2.5 - "If I can’t find you love… no one can." Stars.

I really enjoyed the last book I read by this author, so was really looking forward to getting stuck into When Polly Met Olly unfortunately the same cannot be said on this occasion.

"Love isn’t a checklist…"

The main issue I had with the book was that although it was pretty easy to read. The actual Polly and Olly element is extremely sparse, for the first 70% of the book they knowingly interact a grand total of five times, and three of those instances more in passing than in any real meaningful way. Things are clarified a little more in the latter stages of the book, but not in enough detail to make any difference. I didn’t buy their relationship, I didn’t feel any spark between them, and I didn’t really see them as a compatible couple, because the only thing they seemed to have in common was their immaturity in spite of a twenty year age gap between them.

"I like the magic of fancying someone, when you first meet someone new and they just seem like the best person in the world. I love flirting, going on dates and building up to the first kiss…"

Follow up with the fact that the whole book lacked any real depth or development in character, storyline or emotional development and I finished it feeling a little short-changed. All the aspects were there to make it a really great read, with likeable secondary characters, quirky twists and such but it just lacked any real spark for me.

If you are looking for an easy-going, inoffensive read, then this one fits the bill, it unfortunately also fits in the unmemorable and underwhelming category’s with great ease as well.

I’ve read Zoe May since her first novel, Perfect Match, and with When Polly Met Olly she has certainly found her stride. When Polly Met Olly is a quirky read that is light and refreshing, an easy way to pass a few hours.
When Polly Met Olly was just a lot of fun to read. We follow Polly’s ‘awakening’ during her interactions with the dating company’s clients, where she learns that there is a lot more to love than what she thinks.
This book is classed as a romance, and it is, but not really how you would expect it. Our romantic lead, Olly, really only makes cameo appearances until about 65% through the book (on a Kindle). The romance is really a sub-plot with the main focus being the character growth of Polly. That is not to say that it isn’t enjoyable, but I would not describe it as a romance.
Zoe May has a lovely writing style. Each character has their own distinct tone, and their personality shines through. The story moved along at a good pace, and it was lovely to see Polly develop as a person. The romance, when it happened, was very sweet (and clean) without too much drama. The drama that was there was of the rumour/misunderstanding type and honestly, it wasn’t really needed, all it did was give Polly an opportunity to be childish, and by that stage of the book she was starting to move beyond that. That said though, it wasn’t a big thing and it was resolved quickly.
Overall, I enjoyed When Polly Met Olly and if you are looking for a light and funny read to pass away a bleary afternoon, this may be a good choice!

A fun and really enjoyable read. For me, anything set in NY is a winner.
Loved a glimpse into the world of online dating/matching.
A good read with some wonderful laugh out loud moments, I was rooting for the main characters which I think is a sign of a good book.
I’ve not read anything by this author before but I definitely will do so again.

I really loved this book! The story was so sweet and funny, it was exactly the read I needed! By the end of the book I genuinely felt like I’d known Polly forever and was left wanting a real life Polly as a friend! I loved how cutesy the romance was and I will definitely be checking out more of the authors books - yay for a fantastic read!

Ahhh! What a wonderful book. This book had me laughing, crying and generally rooting for the main characters in the book. The characters were so well developed, I felt such a connection to them. Can't wait to read more from this author!

This is my second trip into the world of Zoe May's writing this year and I must say that this book is yet again another triumphant hit. As the saying goes 'write what you know' and boy does Zoe know the world of online dating. For me anything set in New York is an instant attraction....you just can't beat the cultural melting-pot of the city that doesn't sleep for a perfect backdrop to any story.

I loved Polly and her quirky existence struggling to make her dreams come true. Her Cornish upbringing adds to her charm as an instantly likeable character and I found myself rooting for her to succeed in life and love. My favourite element to the book was the inside scoop on the day to day running of a dating agency and it's clientele. This provided endless humour and witty anecdotes into the ruthless game of Manhattan dating to pique my interest and keep me reading on for more.

Polly and Olly are not an obvious dating match but I loved their 'meet cute' serendipitous introduction. Their chemistry didn't sizzle off the pages but was founded on a deeper, emotional connection which made me fall in love with them as a pair and hope for a happy ever after.
I loved everything about this book, it was zany and witty with a side order of hope and love. If you haven't added When Polly Met Olly to your TBR pile yet then what are you waiting for? This is a fun-loving book not to be missed.

The book missed the mark. While the cover art is adorable and the description sounded promising, I just couldn’t get into it. The characters seemed out of place in their own story. There wasn’t a lot of passion - it was cute at best - the dialogue was disjointed at times, and the story didn’t have great pacing.

A Fun, Fabulous and 100% Feel-Good read!

Polly is a struggling photographer trying to make it in New York. She takes a job as a match-maker for a dating agency to pay the bills and finds herself immersed in the world of dating criteria and finding that perfect match for each of her clients.

It was an eye-opening read and I really enjoyed learning more about dating and match-making. The novel is filled with laugh out loud dating mishaps along with some wonderful descriptions of New York.

I loved Polly's character and for me this novel is as much about her journey as it is about romance.

A perfect romance to read anytime, anywhere and this author is most definitely one to watch!

Uh, so this book was bad. I don’t want to be mean and I don’t really like leaving bad reviews, but the writing was bad, the pacing was bad, the story was not believable, and the dialogue was often stilted and not realistic. It wasn’t tough to finish it, mostly because it wasn’t very long, but I often found myself laughing aloud at parts of the story that were simply too ridiculous.

Let me give an example: the main love interest turns into a completely different person with almost no prompting. We’re led to believe that the main character changed him literally overnight and that he’s willing to give up his lucrative and successful business simply because he goes on one date with her. That’s not only a little crazy, it’s just plain weird. Overall, I really wouldn’t recommend this book. It’s just not good.

I have a confession to make- yes, yet another one. Although I have heard of Zoe May, I haven’t actually read any of her books……until now that is. Sorry Zoe. I enjoyed reading ‘When Polly Met Olly’ so much that I now ask myself ‘why the hell haven’t I read one of her books before now?’ I absolutely loved this book but more about that in a bit.
I couldn’t help but take to Polly from the first time I met her. In the end I really did feel as though Polly was a friend. I know, I know this book is fictional and therefore the characters are not real but they seem real to me. Polly is a nice, kind, feisty and gentle human being, whose self confidence is a bit shaky. I couldn’t help but hope that things would work out for her in the end. She originally moved to America to attend university but she has stayed in the country. Polly hoped that she would walk into her ideal job following her graduation but reality soon set in and Polly had to find another job to make ends meet. Polly’s passion is photography and she still takes the odd assignment. Polly gets a job with a dating agency, which bends the rules ever so slightly. Polly is sent undercover and she is asked by her boss to spy on the opposition because the opposition is thriving and the agency Polly works for is losing clients. This is when the trouble starts because Polly finds herself falling for the man, who owns the opposition agency. Will Polly find the happiness that she so deserves? Is there room for both dating agencies? Well for the answers to those questions and more you are just going to have to read the books for yourselves to find out because I am not going to tell you.
I picked up ‘When Polly Met Olly’ ‘at an ideal time for me. I was worried about something and needed a distraction to take my mind off my worries. This book was definitely a distraction and then some and it cheered me up no end. I became addicted to reading this book from the moment I read the synopsis. The author has a writing style that draws you in and the storyline and characters keep your attention right to the very end of the book. Zoe clearly cares about her characters and this shines through in her writing. She describes the characters so vividly and so realistically that they seemed real to me and leapt off the page as it were. I was so focussed on the story and the characters that I didn’t realise just how quickly I was getting through the book, until I looked up and I was stunned to realise that I was well over halfway through the book. I seemed to race to the finish but in reality it took me a matter of hours to finish the book.
This book has a bit of everything- there’s drama, romance, passion and there’s a lot of humour within the story. On more than one occasion, I found I had to stop myself from laughing out loud at something I had read. As I read the story, I was literally picturing the hilarious moments as they happened.
In short I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘When Polly Met Olly’ and I would definitely recommend this author and her books to other readers. I can’t wait to read what Zoe comes up with next but whilst I wait for her next book, I will be definitely be finding her other books and reading them at some point over the next few months. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.

Fun and entertaining read.
Polly and Olly work for rival companies - matchmaking others when neither has been lucky in love themselves.

Only thing I was not sure about was the twenty year age gap between them.

2.5 stars. This story was just okay, honestly. Polly starts working for To the Moon and Back so she can have a steady paycheck while trying to get her photography business up and running. She almost immediately goes undercover to check out the competition, Elite Love Match.
While I liked the premise about two competing matchmaker agencies, it didn't turn out as expected. Something was missing from this story as a whole. This lacked passion and intensity. It was cute but that's all it was. I wanted to read more about the clients of To the Moon and Back and how they were doing with their matches. I would have read an entire book on her friend and roommate, Gabe. There were some plot lines that seemed shoe-horned in and a little clunky. Olly seemed like an okay character but I wasn't necessarily rooting for them to get together. The spark that they talked about at one point wasn't there for me either. Basically, this is a cute book that could have been done better. The execution is lacking and so are the characters.

Cute story, entertaining & light hearted I read this in one sitting really enjoyed it. Would recommend to anyone.

This book was entertaining, but the dialogue often felt forced to me. Also the language that was used was very clearly British English, which was only an issue because it was set in New York. It was distracting when measurements were in centimeters- we don’t use the metric system! I think Polly was a relateable enough character but her like ability was just kind of meh. Good for a fluffy read, but I don’t know if I would recommend it.

Loved loved loved It!!!
Thouroughly enjoyed this book!!
Bookmarked quotes!!
Learned so much. It's funny, cute, awesome! So much so that I finished it in a couple of days. I could not wait to get to the ending and the whole time it twisted and turned and I was a messes up though enjoying the company.
Polly's narrative is sooo good.
Olly is so handsome!
It's a age difference thing but I have learnt that if you are in love,age doesn't matter.
You will feel a spark!!

Some quotes i loved are:
"You set the standard for your worth."
‘No one makes you feel inferior without your consent’.
"love isn’t just a checklist."
"I don’t want to give up."

Don't leave your dreams just because you have to do something for a living. Stick around them never forgetting and still grow them.

Zoe may is a fantastic writer and I soo much look forward to read more books from her.

Pick this up if :
You like cute Rom-com.
Would like to know about Newyork.
About fulfilling your dreams.
You would like to know generally how matchmaking goes.😁
You are having a bad time and would like to turn it upside down.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Of course it is a typical romantic contemporary that is very predictable. Yet, this book was still enjoyable. There is character development throughout the book. The writing is easy to read making it easy to fly through. I was intrigued and wanted to know what was going to happen even though you know the book is about Olly and Polly and their relationship by the title alone. I did question that logic that Polly had no idea that relationships were not 100% based on two people that look compatible on paper. You would think she knew about opposites being attracted to one another.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

This is a cozy, light-hearted read which I found very easy and comfortable to read with. The story plot flows nicely with a dash of humor in it which makes it more lively, the plot twists are unexpected (at least to me!). One thing I might not get along well with is the age gap between Olly and Polly. (20years!) If you can handle age gaps feel free to read this book, definitely recommend.

I would like to start by saying the cover for this is so cute. It was what initially drawn me to it! I could see myself buying this book, based on the cover alone. So, points for that element FOR SURE.

However, the story itself was not written well. The characters were unoriginal, the dialogue was dry, and the plot itself wasn't engaging. This is the kind of book you hope will be amazing, based on the premise, but it just isn't executed well. I was sad, the prose made me sad!!!!!! But honestly I've been having bad luck with romance books lately, so at least I was prepared.

Maybe it will be better in its final form? The ARC was formatted horribly. But generally, I don't think there's much enjoying to be done with this one.

When Polly Met Olly by Zoe May is a really delightful fun, light-hearted contemporary read. It will leave you smiling and feeling good about life.
The characters are a wonderful mix of unique personalities that blend together – from the Cornish heroine to the playboy executive to the corporate lawyer to the head of the dating agency and more – I loved them all. There are some big personalities and some even bigger hearts within the novel. You can take the girl out of Cornwall but you cannot take Cornwall out of the girl. Lead character Polly really is like a breath of fresh air. Her bubbly personality is infectious and infuses both the reader and the other characters.
There are many themes including those of being true to yourself, following your dreams and being real. When life intrudes, sometimes our dreams get buried but we need to resurrect those dreams and begin to live again, believing in ourselves. Life is so short, we need to live it.
Camaraderie is to be found amongst the characters you wouldn’t normally associate of being together. Experience these unusual pairings and enjoy some laughs along the way.
There are some very light hearted moments in the book that had me smiling and feeling good.
The reader gets a glimpse of New York City – from the exclusive Manhattan to Brooklyn bridge to the statue of liberty to Central Park – experience them all, without ever leaving your sofa. It is certainly a vibrant city that never seems to sleep.
I adored When Polly Met Olly, such a fun read. Zoe May is a new author to me but I want to read more, more, more.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
When Polly Met Olly is a light, fun read. Due to the title, there is an inevitability that these two characters will end up with each other, so when they eventually meet your interest is peaked. During the course of the story, you wonder about another male but it becomes clear quite quickly that he won't be in the picture.
The message of the piece is more about being honest and the best version of yourself. As most story arcs go, I feel this was done well and Polly grows into her character. The side story with Alicia was a nice touch.
The relationship with her boss was touching in the end, and I particularly liked the friendship with her roommate.
All in all, a satisfying read.
3.5 stars.