🌟Thank you to NetGalley and Melisa Ryun for the E-Arc. Here is my honest rating/review🌟

I just want to start this off by saying I'm so sorry that my review is not a positive one. I hate not enjoying a book, and Im sure that there will be many people who enjoy it, but unfortunately, it just wasn't for me.

I was so excited about this book when I read the description, but unfortunately, I ended up DNF’ing it at 15%

I tried really hard to stick it out. I really did because I loved the concept of what the plot was supposed to be, but I just couldn't get past the dialogue. It was not something I was comfortable reading to me it gave second-hand embarrassment and a cringy feel. Usually, I don't have a problem with crudeness vulgarity in books, but the way it was done came off as very immature, and I'm sorry but gross. The MMC was extremely misogynistic, and the FMC, who claimed to be a feminist came off as the exact opposite to me, and she was slightly obnoxious and very rude, so I had to call it quits.

An okay book.
The premise was good, and it had potential. I was looking forward to reading this based on the description, but it kinda disappointed me. They all seem quite immature, although they are said to be in their 30’s. She is a boss coder, and swears off relationships all together since she believed women in tech cannot have both, as men can. Fair assumption, but it just came out as being a stubborn woman. The banter and humor was good at some points, cringe at others. The outline of the fake date with all their info and such became quite tiring after a while, so I found myself skipping since it just became fillers in the book. I liked it - but just didn’t love it. 3 stars because the premise of it was promising and it had some good parts.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for this book. All opinions are my own.

This book is not a friends to lovers. This is a friends to hook-up to almost enemies to lovers.
Madie is described as a “coding boss, feminist powerhouse, and destroyer of fragile male egos.” But she is very broken and stubborn. Zack is her best friend / business partner that has been pining over her for 10 years.
This book tries to be funny, and sometimes it is but mostly cringy.
It’s a little to stereotypical for my taste, as a woman in STEM myself I think that sometimes it was a title overboard.
Has a lot of description of the app that they are building and focus a lot on that and not on the evolution of the relationship, and with a lot of the side characters. For the app they start to go on “fake dates” as different personalities, it is entertaining but stereotypical and they don’t connect like that, it doesn’t show growth of the characters and their relationship.
There is a lot of miss communication. And for all the non-stereotypical that the FMC was trying to be portrayed as in the end she becomes very objectified and throwing the feminism out of the window.
It has a lot of spicy scenes.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Yikes. Love me a STEM romance with a strong FMC but this... was not it (imo).

Positives:
- It's a published book which takes lots of guts and skills, something I could never do so that's admirable for this writing duo
- Fast paced so the story was quick; I read it all in about 3-4 hours
- I guess I had fun discovering my tolerance for unbearably cringey and one dimensional stories

Negatives:
- Writing and dialogue: there was no distinct POV since both main leads think and talk the same (as well as the side characters)
- The lingo used is so very much outdated, juvenile and cringe to read (they're supposed to be over 30???) some notable examples: "moolah" "cheese farts" "vag magnet" "duderinos" "crap sandwich" "reekalicious" (?!?!?) "caboose" "gotta get my vibe on" "hot ziggity" <--- and they weren't even using these terms in an ironic or sarcastic way <3
- The MMC literally describes the FMC's scent as lavender and cheese??????????
- The MMC apparently has a decade old crush on the FMC but openly lusts after another woman for a little while, and in front of the FMC too
- The FMC is just unlikable; claims to be a feminist but is just a pick me 'one of the boys' constantly shit talking literally every other female in the book

Would not read again.

Overall rating: 1/5

OK so the concept of this book was great and I was really looking forward to it! I must say the FMC sort of annoyed me sometimes, gave off more 'pick me' energy than a feminist! I wouldn't really say she's a feminist, more stubborn and too set in her ways with her work and doesn't want anything to possibly ruin it. The banter/humour was fairly good. I love the fake dating accept along and trying to tie it along with the development of the app. I just feel that it didn't completely hit the mark. I feel some of the la gauge used by the characters made them seem a lot you ger than what they actually are, pretty sure they are in their 30s but spoke as if they were teens majority of the time.

I gave this book 3 stars primarily due to its humorous dialogue and the likable male lead. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed with the female lead. While I generally enjoy push-and-pull dynamics, I found the excessive push-away scenes in this book to be quite uncomfortable. I typically expect the 'pull' moments to feel satisfying after a push, but in this case, the constant pushing from the FMC made it difficult to connect emotionally. The story began promisingly with a fun and engaging tone, but the middle portion felt a bit slow and lacked the excitement I was hoping for.
Overall, this book is nice, especially the fake dating profile concept and the relatable quotes. If you're a fan of push-and-pull dynamics, humorous romantic stories, and a bit of spice, I recommend giving this book a try.

This is an honest arc review, Thank You NetGalley.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

This book would appeal to girls who say things like, “Most girls want guys to get them flowers, but I’M not high maintenance like that.” If that’s you, this book is for you, and also, I think you should go to therapy.

We begin with Maddie, the most “pick me” of pick mes. Maddie has sworn off dating to focus on her career, because of course she has, and spends all of her time coding, bombing investor meetings because she’s “just quirky like that,” and being generally vulgar, constantly saying things like, “Holy shitnuggets,” and, “Oh hell no, pecker jockey! Keep your meat hooks away from my tits!”

Her business partner and best friend of ten years, Zach, is hopelessly in love with her, because of course he is, and he spends all of his time having wet dreams about her, thinking about her “cannonball tits”, and then saying, “But it’s really her brain I love! I swear!” The general plot is something-something-fake-dating for the app they’ve developed together. Because of course it is.

The girl only eats junk food, never works out, and has done nothing but sit and code for 10+ years, yet we’re supposed to believe that she has “curves that flare out perfectly” and a “slayin’ body.” The “feminism” went around so far that it was full-blown misogyny. The humor was crude, with numerous references to poop, farts, c*m, a$$, and boobs, while the dialogue reads like the “Señorita Awesome” scene from Scream Queens. She also slapped and hit and kicked the male lead in the balls for… not kissing her? When they were fake dating? Which, beyond being physically abusive, is… well, physically abusive. No beyond needed.

Overall, this book was about a woman who was obsessed with how men viewed her and a man who only viewed her as an object, all the while touting, “Feminism!!! F*** yeah!!!” This book was not for me.

Huge thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/168473721

Maddie is a singly-focused coder who's set on aspirations of being a badass CEO and entrepreneur of the coding and app world. She's crass, stubborn, and Zack's dream girl.

Together with their team of coding bros, they try to take the app world by storm, under impossible demands, and an incredibly short timeline. They end up lacking a ton of data and decide to take matters into their own hands by fake dating as different people every night. The only problem is, when intimacy strikes, will feelings get involved?

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This was a rough read. I powered through because I was convinced the concept had great potential, but it didn't even get remotely interesting until the 60% mark. From there, it stagnated until the big conflict and resolutions scenes, then went straight into the epilogue. Those who can't make it through the book to the epilogue will just see this as another justification why feminists are unhinged, which I'm sure is the opposite of the coauthors intent. Yet I was wholly annoyed the majority of the book, thinking the authors were dense about feminism.

As someone who is a stubborn feminist, who's worked in the corporate world and dealt with a ton of sexism and misogyny, and who also has a crude sense of humour, I was really hoping to relate to this book. Instead, I was horrified by the massive pick-me energy of the FMC and her total lack of understanding of what feminism means. Sure, they wrap it up in a neat little bow in the epilogue, but suffering through a whole entire book of a woman actively disparaging women for choosing what they want in life was painful.

Firstly, the dialogue right out of the gates was awful, and this carried on throughout the novel. It's surreal to the point of being eye rolling and comes off as pointlessly misogynistic for the sake of entertainment. Then we carry into learning more about Maddie herself, and she's a wreck.

Her inner dialogue is narcissistic and selfish. The way she talks is unendingly cringy and to desperate levels to try to be a "bro." It's like the authors decided that a hot feminist coder with big tits meant they had to be revolting and crass for balance. She's around 30? And randomly saying "cum nuggets" to herself when she drops a razor. She openly refers to her own breasts as "cannonballs", and uses "vajayjay" in conversation commonly throughout the book. The amount of talk about her boner/dick, her massive breasts, anuses/farts/anal glands, dildos and penises, etc. Was just over the top. In the first 20% all we hear, aside from childish dialogue, is about how she's slovenly, undisciplined, has disgusting eating habits (but don't worry, the MMC loves her talking with food falling out of her mouth, and slurping her drinks loudly), and lives in filth. But guys it's okay, because she's hot, and really smart, oh and she cleans up great for dates so it's all good.

We get that behaviour, juxtaposed with her very staunch thoughts on staying single forever, because obviously you can't have a career and a relationship. Followed by her obnoxious critiques of her sisters for not being "feminist enough" in her eyes. She also ridicules her mom, even though she's a well respected Feminist Studies Professor with a loving husband and 4 daughters she adores.

The entirety of the book until the conclusion scene and epilogue, the FMC has no idea that feminism is about the ability to make choices, and instead sees any woman not grinding herself to the stone to best men, as a waste. Again she should be around 30. Yet she has a warped idea that relationships are the enemy, marriage and babies is a failure, and she has to mask her femininity to be an equal. Except for of course when she's dressing up or going on fake dates.

Then we have Zack. The dude who thinks he's in love with her after one date/not date, then harbours that for a decade. If anything, his dialogue is equally as childish and cringe, but his internal monologue is just trash, and piggish. He talks about her breasts so much it's eye rolling. Every one of his thoughts is about her, and how perfect she (and her tits) are. He praises how she has "no filter" yet it constantly screws their business over. He highlights her as the best of the best "pick me" girls" and how quirky and "not like the other girls" she is and it'll be in reference to like, her wearing Llama pyjama bottoms. He also touts the "I love strong and intelligent women" line throughout the book, yet he's always focused on her body, with her brains thrown in as an afterthought. He tries to say he's against sexist treatment as well, yet refers to her sisters as a "hurricane of hormones and hair products", and talks about giving "the most alpha handshake" to men on the golf course. Then there's a random scene where in detail he tells her sisters how much he loves her "badonkadonk". He literally uses that word, and I cringed into eternity.

I kept picturing both Maddie and Zack and teenagers or college students due to how they spoke and their actions. The dialogue and flirting on their fake dates was awful. The authors idea of flirting in general is weird and aggressive. Men being openly misogynistic. Women throwing themselves at them and groping their abs. It's all just massively overt and corny. No banter and wit anywhere, which means it wasnt fun or interesting. It was Maddie acting like variations of a pinup doll who's desperate to hook up every time, with overtly sexual flirting, constant lines, and rubbing all over herself and Zack. Then we get the MMC's inner monologue just being his dick twitching or having a raging erection the entire time. He even thinks the phrase "her yummy cunt" while in the midst of railing her and I swear I almost tossed my phone at the wall in horror. If he'd have said them out loud I'd have DNF'd the book on pure cringe. Due to them being so childish and unlike actual human beings, I had zero emotional investment with the characters the entire way through.

Also the weird sex doll? That Wes openly uses, leaves in common areas, and talks to and cuddles like she's real. The fact that that carries through the whole book was just gross. I know it was meant to be a point of humour, but him enabling others to be exposed to his kinks without their consent was revolting.

In general, the entire book being Maddie emotionally constipated and a constant victim was exhausting and a setback to feminism. It made me hope Zack got over her and found someone else, to the point the repair scene was a disappointment, which clearly isn't what you want from a romcom. I didn't enjoy seeing her use him as an emotional punching bag over and over again, nor did I like seeing him set himself on fire to keep her happy. It just made for selfish and self-centered characters, who I wasn't interested in seeing win.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend the book. It was unrealistic and frustrating, and I fought to finish it.

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Thank you NetGalley, and Create Mode Media - for the digital ARC copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Love Startup is a charming debut novel that will have you swooning and laughing.

I thought this book was clever, funny, full of wit and romance. Seeing how he's always had a thing for her, but years later they are cofounders who are off limits until they must fake date, for the testing, of course. I love seeing how he fell first and fell hard and watching them pretend it's fake. It's steamy. she's an amazing women in stem, friends to lovers, with a strong support system and seeing a man down bad for his friend and how he does everything for her. It's such a fun and sweet stem romance.