Thanks to NetGalley and Mills and Boon for an earc of this.

I enjoyed this book as the story was good and I did enjoy reading about the relationship between Pandora and Ozzy and the forced proximity between the two was good and interesting.

I will say however that the story at times felt slow at times and did feel like it dragged on sometimes and the ending was somewhat predictable.

The Code for Love is quirky, chaotic, and undeniably nerdy.

It jumps in fast, and while some elements feel confusing or underdeveloped, there’s potential in the concept. The book leans heavily into coding jokes and tech humour. So if you’re not familiar with that world, a lot might go over your head.

The romance feels mismatched at times, and the dialogue can be clunky, but there’s something fun here too. A little weird, a little wild, and definitely not for everyone. But fans of awkward banter and geeky love stories might find a soft spot for it.

Grumpy versus sunshine but she’s the grumpy and he’s the sunshine!
I really liked the sound of this book and thought the coding aspect of it was interesting. I liked Ozzy more with his fun, annoying, cutesy personality and who doesn’t love a surfer?!
There were parts of the story that were really unbelievable and a bit random - like how they met initially, not sure I liked that. But overall it was a nice easy read and perfect for a holiday.

Software engineer Pandora Fyffe is known for being prickly. The same can’t be said for world famous surfer Ozzy Wylde, Pandora’s neighbor, a social media star beloved for his relaxed charm. The eight pack abs and angelic face don’t hurt either. Everyone likes Ozzy, while Pandora’s boss can barely remember her name. But Pandora’s aiming to change all that with a new app that predicts a user’s ideal travel partner. Sure there are bug, the demo identified Ozzy as her perfect match! Now her boss wants them to take a romantic Mexican road trip filled with fake dating posts to build their brand. At the end of it one of them will win Pandora’s dream job. Soon they’re rumbling through the beaches, deserts and fishing villages of Baja, letting their guards down, confessing fears & falling deeper. Nothing prepared her for sharing close quarters with the force of nature that is Ozzy or for what will happen to her heart when the journey ends.

The romance 🥰 is slow burn and Pandora was playing hard to get. I liked the character Ozzy more as he’s friendly funny charming sweet! He’d be great in real life! 😀🫶🏼 the spice 🌶️ was great naughty. The music 🎶 noise feuding was good! I enjoyed that they were neighbour enemies but really couldn’t keep hands off eachother! 💕

Unfortunately I found this one hard to get into and couldn't connect with the writing. I don't know if it was the FMC's career where all the knowledge just confused me but I couldn't follow.

The premise of this is so unbelieveable that I was intrigued by how it could be executed. Unfortunately this lacked any realistic venture towards a plot line. Every time I thought it couldn't get worse it somehow did with plot holes so numerous this story was like reading swiss cheese. On top of that it had two characters I actively disliked, Ozzy so random + one dimensional and Pandora who is so immature for her age + hard to root for. Their lack of depth made it difficult to care if they found their way together and I was grateful to be done with them.

I think a more structured plot, better focus on more realistic scenarios so the suspended belief could be a whole lot less and better character building could’ve really helped this book.

a cute and sunshiny read that truly felt like summer. the cover was also a gorgeous plus for this book. took me right in to the feels of the book.
Pandora is a software engineer and her work is her thing. shes good at it she knows that but everything else isn't coming easy at all. noone seems to know her or want to know her. her boss for instance just overlooks her. is it her? is she just that prickly?
then there is Ozzy who everyone seems to adore and hes also her neighbour. he a social media charmer, hes also pretty blooming gorgeous.
now they are both competing for the same job. and to do so they need to be together. travelling. together. day tripping. together. feeling all sorts of things and both feel them but are both wanting to admit it?
Ozzy is the sunshine in this grumpy sunshine book. and hes so lovely with it. Pandora dry wit had me smiling a fair few times. and the most between them had me smiling more times than that.
the travelling part of this book was so much fun and really came across for the reader.
i really enjoyed this book. its been so jot here and this was exactly what i needed to be reading.

I don’t think I’m the right audience for this book. I normally push through books I struggle to engage with, but this one is too tongue-in-cheek to wade through. It’s at the level of witty where I can’t keep up with what’s actually happening and what’s just a joke. A few chapters in and I still feel totally lost as to the purpose of the plot and what’s actually happening.

Honestly I found this hard to read and just couldn’t connect with the story at all. I found it quite hard to follow and get in to.

I wanted to love this book so much! But I just struggled.

The writing was very unique but a lot of similes and elaboration. Which is not for everyone.

I was excited for the fake dating trope but I felt a bit ripped off… the couple had already hooked up prior to the fake dating incident… the actually description of the book didn’t happen until the last half of the books.

I found Pandora a bit unlikeable but mainly very one dimensional. I like Ozzy and a few other side characters but this didn’t really jell for me.

So queue my description/ summary: Pandora is very forgettable no one knows her name or who she is but is a workaholic. After having the best kiss of her life with Ozzy who doesn’t even know they work together she knows things need to change. But when Ozzy moves in next door and still doesn’t seem to know her that is the last straw.

What a fantastic plot idea, but the execution was just odd. Here's my impressions as I was skimming, before I finally gave up. It was so slow to get to the roadtrip. Pandora and Ozzy were just cardboard characters and the job scenario was odd. It was barely any STEM other than Pandora just being a workaholic who gets walked over by her colleagues.

12%: A bizarre opening chapter that made no sense. Ozzy comes out of the water and randomly kisses Pandora who was under the pier playing a video game set in space?

22%: I feel like these chapters are from mixed up drafts or something. The characters come off as stick figures. Pandora is just rude and mean disguised as a loner curmudgeon. Ozzy is just dumb as planks who is allergic to shoes (BLERGH). What is with the 'panda' nickname. Why does he even bother with her when she is outright rude.

Yet I should feel sorry for her because she’s also a doormat to her shitty colleagues. What is with the wall climbing? Does it get any better? When are we getting to the road trip?

26%: What is with Pandora’s immature pranks? Isn’t she on this huge deadline? Why is her salivating over Ozzy creepy AF?

30%: Does this get any better? I keep skimming bc characterisation is all over the place with Pandora.

40%: *after much skimming because being in Pandora's head is exhausting* FINALLY we get to the roadtrip.

60%: Wait, how is Ozzy even qualified to be in the contention for Pandora's job? Is he a coder? Why was he talking about code earlier but now he's just all 'oh well I want your job becaue they've offered it'. This book is utterly bonkers. Its taken nearly halfway to finally get to the road trip. The vibe is allover the place. Was this book even edited? Okay that's it i'm done.

Thanks to Afterglow Books/Harlequin and NetGalley for the ARC.

I’m afraid this was a DNF for me. The blurb sounded like it would be something I’d enjoy, but the writing style made it arduous. The author has written this book to be around 70% the main character’s thoughts, with only the remaining 30% as dialogue, and as they’re both happening simultaneously, it’s very hard to follow the story as it, supposedly, progresses

I think this is a me problem, but I really didn't love this as much as I had hoped. I really struggled to connect with the characters and storyline.

I loved the premise of this for a fun summer read but it didn't quite hit the mark for me. I found Ozzy didn't have as much depth to him as I would have expected and often found myself skimming dialogue as it didn't have the punch or compatibility I was looking for.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the Publisher in exchange for an independent review.

Sorry but this was not my cup of tea. I gave up after 25% of the book because I was so irritated by the writing style and the characters.
The blurb sounded interesting but the execution was awful.

The prose is impenetrable- long, run on sentences which made no sense. So much time spent in the heroine’s head that I felt dizzy. She is unbelievably unpleasant and I could never understand why. Oozy is so underwritten that he’s barely a shadow on the page. I wanted to know much more about him but I was too bored to bother.

. I gave up - but I’m sure other readers might enjoy it. Sorry but none of this worked for me. I’m clearly not the target audience.

I loved this book. It was totally cute and romantic and had just the right amount of angst, and sass and kindness. Pandora and Ozzy are adorable and their quirks make them endearing to me as a reader, and I willed on their happiness. Pandora and Ozzy are polar opposites and openly state that they want and need different things to get through their days and nights, and yet there seems to be something there that nurtured may give rise to more. Family dynamics are explored and found wanting although the good friends come through and make a great cast - along with Bertha the camping car, who is almost a character in her own right. A fun, easy and cute read.