Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC copy of this book!

3.5 stars rounded up to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I thought this was a really cute and cosy read.
I immediately got into the pacing of the book and thought it was a good mix of funny and relatable.

As the romance started to develop between Emily and John, there were genuinely moments where I found myself smiling at the screen because it was so cute.

The problem for me was the second half. Emily became more pedantic and John seemed very one-dimensional in his personality, even during conflict he was giving me ✨nothing✨

But I still wanted them to be together and I’m glad Emily finally saw sense in the end. The Wordle thing was cute and being that this is a debut novel, I think it’s a pretty great start.

Excited to read more from this Author!

A Five Letter Word For Love is the first novel by Canadian author, Amy James. For a year now, twenty-six-year-old Emily Evans has lived in a totally cute house in the town of Waldon on Prince Edward Island, paying an almost nominal rent, and working as a receptionist at Martin Auto.

She sees the job as temporary: her Bachelor of Science degree didn’t result in the dream job, something creative and arty, she’s decided, something that will quickly pay off her student loan, something in a city like London or Paris or New York.

Meanwhile, she looks out for her next-door-neighbour, watches Heath Ledger movie marathons, and waits for inspiration. Her Uni friends are spread far and wide, busy with their own lives, her parents are vacationing overseas, and of the mechanics at work, Dave is older, a nice man with adult children, while John, her age, is only interested in racing cars and is virtually taciturn when she tries to engage.

Emily is a Wordle enthusiast: it’s something she can succeed at much better than crosswords, and her current streak is over three hundred days when she looks like being stumped. John has already come to her rescue when her car beaks down; as they sit waiting for his mate to bring a truck, he surprises her by coming to the rescue again with a subtle clue to maintain her streak. John does Wordle: who knew! Perhaps there are unknown depths to this silent colleague.

Even though Emily doesn’t plan to stay, she somehow falls into a private carer job looking after her next-door-neighbour (and a few others), and volunteers at the Barrel Museum in her spare time. Her enthusiasm for each of these draws comment from John: “You are weird”. But they keep sharing their Wordle efforts, and when, despite the museum manager’s disinterest, Emily begins coming up with promotional ideas: school excursions, care home outings, a new, interactive exhibit, an open day, John offers to help out.

They end up dating, even though she definitely doesn’t want to end up with a mechanic who has settled for a small-town existence. Courses, internships and the big city are still calling her…

Emily might initially strike the reader as a bit shallow, with a somewhat warped sense of priorities, but she quickly shows herself to be kind-hearted, to show initiative and some creativity, even if she appears to occasionally be oblivious to what others plainly see. Oh, and Wordle enthusiasts might find her approach to the puzzle a little irritating.

While the plot is fairly predictable, the journey to the happy-ever-after is a very pleasant one; the characters are appealing, and James gives them some insightful observations about life. This is a sweet and enjoyable debut, and more from Amy James will be most welcome.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Collins Australia.

I loved this book, it was so sweet to read. I love the concept and literally started playing wordle daily. For my contemporary romance lovers I recommend reading!!

I feel like this book had so much potential but the female main character just ruined it for me. The plot was lacking so, I felt like it was going in circle with a few little side quests. Also a lot of mistakes both in the plot, the process of things and grammatical
1.5

Emily is trying to find her dream job after she realised she doesn’t want to do anything with her degree. She finds herself in a small town as a receptionist at an auto shop with a 300+ day streak on wordle.

A five letter word for love incorporates wordle into the story of Emily and John and they use this game as a foundation to their relationship and you find out little things about their lives with each days starting word. This is a super easy light hearted read about self discovery and finding your place in the world.

Thoughts:
There was chemistry between Emily and John no doubt, however I do wish John had more of a personality. I KNOW I KNOW. They are very opposites attract, Emily is so out there and has to fill in every silent moment and John doesn’t talk if he doesn’t want or need to. Just as the reader I found him a bit boring but I understand why he was great for Emily! However, for the entire book Emily wanted a big life with meaning and I didn’t understand the ending but at the same time it makes sense. Emily found joy in a small town, friends, two careers and a boyfriend. It was a lovely happy ending regardless and that’s what we love

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Summed Up: SWEET is the Wordle of the day!

- - -
Yes, this is a rom-com. Yes, it’s Wordle themed and yes, I gave it five stars! 😍✨

I know this is a wild card in my usual reading lineup but I honestly adored every bit of it.

As a devoted Wordle fan, the cover pulled me in and the references to the daily guessing game kept me hooked. Now I’m 100% convinced I need to match the daily five letter word to everything in my life!

This book is all about small town, slow burn romance with adorable characters, warm vibes and funny moments.

There weren’t any shocking twists, but that’s the beauty of it. It was a cosy, feel good meet-cute perfect for curling up with. If you’re in the mood for love with a side of five letter puzzles, this one is for you! 💌

A big thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the sneak peek of this book out 3rd December

Thank you to Netgally for providing me with this ARC

This was such a cute romance book that focused around the game Wordle. I do love a cute, cliche romance every now and then. I enjoyed this for the most part, however it wasn't a stand out read. Would still recommend

I actually really enjoyed this book. It is cheesy and cliche, and surprisingly not just another romance novel. I’m a huge fan of Wordle and just a bit of a nerd in general, and I loved that it was the premise of this book, and I really enjoyed the style of humour between the main characters. I agree that Emily comes off as very immature and flighty, but I can see aspects of her in myself, and she really just strikes me as a small town girl with big dreams and aspirations and absolutely no idea of how to get there.

John, the MMC, comes off as aloof and a little rude in the beginning, but as Emily begins to break down his walls, an unlikely friendship begins to blossom, and we all know what happens next. I read this in a day because I became invested, mostly in the Wordle of all things 🤣 but it’s actually a really cute read, and focuses on Emily’s character development and navigating the confusion and uncertainty she’s facing in her life.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for the ARC. This review is of my own thoughts and has been left voluntarily.

Thank You Harper collins for the ARC

A Five Letter Word for Love was a kinda cute and slightly dull read. I was more interested in the side characters then i was with the main two and their relationship and this book was so predictable two or three chapters in and i knew exactly how the whole thing was going to play out. If you like Halmark films you will probably like this book.

This was a 4.5 star read for me, uplifted to 5 star.

Emily feels like she is going nowhere fast. She thinks she should try out and is wholly committed to Wordle. She longs to be living a big life in a big city, not doing what she is doing now: working as a receptionist, somehow an assistant to the elderly, a volunteer at a barrel museum. She thinks the most successful aspect of her life is being on a Wordle streak. However, things change and it causes her to give pause about her previous assumptions about the 'big life' she'd been craving.

I enjoyed this one. There were so many questions Emily asked herself that I have asked myself over time. Why can’t I be better and happy where I’m at? Why do I think bigger is better? Is my comfort zone a bad thing? If I give up the awesome opportunity being offered, even though I would be very happy now, will I be happy later? Will things be better if I take the opportunity?

John is great. He seems aloof but real. He just does things that need to be done to help those around him. He doesn’t expect anything in return.

The romance portion of the book is secondary, so if you think are going to be reading a romance/rom-com, you aren’t going to get that, this is more about Emily discovering who she is and how she can actually fit into her own life.

This was a tricky book to review - I absolutely loved some parts but struggled with others!

The things I loved? A book centered around Wordle - Hilarious, unique and I loved it. The small town setting captured

The things I didn't so love? Honestly, the chemistry between our two lovers felt lacking in some parts. And the transitions between scenes could have been smoother

While I loved some parts, this one didn't quite hit the mark for me

Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers Australia and NetGalley for the ARC! Opinions are my own

This was a DNF at 25%. I just couldn't continue reading a book where the FMC, who is nearly 30 and has an undergraduate degree she did "just because", has the emotional maturity of a teenager. A fully-fuctioning human woman, she has delusions of leaving her dull receptionist job to become a photographer or an archaeologist, despite never having any interest in these things (or indeed, seemingly any other thing) in her entire life. A person with no interests and no hobbies besides completing the daily Wordle, she is far to beige to be the focus of a romance book.

I requested this ARC simply for the fact it's set in PEI, and now regret it. The premise is seemingly original - two lonely souls bonding over a love of Wordle - however it's not really that unique a plot. The monosyllabic, rude (but not for a good, redeemable reason) MMC also clinched my decision not to continue, there was simply nothing to like about the guy.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC, but I'm afraid I had to jump ship when I realised I disliked BOTH characters to the degree that I didn't want to continue.

Thanks to NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

The book centred on a love story starting with Wordle, was a complete unique and fresh concept. Unfortunately it fell a little flat, apart from Wordle the Mmc and fmc characters had very little chemistry.
2 1/2 Stars

This book was absolutely adorable! Obviously there’s a line threading the New York Times Wordle through the story as evident by the front cover. But there’s the gorgeous small town setting which the main character Emily lives in and loves as much as she hates as she dreams of her dream life elsewhere. Then there’s her coworker John, who has so many great qualities about him, except Emily can’t see past her initial impression of him. The story shows the importance of realising what is really important to you and that dreams are quite often not your reality.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Five-Letter Word for Love by Amy James is an enjoyable read with decent chemistry between the main characters, though it doesn’t quite sizzle as much as expected. The author’s writing is easy to follow, but at times the pacing felt uneven, with some parts dragging while others rushed by too quickly.

The flow of the story could have been smoother, as the transitions between key scenes occasionally felt abrupt. However, the book still has its moments of charm, and the characters' connection, while not deeply compelling, is believable enough to keep you interested.

A solid three stars for a light, if somewhat predictable, romance.

As a longtime Wordle enthusiast who recently downloaded the NY Times Games App, I was excited to dive into this fun and relatable twist on a romance novel. While I appreciated the Wordle elements, the romance and overall plot didn't quite hit the mark for me. The romantic aspect failed to capture my interest, and the storyline quickly became repetitive and lackluster, leaving me bored and struggling to stay engaged through much of the book.

I have been charmed by a romance book based on Wordle.

Do y’all remember the word game that took over the internet during the pandemic? That’s what this book is based on: a young woman named Emily, adrift in life, unfocused but convinced she’s destined for greatness, and her love for Wordle.

I don’t like reading books in one day, but I started A Five-Letter Word For Love on Day 1 and finished it on Day 2, thoroughly enjoying every minute and always wanting to find out what happened next. I found Emily’s narrative voice very engaging and entertaining, and I was intrigued by her character development: she’s convinced she’s better than anyone who chooses to live in a small town, including the boring mechanic she works with who ends up being the love interest.

And I really enjoyed this romance! I was engrossed by the main character’s subtly changing attitude and feelings towards the mechanic who, surprising no one, actually turns out to not be boring. It wasn’t filled with drama or bullying, and I especially love how he took influence from her friendliness and tried to be friendlier instead of mr blunt and direct all the time, and she took influence from him and learned to stand up for herself.

I really felt for Emily as she was at an age where all of her friends lived far away, had careers and relationships, and she felt behind by being single and living in a small town with a dead-end job after deciding not to pursue the career she went to university for. I think the author really encapsulated that feeling that can happen to a lot of young people, especially women, before their careers are established or before they get married (if that’s what they want). I was hit especially hard by Emily’s loneliness when she went home alone after work and didn’t even have a pet to keep her company. I was incredibly pleased to see her making friends throughout the book.

While I really did enjoy basically everything about this novel, I only thought that if it had ended a bit earlier, it would have made a fantastic women’s fiction instead of a romance, where a young woman, determined to change her life, elects to leave the temporary happiness she found in search for something she’d been dreaming of and planning for. While I’m ok with the ending specifically because it is a romance and must have a HEA, I’m not convinced Emily would really be happy with how things ended up. That’s because ultimately, I don’t think the man she left her dream for for was truly compatible. Full disclosure: I, too, dated a racecar driver and broke up because our lives were not compatible, and I did not want to spend my life around cars and fishing (I found myself a gamer instead, which gives me time to read). And it felt like she’d spent the entire novel chasing her dream career in her dream city only to give up when it wasn’t perfect, which um… happens in relationships, too.

I loved the side characters and I cried during some especially sad moments.

I am totally charmed by Amy James’ writing and I would definitely love to check out her next book.

Thanks to Netgally, publisher and author for the ARC of this book.

I was keen to read this as was based around the game wordle which was unique.

Unfortunately I found no character development and a lack of wholeness or fullness to way written .

Although it was nice, quick and easy to read. As I only took a few days to read.

I did enjoy the wordle idea.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Publishers Australia and the author Amy James for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A Five-Letter Word for Love is a light and easy, rom-com style book. It was a bit of a slow burn and there were so many characters that I couldn’t help but fall in love with. I enjoyed this read, I rated it a 3/5⭐️.

The book followed Emily, a vibrant young woman who was determined to find her dream job. While she was trying to find her dream job, she was working as a receptionist in an auto shop which is where she meets John, a reserved, slightly rude mechanic.

The idea of Wordle being included in a book really drew me in and let me tell you, there was times where I was kicking my legs with some of the ways that the Wordle was included 🥹 This also goes hand in hand with the cover, it stood out due to the Wordle aspect.

I would have loved a bit more depth to John’s character, I think the story would have been better from a dual POV, especially since we don’t know much about John apart from surface level information for majority of the book. As well as this, there were so many different aspects of the book, where at times I felt like it was tricky to keep up but by the end of the book, it ended with such a great note and it didn’t feel overcrowded and I felt at peace with the ending.

I would recommend this book if you’re looking for a rom-com, slight grumpy x sunshine, small town romance with a Wordle aspect 🫶🏼

"I could go to culinary school. That would be fun, wouldn't it?
Like going to school, but your homework is cookies."

Thanks to NetGalley for supplying me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review

A Five-Letter Word for Love is a light, easygoing read—perfect for when you're in the mood for something relaxing. While it doesn’t serve up any surprising twists or unexpected moments, it offers a straightforward and charming narrative that stays in its lane.

The story follows Emily, a bubbly and determined young woman, who finds herself working as a receptionist at an auto shop. There, she meets John, a gruff and somewhat standoffish mechanic. Their romance slowly develops, with some cute Wordle shenanigans sprinkled in, all while Emily is on a quest to figure out her ~dream job~

One thing I would have appreciated is more depth to John’s character. The story would have benefitted from a dual POV, especially since John starts off as a pretty reserved and bland character and doesn’t evolve much beyond that. We learn that he’s sweet and thoughtful—definitely a acts of service kind of guy—but beyond that, he lacks distinctiveness. He’s the type of character you’d struggle to pick out of a lineup.

Overall, it’s a cute and enjoyable book, even if it didn’t quite hit "favorite" status for me.