I love Wordle — I play it every day and am on a 283-day streak — so I jumped at the chance to request a romance centered around the game. Unfortunately, I ended up disappointed.

Emily is 27 years old and is a receptionist at an auto shop. She has a bachelor’s degree in a field she doesn’t care about and is thinking about going back to school to get some sort of arts degree. She’s 27, but in her first-person POV, she sounds much younger. I also found it an odd stylistic choice to have her break the fourth wall to address the reader directly. I can’t remember the last time I saw that in a book for adults.

Anyway, there’s a mechanic at the auto shop named John who’s brusque with customers and not very nice to Emily. Of course he’s her love interest, because she finds out he plays Wordle, too. The romance fell flat. There’s no tension, buildup, or chemistry. This book felt more like women’s fiction than a romance. I did like the small-town setting on Prince Edward Island and Emily’s relationships with the elderly folks in town. If this book was solely about her journey, I might have been more into it, but the romance adds nothing to the plot.

My biggest issue, though, is that the author clearly doesn’t play Wordle regularly. Wordle doesn’t allow plurals, yet in the beginning of the book one of the answers is BOWLS. If you’re going to center a book around Wordle, these incorrect details will throw readers out of the book who know better. There’s also an excruciating and repetitive amount of detail about her solving the game. And she doesn’t even play it right! There’s constant explanation of Wordle’s rules (such as “yellow means a letter is in the word but in the wrong spot”) and it’s just not fun. Explaining once or twice is fine, but the reader doesn’t need to be constantly reminded.

I hate leaving bad reviews for debuts, but this book is not it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Amy James, and the publisher for allowing me access to the e-Arc.

4.25 stars

I personally related to Emily the FMC. A woman in her late twenties trying to figure out what she truly wants in this world. Especially, when your dreams seem to be far away. I do not think the romance is perfect, it definitely moved quickly. But they complement each other.

TW: Death, Medical Content, Toxic Friendships, and Toxic boss

Sweet, small-town journey of romance and self-discovery. Emily wants more than to be a receptionist in her small town’s auto repair shop but she isn’t sure what. Her daily Wordle fix seems to be leading her somewhere. Is it to a romance with a grumpy but cute mechanic? Or is it something bigger?

This debut romance is light, fast, and fun – a lot like Wordle.

Check it out if you’re a fan of:
• Small town life
• Opposites attract/grumpy + sunshine
• Workplace romance
• Quirky side characters

My biggest issue with this book is that she’s so bad at playing Wordle. Kidding… but not really. This book felt like it was about people who settle and as a passionate New Yorker, I can’t get behind a book where someone chooses to leave the city. I was hoping for much, but wanted a sweet sexy romance and this didn’t hit the way i hoped it would.

An overall fun premise for a book! After all the time that Wordle spent in the spotlight, it was so fun to see a story use that to develop a relationship between two characters. However, the follow through was not there for me. I struggled to root for Emily and could not get into the romance between her and John.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC.

If I read the word "Wordle" one more time, I’m gonna puke! Huge thanks to NetGalley, Avon, Harper Voyager, and the lovely Amy James for the ARC of A Five-Letter Word for Love! This book, dropping on December 3rd and spanning 368 pages, promised a unique concept but unfortunately fell a bit flat for me.

✧ Slow Burn 🔥
✧ Small-Town Romance 🏡
✧ Workplace Romance 💼
✧ Shared Hobby 🎮
✧ Opposites Attract 💘
✧ Self-Discovery 🌱
✧ Eccentric Side Characters 🎭
✧ Clean Romance 💖

Emily, our 27-year-old FMC, has a 300+ day Wordle streak, but her life in a small town on Prince Edward Island is seriously lacking excitement. Enter John, her grumpy coworker at the auto shop. Their supposed Wordle connection? Total zero chemistry, folks. 😩 Emily can come off as a bit whiny, and John barely registers—more of a background character than the MMC he should be.

The novel feels more like a self-discovery journey than a romance. Sure, the small-town vibes and Emily’s quirky interactions with eccentric elderly characters were cute, but parts of the book dragged on, making it feel repetitive and dull. Emily's internal monologues? A bit immature, to say the least, and I found myself skimming through some sections.

If you’re looking for depth in romance, this might not be your jam. The moments between Emily and John lack substance, and their relationship development is practically nonexistent.

Now, I don’t want to be too harsh since this is a debut, and if you love Wordle and small-town romances, you might find it mildly entertaining. For me, though, it just didn’t deliver, earning a solid 2 stars. 🌟

I love this love story!

Amy James really hit her debut out of the park with Emily and John. The way their opposite personalities completely compliment each other is to-die-for and I honestly loved the way Wordle/NYT was integrated into the story--it almost felt easier to put myself into the plot because I could picture the real-world aspects of the games. As a lifetime lover of grumpy/sunshine, this book was the cutest, perfect little light-hearted romance for me. It's a fun read that I recommend to most romance lovers, especially those who can't get enough of the NYT games!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. I am so excited to see what Amy James comes up with next!

a very cutesy romance but it really freaked me out to see them talking about wordle. idk what it was but the whole time all i could think about was how i've never really heard characters talk about nyt games in books and that was really playing with my mind. i really enjoyed reading about emily kinda dealing with life. her character felt very realistic. the romance was okay, i think i cared more about emily's life but her and john were cute. plus how many people can say they've fallen in love over worlde?????

Amy James' debut, A FIVE-LETTER WORD FOR LOVE, is as addictive to read as Wordle is to play. I read and read and read until I looked up and it's 3am. Could. Not. Put. It. Down.

I was oh so very curious how a word game would factor into a romance book, but when you read Emily doing letter math to solve the daily puzzle you learn who she is as a character. She is logical and superstitious and idealistic all at once. I cackled through each chaos brain moment as she tried to place hidden meaning, or prophecy, to the answer of the day. But through the chaos, she is also creative and committed to problem solving.

Let's be very transparent here, Emily is a messy sunshine character. Her life may be steady but it's very much in progress. Before we enter the romance arc she has biases to break down and some self-reflecting to do. She also presents as the "gifted student with too many options, so they chose anxiety as a career" kind of adult. There should be no surprise when I say Emily is one of the most relatable characters I've read all year.

John is more of a mystery as the grumpy love interest of few words. But while his words are applied only as necessary, his acts of service are plentiful. The way he rolled his eye at all things barrel museum, but still rolled up his sleeves to help Emily's community event succeed. And when he does use his words, its truth, even when they are hard truths to hear.

You will likely be picking this up for that very grumpy and sunshine romance pairing, but you're turning the pages to follow Emily on her quest for a dream life. As someone who had a similar quest, the ups and downs and struggles she faced, both internally and beyond her control, are so true to real life. So be prepared for her to swing from "delulu is the solulu" and practical life improvements. It's about the journey not the destination.

A FIVE-LETTER WORD FOR LOVE receives my highest recommendation for its relatable depiction of life in progress. Congrats and thank you Amy James for a brilliant debut.

Content warnings to be mindful of:

Misogyny in the workplace
Caretaking of the elderly
Minor character death (not on page)

Thank you Netgalley and Avon Books for the advance digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

The cover of this book is so cute and from the synopsis, I was excited for a quirky romance. Sadly, that is not what I got. After doing my best to push through, I ended up DNFing at 49%.

Very early on, I found the FMC Emily very off-putting. The entire book is told from her perspective and her thoughts are rude and judgmental and I didn’t like her or care for her one bit. As the story goes on, what Emily thinks is very immature - I had a hard time believing she was 27. The MMC John was as one-dimensional as they come. He had no depth or personality. I love a good quiet boy, but we just don’t get to know him and Emily’s internal monologues about him are less than kind. When they do start up an unlikely friendship, she either thinks judgmental or shallow things about him. It’s mentioned a few times that he races cars which would have been interesting if we learned or experienced more of that.

This was supposed to be a romance, but the two main characters had absolutely zero chemistry. By 49% they hadn’t even flirted. This wasn’t even slow burn - there was nothing there besides the occasional thought from Emily that he smelled good or had nice abs. Every interaction they had felt odd and stilted. Nothing about their time together screamed we would be good together.

If you are looking for a book geared more toward finding yourself or quirky elderly characters, you might enjoy this.

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

This is a fun read punctuated with history and relationship drama. Who knew that a barrel museum could be so fun! This is not just a meet cute, rom-com, it's got layers to it which should be appreciated by everyone who reads it.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC. Unfortunately, this was a quick DNF for me. I thought the FMC annoying and immature and couldn't get through much, with a slow plot to boot.

5 ⭐️. When a book opens by sharing ing my disdain for crossword puzzles, I know I’m going to read it. This one was very well-written. The use of Wordle enhanced the vocabulary and just made it “work”. The characters were developed organically & the chemistry and banter had me wanting more. I hope an audiobook is recorded because this one should be marketed everywhere. Definitely a fun read for word nerds & romance lovers alike! 👏🏻👏🏻

Came for the Wordle and the romance. Stayed for the snarky comments about painting VW Beetles bright pink, the barrels, and the old people (prepare to cry).

This was okay. The romance was a little flat to me but I liked the journey of Emily making friends as an adult and her realizing the career she thought she wanted, wasn’t actually what she wanted.

A fun romance story that is also about learning to be okay with yourself and being open to what happens when you don’t know what you’re doing or where you’re going but you are doing something that keeps moving you forward.

I adored this book. It was nice quirky engaging read. It became a bit repetitive however it still was a very cute bubbly read.

I was definitely apart of the "wordle" craze during the pandemic, trying to play with my friends as a way to stay connected. Thus, I was excited to see the cover and synopsis for A Five-Letter Word for Love, anxious to dive in. My hopes for this novel were quickly dashed as I felt the main character was very immature and I could not get into her head as I started reading. I feel this book will be for others but sadly, it was not for me.

This sounded like a cute story even though I really had no idea what Wordle was other than something people posted about on social media. What really caught my attention was this story takes place on Prince Edward Island. Home of Anne of Green Gables. So if course I had to read it!

I found this story cute and I really liked the main character. Emily was just quirky enough to be entertaining but not irritating. I liked the tension between her and John and the natural way their friendship happened. It actually made me want to play Wordle. Besides these two characters I found all the other characters well written and I enjoyed the way they added to the story.

I have read that there are some errors in the PEI setting. It didn't bother me at all because I've never been there and even if I had the book is fiction and the author is welcome to take a little liberty with the setting.

I absolutely loved all of the Anne references. I mean, you can't have a book set on PEI and not reference its most famous resident.

All in all this was a really cute, enjoyable read and a book I have thought about in the days since I have finished it. It is a book I would definitely recommend to fans of romance and rom-coms.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion which I have given.

I'm so glad that I finally read this because it is so good. I related heavily to the being around people towards the end of their lives because my aunt works in hospice and it's a hard job to do. I loved the romance and thought that Waldon is such a cute town.