, nasty mother made Cruella De Vil look more like Mrs. Claus...maybe this lack of empathetic and caring parenting is the REAL reason Haleigh's such a mess!)

And while I know Haleigh thought the key to 'getting a life' was her 10 dates...I think she probably should have just focused her energies on taking 10 job interviews instead.

3 stars

#HowToGetALifeInTenDates #JennyLHowe #SMPRomance #StMartinsPress

I loved Howe’s debut On the Plus Side and several of those characters appear here.

After too many disastrous dates, Haleigh wants to take a dating sabbatical. To keep her friends and family off her back, she agrees to let each of them set her up twice or hold their piece/peace. Hilarity ensues followed by some feelings.

I have no idea how realistic this is. Even when I had close friends, none of them ever wanted to set up me or get this invested in my personal life. This also has a friends-to-lovers trope for the main with second chance as the side. Both of those tropes are a tough sell for me since that’s not how I operate.

Praise be that we have a hot Asian man going against the friend. People are sleeping on that demographic. Source: Simu Liu and my physical therapist with similar cheekbones.

One thing that irked me was Haleigh being so disappointed Brian wasn’t a reader. I’m a book influencer (in the loosest possible sense of the term) married to a guy who games instead of reads. We like similar shows, movies, and leaving the house to do things. You don’t have to be with a reader to enjoy the relationship.

Another pet peeve was teasing all the smutty scenes. The door was ajar, not open. I want the door off its hinges and the smut fully detailed, please and thank you.

All of my issues are ME issues. This book works. It’s fun and sweet. It has excellent representation for anxiety in multiple characters and the reality of floundering in early adult. It’s fun and sweet. I had a good time and would recommend it. 4/5

Rating: 🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇/5

🩷 Plus-Size Representation
🩷 Best Friends-to-Lovers
🩷 Mutual Pining
🩷 Mental Health Representation (OCD, Anxiety)
🩷 Love Triangle
🩷 LGBTQ+ Representation

This book is called ‘How to Get a Life in Ten Dates’ but it could easily be called ‘How to Fall in Love with This Book from Page One.’ I truly fell head-over-heels in love with this book.

I absolutely loved the plus-size representation from our gorgeous heroine, Haleigh but also from her long-time best friend, Jack! I really appreciated that this book featured bodies that look like mine. I also really appreciate the showcasing of some of the daily struggles, like the scene where she was struggling to move around a restaurant. “No one ever considered different body shapes when they designed the layout of spaces.” I FEEL THAT GIRL. But Haleigh did not make the entire narrative about her body in a negative light. She knows she is literally stunning and anyone who has a problem with her beautiful body, that is on them.

ALL OF THE DATES WERE SO HILARIOUS. I was literally laughing out loud. From the dancing, bagel stealing cockatoo to the intense hike to the financial advisor disaster. The writing was so good that I felt like I was on those dates myself, even though they were so unbelievably cringey, but it really heightened the experience.

I loved all the animal features. The dog-walking side hustle, Twinkie the adorable Rottweiler, to the MOST ADORABLE VETERINARIAN, Brian with his puppies to cheer up Haleigh. I was rooting for Jack from the very first moment, but I did really love Brian. I hope he finds all the love and happiness, but I also need you to pick up a book sometime.

“The Jack-and-Haleigh special.” They are truly two peas in a pod. They were meant for each other. The banter was so charming. The tension was so palpable. The connection was undeniable. The unconditional love that Jack and Haleigh have for each other. They were so sweet and attentive. It was truly very special to be a part of.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and all opinions expressed are mine.


This book is perfect for fans of heroines that are witty ,friends that meddle and a heroine that discovers herself and what love actually looks like. I loved the premise of the book ,the characters and the overall character development.

Huge thank you to @smpress and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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Haleigh has been dating for her entire adult life and she’s about done, especially considering the fact that she’s been in love with her best friend, Jack for years. As her sisters’s engagement party approaching her family is bugging her about a plus one so she agrees to let her friends and family set her up, but nothing goes as planned. This was a cute one!
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As a fan of Jenny's Howe's other books, and this one did not disappoint! Whether you’re a fan of romance, banter, witty heroines, or just looking for a story that leaves you grinning ear to ear, How to Get a Life in Ten Dates delivers it all. It’s the perfect reminder that sometimes, the best adventures are waiting to start the moment you finally decide to step outside of your comfort zone.

I had a great time with this rom-com. I love the childhood-friends-to-lovers trope, and this book reminded me why! Our two main characters know each other so well, and are so comfortable with each other, which is especially evident as we read about some very awkward blind dates! Most of the dates Haleigh went on were cringey and absolutely hilarious!

I also really appreciated the representation in this book - both with a plus-sized FMC and discussions of mental health, including anxiety and depression. I related with a lot of the things these characters were experiencing, and it was good to feel seen. I wish the issues didn’t feel so quickly wrapped up by the end, but I still appreciated having them in the book.

If you’re looking for a rom-com with a decent amount of spice and a whole lot of humor, I’d absolutely recommend this one!

3.5 stars. This was a quick, breezy read for me! I didn’t quite get that 3rd act breakup I was searching for but overall was aligned with how things ended up

Cute cover? Yes.
Adorable title? Yes.
Story? Fell flat for me, unfortunately. I was not a fan of the FMC at all.

Thank you, NetGalley, the author, and SMP for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was just fine. I like the representation, but I felt a little disconnected since this was part of the same world as one of her other novels (On The Plus Side), which I haven't read. I know the author is local and I have met her in person, she's lovely, so it was nice to see all the nods to the area. It's very obvious from the beginning that this is a friends to lovers situation, but them getting together gets dragged out while she goes on these increasingly awful dates with other men & women.

Her family doesn't understand what it's like to be dating in the modern world, especially as a plus sized woman. She and her best friend (who she's in love with, not so secretly but she's trying to get over him) come up with a plan to assemble 5 people in her life to each set her up on 2 dates and at the end of the 10 dates, if nothing works out, they aren't allowed to bother her about her planned dating hiatus for 6 months. Of course, hijinks ensue as it's an adventure of many different personalities and experiences as she tries to get over her bestie for good.

This book was sooo funny and way too relatable. As a plus sized woman, I unfortunately have experienced way too many of the bad situations and not enough of the funny ones in this book but this was incredibly lighthearted and definitely achieved the author's goal, as described in the note at the beginning of the book. I LOVED this book, the characters are so adorable, even in their faults and the representation of plus size women and a presumably bisexual one at that, made my heart so happy. The source was superb and didn’t jump right into it but felt like a very natural relationship progression. I’m ready to go great every Jenny Howe book!

How To Get a Life in Ten Dates is a fun romcom giving late 90s/early 2000s vibes in the best ways possible. I enjoyed the authors writing style and how she handles sensitive topics, I found it to be a realistic take on dating and being set up.

My favourite aspect was the dating questionnaire responses, some of which were hilarious but either way, it set the scene for how the date would go. Not only were the responses hilarious, but the questions also themselves were witty.

Thank you Netgalley and St.Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for a review.

3.5 stars.

In How To Get A Life In 10 Dates, a woman struggling to find a career that she loves and will pay her bills and struggling to find a plus one to her sister’s wedding, enlists her friends and family to set her up on blind dates. The catch is that the dates must fill out a questionnaire first. This book was so much fun. The dates were hilarious. Silly, quirky and pure entertainment. And I am a sucker for second chance romances and this book is that trope personified. Just a very cute romcom that made me smile during a stressful time at work.