Thank you for the advance copy. Unfortunately, this one just didn't work for me. I did make it through....begrudgingly. I'm not prude when it comes to what I read but in this case the dialogue just felt crass and juvenile. I would have expected this more if the main characters were HS or college-age but they are young professionals in their 30s and it didn't feel natural at all. The feminism in STEM focus on career just kept coming up but she didn't behave in a way that would lead you to believe she actually wanted to advance her career. Overall, the concept had promise and had the writing been better, it probably would have been a much better book.

This was a cute read! Maddie and Zack they're both working on an app called LoveScore. In order for both of them to catalog correct data that makes the app work perfectly and for it to launch they both need to pretend date! Pretty good pretense! I feel as if I was watching a Netflix romcom totally adorable! 💗

The characters have their flaws, beliefs, and more that they have to either work with or forgo in order to understand each other better.📖

The flow of the writing felt like a movie script! I can see a lot of comedic actors being cast as the characters and have me fall off my chair! 😊

Friends to lovers is one of my favorite genres! When you had a bunch of fun side characters you have a winner! 👍

Bravo! 💕

Thank you so much for this ARC! It was such a cute women in stem novel. Reminded me a lot of Ali Hazelwood’s books. It was just as spicy as I thought an Ali book would be. The chemistry between the main characters was off the charts. There were times where dialogue did seem a bit immature but I was able to overlook that.

This book is a friends to lovers fake dating experience. Maddie, the coder, is trying to make it in a male dominated world and has chosen to forego love to make her dreams happen. Zack has been secretly in love with Maddie for a decade but has accepted the friend zone he's been placed in. Maddie and Zack have an app that they're creating called LoveScore. In order to get the data they need for the app to go live early and get investments they have to fake date and become different characters to add that data to the algorithm. Lines get blurred and so do feelings.

This book was entertaining for the most part. But the writing was so cringe to me. I tried to look past it to get to the plot and if I focused on that it wasn't too bad.

Maddie annoyed me so much. She literally created a mess of her own design. She wanted it her way all the time while stringing her best friend along and playing with his emotions. She deliberately played denial and knocked down her family for giving up the feminist fight in her chapters. She was hard working, I'll give her that.

Zack was a bit better. He tried to help Maddie so much. They're childish antics to get the other jealous though felt ill fitting in the story.

I did enjoy the side characters though. The code bros and the sisters. I feel like they helped make the book entertaining. Even with their cringy language.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

This is first book in the series and the author has penned down an absolutely wonderful story with amazing set of characters in it. The plotline was well written and executed too. The narration was smooth and easy breezy which made my reading experience more enjoyable.

I like their story and how their relationship prpgresses. I like how it all started way back before all the romance happened. A patient MMC and strong-minded FMC. At some point I became impatient with how things went (haha), but at the almost-end, the plot became enjoyable again.

Iwas invested to the characters and the app launching so much. I like how in every interaction, both characters seem to be weighing on equality and consider each other's view of the future (although, sometimes it got frustrating!!
I like how it turned out. And Zach is a very patient man, so I've had faith in him since the beginning ^^
One thing that made me give it only 3 stars is that.. I think the story can get a bit quicker in the middle?

Anyway, this is a good book and I'd recommend it to girls who want a cozy read that can give a boost of motivation.

I am grateful to have received this book in order to share my view on it, unfortunately it was one of those very rare occasions where we didn't fit..

I had high hopes from the title and the cover. It's hard for me to review this book as I skimmed a lot. It felt just so .. tiring. The dialogues and the characters' traits were just too loud for me, their reactions too snappy and it felt like it was built out of cliches, the start up life and struggles, the typical girl coder, her best friend with the good looks, the apparent connection between them..

There is sensual tension here, there are emotions, and its clear the authors worked hard to make this work, but I just didn't get swept away by the world built here.

Maddie and Zach are friends who have started a dating app. They get someone who is interested in investing but wants more physical data. Maddie and Zach test it out by going on dates and role-playing other things.

I wanted to like this book. I do love the concept. I just was not in love with the main characters. If one of the leads is off-putting, it is hard to root for a romance. I did appreciate that Maddie has a reason to be the way she is. Being a female in a field where people tend to look down their noses at you can be hard.

The dates and the spice were on point, though.

Thanks to NetGalley and Create Mode Media for the e-ARC of this book. This review is my own opinion.

The Love Startup is book one in The Denton Sisters series by MéLisa Ryun.
A fun and humorous friends to lovers story.
I’m defiantly keeping my eyes open for book two!

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book about halfway through. The main issue I had with it was the writing style, in that it came across quite immature. Because it took a 'spoken' and sort of informal approach to the style, it just didn't flow as well and the dialogue could feel quite stunted. That made it difficult to feel immersed in the story. In addition to that, the story jumped immediately into this very descriptive outline of all the things that made the FMC amazing, which is great, but that was primarily how I learnt a lot of that basic information about her so it was very tell and not show. It also came across quite sterile in that her attractive attributes were almost listed off in dialogue by the MMC and one of his co-workers. The last thing I had an issue with is that there seemed to be a feminism plot thread in here, but unfortunately it didn't really land for me. It just felt a bit forced, and like it had to be there because they were working in tech, which is a predominantly male field in the real world. Anyway, I'm really sorry to say that I wasn't able to finish this so I won't be reviewing it on my external platforms because I don't think a negative review of a book I didn't finish is very helpful.

There was a lot of stuff I loved here. The characters were spot-on- I loved strong, intelligent Madie and her sisters- I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the other Denton sisters! I loved how supportive Zack was, and the way he tried to keep things in the friendzone that Madie wanted. Even when I wanted to shake them both, I loved them. I also loved that we gave Wes someone other than Linda ( the amount of scenes with a blow-up doll was odd; but kudos for being able to give a sex toy a bit of personality).

The story had a good flow to it, and while some of it read far more immature than I thought characters in their twenties and thirties should have been, there was actual growth and development. The roleplay game that Zack and Madie played was adorable, and I actually loved that they tried to use that to create data for the app. Was it the best book ever? Nah, but it was hilarious, sexy, and just out right fun. For me this is a three star book.

⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
There is a lot of sexual content here- both inuendo and actual sex scenes, and they get fairly spicy ( I would say a four on the spice scale). Other than some language I would say that’s it as far as adult content goes. It is definitely made with adults in mind, but some of the language and scenarios would make it appeal to a New Adult crowd as well.


I was lucky enough to recieve an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Create Mode Media in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and have not been swayed by this. My thanks!

The concept here was really fun to read. Told from a dual POV of Maddie and Zack. Best friends that start their own dating app struggling to gain investors. When they finally catch a bite, it comes with a contingency of launching within 6 weeks. 6 weeks is not enough time to gather all the data they need from beta testers so Maddie and Zack dive into roleplay fake dating to add in the missing data. I liked this plot concept because it gives you the different role-play character profiles before detailing each date. Zack has always been in love with Maddie but Maddie refuses to be distracted while she puts her career first. So 10 years post friendzoning, Zack is still in love with her and with all this fake dating for their app has Maddie starting to catch feelings of her own.

Despite how fun this read was, I feel like the dialog was better suited for college/early twenties characters rather than the thirty something they’re supposed to be. I enjoyed the banter, but I definitely felt like they read much younger. The roommates who also happen to be a part of their coding team were quirky, funny and added personality to some of the slower moments. I also think the spicy portion of this kind of jumps in quick towards the middle and then it just kept coming and coming (pun intended), it would have been nice if it had been broke up a little through the dates instead of all at once. Lastly, while I appreciate reading a fmc that wants to see women thrive in the workforce, she came off a little selfish in her thought processes, when I felt like Zack did a really good job of supporting her. Overall, I had fun reading this. It definitely gave off romance/comedy and id love to see this as a movie.

The Love Startup centers around Maddie, a driven coder determined to launch her dating app, LoveScore. When an investor demands an impossible upgrade to the app’s algorithm, Maddie and her co-founder Zack find themselves in a fake dating situation to gather data. As they role-play intimate scenarios, their fake relationship blurs the lines between business and genuine feelings.

The story is fast-paced and easy to get through, making it a quick read. However, the characters sometimes feel immature, especially given their professional roles, and their dialogue can come off as a bit unrealistic. While there are some funny moments and witty banter, the immaturity makes it harder to connect with the characters.

The overall concept of the book is intriguing, and there are a few well-written quotes, but the execution falls short in places. Maddie, in particular, comes across as unlikeable at times, which makes it harder to fully enjoy the romance.

I gave it 3 stars because it takes guts to write a book and publish it besides everything else quoted above.

The plot really spoke to me and I was excited to read this unfortunately when I started reading I did not connect to it, there were cute moments but it didn't meet my expectations from the blurb.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to review. I want to preface: I am a PhD Chemist, so STEM writing is my wheelhouse. These are the women I work with and want to continue to be an example for...but yeesh. In theory, this concept is awesome. In execution...

The writing is sloppy at best, juvenile at worst. The phrasing is completely cringe inducing. I struggled to get through it because I kept just thinking "people only talk like this in bad SNL plots about this generation". I think this missed the mark between patronizing feminism and being a feminist. The female character Maddie, wants to be a girl boss but her voice is pretty horrendous. Her startup partner Zack makes no sense half the time. They are not likeable and not believable.

I won't post this on my socials because I don't enjoy trashing stories...but I would steer far clear from this one.

The concept is wonderful, the outcome was terrible.

The writing style is choppy, full of dialogue and honesty juvenile. The pacing was fast paced but the story only got good by 80%.

The characters are unlovable and not believable. The trying to be feminist was a fail and very pick me. I don't think the FMC understood feminism it's not about not shaving it's about CHOICE. Being a feminist you'd think she would have female friends and want to uplift other women but it was not the case. Living with men who have a sex doll and constantly being quite macho male is not great. I didn't feel like I could believe the MMC loved the FMC because I couldn't even feel compassion towards her.

The last chapters were okay. She become bearable but again you can't just turn your emotions on just like that. I honestly was not routing for these two.

I don't recommend.

[ARC Netgally - 10 Oct 2024 - Create Mode Media]

I prefer a little less misogyny in the rom-coms I read. This book should contain a content warning. DNF.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

1 star.

Maddie and Zach are best friends and are developing a dating app. Maddie has sworn that she will never fall in love, because then she will lose her career, while Zach has been secretly in love with Maddie since the first time they met.

While developing the app, they end up testing the app by going on dates with each other using invented personas. Some of these dates were described quite funny.

However, I didn't like this book. Apart from Zach, all the characters were unpleasant and immature. In particular, I thought Maddie was childish, selfish and rude. It was very hard for me to hope for a happy ending to this "love" story.

I really struggled to finish this and ended up skimming a lot. I just wanted it to end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! All opinions are my own.

This was unfortunately a DNF for me after a few chapters in. I just...felt weirdly enough like this book was incredibly male-gaze-y? And I was willing to forgive that for the first chapter, because okay, it was from a male character who was a horny teenager - maybe this was intentional. But then it kept going with just such a heavy focus on our FMC's body and it felt like all the feminism/dialogue written to be about women in STEM was entirely forced and unnatural, as if we were being told that someone should/would think this way, but then clearly evidenced through the writing and what was focused on that this was not just natural and baked into the book. I love a good STEM romance and a girly in STEM and I just felt reading this book that is was uncomfortable and forced, hence the DNF.

First of all the cover of this book is really cute! This book was pretty good. But it felt really immature and she talked like a teenager and that made it hard to enjoy the book.