First, this book's concept is really relatable. It speaks to the modern reader, around my age with references to the struggles of leaving university and finding a job, and trying out online dating as it's getting harder to meet new people face to face.
It was a cute romance that reminded me a little of Austen's Emma,... It showed that people can't help who they are attracted to, and it doesn't matter what background or situation you're in but everyone deserves to find love. It showed a type of love that was less fairytale and more realist and I liked that, (although reading about people falling in love is always magical in some way, right?!).
But the thing I loved most about this book was the fact that it was all about following your dreams. It had an important message telling you that no matter what goal you are going for, or what setbacks you've experienced, you can't give up on your dreams because one day they might just come true.

Fantastic content from a wonderful author. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was a rather fun romance, an easy to read bit of entertainment that I enjoyed. The hidden identity aspect was entertaining, as was the slightly preposterous-sounding dating agency. The main characters were well-written and clashed nicely, creating a good bit of atmosphere. It wasn't especially hard to figure out where the story was going, but I don't mind that sometimes. An easy read can be just as satisfying as a complex one, as long as you know what to expect. When Polly Met Olly makes no attempt to pass itself off as a complex novel, which makes it an enjoyable bit of fluff.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Where do I even start with this book? When Polly met Olly is the cutest rom-com book I’ve read in quite a while; everything from its title to how unknowingly well-suited the main characters were for each other.

They say opposites attract but when it comes to Polly and Olly, you would have never thought that these two characters could make it as a successful couple. Polly, a struggling photographer takes on a job as a matchmaker for a company specializing in helping people find their one true match, meets Olly the owner of the competing matchmaking company where Polly began working is a trendy older man whose become more than quite a bit cynical about love.

In a weird twist of events, these two characters end up falling for one another and both realize that love isn’t all about ticking off boxes but about a true connection. This one is a definite must read if you’re looking for a lighthearted and funny read!

When Polly Met Olly is not only a modern day story of using internet dating sites/agencies to find love, but it’s also a book about following your dreams. Set in NYC, the author does a good job in exemplifying the challenges of dating in a large city. Polly, educated as a photographer but unable to make a living, accepts a position in a dating agency and soon learns that not everyone or everything is what she believes them to be.

I enjoyed the storyline of the book, but felt there could have been a bit more character development in order to feel more connected to the story. Furthermore, the story seemed to jump to the next part of the story before I was satisfied with knowing everything I was looking for in the former. As result, the cohesiveness of the story has been impacted.

Overall, I found the book entertaining and would recommend it for a YA audience.

Please note: I received an ARC ifrom Netgalley in exchange for a fair review which I have provided here.

I wanted to love this one, but I could not get into it. The plot sounded so good, but was not well executed in my opinion. This is touted as a rom-com, for me it just wasn’t funny enough for that label. The chemistry between Polly and Olly is lacking, I tried but just had no interest in their relationship. I sadly DNFed this one,

An ok read. Started off well, but like many others I couldn’t feel the chemistry between Polly and Olly. I also felt Olly seemed rather immature and childish for his age. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this copy to review.

This is a modern story of Polly, who ends up working for a Dating Site called To The Moon and Back. She has some success at pairing up people who she thinks will get on well together. A rival dating site called Elite Matches and Polly's boss is curious as to what they are doing. So she is sent on a spying mission. The only drawback is she finds a spark of interest in Olly who runs the website.
Polly's boss, Derek decides to hold a Valentine's Day party, and lots of people, clients, and others turn up, including Olly. They end up spending the weekend together, but Derek then tells her about one of Olly's customer's who was very disappointed in the way her date was handled, but what he didn't know was the woman was a bit of a pest.
Then Olly announces the site is to be closed. Polly tries to ignore him, but finds herself drawn back to him, and they decide to start dating in the traditional way, and taking it all very slowly.
This is a feel good novel, which makes you laugh out loud, and wince at some of the cringy things people do. The characterization is good, and the resolution is very well portrayed.

I liked the premise of this book, but the execution was so poor. I'm sorry, but I just do not understand this book at all. Why would an author choose to set a book in a place they know absolutely nothing about? This is written not only as if the author has never been to NYC, but as if she didn't do a basic Google search about NYC. If you're going to set a book in a location like that, you need to do the research. Like, no one would call Staten Island an "unfashionable part of town" and it is absolutely nowhere close to being "nearby" what I'm assuming is supposed to be Midtown Manhattan? I don't even know. You can probably figure this out by opening Google Maps. I've read a lot of books set in NYC, and I'm by no means an expert in the city, but this felt entirely inauthentic even to someone like me who has only visited parts of it before. I can't imagine how much worse it was for someone from NYC reading this.

The book is written by an English author who has no idea how to write a character who does not sound English. I don't mind that Polly, who is English, obviously sounded English. And it's written in the first person, so I didn't think it was odd that the "voice" of the novel was mostly English. But the problem is that all of the secondary characters are American and not a single one sounded American AT ANY POINT. Like, even BASIC things were missed. Americans do not use centimeters, kilograms, the word "mum" for mom, the word "dodgy," etc. I can't even list all of them. How did someone, either the author or the editor, not catch this? Polly goes undercover to spy on a rival dating agency and her fictional profession is chartered surveyor. Like, what? Congratulations, you could've given her 1000 professions that exist in both the UK and the US, and you managed to give her a job title that literally does not even exist in the US? HOW? This was so poorly written that it actually made me upset.

Not to mention the love interest, Olly--who, by the way, is called by the wrong last name 3(!) times, as if "Find & Replace" does not exist in Word--had no personality whatsoever. (By the way, Oliver/Olly are not common names in the US at all. The only Olivers I know are English from when I lived in England. So even the title felt off.) He and Polly barely interact until halfway through the book. They have zero chemistry. None. Maybe they would have if the book spent less time with Polly's inner monologues and more time with actual dialogue. Except, wait, none of the dialogue sounded remotely American, so maybe the reader was better off after all.

We can even add fatphobia to the list of the book's sins, since all of the attractive characters are slim and her boss's potbelly is described over and over again and god forbid one of the dating agency's clients have a double chin in a photo. And I suppose having a secondary character, her roommate, be a gay man was some attempt to add diversity of some sort to this book, but even that felt lazy.

I hate to rant about a book so much but I was so disappointed by this book. It had promise, but I felt so let down as a reader that it missed the mark MAJORLY on so many things.

4.5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for giving me the opportunity to read and review When Polly Met Olly.

I really enjoyed this book. Despite the fact that the title pretty much gives away which direction this story is going to go in, I still loved it.

I will forever find books set in New York endearing and I will forever pick them up solely based on NYC. However, I loved the combination of English girl away from home trying to find her feet in the Big Apple.

I also really enjoyed that, as a single woman in her late 20's who has used dating sites before, I could relate to a lot of what was being said. Not only from the single people's POV but also from the matchmakers POV. There was quite a bit that I hadn't thought about as well that really struck a chord with me.

I haven't read anything from Zoe Many before but I really liked her writing style and I shall definately keep my eyes open for her books from here on out.

I'd recommend this book for fans of Lindsey Kelk (specifically The Single Girls To Do List), Veronica Henry and Mhairi McFarlane.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me a copy in exchange for an honest review!

I was hooked by “modern telling of You’ve got mail,” because who doesn’t love that movie! What I found instead didn’t exactly meet my expectations, but I was still interested by the story! My favorite part of the book was the valentines party. I throughly enjoyed reading about Polly and Olly’s oddball tendencies, but I enjoyed the growth Polly went through the most!

my blurb!
A girl with british-isms and job insecurities tries to find her footing in New York.

Thank you Netgalley for the copy of this book to review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

2 out of 5 stars

what i didn't like
The main character in this book was British and living in America. There were so many words throughout the book that I didn’t understand. Or if I did understand them, didn’t flow with my American thought process when reading. Managing to stay “schtum” is a great example. Don’t know what that means? I didn’t either.
I missed out on dialogue. I know the whole book can’t be dialogue, but I wanted more in each chapter. There was a lot of Polly’s thought process or different back stories. There’s a character named Brandon and he is described 7000 times in detail. Okay I’m exaggerating, but Polly’s sense of drama has rubbed off on me.
I didn’t mesh well with our main character, Polly. She was very timid. Very dramatic and just wasn’t very likable for me. She didn’t have huge character flaws that made her unlikable – if that makes any sense- but she wasn’t a character that I would be friends with.
The title is a bit misleading- it’s about Polly and Olly. But in execution- the book didn’t feature a lot of their interactions. 50% of the way through the book, they had interacted 3 times – none of which were extremely notable scenes, and the duration of which were all quite short. (Look, I just used quite in a sentence. The british lingo in the book is rubbing off on me!)
I requested the book for the cover, and the concept – it just sounded good! In the end, it didn’t deliver what I was expecting.

what i liked
I mentioned that I submitted a request to read this book. I that because (other than having a super cute cover) it had a cute premise. I loved the idea of the plot!
The good part about this book is that it is a light and easy read, no trigger warnings and no commitments!
There was some funny dialogue in this book! Polly’s roommate was particularly funny and I really enjoyed some of his lines! Here's a great example:
"You're so horny you probably go to Starbucks just hear someone cry out your name."
Funny right?! It was lines like these that kept me reading the book even if I didn't understand most of the british-isms throughout it.

3.5 Stars!

Despite Polly spending her days searching for eligible matches for her elite list of clients at her New York dating agency, her own love life is becoming a mess.

And what's even worse, she can’t stop thinking about the very person she’s meant to be setting her latest client up with, but then Polly bumps into gorgeous Olly, who is a lead at a rival agency, and realises that perhaps all really is fair in love and dating war.

I was so excited to receive an arc for this book! The plot seemed so interesting and unique and exactly the kind of rom-com I've been in the mood for lately!

While this was a fun read, I didn't really feel connected to Polly and Olly very much, and that's why I scored it below a 4. I really wanted to be more invested but I found myself breezing through this one without really getting anything from it emotionally and I wished there has been a little more passion and a little less predictability.

That being said, I would recommend it to someone wanting something light and breezy, and I do think this would be a great read for a holiday but I probably won't read this again.

This review is based on the ARC provided by the author and/or the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

A case when the blurb sounded interesting, but the book did not live up to the expectations. I found When Polly Met Olly to be disappointing. I must confess I had a few expectations from the book just from the blurb and cover, but the book did not hold my interest. It was not well devoid of passion. The characters sounded flat, and the plot itself seemed out of a 90's rom-com, just without the charm. I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would.

This was the first novel I have read by Zoe May and so I didn’t know what to expect. What I found was a quirky, unique look on the dating world. You never think about the dating agency staff and their love lives. It was good to see it from the point of view of the matchmakers.

There is an ease to Zoe’s writing style that I loved. It wasn’t hard to want to continue to read. There were a couple of times where I couldn’t figure out where the plot was going but that’s one of the things that made it a fun read for me.

There is a lovely optimistic feel to this novel that I loved.

Polly and Olly are wonderful characters – both real, flawed and relatable.

I adored the setting for this novel. I went to New York for my honeymoon over ten years ago and it was as though I had stepped straight back there.

A great, feel good novel about finding love in unusual ways. Zoe, you certainly have a new fan.

Really enjoyed this book. It reminded me of a 90s romantic comedy which is a good thing! It was light hearted and fun. I would definitely recommend if you want to read something that lifts your spirits, is romantic and funny!
Thank you for letting me review this book, I plan on doing a more in depth review on my blog shortly.

My mixed feelings came from sometimes feeling like Polly judged people a lot and could be a little woe is me, however at the same time, she did often tell herself that she was being judgy and learnt lessons from her behaviour. The other thing and this is me being judgy now, but I couldn't quite get my head round the age gap between Polly and Olly. But maybe that's just me. Saying that though, I did think Olly was very cool and I could imagine him being incredibly sexy and intriguing even if I often pictured him younger in my head. *Updated thoughts* I may have changed my mind on this after watching movies over the weekend because...Paul Rudd!!! ;)

However, I did really enjoy the story and how I never knew what was going to happen. I laughed because the twist at the end I completely didn't see coming. I kept wondering what the deal with Olly and Polly was going to be and it totally surprised me. That's what Zoe did amazingly well; she kept the story entertaining throughout, hence me not being able to put it down.

Having been to New York twice and often picturing what life would be like working in the Big Apple it was fun being on Polly's journey and nipping out for lunch at cafe's, or grabbing cupcakes. It was exciting exploring the streets of New York with her and definitely made me want to visit again. I also loved that it was her dream to live there and the fact that she had put a poster on her bedroom wall when she was younger, so that she would never forget her dream. Even when life got tough for her there she never became disgruntled about New York because it was always her goal. I liked that about her and actually found myself wanting to do the same poster/picture idea with my goals! :) It was very inspiring.

If you're looking for a fun read that will have you: laughing out loud at the craziness of online dating, daydreaming about New York and learning a lesson in love then 'When Polly Met Olly,' is just what you're looking for! :)

Not your usual, run of the mill, love story.
Polly, a basically broke photographer, takes a job as a matchmaker to pay the bills. She has to try find the perfect match for clients by pretending to be them and messaging potential matches.
Her boss, Derek, sends her to check out his biggest competitor, Olly - undercover as a potential client. And that's when things start getting weird for Polly. She strikes up a connection with a potential match (for a client) via messages and starts to find interesting bits of wisdom from this potential match that have far-reaching, positive impacts on her professional life. And she can't get Olly off her mind, she finds herself deeply attracted to him, but there are a few stumbling blocks - foremost of all she works for his competition. She keeps running into him as their offices are in the same area, and he figures out she was a spy!
When she eventually meets the match she was chatting to online, the online personality and the real-life personality are worlds apart and that's when she makes a startling discovery that changes her world - both professional and personal worlds.
I enjoyed seeing the development of Polly through the chapters. She grew so much personality and experience wise.
This was a lovely, light read with cute characters and a realistic story-line.
The one minor editing error I found was the floor Olly's offices were on. When she went as a spy they were on the 6th floor but when she went to confront him for sending a spy to her office, they were on the 10th floor.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me the chance to read the book.

While not overly realistic, "When Polly Met Olly" is a tale of two matchmakers. Their paths cross when Polly tries to find out what Olly's matchmaking company does to succeed, but will the two of them be able to matchmake for themselves?

I love This!! Because I t feels just like a romantic comedy! It was super quirky, even though the main couple only see each other five times in the first two thirds of the book. Maybe because of that it’s auirky? I dunno. I like it.