No-K Cupid
This really missed the mark for me. Cupid's arrow was nowhere near. I couldn't even make it halfway through the book. It wasn't what I expected. It's not much like the blurb.
In the first chapter Polly is at her job interview for the dating agency and I couldn't get past the logistics of this thing. That hung me up more than it should have. They aren't just matchmakers they're like modern day Cyranos for the clients? It was disturbing.
The agency and her boss weren't described very pleasantly either. I had greasy, shady, and slobby visions of both despite her declaration of 'dating agency of the year.'
This was set in New York but I wish it was set in England. Polly moved here from England to go to NYU so naturally I'd expect British colloquialisms from her but not from every other American character. Authors should write what they know or what they've researched. It doesn't sound like the author has been to New York or to the United States in general.
Trying to get past that was one thing but Polly basically just got on my nerves the whole time anyway. I just didn't feel like anything was logical or consistent.
This was a 'no, thank you' from me.

Sometimes a synopsis just doesn’t live up to the contents of the book.

I really wanted to love When Polly Met Olly however I found their relationship totally unbelievable and the age gap slightly icky (personally not a fan!). If this had been described before reading I wouldn’t have requested.

There are also multiple errors with this novel both grammatically and factually (check time differences!)

Not for me!

What a fun read! This is the perfect beach read or when you are just in the need for some fun, chick lit. Heartwarming. Light and breezy. Full of Love.

I didn't enjoy this. I felt the storyline, the characters, the dialogue - pretty much all of it was too contrived. It would've worked better for younger audiences (teens possibly?). Romances should flow and feel natural and this for me didn't do that at all.

I hate to DNF a book I'm reviewing, but after two years, I just have too many other books on my TBR pile to come back to this one.

I definitely didn’t love this book or feel that it flowed all that well. While our character is British, the story takes place in New York. Regardless of this fact, the American characters don’t sound or think like Americans. This was a small problem for me because it made me feel that I was just hearing the narrators voice, instead of the characters. Polly is a 25 year old artist turned matchmaker, who acts mostly her age because her feelings towards the opposite sex are very superficial. Olly, similarly, is a 45 year old matchmaker and entrepreneur who comes to realize that his views on love have become very backwards since his divorce. I think I would have connected with the characters more had they clearly developed their own voices. Unfortunately, I did have a hard time connected, and even the bit that I did, I had a hard time believing that an established man would fall so quickly for a naive girl. Maybe if there were more evidence to back it up but it was mostly based on a few unshown conversations at which time both people were pretending to be someone else.

ARC provided by the author and Netgalley for an honest review!

Bizarrely, this has been on my kindle for ages and I really don't know why I didn't pick it up. I'm so glad I did, what a delightful read. New York is my favourite place to visit, so it was fab to locate all the places mentioned. Online dating isn't for everyone, but it works for some! Read it - its a 5 star from me.

I do love pairings who "were never supposed to meet" BUT they both work in New York in the dating agency service. They are in the SAME BUSINESS. How could they not have met eventually? I get it Thus, the description already irked me. I love romance stories, but I didn't feel the chemistry between Polly and Olly. I didn't even know why these two would end up together in real life.

I ended up DNFing this one as I didn't really care for the writing and ended up finding it quite boring. I liked the premise, but I had no inclination to continue reading.

A cute premise, but poorly written. I didn't see the romantic connection as believable. However, it was an adorable British romantic comedy. An ideal summer read.

When Polly met Olly is enjoyable and quick read. I would recommended it to readers who loves chick lit and want to relax while reading.

I loved this cute & lighthearted read. Polly and Olly were fun characters with a fun story line. Great read. I recommend you check this out :)

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

Provided <i>gratis</i> in exchange for honest feedback.

It was okay.

The main character was British and so a lot of the book was metric which, for a story set in NYC, was a little jarring.
The other characters were entirely too British to be purported native New Yorkers. A lot of the colloquialisms ("Too right!" "Brilliant!" "chatting to") would have fit well with the main character, but not anyone else, which didn't stop those characters from using them. It was annoying, because it meant the author didn't have a clear picture of the characters -- and the editor didn't enforce one.
In the same vein, while "ramshackle" and "higgledy-piggledy" may be <i>more</i> common in Britain, they are by no means unknown to Americans (i.e., such that they would need to be explained after use). The word "homely," on the other hand, has <i>very different</i> meanings in British v. American usage; that should have caused a conversational trip, but strangely did not.

At one point, Polly asks why a successful multi-millionaire entrepreneur would be interested in a self-proclaimed "scruffy broke wannabe photographer" who was nearly 20 years his junior? Never really answered that question, tbh. Just started the makeover montage which makes her less scruffy, but not any of the other things.

Also, might be alone on this: if my name was Polly, anyone going by "Olly" would be out of the running as a potential mate. One of us has to change it. No. Just... no.

Unfortunately I just didn't love this one guys, and I didn't finish it, but thanks so much for the opportunity to read it.

Prolly, aspiring photographer in need of a paying job, and who is bad at dating, gets hired as a matchmaker at a local online dating service. She butts heads with the owner of a competing dating firm. The premise was promising. It was fascinating to get a glimpse in to the elite dating culture of NYC professionals. It’s something I never would have considered. Unfortunately the story fell flat for me. The book has really weird pacing and felt clunky in it’s delivery. The main character and author are British, so British slang and terminology bleeds in to all the characters dialog even though most of them are meant to be American. The author describes the incredible chemistry between the characters, but it never rang true. There was no build up or anticipation. There was nothing to establish the relationship. This book didn’t work for me, and I don’t have any specific reason because it wasn’t terrible. I just never felt invested in the characters. They felt flat. I never got lost in the story. Quite the opposite: I had to force myself to finish reading so that I could start a new book.

Side note: as a photographer myself, every time Polly mentioned her photography I was screaming YOU NEED A CONTRACT in my head. I kept thinking it might address the actual business/legal side of photography but it never did.

This was a cute, light-hearted read.

Polly is a British girl living in New York whose dream is to be a freelance photographer. She hasn't had much luck with finding paying clients, though, and she's forced to take a shady-sounding job at a dating agency chatting with potential dates on behalf of the clients of the company. She's sent to a rival agency owned by a 40- something hipster named Olly to spy on their way of doing things. There's also a hot client of the agency called Brandon with very specific requirements for a match and Polly is determined to find that person for him, although she secretly wishes he would swipe right on her (sorry, I don't even know what's that supposed to mean).

Based on the premise, I was under the impression that Polly owned the agency so her actually struggling to make ends meet and not being very successful with her photography was a surprise but I liked to see it. I appreciated how she grew personally and professionally, how she tried to make the most out of a crappy sounding job, and didn't give up on her dream.

There was a subplot of her being used by a famous Instagrammer who didn't pay her for her work and didn't end up crediting her either when she used Polly's photos in her cookbook. The fact that people often try to take advantage of freelancers and only offering "exposure" instead of actually paying them is definitely something we need to talk more about but it's a pity the Instagrammer had to be vegan and her cookbook had to be described as "pretentious". Enough with only presenting vegan as being weirdos and/or assholes.

The plot also included catfishing, which I'm usually not the biggest fan of but because of the way it went down, it didn't bother me that much. I found the writing to be lacking and too simplistic at times, especially when it came to the romantic scenes (I say "romantic" because there were no sex scenes).

That being said, I really enjoyed reading this book - it was a quick and entertaining read that made up for its imperfections by being satisfyingly fluffy and fun.

I absolutely loved this book – I could not put it down!

I really loved this book so much – I already am a huge fan of Zoe May and her style of writing. Her books are my perfect indulgence for a bit of escapism and always make me smile.

I loved getting to know the characters of both Polly and Olly, and throughout the story, I felt like we got to know more about each character and each of their lives, and how perfectly matched them seemed to be for each other. Maybe its because I am a true romantic at heart, but I loved the idea of Polly’s job – mixing and matching people to find the perfect match for them. I was quite surprised by how Polly and Olly finally got together – I certainly hadn’t seen that coming (No spoilers!)

When Polly Met Olly is packed full of love, laughs,, fun and dating! I would absolutely recommend When Polly Met Olly to anyone – the perfect summertime read, which leaves you with that nice warm fuzzy feeling.

This was a cute, fluff read. If you like the Shopaholic series you will enjoy this. While the characters could have been more developed, this is a fun escapists read.

Thank you to Net Galley for the advance edition!

I enjoyed the writing but the characters were a little stereotypical and one dimensional. It could’ve been more developed