This didn’t work for me. The toe made me feel funny, the plot got weird at times and I didn’t like the main characters.

Clara O’Connor delivers a delightful, nerdy, and undeniably steamy rom-com in Once Upon An Algorithm. If you love workplace tension, sharp banter, and a romance that sparks like an overloaded circuit, this one’s for you!

Leonie has always relied on logic - even in love. Her personal dating algorithm is clear: tall, funny, well-travelled. But one night in Paris with the brooding and mysterious Jack shatters all her carefully curated rules. The chemistry between them is electric, but it’s just a one-time thing… or so she thinks. When she starts her new job at a tech start-up, she’s blindsided to find Jack sitting in the boss’s office - as the brains behind the very dating app that led them together.

The workplace setting adds layers of tension, with Leonie and Jack navigating professional boundaries while trying (and failing) to ignore their undeniable attraction. Their dynamic is the perfect mix of witty, playful, and deeply emotional, with just the right amount of angst. Jack’s brooding charm balances Leonie’s feisty personality, making their push-and-pull romance addictive to read.

O’Connor’s writing is sharp, fast-paced, and filled with sizzling chemistry. The tech-world backdrop is refreshing, offering an interesting look at algorithms, data-driven dating, and the contrast between logic and real-life emotions. While the plot follows some familiar rom-com beats, the execution feels fresh, and the characters are easy to root for. Overall Once Upon An Algorithm is a fun, flirty, and swoon-worthy read with a perfect blend of humour, heart, and heat.

it's amazing 10/10 characters and worldbuilding but i still felt like smth was missing
thank you netgalley for the arc

I tried so hard to read this and find my vibe with the characters, the romance and the humour, but it was not for me. I tried again with the audio and just found myself not wanting to pick it up or drawn to it at all, unfortunately I made the decision not to read on. I DNF'd @ 62%.

Not the best. I had high hopes for this book and it missed the mark. The weird dynamic between the MMC and the MFC made me uncomfortable, and his relationship with his wife/ex/whatever she was was cringy. The idea is there, but the execution was subpar.

Sorry this book was not for me, I didn’t enjoy it and the married main character finished it for me .

Sometimes you read a synopsis and think to yourself: I need to read this book! Romance in STEM settings is close and dear to my heart. I love me some nerds falling in love with each other. Sadly, this new to me author and this particular story wasn't the match I was looking for.
The writing style and the character development lacked a bit of UMPF. The MMC being married was the last straw as I was contemplating continuing the reading.
I didn't, so it's a DNF from me, sadly.
Hopefully others loved the book.
I wish all the best to the author.

This book was incredibly boring, and the main characters were not compelling at all. I wanted to DNF so many times, but the fact that this was an ARC kept me going because I feel bad about DNF'ing those. And then all my effort was rewarded, three quarters of the way through, when it turned out the male MC was still married. Not separated, not divorcing, no. Just married. I'm sorry, what? I know life isn't black and white, there's nuances and difficulties and whatever. But I read romance to escape reality. Keep this kind of cheating out of romance, for the love of all that it holy.

I forgot to review this book but I am finally doing so! This book was an okay read. it had many conflicts that I didn't really like but to each their own.

I really wanted to like this book but I couldn't connect with the characters or storyline and lost interest quickly

I did not realise I had forgotten to give feedback on this book. Probably because I hated what I read, did not finish it and then immediately started trying to forget how annoying all the characters were. This should have been a book about learning to be single in a world that overvalues romance. The main couple was despicable. Read something else.

Although I can appreciate the premise of this book, I simply couldn't get into this story. However I will say that I find the Authors writing style intriguing. unfortunately this simply wasn't the book for me.

Thank you to HarperCollins, UK; One More Chapter for the ARC of this book. I was excited about this one due to the description. I love a romance set in the Science World, but this one failed to catch my attention from the very beginning. That being said, it was a "do not finish" for me because I was just not enjoying it. It may be enjoyable for someone else but it was not the right book for me. Thanks for the early copy to review.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for an ARC of Once Upon An Algorithm in exchange for an honest review.

"My life ticked away and I seem to have missed the tide that caught others up and allowed them to hit the classic milestones by forty."

Once Upon An Algorithm is an office romance centered around a middle-aged woman named Leonie and a younger man named Jack. Leonie is in Paris celebrating the engagement of two of her best friends when her friends get the idea to enter Leonie into a dating app called Opp/Att intended to match you with someone that you normally wouldn't be interested in. After a night in Paris with Jack, Leonie starts her new job at a tech startup as a favor to her stepbrother where she soon finds out that maybe what she thought she wanted in a man isn't entirely accurate.

This book started out with a super fun premise of a group of friends spending a night out in Paris and our main character, Leonie just wants to have some fun. She ends up spending the night with a man named Jack who unbeknownst to her, works at her stepbrother's tech startup where she has agreed to start working as a favor to her stepbrother, Eric. Her job is to help the London team push the app that they have been developing over the finish line and ready to launch within two weeks. At the beginning of the book, I was really enjoying the storyline but as the book went on, I started to not enjoy it as much anymore. The age gap between Leonie and Jack was painful because I could tell how immature Jack was compared to Leonie. Also, some parts of the book got a little too deep into technology vocabulary that normal people do not have which took me out of the story from time to time.

However, the end of the book definitely saved this story for me. The twists and turns throughout the last 4-5 chapters of the book kept me hooked and wanting to find out how the story was going to end. My favorite aspect of this book was definitely Leonie's group of friends. At times they were a little bit harsh but they were completely supportive of Leonie from beginning to end. Overall, the only thing that brought the story down for me was that I felt Leonie and Jack were missing some chemistry. Some of their scenes definitely felt forced.

Overall, I would give this book 3.5 stars and would recommend it to a reader who likes technology-based books.

I was really looking forward to this book based on the description and it started off promising, but is this for real????

I loved how they met up but I wasn't feeling the characters' chemistry and the group of friends kind of drove me nuts, but my biggest issue was the cheating. I was so mad! We invest all of this time and energy into the MMC meanwhile he's MARRIED THE ENTIRE TIME?!?!?!? And, yes, it wasn't a "normal" marriage, but it was still a marriage.

I think the only part I enjoyed was the very beginning and some of the app logistic stuff.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

I was promised a book for fans of Ali Hazelwood and Sally Thorne. Yes, it is STEM themed and is an office enemies to lovers situ a la the Hating Game. But it’s nothing like either writer’s work. I don’t know why I finished it when I literally skipped the first 3 chapters to get somewhere in the book. Neither character is particularly likable and so much of the focus is on the app launch. The whole algorithm focus promise is a passing reference that comes up a couple of time but hardly the focus of the book. Instead we learn more than we need to about app development and launches. I thought more would be made of the fact that our FMC is almost 40 and still single, but we get no backstory as to why that is the case (maybe it was in the chapters i skipped?). I just didn’t get it. And then there’s the MC and his “past” which was kind of problematic.

This was an easy and enjoyable romcom-ish book. The plot is somewhat confusing and the characters really do have their flaws, and the ending seems a little convoluted for the outcome. However, I did enjoy the slow burn and the banter between the two characters. The miscommunication trope is always my least favourite so I found that frustrating, and I’m never a fan of cheating, even when you could maybe argue it’s not, it’s still not my vibe. But as I said, it was easy and fun to read and overall I would say I enjoyed myself.

This was personally not my favorite book. I have never really enjoyed cheating in romance especially when it is revealed so late. I will just leave it at I could not finish because I can't read not only cheating but everyone supporting it the way this story did.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review

Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me. I didn't gel well with that characters and found myself not overly invested or bothered what happened to them. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with the book, just not my cup of tea, I found the FMC very judgey and annoying.

So this guy is married like the whole book and no one seems to have a problem.
Then he gets a divorce and has to give his wife all the money which is dumb cause neither of them wanted to be married. So why would she take all his money