Thank you Netgalley and Storm Publishing for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, I didn't feel any romantic tension between Lucy and Ross. I'm almost half of the book and didn't see any progression in their love story. I really tried to like this book because the blurb was promising and intruiging. I was also look for a romance book that will serve as a palate cleanser for reading thriller books continuously before, but this ain't it.

When I heard this was of the caliber of Emily Henry and Beth O'Leary I had high expectations. Overly high expectations. It just seemed that this wasn't so much a book about romance but a book about Lucy and how she really hasn't quite figured out much. We really don't get to see much interaction or great development between Lucy and Ross. I wish there was more there. That it carried on for longer. I did appreciate the British humor of it all as someone who lives in both the States and in London. The writing wasn't bad, it was just marketed as a different story than I thought it was going to be so I was expecting something different.

I've enjoyed other books by this author before, so I was excited to read this book. From the blurb, I was expecting a fun rom-com office romance with funny scenes and banter. What I got was more a depressing dip into Lucy's relationship insecurities, her attempts to help her sister with her horrible relationship, rants against men, then a very short and rushed ending where she and Ross finally get together. I liked her spunky sister Amelie and Ross is really sweet and funny, but it's hard to enjoy a book when you really dislike the main character.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This one offers itself up as a romantic comedy but it’s neither romantic nor comedic. It would do much better to categorize itself as women’s fiction as it focuses more on a woman struggling with devastatingly low self esteem and her relationships with sister, job, and coworker (on whom she has a crush).

Lucy, our heroine, will likely find herself with whiplash from so often changing her mind. Like, literally one page after she’s in heaven and so sure about her romance with Ross, which, it’s worth mentioning is only 24 hours old, she immediately assumes, once she’s out of his sight, that he’ll regret everything, forget her, and never call.

And no, I do not regret that convoluted run on sentence because it fits with this book!

——
Lucy writes an agony aunt column for a British magazine - except it’s a men’s magazine, she’s not a man, and she doesn’t understand them. She’s immediately in over her head.

At this new job, she develops a crush on Ross, the cute guy in the next cubicle.

Additionally, there’s a subplot featuring her sister, Amelie, and her husband, Zack. The two marry early in the story - though it’s quite clear it’s a mistake, which becomes another struggle for Lucy.

The writing is good - often in books where characters are unlikable or the plot is a mess, it’s due to the words on the page. Not the case here at all.

Lucy is a problem. She’s the most wishy washy person I’ve ever seen crafted. Her low self esteem and lack of confidence - questioning every single thing, person, idea? It’s exhausting.

The romance is meant to be a slow burn, I’d guess? But how can she be mad that Ross dates another woman when she’s literally never told him she’s interested or so much as flirted with him?

Ross is fine, if a bit dim. There’s a chunk in the middle where he furiously blushes every time he’s in Lucy’s presence that makes no sense.

And the subplots - an affair, a pregnancy, and 9/11 (yes, 9/11) just make it feel like a jumbled mess.

Sorry guys. Can’t recommend this one.

Thanks to @netgalley and @stormbooks_co for the eARC. This one came out June 7, 2024.

MC isn’t my type of girl but I did love the love interest Ross. Not a hit rom-com for me but it was fine.

I so enjoyed the vibes of this book and was quickly drawn in by the premise. I think all the elements were there, but I needed more interaction and time for the development of feelings between Lucy and Ross. This was a quick, sweet read however and I did enjoy it

The cover, the whole premise, everything had me sold, but the follow through just wasn't there. I was really hoping to fall in love with this one, but it was too much for me.

Lucy was not an enjoyable FMC. Were there times when I felt for her? Yes, absolutely. But, she's someone who dwells way too much on her past. Which, hey, I'm all for getting some background info on why she's the way she is -- but, some things just didn't need to be brought up. If they were needed I think they were focused on way too much; spend a page on that info and move on.

I just feet like if I'm supposed to be rooting for a couple it should be the main one in the book; and that wasn't the case...at all.

First off, thank you for approving me for this ARC, I'm always excited to read new books and maybe find new authors to gush over. I was drawn into this book firstly when it mentioned that if someone loved Emily Henry, then they would for sure love The Love Hack. As an Emily Henry Stan, I can say with full confidence that, this is not true. I decided to DNF at the 75% mark due to nothing really happening with the FMC, Lucy and the MMC Ross? Russ? Honestly he was so irrelevant throughout this book I don't even think he could be considered an MMC. Anyways, this book is practically focused on Lucy being delusional, not knowing anything about men (which is fine, I hate men anyways) but being an advise column giver for men, so make it make sense AND her sister and her failing new marriage.

Lucy isn't even able to do her job, she had AI do it for her and I'm actually convinced at this point that AI wrote this book because.. why? The reason I decided to just DNF was because Lucy received an email from a man that she was convinced was her sister's husband about him cheating, Lucy decided to take matters into her own hands and get to the bottom of it. SPOILER, YES the husband was cheating and Lucy does decide to tell her sister, and her sister being one of the stupidest people I've read about hit Lucy with "you don't know men, this happens, when I tell him about the baby, he'll kick his mistress to the curve." I hate to be that person, but I am that person who FULLY believes a baby won't fix your marriage, don't be so stupid or selfish to bring a child into this world and think it'll fix your failing sad marriage or life, don't do that. I couldn't do it anymore.

But another issue I had, the MMC, was he even a love interest? I think this book is pushed as a ROMCOM but romance where? Unless this is literally the slowest burn in all of history. Lucy was completely delusional with Russ (Ross) I don't care to remember his name. Lucy was adamant about not falling for another coworker because she had dated one previously and it broke her heart, which okay makes sense. But this man had NO interest in Lucy and Lucy was making scenarios in her head already. I kid you not 75% in and nothing happened, I truly don't care what happens in the remaining time left.

I'm sorry, but these are in fact my honest thoughts, I'm disappointed.

The Love Hack... I'm not sure where to begin with this one. When I read the synopsis I thought it was going to be another 4 or 5-star read for me, but I have to settle on a 3.

The overall plot had a ton of potential but I felt like the story was all over the place, and Lucy was not the most likeable main character. She was super wishy-washy and her timeline jumped so frequently it was hard to keep straight. This book was not the rom-com I was expecting, but felt more like a "dear diary" and was a bit of a letdown for me. I'm not one to be super critical of books. I wish the author had done this one as a dual POV to give us Ross' perspective as well. That would've been a great dynamic for the reader and made things more intriguing when things were revealed toward the end of the story.

Overall, it was an okay read that I didn't hate, but not one I would read again.

The Love Hack is an easy read, with a plot that I've observed before in other book, however, it's well-written, good-humored, and made me think of the huge benefit that being on the other's shoes and empathise with their feelings and hurts helps us understand our own and to move forward on whatever might be holding us. It's good entertainment for a few hours.
I thank Ms. Ranald, her publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC.

although the concept was really cool and I loved the whole advice column excerpt thingy, it wasn’t executed the best and I didn’t really love the characters too much…

characters:didn't have too much depth and the fmc spent too much time in the past making her less likable and relatable I guess
relationship/romance: idk there wasn't too much, and I didn't love them enough to enjoy the romance?
idea:loved the idea and all the entries were pretty cute!!

idk I just wasn't super invested, but it was enjoyable enough to want to keep reading

"The Love Hack" follows Lucy, a new online advice columnist for men, under the pseudonym "Ask Adam." Despite knowing little about men, she faces another challenge: her attractive coworker, Ross, whose presence makes her blush. Having been betrayed by a past coworker-turned-boyfriend, Lucy is reluctant to pursue a relationship. Lucy's life is further complicated by her sister's marriage to a controlling man. At a bachelorette party, Lucy sees Ross kissing another bridesmaid, leading her to distance herself from him to avoid heartache. Despite this, working closely with Ross helps Lucy understand men better and grow into her role, while their friendship deepens. However, Ross's continued involvement with the bridesmaid dampens Lucy's romantic hopes.

The story explores Lucy's journey of self-discovery, building self-esteem, and learning about relationships through her "Ask Adam" column. The book blends humor, romance, and valuable relationship insights, making it a delightful summer read.

This was a cute story of a woman pretending to be a man writing an advice column for men. She starts off using the advice of her sister who provides snarky, rather cynical responses, but comes to soften up regarding why men might have the problems they’re writing about. As she tries to advise men how to deal with the women in their lives, she has her own questions about the young man in her office to whom she’s attracted. And then she has worries about the marriage of her beautiful younger sister.

I enjoyed reading the letters she writes with advice while she’s still rather clueless herself about the young man in her life. She’s shy and awkward, at least in her own minde, but not so much in real life. She also finds out that AI can help her understand and write responses to the men writing in for advice.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

DNF 3 chapters in. I tried reading and listening but found this book boring and did not care for the direction it was heading in.

I wanted to like this book because the premise of a cute office romance between two journalists is always intriguing. Unfortunately, this book was not a hit for me.

Lucy, an amateur journalist has become an advice columnist posing as a man giving advice to the male readers. Despite a promise made to herself to never have another office romance, she finds herself falling for a cute fellow journalist, Ross.

There was more of a concentration on the relationships Lucy had with her sister, her past relationship and her column, where the romance part was barely a blip in the book. There were moments that were funny and cute, but very few and far between. Unfortunately this was not the book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm publishing for the opportunity to provide a fair review of the book.

I wanted to rate The Love Hack higher. I feel like it started out well but I was a little bit underwhelmed overall. I feel like Lucy was very self deprecating at times, I did like her but she certainly wouldn't go down as one of my favourite FMCs. I enjoyed the banter between her and her work colleagues and Ross was really adorable. As with most of Sophie's books there's an amazing cat who is an integral part of the story. I've read a few really good books by Sophie but unfortunately, I was just a little bit let down by this one.

I enjoyed the first 15% of the book and couldn't get past the 30% mark.

The introduction of the characters was okay, the story had potential but the dialogues were lacking.

A lot of unneccessary inner monologue that didn't bring anything interesting to the story and felt like "filler", making it hard to want to keep reading. Plus the story didn't move at a fast pace.

For me, it is a bit ridiculous that a woman in her late twenties is begging her sister to basically do her job?!

Okay, she helped her coming up with the idea but the FMC expected her to keep helping her???

Also making up this whole story from the first time she met Ross, that he is into her. And being jealous of Bryoni? When they had only talked 3 times, max.

A sweet and touching romance with a bit of feel-good bits in it. After being hurt, Lucy has worn off men, but she learns to open her heart again over the course of the book. Definitely a heartwarming read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
0.5🌶/5

Lucy is a technology editor who suddenly loses her job and has to move to a rival magazine and in a position she lacks experience in: relationships. I thought there would be more romance in this book than there was but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it anyway. It was a story about finding yourself and overcoming situations where you think you wouldn't be able to and the people that can help you along the way. It also had a healthy amount of sister relationship and the sacrifices that we sometimes make for the benefit of others; and of course falling in love. I loved the slowburn of Lucy and Ross' relationship and how they navigated around their feelings. There was so much surprising complexity in this that I wasn't expecting but it was still really easy to read!

I picked up this book just by the cover and the promise of a romance but this wasn’t really a romance to me. I didn’t feel any chemistry between Ross and Lucy. It was mostly about Lucy, her issues, her insecurities, the relationship with her sister, her new job, her relationship with her ex, her cat and just a bit about Ross.

The book was repetitive and frustrating at times. Each chapter just going in circles and giving us crumbs of a plot.

The writing is good and I think the side characters were great, but Lucy didn’t give me what I needed from her as a main character. And Ross as the love interest was infuriating and didn’t give me that butterflies feeling book boyfriends give me in romances. And he was mostly in another relationship for most of the book. They both just fell flat for me.

I also didn’t like her narrative of making all men untrustworthy and unreliable, just because she had one bad experience. And at the end I feel like she didn’t really learn anything or change her behavior. She just stayed the same from beginning to end.

I’m not saying it is a bad book. I wish I had been more invested, but this book just wasn’t for me.