Liked it . Due to health issues cannot not but will write a proper review at a later time
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I really enjoyed this book. My favourite trope is friends - enemies - lovers so this definitely ticked the box there. I was most impressed with the quality of the writing - the story flowed, the characters leapt off the page, the pacing was spot on and it was intelligent and witty.

Decided to give this book another go and I’m actually so glad I did! I loved the forced proximity and enemies / rivals to lovers. I really enjoyed the writing and felt the pace of the book was good and realistic and therefore it only took me a couple days to read!

The chemistry and tension is so so good and overall it made me want to read more romance which is GREAT.

Fun debut!

What to expect: Workplace rivals, fake dating, slowburn... all tropes I LOVE!

There was great banter and spice between the MCs and don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book.
It was sadly though a little predictable and similar to others so I found myself comparing it to others.

Still, a fun rom-com and I'm looking forward to more from the author!

3.5 stars.

This is a light-hearted rom-com with great banter and a charming lead. Some plot points feel a little predictable, but the humour and romance is very fun and more than makes up for the predictability.. If you’re looking for a sweet, feel-good pick me up, this book is a great choice!

Enemy’s to lovers, workplace romance, hate you love you kinda vibes.

Was a good story , easy to get through however it’s very similar to other books of the same nature so it gets a little samey / repetitive which isn’t so much the authors fault but more so the tropes in general.

Enjoyable, just … similar. Would defo check this authors future books out though for sure !

a great debut novel from this author, a girl hates boy falls in love kind of book.
perfect to lose yourself in, with a hint of spice included with some great writing

I DNFd this and I’m still upset that I just didn’t vibe with it. I loved The Hating Game and went in expecting to feel that kind of energy again, instead I found myself comparing this book and it not quite living up to the mark for me.

I’ve seen so many great reviews for this and I can see why people have loved it, sadly it just wasn’t for me right now.

That being said I’ll definitely pick up Annabelle’s books in the future.

Thank you for the chance to read 💕

A fun, witty and sharp workplace romcom. I ate this up. The 10/10 smut is the result of a delicious slowburn. Will recommend to everyone who will listen 🙌

This novel reminded me very much of The Hating Game and I read it in two sittings. It probably has its faults but I enjoyed it so much that I can’t tell you which faults there are. I love the enemies-to-lovers trope and the concept of the fake dates is just delightful. A great and fun romance novel, definitely a recommendation!

Firstly thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"The Launch Date" has great plot potential, but for me, it fell a bit flat. The story felt too long, and the excitement was lacking. I didn’t feel very connected to the characters, and it was a bit too focused on the workplace setting.

Unfortunately. I dnf'd this book at about 33%. There was just too many things that didn't work for me. Grace was frankly a mess, I'm still not sure what Eric did to earn her dislike to me it felt he didn't do anything. The book is reminiscent of the Hating Game or the Spanish Love Deception where a misunderstanding is blown out of proportion. Like just talk to one another. Also, they're competing for the same role so this is more rivals to lovers than enemies to lovers. I'm tired of this, you can't have proper enemies to lovers in a contemporary romance so why call it something it's not.

Thank you to Transworld for the eARC for my honest opinion.

Thank you Netgalley and Bantam Books for this DRC -

Grace Hastings and Eric Bancroft both work on dating apps, but they couldn’t be more different. Grace is tired of love and hasn’t been on a date in months, while Eric is renowned for having a new girlfriend every week. When they have to work together to develop a new dating app and compete for a promotion, they find out that they may not be so incompatible after all…

I was so intrigued by this premise and the tropes in this book - a workplace romance with fake dating and rivals to lovers? Perfection. This book scratched all the itches that The Hating Game didn’t for me. I loved the writing style and how natural everything felt - the pacing for spot on. I’d love to see what else Annabelle Slator comes out with!

An enemies to lovers workplace romance, the story of Grace and Eric. Going on fake dates with Eric to keep her job puts Grace out of her comfort zone, but when she gets to know him will she change her opinion of him? A fun read.

I really enjoyed this fun workplace rivals book. It’s been a while since I read a workplace romance and I always find it so hard not to compare to The Hating Game. I was really pleased that the story felt very different and in fact they had this element of previous friendship which made the rivals element less severe which I also preferred.
I found this such a fun read and Eric is a very likeable MMC. It was a real sloooow burn but the wait was so worth it. I found the end third was a little rushed and would have liked to see some of those scenes around them choosing each other to be fleshed out more.
Overall a really great read and I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on this author in the future.

Grace and Eric have now become my favourite enemies to lovers couple! The banter and the chemistry between them is top notch. Definitely filled a gap for me left by The hating game

a must read!

** Attention, minor spoilers**

I have to thank @BantamBooksUK for the invite to read this book in advance.
The Launch Date has all the classical elements someone who reads romance knows too well. And that's the good and bad aspect of this book.
I loved the message this story gives the reader: do not let anyone crush you under their feet, no matter how love or gratitude you feel for them. Anyone has a value and no one should diminish us. At the same time I loved the general idea of those dates (and it's clear Annabelle used to work for a dating app, because every dialogue was so detailed and clear in my mind), and the fact they were always different from one another. Not to mention that Eric is a really cutie-pie. I adored him so much and he didn't deserve all the harsh words Grace told him, not to mention how he has been treated for the majority of the time! That part was a little bit exaggerated and annoying, because he was always so nice I couldn't understand (even after the "explanation") why she had to treat him like that. So, I'm Eric team, yes.
At the same time, I think this book pays the price to have been published after a good amount of books with similar situations and plot points, and unfortunately I didn't find much memorable scenes to be sure I'll remember it in the future, even if I really appreciated some passages. In some moments I read faster because I was bored.
In addition to that, we brush the theme of toxic relationships without really deepening it. And it could be an option if done with more attention, but we go from seeing through flashbacks that adorable moment when Grace met William, and then we find him depicted as an aggressive and possessive man. Of course people change or show us their real self after some time, but it was too sudden and not well played to give a relatable result, so I'm afraid he resulted being a two-dimensional character.

Anyway, this was an enjoyable reading and I think that, if this is a debut, Annabelle Slator has the potential for a brilliant growth in the future.

I really enjoyed reading this. It is super cute enemies to lovers work romance. Loved it. Thanks for this arc

The Launch Date was a book I was VERY excited for, and I am glad to say it lived up to the hype and expectations!!

It reminded me of The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, which is also a book I love. The Launch Date follows Grace,a marketing manager with an awful boss (which I imagined as Marisa Tomei, specifically from the movie Upgraded!) and Eric who works with Grace. They both work for a dating app company, andare up for a promotion, which requires a presentation that requires dating research. This causes Grace and Eric to go on a series of dates for ‘research’.

The banter and Graces humour throughout the book were brilliant, I loved her sarcasm. I loved the semi hatred fuelled banter between Grace and Eric, and I really loved that we got to see some more to the characters lives other than work, and working together, we got to learn about their pasts and families, which really made the book be fleshed out and 3d.

This book had so many tropes I love, fake dating (my number 1 favourite trope!), rivals to lovers, he falls first… LOVE!


Overall, I really loved The Launch Date, and I’m so happy it lived up to expectations! I’m giving this book 5 stars and I’ll be impatiently awaiting Annabelle Slators next book!

I was surprised that i enjoyed this omg.

Working for different dating apps but still under the same group, Grace and Eric are rivals who would do anything to outperform each other. Suddenly they’re asked to develop a new dating app and whoever managed to concoct the best proposal would get a promotion. They’re hesitant about working together at first but as they spent more time together, their past creeping up demanding to be adressed.

So their hostile rivalry didn’t come out of nowhere! Their backstory was revealed as the story goes. Honestly I’m not a big fan of office romance, but Grace and Eric managed to keep me turning the pages. I enjoyed their banters so much, top notch chemistry. Individually they both have strong, solid personality with their own charms but together they’re explosive. I love how there were both internal and external conflicts that are complementary to thicken the plot.

But still, since it’s an office setting, of course it’s giving me anxiety. Corporate girl life is so not for me I’m afraid. And because the plot was frequently going back and forth between present and past, sometimes I got confused at the timeline. But overall I enjoyed this book!!!