Welcome back to another episode of: Was I supposed to like this chick?

The author will try to convince you that, yes!! You should like her!! But I'm just not seeing it. If I'm supposed to like someone with codependency issues who can't handle being away from her cat OR her sister, and who's still living in high school on the merits that if a boy looks at you he must like you, then idk what the bookish world has come to. This woman is a whole ass 29 years old and thinks that because her and her coworker shared Seinfeld quotes and make coffee for each other that that means he likes her, and she gets genuinely upset when he starts going out with one of her sisters friends because he's single and he's allowed to?

And if you hated that, get ready for bomb jokes and using AI to do your job because you're a woman trying and failing to give men advice!

If you're looking for the good bit, I'll save you the agony and time and tell you there isn't one. This couldn't even really be pedaled as a romance. There was no real romance between Lucy and Ross, just delusion on her part. Go girl, give us nothing!

✨Book Review: The Love Hack by Sophie Ranald✨

I was lucky enough to receive this book as an Arc reader through NetGalley. This book follows Lucy Masters and her navigating being a writer, a sister, a cat mom and being afraid to fall in love again. When she ends up working for a male magazine writing an agony aunt style column, she meets Ross and she has to grapple with her fears of falling in love again. I would say this book is literary fiction with a sub-plot of romance in it. I liked that the romance was not the whole plot of the story and it also follows a storyline regarding her sister Amelie which I liked. I loved how it focuses a lot of men and how men can always be portrayed as doing everything wrong and being quote “dicks” and Lucy’s realisation that that isn’t always the case. I would strongly recommend giving this book a read when it released on June the 7th!

I guess I liked this story
Felt more like a self love story rather than a romance but that was okay. I didn't really feel the love between the main characters though so I like that the romance was a side story instead

Thank you Net Galley and publishers for letting me read an arc of this book in return for an honest review.

This book had promise, and I really really wanted to like it but I just couldn't get into it. It was too fast paced jumping from one thought to the next. I wanted more but was left with more questions than conclusions.

The main female character, Lucy, is getting let go from her journaling job on the women's magazine until she comes up with the idea to write for the men's magazine about relationship advice for guys. Only problem is, she doesn't know men that well and has sworn off relationships altogether after her fling, not even relationship, ended horribly years ago. She has flashbacks that last the whole book about this "ex". I get it, your hookup was a dick. She's not that great at her new job, getting her sister to write advice for these men. When she says she can't help anymore cause she's getting married and her husband would get jealous, Lucy asks why. The sister says she has to be the perfect wife cooking and cleaning and being there for her new husband like some delusional 1950's housewife. Lucy then turns to AI to help write her articles.

This book was more about family and sisterly bonds than Lucy getting into a relationship. I got more details about her sister and not alot about Lucy and her coworker crush. Overall it was cute and enjoyable enough for me to breeze through it, but it just didn't hit the mark for me.

I usually love Sophie Ranald's books, but this one was unfortunately not a good fit for me. I couldn't connect with the main characters and there were a few plot holes that didn't sit well with me. Overall, it would say it was okay for a one-time read. I'll look forward to the author's next one!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

A thoroughly enjoyable romantic tale of love, hampered only by fear of rejection.
All of the characters are well written, just enough detail for you to want to know what happens without getting bogged down in overly long descriptions. Blossoming romances and a wedding- what is not to love?

The story might seem just fine if you turn off your logical brain and just enjoy the novel. The writing is okay but it was not very appealing to me. Lucy is an advisor under the pseudonym of Adam and advises men on "Ask Adam" though she is not proficient with it. She has no idea about men and often turns to AI and her sister for help. Lucy sometimes behaves like a middle schooler. She get hurt because her crush Ross kisses somebody else and she's a bit delulu.

Her relation with Ross felt like Heather walking by glitch. They had very few interactions and she started to weave stories out of it. I also did not understand the character arc of Ross. The story did not delve deep and mostly it's not very engaging.

PROS : OKAY FOR ONE TIME READING
ASK ADAM was a clever addition (but it was not used up to its full potential)

CONS: STORY DOESN'T HAVE DEPTH
GAPS IN THE STORY/ CHARACTERS/ PLOTHOLES.

3/5 - I enjoyed this book, kept me engaged throughout. Lucy was a lovely character and I was really rooting for her to get a happy ending :-) I haven’t read anything by Sophie before but will definitely read more. Thanks for the chance to read :-)

This is a really enjoyable, easy read that I blasted through whilst chilling outside on a gorgeous day ☀ It’s a great read for a chill afternoon or even a little holiday read - is it too early to start thinking about summer holidays yet? I hope not!

This felt more like a contemporary workplace romance than a romcom which is how it’s being marketed. I did enjoy it, but it didn’t get a giggle/laugh - maybe I’m just a tough nut to crack 😅

The book is in single POV, and we follow Lucy as she faces redundancy from the magazine she adores due to it moving online. To stay with the wider magazine group, she proposes a new idea - a relationship advice column for men aka an Agony Uncle column 📰

After her previous boyfriend broke her heart, she’d sworn off men for a while. However she starts to develop feelings for a co-worker, who is involved with one of her sister’s friends. We follow her as she tries to dish out relationship advice, whilst trying to figure out what it is she wants in life.

Lucy is extremely close to her sister and we see her sister a lot in the book. We see the hen party and the wedding, as well as how their relationship changes as her sister gets married and moves away to NYC 🚖

It was really nice to see how Lucy grows in this book - both professionally and personally ❤ We really see her grow and find herself - it’s quite a feel good book! Though it starts off a little slow, the pacing of the book does pick up as it goes on. This is quite a closed door book with a very slow burn on the romance side. Though I really enjoyed the workplace struggles and the advice column she wrote - these were quite entertaining!

Note: There is an affair subplot in this book, but it doesn’t involve the FMC or MMC.

This book was only ok for me. I liked the main characters, Lucy & Ross, alright. Their story felt very surface level though. So much more couldn't been written to give depth and dimension to their burgeoning relationship. Instead, it just felt blah.

The side characters weren't fleshed out enough either, especially her sister.

I just feel there was so much potential for this book and it kinda fell flat for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Warning: insufferable main character.

Lucy, Lucy, Lucy. The way that this woman's mind works... She needs to be studied.

One of Lucy's biggest subplots in the book (and I'm serious, it's an alarmingly large part of the story) is that she, in her job as a Writer, uses knockoff ChatGPT to write her column when she gets stuck. And because that is apparently not an insane enough arc for her to have, she also turns to ChatGPT for her personal problems. I just... cannot get over that.

That entire plot, however, cannot even begin to compare to the absolute horror that was the Katz Deli scene. I had to take a breather after this one. Like what do you mean she just faked an orgasm in a public space while on Facetime with her work crush????? Why did she do that???? Why did I have to read it???? Will be recovering from this one for a while.

Then there was the whole Ross mess, which was actually very little mess. Lucy's inner monologue was always trying to convince me that something was going on there when I never once sensed even the littlest spark. I mean, he did touch her leg once and it was a whole thing for her, but even that felt incredibly underwhelming for me. Like, where's the chemistry?

Plus Ross honestly just icked me out.

A miss for me unfortunately.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I think this book had so much potential and I wanted to love it so much but for me it just missed the mark a smidge. I liked it, and enjoyed the read, so 3/5!

The main character, Lucy, is supposed to be a bit of a mess but I didn’t feel she ever grew out of it. I also really wanted to love the romance but there wasn’t enough of it to feel realistic. I wanted more Lucy and Ross!!

Overall, this book is very cute! I just wanted to have a bit more of the tension and romance.

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for providing me a e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I went into The Love Hack expecting this to be a romance. While there was a romance aspect, there was also a bunch of other things going. There were so many different side stories going on that it made the book hard to follow at times. Side stories included previous workplace romances, death of a parent, infidelity in a marriage, FMC’s sister getting married, MMC being in a relationship with someone else, bomb scare (still don’t understand the purpose of this one), workplace outings, and more. Some were relevant but others felt like they could be cut. It also felt like this story was as much about the FMC’s sister as it was about the FMC. About half way through the book was really dragging and I had to convince myself to keep reading. It did pick up more towards the end but there was just so much happening it was hard to keep up.

What I did love in this book was Lucy’s constant phrase of “don’t be a d*ck” when writing her column.

So I have been reading a bunch of dark thriller/mysteries, and was glad to have the opportunity to take a break and read a romance.

This really wasn’t a romance. It is the story of Lucy, her cat, her relationship with her sister. She begins writing a column “Ask Adam”- which gives advice to men. However, Lucy repeats over and over that she doesn’t know about men! She relies on her sister to help her. She meets Ross at the office, and they exchange Seinfeld quotes. She falls for him.

Then she has to help her sister with her sisters new hubby. Ugghh- I am not sure what to say!

Basically a very slow read, and the “romance” is almost nonexistent. I felt no chemistry between Ross and Lucy. I wanted to shake Lucy at times- questioning whether she could trust Ross because men are untrustworthy. Then deciding she could trust him- even though he just treated her friend pretty badly! 🤦‍♀️

I felt that the author writes nicely, but the story- especially the romance if you are labeling this a romance- needed serious development! I just did not feel invested, or even care, what happened to these characters.

2 stars for the writing, and Amelia (Lucy’s sister).She had spunk! Maybe write a story with her as main character?

Now back to the thrillers. Maybe I’ll try horror next time? 🤪🤣
Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC. This is my voluntary, honest review.

Thank you for sharing this arc with me in exchange for my honest review.

I liked the book — Ross was cute and I appreciated Lucy’s ambition to make things work. The British slang was refreshing to read!

However, Lucy and Ross’ relationship felt too slowburn with no clear conflict. Byrony felt like a forced obstacle in between and I still couldn’t get why they got flustered after the hen night. I felt like side characters were 2D, just there to keep the plot going. Especially Zach.

The Adam idea was original — and the mention of AI was refreshing. It was kind of strange that she got help from AI and then decided to do it all by herself in the end. I thought she’d accept the job with Ross and let AI run the Ask Adam column since she trained it well.

Overall, I felt like the idea was nice but the execution could be better.

DNFed at 47%

Ai??? Ai???? The FMC in this book is a writer/reporter... writes articles for a book and decides to use AI to help her write her articles!!!!! like brooo!!!! what!!!!! Crazy!!!! Now it makes me wonder if the author used AI to write this book.

Not gonna lie some of the 'Dear Adam' letters in this made me so uncomfortable. Fuck men.

I got an e-arc of this book on NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book reminded me that i really enjoy workplace romances, something about the taboo of dating a coworker reminds me of a regency era romance. Everything is secretive and hush, hush. Needless to say I enjoyed this one. The addition of an AI element was interesting and new which I always love to see.

The Love Hack is a fun rom-com story that would make a good holiday read.

Lucy finds herself in a new online role dishing out relationship advice to men. But in real life she's struggling to deal with her crush on her new colleague Ross. She's still nursing a tender heart after her last failed relationship, but will she find the courage to take the leap into love again?

Her sister meanwhile is acting out of character and, since it was she who saved Lucy from her previous heartbreak, she feels she must travel to New York to help find out the truth behind what's going on.

The characters were interesting and I did enjoy the format of having the "Ask Adam" column inserts, but unfortunately I found the story to be a bit slow and felt it never quite drew me in as much as I'd have liked it to.

Loved it! The twists and turns throughout the book left me unsure of what was going to happen next. This book epitomises what happens in life happens for a reason. New York lives up to its name as the City of Love! The direction Lucy took at the end was unexpected, but I think it will be good for her. Can we have a follow up please, i'd love to know how Amelie is getting on!?

This was cute easy read, and I enjoyed the concept of the book. The ‘Ask Adam’ sections were some of my favourite bits to read, Agony Aunt columns are a guilty pleasure!
The office guys were fun side characters that made me laugh, and of course Ross was lovely, especially when he finally told Lucy how he felt, I felt giddy when they finally kissed!
Although not the plot I was exactly expecting, it was still a cute book to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the advanced copy.