I thank and appreciate NetGalley and Amy James for an ARC of this book! Naturally, I was so excited to discover this book, as a Wordle (and connections) enthusiast.

Emily has a college degree but no direction in where she wants to land in life. As she is figuring out what it is her dream job and life is, Emily is living in Waldon, a small town in Prince Edward Islands, working as a receptionist. Everyday she completes the Wordle challenge on NYT and has a streak over 300 days. She bonds over Wordle with John, the quiet mechanic that hasn't paid her any attention and has barely spoken two words to her. As she tries to navigate what she wants out of life, she discovers love, friendship, and what life means to her.

I loved so much about this book! I truly felt all the emotions that the MFC experienced. I was engrossed in their small town and all the people Emily became friends with. I identified with Emily in many ways, which helped cement my love for this book. I think in some way, everyone wonders what if I could be doing something else with my life? Could I be doing something more grand that really makes a splash in the world? I also loved her connections to the elderly people. What great value and stories to be told through them. And Jim? Prepare for tears. I also loved how Emily always tried to find meaning the Wordle word of the day. Not sure her Wordle strategies are helpful but they sure are funny! Lastly, I loved the little connection to Anne of Green Gables. Having watched this with my grandmother growing up, it sparked a little nostalgia.

I gave this book a 4 star because I felt there were just a few things that were forgotten or not thoroughly explored. Her friends from college didn't really contribute anything extra to the book besides showing that as life goes on, some friendships just don't last. I get that but it was kind of a side bar. The romance portion of the book was so small. I would've loved more out of it. I would've loved to see more in depth relationship growth between the two of them. John is more quiet in nature but there wasn't much character depth to him besides hunky muscles and his love of racing cars. Emily does a lot of thinking and rambling, which is how the story is told. This can be a little annoying, it's not my favorite POV.

Overall, this was such a fun read! I thoroughly enjoyed this and could identify so much with the MFC. And of course, there's Wordle.

I really enjoyed this book and found It to be really cute! I loved the premise of a romance starting because of Wordle, and I love forced proximity and workplace romances! The characters, especially the elderly population, were all a lot of fun and had distinct personalities and realistic characterizations. I especially loved Emily's narrative voice and how she would address the audience, that's a quirk of books I always enjoy!

I found Emily and John's romance to feel authentic and not over-dramatized for a novel. Their aspirations, human mistakes, and frequent talk and struggle with dream jobs gave it a realism that is sometimes lacking in romance books. I loved that there wasn't an abundance of overreacting and unrealistic actions that can sometimes make books tough to get through. This one was fun and realistic all at once! The small-town vibes of Waldon were also really enjoyable and I loved seeing how all the other characters interacted with each other based on their shared history.

Definitely a book I'd recommend to romance and word lovers alike!

I am pretty surprised with how much i enjoyed this! It definitely exceeded my expectations. It’s absolutely not the best book i’ve ever read - it absolutely has some issues with depth and just overall plot. It’s more of a character driven book - which is totally fine - but i think because of that it needed more character depth.

The first like 10% of the book felt like you were facetiming with a best friend. I really enjoyed her as a character but she definitely did annoying at points. At certain points it felt like a lot of repetition but overall it was still a fun read.

The idea of a love of wordle bringing two unlikely people together is fun. It is also a textbook grumpy sunshine. These are the last two people you’d think you’d find together, but it works.

I really tried to like this book because the concept sounded good but the main character and the love interests are some of the most annoying people i’ve ever read. the guy lacks personality (and basic social awareness and mannerism). i would never want to be within 5 feet of him. the “plot” was just very boring and i found myself skipping several pages. :(

Thanks to HarperCollins and Net Galley for this advanced copy. I was immediately drawn in by the adorable cover of Amy James’ debut novel. A Wordle romance? Say less! I’m thrilled to say this did not disappoint. I loved Emily’s character growth, finding her footing and choosing to be happy where she is in life. John was so grumpy and sweet. And the supporting cast of characters, from Rose and Trey to Kiara and Jim, really sealed the deal for me. It felt like a summer beach trip. I would recommend! I would have loved and epilogue (MARRY, HITCH, BRIDE were there for the taking), but overall it’s only because I wasn’t ready for it to be over. I can’t wait to see what else this author does!

Loved this one! Great and fun read. Highly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for my ARC.

A Five Letter Word for Love was an extremely slow burn romance. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be a romantic comedy, but I didn’t find it terribly comedic. The female protagonist did not really have much going for her in terms of making her likable, except for the fact that she seems to approach life with an inordinate amount of enthusiasm, as she seemed to come off as someone superior and lost simultaneously.

Loved the Wordle component of the book though! Especially because the male protagonist was an unexpected participant.

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital advanced copy.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of a five letter word for love.

Overall, I thought this was a cute book. The obsession with wordle was funny, especially that she tried to tie the word into her life.

It’s a fast paced, easy read that you can finish in just a few hours.

In A Five-Letter Word for Love, twenty-seven-year-old Emily finds herself stuck in a rut, working as a receptionist at an auto shop in a small town on Prince Edward Island. She dreams of a creative career and the city life, instead of her small town!

She is a huge Worldle fan, and has a 300+ day streak. It’s her only highlight of the day right now!

Emily gets stuck on the puzzle and turns to John, one of her seemingly annoying, car-obsessed coworkers, for help.
He is NOT what she expected at all!

This book was a fun and unique read that drew me into the world of Wordle. Having never played it before, I found myself excited to try it out.

The romance between Emily and John is AMAZING. It was such a cute love story.

Emily, with her kind and caring nature, is a character you can't help but root for. Her journey from feeling stuck and unfulfilled to finding love and new perspectives is inspiring. John, initially seeming irritating, reveals so much more than we initially saw!

Amy James does a fantastic job of blending humor, romance, and personal growth in this adorable story.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5 rated up This book took me while to get into, I won’t lie I debated DNFing a few times before like 20%. It was a bit cringy and rambly. I’m glad I held strong. The banter was top tier. The ending did feel a bit rushed to me as well.

When I found out that I was approved for an ARC of A Five-Letter Word for Love by Amy James I freaked out and did a little dance around the house with my kids. My family plays Worlde everyday where we even have a text thread to share what the starter word is and then we send our stats at the end of the finished game. It’s a fun way where we stay connected and see what plays we each make. So when I found out that there was going to be a romance book based on Wordle I had to support the book! I mean check out that cover y’all!

I loved the setting of the novel and the cast of characters that we meet along the way. Emily, the FMC, has a winning streak on her Wordle, but that winning streak doesn’t flip out in her real life. She has a circle of friends who are on different career and relationship trajectories than her and she feels left out. If only there was a Wordle word for Emily that could help her find her true calling in life, instead of just manning the reception desk at the town’s local automotive shop. I loved the friendship and relationship that Emily forms with John, the grumpy but super handsome mechanic. The banter and the bond they form for their Wordles was just great and I loved watching their relationship blossom in the book. Also his family is just precious!

Throughout the story we watch Emily try to find who she is while she navigates the complexities of relationships and adulthood. I absolutely loved her relationships with the elderly in her community and grateful that this story talked about the importance of being a caretaker for the elderly.

Thank you to HarperCollins, Net Galley, and Amy James for the chance to read this book.

This was such a fun, cozy romance!! Maybe I am biased because a) I love Wordle and b) I am from Halifax and often visit PEI, but I was delighted. I felt like Emily was a bit annoying at first and you're definitely inside her head the whole time, but I also understood her struggles and really loved seeing her journey. The small town vibes were so great and I just adored this.

Wordle but in book form. Kinda cringe kinda cute. Was a light easy read. Emily is trying to find herself and keeps wanting to do bigger and dream bigger. John is happy where he is but will they be happy together?

Thanks NetGalley for the arc!

Wordle is such an obsession of mine, so I love that Amy James wrote a romance where the game that captured the world was so prominently featured. This book is just so cute and cozy, and a feel good romance. I really enjoyed reading about Emily and John falling in love through their connection via Wordle, which I think is a cool and unique concept. tThe cover drew me in, and the game of Wordle combined with a romance sold me. This takes place in a small town and all of the side characters make this book even better. I absolutely adored this book!

Thank you to NetGalley, Amy James, and Avon for the eARC of this book.

Thank you Netgally and Avon/Harper Voyager for the advanced copy!

Wordle has been an obsession of mine so when I saw this title and read the description I knew I had to read it. The cover was also so cute, I couldn't pass it up. For a rom-com this is as cute as it gets. Even though it was a bit predictable, I loved reading Emily and John slowly fall in love. Never thought wordle would be a great hook for a romance, but it is! Also, I've never read an Amy James book before. Now I am a fan.

This book is a fun, easy read that will make you smile. That's perfect for summer, winter or anytime reading!!

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review♥️

Was this story endearing? Yes!
Was the writing witty and fresh? Yes!
Did the protagonist show some promising growth? Also yes!
Was this really a romance? No.

I thought this was a cute read, but this book is supposed to be about the relationship between the FMC Emily and the MMC John. Yet, reading about these two interacting might be more boring than watching paint dry. John is supposed to be a man of few words and I get that, but there wasn’t any moment where he really let his guard down and talked about himself. He showed his love for Emily through acts of service, but otherwise he was just…there. This story should’ve been marketed as just being about Emily’s journey because I don’t consider it a romance. In romances, there’s usually a magnetic pull between the lovers in question, but here it just felt forced. Yes, it’s clear they love each other, but there’s no delving deeper into that love whatsoever. I kept expecting John to have this breakthrough moment and pour his feelings out, but he never did. It’s clear he has feelings, but he doesn’t voice them whatsoever.

Emily is a fun fmc who is having a total quarter life crisis, but her storyline was mostly predictable. She spends more time thinking about prospective careers and wanting to leave Canada than she does thinking about all of the great things going for her. Her ramblings about wanting to feel “important” were relatable at first, but then they became pretentious and elitist. She was constantly giving details about the barrel making museum, the elderly people she’s working with, her friends, her college days, Anne Of Green Gables, and Wordle; her mentions of John pale in comparison.


Of course Emily doesn’t need to talk about a man for her to be interesting, but this was marketed as a romance! I went into reading this with an appetite for warm fuzzies, but instead I ended up reading about a twenty something in limbo & freaking out about her purpose in life all while wasting tons of time daydreaming…I’m already living this reality, so reading about it isn’t very thrilling. Where were the sparks? Where was the high school esque giggling? Where was the pining?

Emily also comes to the most cliche conclusions about her life which sucks because I can tell she’s intelligent and a deep feeler. I’ve seen so many movies and read too many books that revolve around a protagonist wanting to follow their dreams only to find out their dream life was right in their backyard. That trope is worth telling because it holds an evergreen lesson, but the way it was approached in this case was lacking substance. Emily never seemed truly interested in her “dream life” and I think she just chose hoity toity work in the arts to make herself appear interesting? It was abundantly clear that she’s cut out for more thoughtful, creative, human-focused endeavors from the beginning.

The best part of this entire story are the people in the town. I adored Emily’s clients, especially Jim, and I think she made great points about the value of spending time with elders. I also loved the museum aspect, I thought it was so uplifting to see such care and thought put into a community that needed it.

Overall, this novel was still cute because I’m a sucker for a small coastal town setting. I thought the Wordle aspect was cute, but it seemed irrelevant to the story about halfway through; many of the parts that over-explain what’s going on Wordle wise could be taken out. I wanted more of Emily and John! They were so promising!
This was a sweet read, but it didn’t deliver much romance at all. I noticed that if John was taken out of the story, it would be almost the same…that breaks my heart. Justice for John !!!!! <3

As someone who plays the NYT Wordle every day without fail, this book was a dream come true. I loved how sweet and real this felt. It's one of my new feel-good romances.

Mein Leseerlebnis

Die contemporary romance basiert auf einer frischen Grundidee, die ich sehr ansprechend fand.

Die beiden Hauptcharaktere arbeiten in verschiedenen Bereichen einer Autowerkstatt, hatten bisher aber wenig miteinander zu tun und sind von ihrer Personalität her recht verschieden. Doch dann fällt ihnen auf, dass beide Wordle spielen (ich auch!) und über das Buchstabenrätsel kommen sie ins Gespräch.

Die sich darauf aufbauend entwickelnde Liebesgeschichte fand ich phasenweise unterhaltsam und frisch. Vor allem das erste Drittel konnte mich gut unterhalten.

Im Mittelteil gab es aber so einige Längen und insgesamt denke ich nicht, dass die Charaktere und ihre Liebesgeschichte genug zu bieten hatten, um alle Seiten gut zu füllen. Rund 20-30 Seiten weniger hätten dem Liebesroman meiner Meinung nach sehr gut getan.

Auch hätte man aus den Hauptcharakteren mehr rausholen können, die Autorin kratzte bei ihnen gefühlt etwas an der Oberfläche.

Ich blicke mit gemischten Gefühlen auf mein Leseerlebnis zurück. Meine Bewertung fällt immer noch recht positiv aus, was vor allem am interessanten Einstieg in den Liebesroman und der tollen Grundidee liegt.

🖤🖤🖤 1/2

PS: Ich selbst spiele jeden Tag Wordle, Quordle und Octordle (Rescue - Modus) und zwar schon seit über einem Jahr (bald zwei?). Deshalb fand ich die Details zum täglichen Wordle der beiden Hauptcharaktere unterhaltsam und charmant.

Für wen?

Wer ruhig verlaufende Liebesromane mag, in denen die Heldin versucht sich beruflich zu verwirklichen und so einiges ausprobiert, für den könnte das romance Buch einen Versuch wert sein.

A Five-Letter Word for Love was such a fun, quirky read! I related to the main character, in so many ways (and not just because I too complete the Wordle every day), and it really pulled me in. For anyone out there who’s just trying to figure out their way through life, this book is for you!

I was initially drawn to this book because of the adorable cover and it wasn’t until after I read the summary that I learned that this book centers around the addictive game: Wordle. For those who don’t know, Wordle is a game many play on their phones and you are working to solve word puzzles. In this story, our love interests meet and bond over a game of Wordle.
Emily, our FMC, is determined to have a year long streak and often plays the game while at work. It is there that we meet our male main character, John, who helps her with her game and this begins a daily form of communication for the pair. They meet or interact daily to continue to play the game together and overtime they develop feelings for one another.
The banter between the two was great but really the best thing about this book was the sweet romance. This book was about personal growth and surrounding yourself with people who value and appreciate you.
Thank you to HarperCollins, Net Galley, and Amy James for the chance to read this book.