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.

How to Get a Life in Ten Dates is a child hood friends to lovers romance with a little bit of a love triangle. Haleigh Berkshire tearing down of others for me got really old quick, so getting through those parts was a little difficult. As the book progressed it started getting better. I quite enjoyed all the dates as how horribly they went.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I just wasn't sure I could do another friend to lover trope, but given my affection for Jenny L.Howe's previous books I decided to give it a try. So glad I did. Haleigh Berkshire is the black sheep of the family who can't seem to find a good fit for a career or a love life. When her sister announces her graduation/engagement celebration, Haleigh knows she will be expected to bring a date. Dating apps have been disappointing, so she challenges her friends and family to fix her up with the anticipation that they will all be failures and she will be off the hook for a plus one. The biggest obstacle to her happily ever after is her love for her best friend, Jack. No suitor can compare to their relationship, but they have agreed to always remain "just friends." However, when Haleigh finds a potential match, the rules began to fray. A fun romance!

How to Get a Life in Ten Dates is a fun and lighthearted rom com. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

This was a lovely story about a confident curvy woman finding love right under her nose! Friends to lovers is one of the best tropes out there. The fact that the heroine was plus size was worth 4 stars alone. We need more stories about plus size love. I loved the growth in the characters together and apart. I will keep reading more from this author!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for the opporunity to read this e-ARC of "How to Get a Life in 10 Dates" by Jenny L. Howe, available now!

This is the second book by Jenny L. Howe that I have read and I enjoyed it just as much as the first one! I love the representation in Jenny's books. This one follows Haleigh as she goes on dates set up by her friends and family. I loved reading all of the crazy dates she went on that she wa set up on and find out all the histroy between her and Jack. I highly recommend reading this book- I loved it so much I didn't want it to end!

How to Get a Life in Ten Dates by Jenny L Howe is a sweet story about putting yourself out there and trying to find happiness.

Haleigh challenges her family and friends to set her up on dates. The deal is that she'll go out on ten dates and if none of them work out in the end, she'll go on a dating sabbatical. And NO ONE is allowed to give her any grief about it.

The point is that she wants to prove to them how rough the dating world really is. Some of Haleigh's dates are more disastrous than others, but I couldn't help but laugh (and sometimes cringe) along the way. It seemed very obvious to me from the beginning who Haleigh's soulmate was. But sometimes you have to make some mistakes before you find out where you truly belong.

The characters in this story were very enjoyable to read about. I loved Haleigh as well as her mom, grandfather, best friend Jack, and her roommates. They were a very supportive group who commiserated with Haleigh during some of her worst dates.

And I liked Haleigh right off the bat. Although she is currently working through some mental health issues, she's very open about it. She has a confidence that I really admired.

Jenny L Howe make a point at the beginning of the novel to explain how she uses the word "fat" in this novel, and how it is a neutral term. It is merely a description and that is all. I found that to be very refreshing as I think sometimes in contemporary romance novels place too much focus on how the characters look instead of who they are and what their dreams are.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Spicy, male female, 3rd person single point of view (female lead), contemporary romance. Set in the same world as On the Plus Side but a standalone book. This had both a friends to lovers and second chance romance thing going on. I didn't love the female lead, but it was still a cute book with humor and a bit of spice.

How to Get a Life in Ten Dates by Jenny L. Howe offers a charming second-chance, best-friends-to-lovers story packed with humor, relatable characters, and thoughtful representation.

The story shines in its exploration of mental health, showing characters who grow and support each other while navigating their challenges. The plus-size FMC is unapologetically confident, adding refreshing body positivity to the narrative. The chemistry between the leads feels rich and authentic, with small, meaningful gestures that deepen their connection. Supporting characters bring humor and warmth, making the world feel vibrant and engaging.

However, some relationship dynamics lacked depth, and a few plot points felt overly reliant on familiar tropes, detracting from the emotional weight. I can't get over a friend of many years being incapable of simply communicating like a normal person that he has feelings for Haleigh.

I absolutely loved reading How to Get a Life in Ten Dates. It was cute and light hearted but also had a serious note about mental health to it. I loved that about it. What a great story with some fantastic characters! Reading this story I really felt like I could have been living life right along side Haleigh and Jack!

I loved this book! Haleigh Berkshire is a 25-year-old plus-size woman, enjoying life but feeling put down by her friends and family who don’t think her job(s) or dating choices are every good enough. She’s been in love with her best friend Jack for years, but agrees to let her family and friends set her up with ten men or women to go on dates with. This is such a fun friends-to-lovers romance and I loved Haleigh and Jack. Haleigh is so real!

This book was a cute and fluffy romance. It’s perfect for readers who want a light, easygoing read. The story follows Haleigh as her friends and family set her up on a series of dates, many of which are hilariously disastrous. While the focus on her dates didn’t fully connect with me, I did enjoy the humor and her journey.

I loved Haleigh as a protagonist. She’s plus-size, but her size isn’t treated as a big issue, which felt refreshing. The mental health representation, especially around anxiety and OCD, was also done well. I enjoyed seeing the growth in Haleigh and Jack’s relationship over the years as their history unfolded.

Since so much of the book focused on the dates, I didn’t feel as connected to Jack or the romance. I prefer romance stories with more emotional depth, and I would have liked more time spent on their connection. Still, the side characters were charming and added a lot to the story.

Overall, this was a fun and entertaining read. It’s great for anyone who loves humor, lighthearted romance, and relatable characters with real growth.

It is not often that I read a romance novel where the final couple ends up being a cis man and a cis woman, but this one is something fun and comforting. In Howe’s latest release, *How to Get a Life in Ten Dates,* 25-year-old Haleigh is on a string of bad first dates. With her sister’s engagement party looming in the distance, her and her childhood best friend, Jack, scheme up a challenge for her friends and family: set Haleigh up on 10 first dates, and if none of them go well, Haleigh is allowed to go on her romantic retirement in peace. The only complication? She has been in love with Jack for years. Will this finally be her opportunity to get over him, or will this be what ruins their friendship once and for all?

Starting with the good, because there was so much good in this book. I loved the fat representation with Haleigh and Jack’s characters, and I though Haleigh’s complete disregard for gender and physical appearance when it came to who she dates added a lot of depth to her character. Every person she encounters she evaluates not on how they physically present to the world, but in how they interact with and understand each other even in their fleeting, sometimes awful, encounters. I did find Haleigh lovable, especially at her most anxious, especially when she was “messy.” I am not used to straight male love interests, so I’m glad that Jack was obsessed with her because that’s exactly how a male love interest should act towards the female protagonist. I also need more of Brian — Jenny Howe, give us the spin off — and he was possibly my favorite character of the entire book. This book was overall just a really lighthearted read even when the characters were dealing with mental health issues, and it made for a quick rainy day read.

I did find it strange that the FMC was so young and so hyper-focused with finding a partner, and that her family perpetuated this. She comes from a family who expect success and stability in their careers, and yet they think she must cling to a man (or a partner)? It just seemed so strange. I feel like the characters could have been aged up, and Howe could have just kept Haleigh at her soul-crushing job for longer, and it would have all made more sense. If she’s in her late-20s or early-30s feeling this existential panic to find a love match, it just feels much more believable than Haleigh being 25 and panicking about being a spinster. Haleigh and Jack’s career panics was a nice touch, but I do think neither of them got a truly satisfying ending. Haleigh settled, and while that gives her stability, I feel like Howe could have given her that stability while still showing Haleigh’s passion. And poor poor Jack, crushed under his job, probably needed some sort of job or career change or more page space showing how his working situation improves and accommodates his neurodivergency. I wish these points were a bit more fleshed out, but I didn’t find that it took me out of the moment while reading. I still liked this book and would recommend it for anyone looking for more body diversity in their romance reading!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending me an eARC in exchange for my honest review. I can’t wait to read more from Jenny Howe.

This was such a cute premise. Just loved the chemistry between a lot of the characters. It was a fast read. Enjoyed it.

This book started so well and so promising! Haleigh is a plus-sized woman tired of dating so she turns to those she loves most to set her up on ten dates - and if those fail, they agree they will let her take a dating hiatus without complaints. Some of these dates are hilariously bad - like the one where the emotional support bird takes off with her bagel - and some are so off the mark you have to wonder if these people who claim to love her actually really KNOW her.

Of course, Haleigh is really secretly in love with her best friend Jack, whom she's known since second grade. Years ago, on a trip to Hawaii, they confessed their feelings for each other and spent the entire trip together together, but then when they overslept an alarm and missed a flight, Jack's anxiety kicked in and he treated Haleigh terribly and broke everything off. So they decided to remain strictly platonic, while she secretly pined for him and had him rescue her from all bad dates. Meanwhile, he sets up his house to her liking - building bookshelves for her, buying her favorite books, painting walls her favorite colors - so it's pretty obvious he's secretly into her, too.

This is where the book fell flat for me - Haleigh really hit it off with one of her dates and sparks really flew. You really started to root for them as a couple - and in comes Jack to save the day. I actually did not want her to give him a second chance knowing how he broke her heart before and seeing how he was following a path of self destruction again. It felt like the author threw a random thing in there to make us not like Brian so that we'd want her to choose Jack and it just all felt messy.

I DO love the plus size representation, especially with the male plus size representation, too!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

If you loved 10 Blind Dates but want to age it up, then you'll love How to Get a Life in Ten Dates. Although this does not take place during the holidays, we do have family members and friends getting to pick 2 people yo set our fmc, Haleigh: her gramps, her mom, her sister, and her best friend.

When the book started with Haleigh going on a date with a girl, I had hopes that more than one of the Blind Dates would have been with females, but alas, we only had one. But if not for the two main love interests, she was my favourite. Our two main love interests I found kind and generous, and a little flat. I liked him for boosting Haleigh's confidence, but after reading the synopsis, I was waiting for the best friend to step in. Leading up to that point in the synopsis was... ~70% into the book. You could tell who the main two interests would be though, from how the author had them interact.

I loved getting flashbacks of Haleigh and Jack's past together and what lead up to these rules they have in their friendship. I also loved seeing the dates answers to Haleigh's survey - so cute and set up that date perfectly.

Haleigh's family was interesting too. Gramps was funny, although very very old school. Mom was very particular and the sister had high expectations. You could feel the pressure they were putting on Haleigh, which made me sad. I would have honestly loved if the ending didn't have a pair up - we don't need a relationship to prove we're successful.

Which therein lies the point the author was making, I think. I loved the overall "love yourself, love what you do" message I was getting. I also loved who Haleigh ended up with. I won't spoil it, but the fact that the one love interest doesn't even read (or watch movies) 🤨 I don't know if I could get behind that pairing lol.

I've had my eye on Jenny L Howe's other books and with this one having such great relationships and addictive writing style, I can see myself going through her backlist.

“Messes can be beautiful.”

This might just be my favorite Jenny L. Howe masterpiece yet!

I genuinely loved the real and raw friendship between Haleigh and Jack and the plot incentive of going on set-up dates in order to earn her dating freedom.

The way Jenny incorporates the hardship of dating in modern times is both too real and ultimately hilarious (when it’s not happening to you!). But she manages to also highlight the importance of true friendship through it all, which makes it all manageable…at least until your best friend interferes with your dating life.

But I think one of my favorite parts is honestly the representation including throughout every nook and cranny of this story. From anxiety and OCD to plus-size/fat representation, this book has it all and does it in a way that makes us all feel seen.

I loved the beauty and the messes. The love and the pain. The heartbreak and the heartwarming. I loved how it wasn’t just an easy decision once a decision was posed—but one worth working through because when is life or love easy?

And the audio is DIVINE. You can’t go wrong with Billie Bryant as your narrator—and she truly helps bring this story to life!

“Every step she took was a step forward, even if it didn’t lead her anywhere.”

Check this one out if you enjoy:
- Friends to lovers
- Mutual pining
- Friendship rules
- Blind dates
- Dating questionnaire
- Second chance

I love anything Jenny Howe writes. This book was no exception! From her prose to her characters, Howe knows how to create the best stories and keep readers coming back for more. Five stars!!!

I really liked Howe’s last book, but I absolutely adored this one! Haleigh is just so relatable in her life goals, how much water she hilariously consumes, how she interacts with the dates she’s on, and even how she interacts with her family. I love how there were multiple threads of the story that all came to fruition in the end. Not only that, but there was no second act breakup, and plenty of steam without being a fully open (or closed, actually) door view into the romance.

Jenny Howe’s books are always such a delight and this little rom com is no exception. I loved the chemistry between Haleigh and Jackson and I loved the premise of having the 5 most important people in her life send Haleigh on dates. I laughed out loud at some of the predicaments, especially the bird and the bagel. I enjoyed Haleigh starting to find her way but I wanted a little more of that chutzpah and I wanted her and Jackson to let their guard down with each other a little more. I will always read what Howe is putting out and I love her fat rep so much!!