Another DNF For me. I got 25% of the way through and I just couldn’t continue, which makes me sad because the premise sounds so cute!

The writing is very juvenile to me and too much dialogue. Both main characters are unlikeable and I find myself dreading having to pick this up to continue it.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a sweet light-hearted romance and will make a great summer/beach read when it comes out.
It follows Alice and Zach from their meet-cute in the first chapter of Zach overhearing Alice talking to herself about how bad his artwork is. This makes the A date of an art gallery. Every chapter is another date which all go through the alphabet, I loved this idea for a book, and it's really fun reading them both try to come up with creative and enjoyable date ideas (although I'm firmly on Alice's team that the jogging date didn't pass this!). You see how they have both navigated romance in the past, their friendships and family lives, and the impact these have on the current relationship between the two. It's well worth a read.
I absolutely love books written with dual points of view so this was an automatic winner there and I found both Alice and Zach to have individual enough personalities that it is obvious who is writing even without the chapter title telling you. Both have strong personalities and friendships outside of love instead of being the slightly pathetic love-obsessed characters we sometimes see in romance novels.

The premise of this was what pulled me in. It was an easy enough read. I particularly liked Alice as a lead character, she seemed very comfortable and confident in herself. I did not entirely connect with the romantic connection with Zach but overall it was still a nice, quick summer read. (3 ⭐️)

i really wanted to like this book; the blurb sounded interesting and the whole idea of a-z dates was really great. besides, i love romance between two completely different people, so a heroine afraid of commitment and a hero who is a romantic? this got me very excited. sadly, the book did not meet any of my expectations and i ended up strongly disliking it.

i will start by saying that for me it is impossible to enjoy a romance book if there is no chemistry between the characters; if there’s no spark is this really a romance worth reading? and that was unfortunetely the case of alice and zach. i didn’t feel anything between them, no connection at all, which made it really hard to care about their relationship. adding the fact that the characters were bland, i knew after a few chapters that this book will not do it for me.

besides the boredom caused by romance, i need to say that everything between the characters was happening way too quickly. the fact that after their first meeting (that didn’t even last that long) the hero couldn’t stop thinking about the heroine or that they were crazy about each other after two dates? it wasn’t really convincing to me, especially considering the fact that the heroine was supposed to be cynical about love. at 24% it was said that they’re seeing each other/dating, at 47% they officially called themselves boyfriend and girlfriend. and maybe that wouldn’t be so bad if it was shown how their relationship was developing, but there wasn’t anything like this. we got only uninteresting dates and unnatural, prim conversations between characters, that additionally often gave me second-hand embarassment, because they tried way too much to be funny (and weren’t at all).

another thing and probably my biggest issue with this book was the hero himself. what i want to say is that he was literally obsessed with the heroine. i must say that i absolutely do love when characters are obsessed with each other, i really do, but zach did grab me in the wrong way. he gave me weird vibes and many red flags and how could i enjoy a story with a character like this? firstly, like i’ve mentioned before, he said after his first meeting with the heroine that he couldn’t stop thinking about her. at second date (when they barely talked at all) after walking her home he says that her house resembles her perfectly (it was the time that they still knew almost nothing about each other). after third date at the thought of not seeing her again he feels physical pain and is miserable. here also happens one important conversation, when heroine’s friends tell her that he’s worth her time, that he’s a great guy, ,,a catch’’. he is praised so much, only because he cared about her feelings in one scene and wasn’t an asshole. he literally did the bare minimum and was described as amazing dude after that (spoiler alert: he was not an amazing dude).

but let’s talk about other shitty things he did. example one: he caused a big, loud argument with the heroine, when her best friend wasn’t being nice to him. he was so angry and petulant, just because her friend was being too protective of her; it was ridiculous. example two: forcing heroine to do things she didn’t want to and creating drama and leaving her every time things didn’t go the way he wanted. when she wasn’t sure about moving in with him (she didn’t say no, she just wasn’t sure) he - like always - made her upset and left. so, he was not so understanding as the author wanted the reader to think. despite the fact that he knew what kind of person alice was, what her fears were, when she was not sure about taking the next big step (which did happen very quickly, because they have only been dating for a few weeks) he way always like ,,me and my love for you are not enough, will never be enough, we want different things’’ etc etc. he knew what he was getting himself into since the beginning, he knew how alice was, it was stated that he was so in love with her, but he sure as hell didn’t care about not pressuring her. he didn’t even try to compromise in any way, which was really infuriating. this is not what ,,great guys’’ do, sorry.

having said what i wanted, i’ll just state that this book not only didn’t meet my expectations, but also make me really angry and annoyed. i would not recommend it.

Meet Alice and Zach. They meet at an art exhibition.

Alice and Zach hit it off straight away and zac suggests they date using the letters of the alphabet for each date.

Alice is wary of relationships and Zach is Mr Romantic. Along the way there are many ups and downs.

Will Zach convince Alice he can have her heart?

Will there be a happily every after to end their 26 dates?

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Read for me. Lighthearted and easy read.

This is a cute easy read. I wish I could've been on a beach or by the pool reading this. It was such a cute and funny story. I would recommend this to my friends!

Alice is a self-confessed cynic when it comes to love. She’s never had a serious relationship herself and after supporting her best friend through a devastating breakup, she’s not about to let down her barriers anytime soon. Relationships always end badly. Zach is a romantic. Even after his parents got divorced, he still believed in love and is eager to settle down and have a family of his own. He just hasn’t met The One yet. After a chance meet-cute at an art gallery, Zach is immediately intrigued by Alice and realising their names bookend the alphabet suggests that their next date needs to begin with a B. Alice agrees to one date while Zach is determined to make her believe in love. But can love ever be as easy as ABC?

This was a quick, easy and romantic read. It gripped me enough to keep me reading and entertained enough to enjoy the book. This book would go perfect with a glass of wine around the pool or on a beach.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

This book was so cute and so cheesy it was utterly saccharine at times and I really needed that right now and I absolutely loved it. One minute I was feeling sad while reading it and the next I was giggling like a schoolgirl.

When Alice and Zach meet Zach notices they are bookends to the alphabet and suggests that they date their way through B to Z. Alice agrees but doesn't mention her three date rule, then Zach overhears her talking about it with her friend Dylan. What follows are 25 dates that start with each letter of the alphabet and Alice and Zach taking it in turns to choose the date.

I loved everything about this book...from the cover to the meet cute. The unique dates (IKEA anyone?) made this book so refreshing and the growing relationship between Alice and Zach had me cheering them on. The characters had real personalities and quirks that made me really feel for them, even the secondary ones. This is my first book by Hannah Doyle and I will certainly be seeking out more of her books when I need a lift.

Have I found a new comfort read? I think so. The A to Z of Us is a heartfelt romantic comedy with everything you need to feel warm and happy inside. It follows Alice and Zach as they go on 26 dates, starting with each letter of the alphabet, and they learn to navigate their emotions and feelings towards love. It’s a classic opposites attract between a girl that doesn’t believe in love and a boy that, in his own words, loves love. Alice and Zach make such a sweet couple that bring out the best in each other, learning from their mistakes to find happiness.

Doyle’s writing is lighthearted and humorous whilst still expressing the emotions of the characters fully. She gets straight into the plot, there’s no hanging around and dragging out unnecessarily, the protagonists meet in the first chapter and we get straight into it. It gently touches on issues of grief and broken families, whilst still keeping things upbeat. I know that not everyone appreciates a fluffy book, but personally that’s exactly what I need sometimes. It was easy to read, with lots of laughs and likeable characters. I really don’t have any complaints.

I think it might be a problem that every time I read about a guy named Zach I fall in love, but he really is the most sensitive and gentle character. Both Zach and Alice have their flaws but they work through them together and they’re still both such lovable characters. They are relatable and understandable and so easy to read about. I think we all deserve someone to love us like Zach and bring us out of our shell like Alice.

The A to Z of Us is the perfect summer read, it’s full of fluff and comfort. A soft romance with just the right amount of comedy. I absolutely loved it.

I failed to find my way through this book. It was a struggle as I couldn’t connect with the characters. It’s not the writing as much as I just couldn’t connect.

This was such a lovely sweet read about trust, new romance, and growing as a person. I wanted to read this book because the premise was adorable, two people meet at an art gallery with names starting with A and Z and decide to go on dates following the letters of the alphabet. This was such a great story about figuring out what you want, taking leaps, and falling in love. This book officially releases on my birthday and I can't wait for more people to feel the glow after reading this gem. Thank you NetGalley and HQ stories for letting me read the E-ARC of this book.

The reason I wanted to read this book was that I found the premise interesting. For me it stood out: the woman is afraid of love and not the man.

I liked the fact that the main character, Alice, was funny and confident and her love interest was in many ways her opposite. But they nicely completed each other.

I liked how the book focused on the difficulty of relationships. But I found that it lacked an emotional depth that would make me feel for the characters' struggles. The problems the couple faces are over rather quickly without making me feel anything. I need that scene that makes you cry. That scene where you think that maybe this is it for them and you can feel the heartache. It leaps off the page. I didn’t get that. But still a sweet love story but sadly easily forgotten.

This was so sweet and adorable. I really enjoyed residing it and was hooked all the way through. There was good character development from both the main characters, which is something i favour within books. The only issue i had was that the problem faced in the relationship was over way too fast, it was sorted within a chapter. But overall I really enjoyed this

Loved the premise of this. A great meet cute, an Alice a Zach, this was lined up to be a corker.
Liked the dates format too.
However, didn't quite believe in them as a couple. Alice's behaviour at times was a bit off the scale for this genre for me. Could see that the author was trying to do something a little bit different but didn't quite work for me.

I really do not know how to formulate this review. I have this weird feeling it could be all-over-the-place. So, I am going to try to keep a, somewhat, organized method to this madness.

This is not the book's/Author's fault. This is completely a "me" issue.

I began this book a few weeks ago and then a personal crisis struck...I got my 2nd vaccine shot...and then something akin to a Mid-life crisis struck me, in a good and bad way. Then I simply did not want to read anything, at all. Just wanted to think and contemplate my life. Concentrate on harder issues and flimsier issues, but also not be distracted. My choice was sound because I knew once I returned to the book/Author, I would be better at absorbing what I was reading.

Tricks of the trade in becoming a Better and Competent reader and reviewer. When you know you "mood" read, best not to read when your mood's in the shitter.

This is one of those perfectly quaint Summer Read books. Ones readers need that can be a soft palate cleanse because everything else you pick up to devour is just...pissing you off.

I love the way in which this book is told. I love how easily these two main characters, Alice and Zach, kind of live and breathe off the pages. They feel so comfortable and real. I love how funny and compatible they are with one another. Their scenes were, or, really, became a breathe of fresh air.

Sometimes you wonder why authors create characters because whatever choice they've made to drive or run their Plot becomes mired in something outside of their creation. I see tons and tons of Authors writing content that never makes any sense. Especially these days when you want Authors to stand for something important... equality, diversity, inclusion, fairness...a bunch of decisions made prior to the book even beginning. Too many Authors, lately, are losing sight of just what they meant to convey when they began writing and editing, and what is leftover is some garbled mess of nothing special.

A reader assumes, going in cold, that what is told to them in PR hype... or even in the Summary of what they are up against...then why is what is inside this book in my hands never matching what was promised outside?

I never assumed anything about this book. Not because of the blurb. Not because of the Title or Cover. Even the Author, Hannah Doyle, is new to me. I strolled in pretty blindly and was not disappointed.

What Hannah Doyle gives a reader is something far greater...a gentle understanding about what makes story, character and purpose in a great Plot an incredible gift to voracious readers like me.

This is not an inventive Plot. It's 26 dates to represent 26-letters of the Alphabet. Simple. Easy.

But Hannah Doyle does so much with very little that you keep on pushing through because every page improves upon discovery and, eventually... my god, you come to know and like her MCs and then you are now solidly invested in their emotions and feelings as they become a couple.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention there were a few times I was gently taken "out" of the story. This is merely because I am an American, not born in the UK so there are some Pop Culture references [some personal life "mentions" like snacks/food in childhood] in here that go over my head. A quick Google search helps me out.

But, never fear, not once did it truly exit me out-of-the book, because Hannah Doyle allowed her characters to create an atmosphere, within their dialogue where I never "lost the Plot", ya' know? Sometimes I was fully aware of what was happening Across the Pond so I was able to correlate it inside my fragile brain.

Alice and Zach are close enough to my age, but they are a generation behind me, but every single thing they connected on was a part of my 20s, when they were teens. I am a Gen-Xer...but I still know what they were conversing about, at times. Others, I needed some Internet help.

Why I am mentioning it is because I am not profoundly taking away ANY ratings because it's a UK World and I was never a part of it. As a 35+yr Romance Reader, I have been privileged to read from many wonderful UK, Australian and Asian writers.

Hannah Doyle did enough in her awesome writing ability to make me feel like I could relate because she gave Alice and Zach an ease in relate-ability and such a great ease in dialogue.

My obvious favorite of this book is really ALL THE DIALOGUE. This was a serious master-class in how Dialogue can be an Author's friend. Not just an ease in conversation, but also Alice and Zach are BOTH such adorable, hilarious people and together they tend to crack one another up;I could not stop smiling or chuckling with every conversation they had during their Alpha-dates.

And it's there right in the book. Hannah Doyle didn't have to force feed it to me. I saw proof a dozen or more times.

Alice and Zach also...they have weird moments of miscommunication but then... something incredible happens where Alice or Zach... or whomever feels like they messed up the night before, during their "dates", THEY HAVE REAL and TOUGH ADULT CONVERSATIONS... about feelings and emotional baggage and... They talk the hard stuff out and come to a new level of being closer. I loved seeing this in their story.

And I like that Hannah Doyle felt comfortable enough with her audience to trust them to bear witness to some... adult struggling. It's funny, as a kid, you think Adults have it easy and you strain and yearn to BE AN ADULT, so badly. Life isn't bullshit like it is in high school... and with dumb boyfriends & crazy girlfriends and stupid, stubborn parents...

But, yeah, ADULT-ing never gets ANY easier when you get older...20s, 30s, 40s,etc. Goal posts change in life but everything is almost the same because caricature people in our daily lives never seem to change. Eh, things become more and more serious, but only if you allow it.

I also enjoyed how we alternated the Alphabet Dates, but also the variety of chosen dates was always out-of-nowhere--so everything was new and fascinating how it would unfold. Alice got to choose one, Zach could decide the next... and then they kept going. And both where inventive and creative enough to not make it so dull.

Hannah Doyle knew, somehow, to not make the "dates" formulaic to every other Romance Book out there. So these moments between them sometimes had such a deeper meaning, at times. This was wonderful and made every next chapter joyful... because the reader wants to know, "what's next?". Great sign of a smart writer.

At some points in this book, as a reader, one begins to become invested in Alice and Zach. In some books, one may find they side with the woman...others side with the man. But, once in an odd-while...an ingenious writer can have the science of their story and characters down so perfectly that you "root" for BOTH of them... and then you want them together.

I cannot recall the exact moment when sex is on the table, as a couple, but this is all Closed-Door/Off-Book sex. And this was refreshing for me. Mainly because... well, it gave me a better ability to focus on Hannah Doyle's wonderful writing and equally interesting characters. Sex was never so important that it factored in to why they had bigger issues to deal with.

Maybe I should start to explain, before I lose my crazy-train-of-thought... why I did not give this 5-stars. I sound like I am giving this amazing glowing review the book deserves and maybe I am making it too glowing for a 4-rating...

So, yeah... some things did cause me to grow a bit frustrated.

Mainly, it had to do with Alice. But it's not anything against her as an MC of this book and half of the main couple. It is just certain choices made where had they not been done... eh, maybe the book would look, and read, a little different, in subtle ways.

Like I said...Alice and Zach have emotional baggage, as we all do. But WOW, was Alice a hardcore person I was not expecting. So what I feel happened in my disconnect with her was... she had become so "set in her ways"... while she did budge on some issues--like her 3-date rule of thumb w/men... there were times she would not allow for certain issues to DIE a SLOW DEATH and move on. It's like the bee in the pretty bonnet she cannot get rid of.

Alice has really big issues in her life and she allows them to cloud her thinking to a point where... man, Zach pleading his cases to her, time and time again... my heart broke for him.

Zach ended up proving to me he was "in" this relationship, full-on, with Alice, by any means he could do it. And he wanted to work with her and compromise but not sacrifice himself. While it did show me how much he wanted Alice, no bones about it... it also was, like, "Dude, She's just not THAT into you. Move on. Better fish in the sea and all that muck.".

I think I have a soft-spot for men in Romance books, especially when they show to not be Cookie Cutter Alpha males. I lean heavily in masculine-directions in my own personal life...and, sometimes I don't cut many women I know a break. I have seen the good and bad people of both sexes but sheesh...there was something about Zach that sounded more like "me".

Even though I like both Alice and Zach, I tended to fall on my sword for Zach, because Alice wouldn't... or couldn't-didn't want to, almost? Sometimes heavily refused to because she DID NOT WANT MESSY DRAMA in her life. And, I "hear" this so often in my own head... Alice had me in her grip but then she would lose me, utterly and completely.

There is an EX in Zach's life... and his break-up is fresh. I mean days-to-mere-hours fresh when he meet-cutes Alice. The Ex really played Zach for all he was worth... especially as an already insecure guy who doesn't have a lot of experience in love/relationships.

Small Towns/Villages exist everywhere... so, yeah, The EX comes back into Zach's life... and, of course, chooses Alice as part of her Wedding Planning scenario [Alice is a florist]...but my deal is...

By this time, Alice knows Zach...better than she will know her stranger client who is Zach's EX...and still, Alice instantly chooses to side more with the woman who broke Zach's heart than side with Zach. And it really rankled me.

Not only because...wow, once you hear the story of what his EX did to him... how he was duped...a fool in love, as he loves with his heart on his sleeve...somehow Alice just erased days of knowing Zach against an instant "like" of a new client. And the Ex was a pretty shitty girlfriend who could not, would not ever get over her prior Ex... as she is now engaged to HIM [the EX she was never OVER and also still w/while with Zach??] and now, she is trying to get back in contact to Zach... like, huh? For what purpose? To rub YOUR HAPPINESS in his face?

And then Alice would tend to throw up walls and roadblocks, using the circumstances w/the Ex and the past break-up as a means of holding Zach's feet to the fire. It became tiresome and petty. Because, to me, what you never want to do is choose sides right off the bat. Remember there are TWO SIDES to every story and, maybe even 3... His & Hers and then The Truth.

It was such a horrible way to treat this new guy who has never shown any kind of duplicity... that suddenly, with the first sign of "clay feet"... every negative idea of a man shoots into the brain and Zach is now BAD DUDE Numero Uno...and never is cut any slack.

Alice knew Zach was horrible with loving too early/too soon... he's horrifically shy, quiet and insecure... and yet, she kept holding HIM responsible for EVERYTHING. I just... I understand Alice had hang-ups and baggage in her own dating life.. but my god...until it settled inside of Alice's head, on her own...it was so very frustrating to watch Zach have to endure the unwarranted ridicule.

There's a couple more incidents where Alice just abandons all trust in Zach to side with certain people and I really saw a kind of inability to cooperate...or even her disassociating with hearing ANY "side" from Zach... because any words out of his mouth would make him WRONG, automatically.

And then... there were moments Alice blew my mind, because she finally [possibly?] began to "read the room" a bit better...and she would put herself OUT THERE, like she had never done before. Because...wow, by the ending, it's so clear to readers this couple is IN IT... together... in some schmaltzy, cheesy Forever-kinda way. And it is okay but also spectacularly wonderful...

Oof, I now feel like I have to end this in some manner, because if I don't stop at a point then it really will make one wonder why I did not give this 5-stars, all the way...but eh, I will certainly be checking out Hannah Doyle's future projects and her, I believe, prior novels [2? maybe?] because I feel like this is an Author I can trust with my whole heart as a Romance Reader.

She actually delivers the "goods" and then so much more...the extra bits we beg some of our favorite writers to give us, time and time again, but really don't because of "reasons".

I won't easily forget this pleasure of a read, nor Alice or Zach...so thank you, Hannah Doyle, for making my come-back to reading such an extraordinary and charming moment I will always remember fondly.

**<i>I received this e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>**

Alice, a cynic who doesn't believe in love, meets Zach, who is obsessed with love and cannot wait to meet the One. They hit it off and decide to make their way through the alphabet on dates.

This book seemed to me like it was too long. There were multiple points where I thought the book had reached it's peak conflict but then checked and it wasn't even halfway through. There just seemed to be too many of the same conversation and made things drag a Iittle. I did really like how the usual roles were reversed. Usually the woman is the love obsessed character but Zach was very much the soft boy who falls hard. I thought the whole premise was super adorable by them doing dates starting with each letter. I loved Zach's character and how he was so adorably introverted. I also can't believe how well Zach took Alice completely ripping into his art at the beginning.

If you're looking for a cute, unique love story this is a good one

I received a copy of this book free from NetGalley and HQ in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book, start to finish. Loved the concept, loved every twist and turn and loved the ending. The references to childhood and pop culture I related to, and there were thoughts on the page that I have definitely thought or said out loud. Can't wait to read more of this author's books. Thanks to netgalley for the copy of this book.

I had high expectations to love this one but I did not. I had expected this hilarious meet cute romcom with an adorable, easy to love couple similar to Christina Lauren’s books. I didn’t find the book characters likable and I just didn’t enjoy it. I stopped reading it a little more than halfway through. I’m sure others will love it but it just wasn’t for me.

A fun way to date.... working their way through the alphabet. The couple Alice and Zac (the beginning...and ending of the alphabet) have a chance encounter and hit it off immediately but their hang ups cause the usual relationship crisis. Romance novels rely so heavily on if you like the main characters and if you want them to find their HEA. When you can’t quite fall in love with them yourself then it isn’t the love fest you hope for and this was my problem.it’s a fun concept and book and easy enough to read but I don’t think it was a great LOVE story!

This book kinda reminded me of that TV show, Manhattan Love Story which I loved and this lived up to that feeling. It was funny and heartfelt and a joy to ride along from A to Z.
I liked their meet cute and the pursuit of a connection without being creepy and overbearing. It was easy to follow along and fall in love.