Thank you to Netgalley, Sophie Ranald, and Storm Publishing for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Sophie Ranald’s “The Love Hack” is a heartwarming and relatable romantic comedy. Lucy, a rookie advice columnist, lands a job as the writer for “Ask Adam”, a column in an online magazine where she dishes out relationship tips to men, all while her own love life remains lackluster. When she meets Ross, her office crush, things get complicated. The premise is intriguing, but the execution fell short for me. The characters lacked depth, and the plot felt predictable.

If you’re a fan of Sophie Kinsella, Emily Henry, or Beth O’Leary, you might enjoy this, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

This was a really fun book, and the writing style is very engaging. I ended up finishing the whole 10 hours of audio in two days, so needless to say, I had a hard time walking away from it, it definitely hooked me. I loved Lucy, she's just a socially awkward little duck and I TOTALLY resonate with that. I also loved how cute and sweet her budding office romance with Ross is.

A few things I didn't love as much = I thought the romance aspect of this book is a little undercooked. In fact, I'm not sure I would truly categorize this as rom com at all. The story was more about Lucy developing as a person and becoming more confident that it was a romance. And there's very little "comedy" in this book. There's not a lot of fun banter or goofiness, that part definitely fell flat. I walked away feeling that the real gold of this story is the relationship with her sister and the conflict and resolution with her.

Overall I would say like 3.5 but I'm rounding up to 4 because I loved the narrator!

This was such a fun book to listen to. The audio is narrated by one narrator (Harrie Dobby), who has such a nice pleasant voice to listen to. I’ll have to go find more books narrated by her!

I’ve been reading so much dual POV so it was a nice change to read a single POV. Sometimes I wished I knew what the other person was thinking… but there is something special about single POVs too.

This didn’t end how I would assume it would, which was great. I also got invested in the side characters, would love a sequel on Amelie.

Thank you NetGalley and Sophie Ranald for a copy of this audiobook. I absolutely loved the narrator of this book. Sometimes that can really impact the way you rate an audiobook but Harrie Dobbie did an amazing job. I felt like the first part of the book was really strong. I was invested in Lucy and her figuring out a way to keep her job and navigate her new role. I felt like the plot got a little lost somewhere in the middle. The romance wasn’t at the forefront of the story and it didn’t even feel like a subplot. All Lucy did was complain about how she didn’t trust men and that she was basically going to be alone forever. The plot felt lost for a side missing Lucy had to go on about her sister. I will say that’s when I started enjoying the story again. It felt like the story finally had a direction or purpose. Overall, I enjoyed the book but felt like it had so much more potential. This was my first book by this author but I will definitely try another.

First off, thank you for approving me for this ARC, I'm always excited to read new books and maybe find new authors to gush over. I was drawn into this book firstly when it mentioned that if someone loved Emily Henry, then they would for sure love The Love Hack. As an Emily Henry Stan, I can say with full confidence that, this is not true. I decided to DNF at the 75% mark due to nothing really happening with the FMC, Lucy and the MMC Ross? Russ? Honestly he was so irrelevant throughout this book I don't even think he could be considered an MMC. Anyways, this book is practically focused on Lucy being delusional, not knowing anything about men (which is fine, I hate men anyways) but being an advise column giver for men, so make it make sense AND her sister and her failing new marriage.

Lucy isn't even able to do her job, she had AI do it for her and I'm actually convinced at this point that AI wrote this book because.. why? The reason I decided to just DNF was because Lucy received an email from a man that she was convinced was her sister's husband about him cheating, Lucy decided to take matters into her own hands and get to the bottom of it. SPOILER, YES the husband was cheating and Lucy does decide to tell her sister, and her sister being one of the stupidest people I've read about hit Lucy with "you don't know men, this happens, when I tell him about the baby, he'll kick his mistress to the curve." I hate to be that person, but I am that person who FULLY believes a baby won't fix your marriage, don't be so stupid or selfish to bring a child into this world and think it'll fix your failing sad marriage or life, don't do that. I couldn't do it anymore.

But another issue I had, the MMC, was he even a love interest? I think this book is pushed as a ROMCOM but romance where? Unless this is literally the slowest burn in all of history. Lucy was completely delusional with Russ (Ross) I don't care to remember his name. Lucy was adamant about not falling for another coworker because she had dated one previously and it broke her heart, which okay makes sense. But this man had NO interest in Lucy and Lucy was making scenarios in her head already. I kid you not 75% in and nothing happened, I truly don't care what happens in the remaining time left.

I'm sorry, but these are in fact my honest thoughts, I'm disappointed.

She joins a male based work place and has an advice help Column for men to write in anonymously. The whole concept was a neat idea and this cover really drew me in.

The romance aspect was a slow burn, I do wish there was a bit more communication.

I’m still not 100% sure how I feel on her portraying herself as a male for her responses.


Overall it was a cute quick listen.

Unfortunately this book was just okay for me. The plot was all over the place and choppy. The flashbacks could have been simplified. The relationship needed more tension. It just didn’t feel believable. There were parts I truly enjoyed. However, I was left wanting more and feeling unfulfilled.

Oh dear. I wanted to like this book, but it just fell rather flat for me. I enjoyed the writing style well enough (and the audiobook narrator did a good job) but the story (and in particular the romance) just felt a bit disjointed and all over the place. (I've never posted a spoiler tagged review before so I'm hoping I've done it right)

The generative AI part felt mostly like an attempt to be zeitgeisty without really having much to say , the romance pretty much came out of nowhere after them barely interacting beyond the author making sure we knew they were both blushing up until suddenly she's cross with him for hooking up with someone else and they continue to barely interact until it's time for him to catsit because of some plot.

There was almost as much time spent on her previous bad experience with a guy, which also felt pretty underwhelming when all was said and done, and the whole business with her sister felt like it took up most of the book.

This just didn't do it for me.

The concept was cute, but the execution fell completely flat for me.

I found the FMC to be unlikeable and lacked any sort of substance. She came across as a bit of a clueless doormat and honestly didn't experience much growth.

The MMC on the other hand? Had a crush on the FMC, hooked up with one of the girls with her at her sister's bachelorette party, then realized that even though he still liked the FMC he would just keeping hanging out and hooking up with this other girl for like 85% of the book.

Then suddenly they're together after she flew half way around the world, so she could stalk her sister's husband to prove to herself that he's maybe, probably going to cheat on her sister, then she decided to not tell her sister until it was dragged out of her.

I liked the work setting, but the fact that they were with different people for most of the book and the insanely excessive amount of shy looks and blushing on both of their parts made them sound like children with their first crush.

The best part about this book and the only reason I really continued to listen to it is because Harrie Dobby's narration was very well done. Even though the story didn't work for me, she still delivered an enjoyable performance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape for the ALC.

After reading the synopsis and seeing names like Sophie Kinsella, Emily Henry and Beth O'Leary mentioned as comparison, I was so excited to listen to this book…

Sophie Ranald did not disappoint!!! She is easily a top tier author and I would be happy to listen to any of her books.

This book follows Lucy’s journey through self acceptance, navigating her professional life and learning to understand men. I would say this is more of a women’s fiction book with a bit of romance mixed into it. Ross was a solid love interest for Lucy. They complemented each other well and the relationship seemed to develop organically.

Because this book mainly focused on Lucy, there was only one female narrator. Harrie Dobby did a fantastic job bringing life to this story and was such a pleasure to listen too.

This is easily a five star read for me! It was so beautifully written and I enjoyed every second of it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a wholesome story. Also, bonus points for Astro the cat!! 🐈‍⬛

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the audiobook. This is my voluntary, honest review.

A fun listen of dating advice, Seinfeld quotes and a cute cat with an office romance to make it all work. Narration was very engaging and I was entertained by all the quirky side characters.

DNF. I read the first 3 chapters and then tried switching to audio. Neither worked well for me. I was bored and didn’t like where the story was going.

The premise of the book, Lucy Masters has lost her job as a columnist at a women's magazine and seeks help from her biggest support and sister, Amelie. Amelie and Lucy are very close, and Lucy is starting to feel the strain of her sister's upcoming wedding and fears losing her altogether. Amelie does her best to have things remain as they are (as much as she can, at least) and helps her brainstorm new career paths. Together, they come up with the idea of Lucy starting an advice column for men called "Ask Adam". This seems to be a great idea. The only problem is Lucy knows absolutely nothing about men. Lucy is logical, sensitive, and a brilliant cat mom, who is very compassionate and considerate of the feelings of people. The story is told in first person from Lucy's perspective. Lucy went from swearing off men after being hurt from her last relationship to willingly and openly giving it a shot, and learned a lot about relationships along the way.

Thank you to Storm Publishing, the author and NetGalley

The Love Hack

Lucy is on the verge of being laid off and in a last ditch effort she agrees to write for the men’s magazine as an advice columnist the only problem is she doesn’t understand men and therefore she turns to AI to help her write her responses. This novel is described as “relatable rom com that will have you laughing and crying as you race through the pages”……. Ummm 😬



I could not handle Lucy’s naivety about pretty much everything. Almost every person in her life treats her unbelievably bad. I think the most frustrating part of The Love Hack was Lucy’s relationship with her sister. Emily and her internalized misogyny were too much for me. The romance was minuscule and I would have loved more of that. I think the AI bit was interesting giving that it’s infiltrating every part of our society, and made me wonder if writers are actually using it in that capacity. This was not my cup of tea, but maybe it will be for others.
I did enjoy the narration in The Love Hack

(Thank you NetGalley & Storm Publishing for ARC in exchange for an honest review. )

Thank you NetGalley and Storm publishing for an audiobook ARC of this book.

Unfortunately, 1.5 stars---I really loved this narrator and the plot! I just think it fell short a little bit. I just came off of reading some great romances, so many that's it. I will say that this is a new author for me and I'm so impressed with the imagery of this audiobook. I didn't laugh as much as I wanted to for a rom/com...it just fell a bit short. I hope I can read this again and love it.

This was fun cute and definitely enjoyed. The office setting was cute, now this is more about the main character than a romance but that is ok. Still enjoyed.