When Polly met Olly is the love story between Polly who works in a dating agency and Olly who is the owner of a rival dating agency. The book started off quite good, but it was not able to maintain that good start. The two main characters were not that likeable. Olly was more like a supporting character. And the book is more women's fiction than a romance. I also felt the romance was quite juvenile and that Polly was quite shallow. I give it 3 stars. Thanks to Net Galley, HQ Digital and Zoe May for approving me for an ARC of this book.

Guys. This book is just...BAD. Like, this book is downright bad. It starts off super cute and fun, and Polly is a wonderful character at first but then it just goes downhill from there.

First of all, the story is based in New York but everyone talks like a Brit! I know the author is British but goddamn! Measurements are described in centimeters, people use British slang left and right, and the syntax of how people speak is British. It’s totally plausible for our MC to do this as she is British but no one else is and it was so glaringly obvious that it became annoying as the book went on.

The structure of this book was atrocious. I’m hoping it was just because this was an arc copy, but I’m honestly not sure. The paragraphs went on for FOREVER; they felt like just one long run on sentence in paragraph form. Not to mention it was littered with typos, words that should have been there, words that shouldn’t have been there, etc. Not to mention there was a lot of duplicate scenes. Case in point, on two separate occasions, Polly goes to a cafe, orders a sandwich and coffee, sits at a bar by the window to people watch, and reads a newspaper left behind by a stranger. THE EXACT SAME SCENE...just reworded a bit. It was weird.

There was also a lot of things I felt like were problematic with characters thoughts/feelings. Polly was an all around likable character but she said/thought some really messed up things. She describes less feminine dresses as ‘kinda butch’, she agrees with her boss when he makes an offhand comment about a client’s date looking like a hooker because his client is a plain guy and the date is just ‘too hot to be there for free’, and then there was a joke later on made between Polly and her roommate about how drinking instant coffee makes them ‘ghetto’.

For this to be shelved as a romance novel and to be centered around ‘rival dating agencies’, there really wasn’t a lot of romance. Polly doesn’t meet her HEA until you’re pretty far into the story, the romance itself doesn’t happen until three-quarters of the way through, and the build up of the romance is done through some less than ideal means. I’m not going to spoil it but the way they connected just irked me.

Honestly, I could go on and on about how weird of a book this was, but I did enjoy a good amount of it. I wouldn’t purchase this at all and I’ll never reread it. This was just a time filler, tbh.

When Polly Met Olly is a refreshing, lighthearted read. This book is based around Polly who goes for an interview at a dating agency To The Moon and Back, although she really wants to pursue her love of photography.
Polly Lives with flat mate Gabe, who also isn't pursuing his dream vocation. It's through her new job, Polly meets the handsome Olly, whose running the rival dating agency....

I enjoyed reading this book, it's well written, romance with humour. Loved the characters, especially Polly and Gabe's friendship, often made you chuckle.
I've not read any books by Zoe May before, but definitely would do again.

Fans of Anna Bell, you'll enjoy this also.

3.5 ★

Well Zoe May is one talented author thats flying well under the radar. Her writing was fast paced, relevant, witty and humorous. Im a huge fan of English writing so even though the setting was America it worked well for me. Not only did I adore Polly as our heroine, her independent character development and the side cast really shone in this (more so than our hero). This had a really great plot, but the execution let it down (just slightly).

Polly, an aspiring photographer from the UK is in New York and due to lack of work and adequate funds for living, she finds herself taking a job at a dating agency. After only a couple of hours on the job she is sent undercover as a client 'looking for love' to a rival agency. Usually unlucky in love, Polly hasn't been near the market for a while but little does she know said rival might be just the man she didn't know she was looking for.

<i>‘Hit it?’ I scoff. ‘I can’t hit it. He’s Olly Corrigan. Super cool businessman. Dating entrepreneur of the year. PR boss. I can’t just hit him up on Tinder and invite him over for some Netflix and chill.’</i>

May’s physical description of Olly drew me to him instantly (WOW). He was 20 years older than Polly and although I’m quite partial to the 'older man' trope it didn’t really seem necessary in this. These two were good together, just not great and I think that’s because they didn’t get much screen-time to shine (and I know May can write good banter). It was all heading in a winning direction for me but there was a huge hole in the development of their connection. I don’t know if I ever truly warmed up to Olly. He had so much potential, what a painful word to put in a review, because it can never really be rectified.

While it had a plot based solely on Romance, I classify this as Chick-lit because the relationship took a bit of a back seat. This genre works for me because I love a slow-burn and I am happy to wait for the pay off but I wouldn’t recommend it to Romance readers because it was very mild. All in all, I really enjoyed this, a testament to the good writing thats for sure.

(ARC kindly provided by Netgalley for an honest review)

The story was a bit slow for my taste. Although the concept had great merit, the overall interactions between Olly and Polly were a bit dry. It did have a few super cute interactions but had to push myself to finish as the story wasn’t all in my wheelhouse.

I really fancied an easy-going romantic comedy. So I trudged through NetGalley to find a book that took my fancy and this one jumped out at me straight away. Yes, I judged a book by its cover, but sometimes that’s the only way!
I’m always a bit trepidatious when trying a new author and one that isn’t for ‘request’ but ‘read now’ on NetGalley, but this book ticked all my boxes. It was fun, light, romantic and well-written.
Polly is having to sell-out and get an office job when her dreams of becoming a photographer are falling flat. However, this isn’t just a typical office job in a GP’s office that would fry her brains; this is a crazy no day is the same matchmaking service job. Her first assignment? Infiltrate the opposition!
Lots of high jinx, close encounters and love matching ensues. Polly goes on a journey of self-discovery while at the same time helping others find their soulmate. Can she too find happiness and the love of her life at the same time?
I did think the book could have been a little shorter. A lot of the smaller storylines are tied up with a neat bow at around 50%. Polly’s storyline is still to conclude; however, the ending did feel a little drawn out compared to the beginning. It wasn’t bad it just lost pace a little.
I saw the ‘twist’ coming a mile away, but that didn’t stop it being sweet and me hoping that I was right.
Even though this was a fun and easy read and I did enjoy it, there was a lot wrong with it also. I couldn’t quite get on board with the 20 year age gap between Polly and Olly, did that make her really young or him really old? I don’t think it actually specified ages. The morals of the dating agency seemed a bit questionable. I always thought you were matched at these things with other clients, not the staff pretending to be you while chatting to potential random matches online. This means every relationship they match is starting off on a lie as one half of the couple doesn’t know they weren’t talking to their match but some office worker.
I do hope that this book went through a final proofreading and copy-editing process before publication as there was a lot of spelling and grammatical errors. I do usually try and ignore these when reading an ARC copy, but there were a lot!
So overall, it ticked the boxes for the kind of mood I was in. It wasn’t the perfect book, but it was a pleasant, amusing and light read.

Thanks to Netgalley and HQDigital for a copy in return for an honest review.

Dating just became more fun for perspective clients as Polly's arrival brightens up Derek's dating agency.

This funny, feel good read has a bucketful of charm and a cast of well thought out players, each bringing their own wonderfully amusing stories to life.
Fans of Sophie Kinsella and anyone who enjoys a romantic afternoon movie will love this warm, easy going rom com of a book.

I stumbled upon #whenpollymetolly on #netgalley and thought the premise of the story seemed like a fun rom-com read.

Polly works at a dating agency and was never supposed to meet Olly whose dating agency is a competitor to the one where Polly works.

While the story and characters are a bit quirky as it is written by a British author but takes places in NYC, I didn’t want to DNF the book because I felt engaged enough to want to find out what happened ‘when Polly met Olly’.

This book came out earlier this year and is currently only available in an e-book format.

If you are looking for something out of the box from a typical contemporary romance that reads like a fairy tale, this may be a story for you.

Cute, funny...solid chick lit

**OMG! I cannot believe that these reviews haven't been done! I am so sorry they are so late!!!**

When Polly met Olly by Zoe May a five-star read you will love to the Moon and Back. I will be honest, this nearly got four-stars, but it pulled it out of the bag at the last moment, its not just Polly and Olly that I fell in love with, I love Derek, in fact I almost didn’t like Olly for chunks of the story and found him a little contrite and overbearing and was a little sad that Derek was happily married. This was a great story for the most part of it, the descriptions were brilliant, the characters were funny and real (see Olly, flawed in places, but still dreamy, more real). But the pacing lacked a little, its all or nothing in places and that irritated me so much. I also think I missed a little something at the beginning as I didn’t realise that Polly was British until she mentioned her mum, Cornwall and a GP, not usually mentioned in story about New York, so it could be me that I missed that bit, or just that it’s not mentioned.

This book kept me interested pretty much most of the part and I enjoyed this cutesy and quirky read. Though it was very predictable, it was heartwarmingly cute and I would recommend for those interested in a light funny read.

loved every bit of this book. enjoyable and a pleasure to read. must-read for me. i would tell anyone to read this

This was a slow, sweet romance between two competing matchmakers on New York. The romance builds very slowly, and Polly and Olly don't have much direct interaction until the second half of the book.

I was a little distracted by all the Americans using British terminology and describing height and weight in centimeters and stone. The language would have made a lot more sense if everyone was British.

Zoe May has done it again!

When Polly Wood was having no luck with her dream job as a photographer and was struggling financially, she was able to land a job at To the Moon and Back, a dating agency in New York. One day, her boss, Derek, sent her undercover to find out more about why their rival dating agency, Elite Love Match run by the successful entrepreneur, Olly Corrigan, seemed a hit to their clients.

I finished the book in less than a day. Even though I needed to, It was hard to stop reading this cute and entertaining, contemporary romance as the characters are all charming and there were a lot of cute and funny moments between them.

I just wish there was more of Polly and Olly moments so we could really feel those 'fireworks'. I was also hoping that Olly would open up more about himself to Polly as she did to him, so we get a bit more insight to their connection.

I was hoping for more and intense conflicts between the characters. I honestly did not expect it to end the way it did because I was wanting more.

But I still liked it! I can't wait for Zoe May to capture our hearts again!

"When Polly Met Olly" by Zoe May is a sweet romance about two Matchmakers who have a hard time finding love for themselves.
The idea of the book really appealed to me. Polly a struggling photographer needs money while she tries to build her business. She applies for a job at a matchmaking company where she feels she is actually doing a very good job. Her boss wants her to go on a spy mission to their competitor to see where they can improve their company.
While undercover, she meets Olly.

I liked the two main characters but I feel like there wasn't as much of a romantic spark between them. I wanted to see more interaction between the two and not just skipping over details.
I felt that Polly and Brandon had more of a spark than Polly and Olly.

Zoe May's writing style is interesting, I did enjoy reading it. It was a very quick fun read but I did wish there was more to Polly and Olly's relationship. I felt like they didn't even know each other when they fell in love and Olly changed his life for her.

An air of caution surrounds me whenever I select a Zoe May book to read; she is the queen of unpredictability. We might be deluded in thinking that this is another cosy read, but then the story takes a totally different direction (in a good way, actually). Well, this particular story at least defines the heroes in the title itself, so I was relaxed in that part. But then came the blow: Olly is not your typical dashing young man, he is rather old. Yup! that is Zoe May for you.
Online dating scenario is turned out to be the setting of far too many novels by now, but the author has managed to put a rare perspective even in this cliched world. Polly is a likeable character trying hard to keep her dreams alive and I immediately warmed up to her. Even though her interest lies with photography, the necessity of keeping the ends meet had forced her to work for a dating agency. But what could we know? This might actually be the turning point in her life. Not only her love life but everything.
Compared to Polly, we don't see Olly that often in spite of the prominent place allotted to him in the title. Sometimes we get dubious, is he really the one? But the fact is it doesn't really matter. This is all about Polly and how she manages to turn things around with the help of her friends, both new and old.
Overall, a refreshing read as expected from one of my favourite authors.

📲 To right swipe or not to right swipe: that is the question💌
🤗🤗💘🤗🤗🤗 I ended up loving this story! The heroine, Polly, is young but intrepid. Despite getting sidetracked into matchmaker work (she's pretty good at this too!), Polly never lets go of her career dreams. She's kind, sweet, and inspirational. How could she not make an impression on Olly?!😉

😍 I love this type of feel good romantic fiction. it's almost squeaky clean yet full of true connection vibes and romance. Derek, Polly's boss, is a perfect example of a romantic, though not particularly fit or handsome, hero with eyes only for the woman who changed his life, Polly sees past his unkempt appearance to the kind and supportive man inside. Despite roadblocks and frustrations, like her "bad-taste" experience working with demanding Alicia on her cookbook, an undercurrent of optimism and faith that all things are possible if you work for them makes this story a sweet and uplifting treat. And Polly's connection to New York and, particularly, the Statue of Liberty, made me love her all the more. Why did I leave this book on my e-shelf for so long?!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.

Britsh Polly starts after her study photography working in a bar. It’s not what she’s dreamt about, and she changes her job for working in a dating agency. It’s fun and she’s really good at her job. When her boss sends her over to spa on another agency, she’s meeting Olly and he’s so attractive. But he has a bad reputation, still she’s running in to him over and over.

The books starts slowly but get better later on. It’s a nice story, but a little predictable. it doesn’t really mather because the persons in the story a really great. Polly does have a great boss en a adorabel housemate. Polly is growing in the story to a confident person and als Olly finds out what’s really important.

This book was OK, it was written well for a first person narrative, it just wasn't the book for me. I like a bit more oomph in my romance.

I've seen this book on Goodreads quite often with friends rating and reviewing it so when I saw it on Netgalley as a "Read Now" and with me looking for good chick-lit writers that I'm going to buy again and again, I thought I'd give this a try.

So we meet Polly--a British ex-pat--who is being interviewed for a job at a successful dating agency. It turns out that Polly isn't so good at the dating thing in real life though, as shown in these quotes:

"Didn't you send him a peach and aubergine emoji with a question mark and a winky face when you were drunk?"

"What about that guy you called Mike for four dates then it turned out his name was Matt."


She gets the job and, quite quickly, she's asked to check out a rival firm who is stealing some of their clients. So Polly goes to the other firm as a possible client and meets Olly, the owner. They seem to have an instant connection, a spark, but Olly turns a little cold and clinical towards the end of her interview. They meet by accident a few more times as Polly explores the area surrounding her new office. We don't see him all that often in the book until near the end, to be honest. She's too busy trying to find the perfect partner and setting up dates for her clients.

As the books name suggests, they do end up together but not before hitting a few bumps along the way. It's on a really slow burn and does come a little out of left field when they finally admit they have feelings for each other but after that, the happiness they feel when they're together was really cute.

I loved the camaraderie between Polly and her friend Gabe, he teases her terribly at times but I had to smile. And her friendship with her boss, too, was pretty cool. They made quite a good team at the whole dating agency thing.

I think this was quite enjoyable and will look out for further releases to see if they're as cute as this one was.