An enjoyable read. I liked how it was about trying to understand men and basically telling men not to be d****!!

I liked how the story followed Lucy navigating her way through heartache and trying to ensure she doesnt let a man make her feel used.

I enjoyed reading the "Ask Adam" parts and what its like being an agony aunt/uncle.

Thank you to @netgalley for this arc

I didn't really enjoy this book. There wasn't anything very specific that I disliked--I just didn't connect with the main character and the writing style didn't hook me into the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the advanced copy of this title.
As much as I like a slow burn and office place romance, this one did not hit the mark.
Lucy is a delusional cat lady with zero experience with men, but happens to write an advice column for...men. At one point, Lucy uses AI to come up with answers. That should tell you a lot about where this book is headed.
She has an obsessive crush on her coworker, while being simultaneously obsessed with not wanting a relationship.
The only sign that Lucy and Ross have any liking to one another is a constant game of avoiding eye contact and blushing. It's all very middle school. The slow burn is not much of a burn at all and the author needed to fan this flame to get the reader to have any sort of investment.
The book was twice as long as it needed to be and yet it still would have been a dead end street.

I liked the concept of the story itself, but this was not as enjoyable as I had hoped. I did like how the back story of Lucy’s past relationship was done. It was weaved in throughout the book. It made me want to find out what happened and then I almost forgot about it with the current story going back and forth. It almost felt like it was focusing more on Lucy’s thoughts on her love interest then actually getting to the good part. I think some parts were drug out or unnecessary. I did not like how Lucy was turning her sister’s wedding into a negative. It is understandable to have concerns, but her thoughts were negative and almost selfish. I did not care for her sister backing out of helping her with the new column. It was her sister’s idea and then she backs out because she just got married. Her sister’s wedding was already planned when she offered to help.
 
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy in exchange for my review.

The plot centers around Lucy, a tech columnist, who ends up writing an “Ask Adam” column for men when her magazine undergoes restructuring. She is in over her head as she knows little about men and relationships in general.

The main character was hard to empathize with - she was constantly complaining, not a good sister/friend/coworker, and lacked depth. She also seemed to be taking the easy way out with her job by using AI instead of writing the column herself (there was also a moment at the end where she didn’t understand how AI works despite being a former tech columnist?). Even though she expressed being unhappy with her life many times, there was no character growth or attempt to change. The love story was also flat - she was instantly obsessed with Ross, her co-worker, without any meaningful interactions between the two characters, and the development of their relationship did not make sense. Overall, the plot was all over the place and didn’t blend together well, the main character had no real growth, and the chemistry within the romance just wasn’t there.

1/5 stars

This was a cute story and funny as well. I loves the sister bond and how Ross acted around Lucy before he professed his feelings. Thank you for allowing me to review this ARC!

A slow burner for interest. A complaining main character. She uses AI to write her Dear Adam columns. She is crushing on her coworker Ross but he's dating her friend. Not a good book and uses a lot of foul language. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was a cute, quick read. Some of the characters you wanted to shake and tell them to just tell their feelings already. The dual timeline was a little annoying and I wish the writer had just gotten all of the main characters trauma and reasons for it out at once instead of multiple chapters going backwards to tell it. Some of the details were unnecessary to the plot of the book and was filler.

📚😕 This book left me feeling underwhelmed and uninterested. 😴 I found it hard to relate to the main character, who constantly emphasized how different she was from other girls. 🙅‍♀️ Honestly, it felt like the story dragged on unnecessarily; it could have been much shorter and still conveyed the same message. 📖👎

This book is 100% women’s fiction and definitely not romance. It has some romance elements, but is generally a women’s fiction through and through.

That said, it was not a women’s fiction I enjoyed. I totally understand the figuring it out phase of adulthood, especially later than others. But this book just drug on and on. I wish there had been a more clear focus as it would’ve been easier to follow. As it’s written, it follows two distinct plot lines that rarely intersect: a sister trying to be there for her sister and a woman trying to find love where it is (seemingly) unavailable.

Generally not my thing, but I’m sure some people will really love it!

This book was amazing! I absolutely loved Lucy and thought the chemistry between her and Ross was amazing. It was refreshing that she was so honest about being flawed and how she admitted to her wrongdoings instead of keeping them to herself or shifting blame. I also loved that Amelie was able to stand up for herself by the end of the story. Her relationship with Zack was not great and I’m glad she recognized that in the end. Would highly recommend if you are in the mood for a good romcom with flawed and interesting characters.

First off, I absolutely feel awful writing a negative review. I know authors put a lot of time and work into their books, and it’s hard putting your work out into the world. I think this book had a good idea for the storyline, it just wasn’t executed as well as it could have been. There were lots of holes and things left unfinished. This was really hard to get through.

Lucy has just been sacked from her tech editorial position at Fab magazine. The magazine is moving to only an online presence. They’ve combined journalist with their brother publication Max. Lucy’s position is now redundant and so in order to keep her job she suggests she writes an advice column for the men’s e-zine called, Ask Adam. Here she offers advice to men who write in with questions. She’s posing as Adam, because men obviously wouldn’t take advice from a woman. Only, she says over and over that she doesn’t understand men. Why this was her idea when she was a tech journalist to do this to keep her job boggles me. To top it all off, she’s often resorts to AI to help her answer these men’s questions. As a journalist that shouldn’t even be an avenue you pursue with your writing. The fact that her boss later doesn’t really bat an eye about it is just crazy and so unprofessional.

Her new pod-mates are all guys, but she pretty much instantly has a crush on Ross, who sits across from her. She has about three total interactions with Ross exchanging Seinfeld quotes and small talk. The chemistry that was supposed to be there wasn’t there, just a lot of blushing. She shortly there after feels betrayed when he kisses one of her sister’s friends at a hen party. They have just barely gotten to know each other. Lucy’s dialogue feels more like an obsession she has with Ross, than a budding romance.

I was definitely more invested in the side story about Lucy’s sister, Amelie. She had so much more depth. The FMC, Lucy, lacks depth, repeats herself constantly, keeps calling herself different (not like “other girls”), but never tries to make any changes even when these “other girls” try to befriend her and include her.

The story was definitely not much of a rom-com, more women’s fiction. I didn’t find myself rooting for the main characters like I always do.

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this ARC in exchanged for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, Storm Publishing and Sophie Ranald for this advanced copy of The Love Hack in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The love hack is cute enough. I finished it quickly, but it’s not my favorite by any means. Lucy’s character is so insecure. I’m sure being told your sister is the beautiful one would do that to a person if this were real life. It’s a bit hard to imagine Lucy pitching a career helping men anonymously in an online publication when she doesn’t understand men herself. The shy romance is cute. Definitely a slow burn. I do like Ross and the guys Lucy works with. I’d give this 3.5 stars.

Based on the synopsis, I started reading this book expecting a romantic comedy in the style of Sophie Kinsella - especially because it takes place in the UK. However, and I had to classify this book, I would say that it is more of a contemporary romance.

The love hack explores much more of Lucy's internal conflict than her great difficulty with social interactions, especially with men. As a person who suffers from the same, I really liked the way social anxiety was portrayed in the book. It was not impossible for Lucy to live in society - like the stereotype that many media and books present - but she had an almost physical difficulty and always lamented about how she could have coped better.

The pace of the book, the novel itself and the entire plot regarding AI - how can a technology column writer not understand how AI works? - It could have been worked better. However, I wouldn't say it was bad writing or a bad experience reading the book. Maybe it's not the author's best work, but I would definitely give another work a chance.

I feel like the FMC complained a lot during this book but overall, it was easy to get through and I’m happy to have read it. As a budding writer, it is great reading and examine books through the eyes of a writer and reader.
The romance felt a little bit lacking for me but I liked the column part of the story.

Thanks to the publisher and the author for giving me a copy of this book.

I am almost done with this book but i figured the best time to give this review would be now. I love love this book so much. Lucy is me in every sense, an overthinker and a homebody and i related to her a lot more than i thought i would, the writing is good, plot is great too. I would definitely recommend this to every single person i know.

this was a cute read but not necessarily what i expected. i thought that the premise had a lot of potential, and i did like the "Ask Adam" column and lucy's character development with it. though it is a romcom, the actual romance was lacking for me: it felt like there was more focus on lucy's sister (Amelie) and her rough relationship than on the actual story between lucy and ross. especially since ross was technically not available throughout the majority of the novel, when lucy and ross actually got together it felt really sudden with the lack of romantic buildup. overall, i did like "the love hack" but certain elements of why i generally enjoy romcoms were missing, which made the read a bit of a miss for me.

A cute feel good read that I enjoyed. It has some adorable banter and likeable characters.

The premise of love guru column and incorporation of AI was extremely interesting to me. The heartbreak, trust issues and some of the columns itself were pretty realistic. The polar opposites of the characters and the main lead with her friends and family was well written along with her inferiority complex due to her last relationship.

The scenes and close proximity trope had me smiling. Ross as a leading character had me invested, so did the supportive leads. It's a fun and light read that I recommend!

Thank you Storm Publishing and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review.

I tried really hard to finish this book, but despite multiple attempts I just could not do it. I DNF at ~60%.

Lucy is a 29-year-old female tech columnist at Fab! magazine. In order to save her job, she starts writing a dating advice column for men where she finds herself totally in over her head. It becomes abundantly clear that she knows very little about dating, men, and relationships in general. She relies on her sister and AI to write her columns. Her colleague Ross writes the tech column that she used to write at Fab! and sits across from her.

Overall, I found the FMC to be super annoying and delusional. She is complaining and in despair for the vast majority of the book over nothing. She is pining over Ross despite having no interactions with him.

There is literally no romance in this. No angst. No spice. No sneaking glances across the room. There is 1 Seinfeld banter. There is a lot of whinging.

My recommendation: skip it

Thank you Storm Publishing for providing this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the character development in this story as well as Lucy’s relationship with her sister. The plot was slightly different than what I was anticipating from the cover as Lucy isn’t really a love expert, but I still really enjoyed it. Ross is a gem!