Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Heartbreak for Hire

This book was amazing! It was the second romance book I’ve read, and just great. I loved how the enemies to lovers was written. Everything written was either intriguing on some way to keep me reading and I finished it in one day! Definitely recommend to anyone who likes romance.

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courtneyfalling's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This was a sweet millennial-confusion, workplace-enemies-to-lovers romance! Some of the one-liners definitely made me snort, and I ended up liking how this took on some problems of modern cishet girlboss feminism. I do think all Brinkley's crappy academic ex-friends needed to get rolled into one, more solid character and maybe made a little less cartoonishly bad... same with the rollercoaster of info that comes about her mom, which could've been simplified. But this was really fun and I'm glad I read it!

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alittlebitheather's review against another edition

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funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Okay, I really, really liked the premise of this one. Destroying men who wronged women? Yes. Please. It did give me some Hating Game vibes (which if you ask anyone - I'd gladly light that book on fire), but overall, the book addressed toxic behavior waaaaaaay better than HG, and that included characters calling out their female boss (and rightfully so - woman was toxic as all get out). The narrator of this one was also kind of terrible, so if you can, maybe just read it in e-book or hard copy form. -shrug-

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emac021's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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optimisticcautiously's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This book never answers the pivotal questions:

(a) Did Mark do the awful thing his colleague said he did, therefore was deserving of Brinkley's services, or did she do this to sabotage him? (b) Is the owner of Heartbreak for Hire creative or crazy? (c) Can people be redeemed?

The premise is a little gross, but it is at least unique. I figured that a talented author can overcome a little cringe, make you sympathetic through point-of-view, and sometimes it is good to start there to move on to another space. I do not want to say Hartl is a bad author - there's solid skills in her work - but someone who has the character questioning the ethics of years of her life should be capable of recognizing that she needs to work harder to make us sympathetic towards the characters. All she did was use Brinkley's (her heroine's) point-of-view, and make Mark hot. She didn't win me over, and I fail to see where she was even trying.

I really like the gloss of romance books (not everything needs to be gritty). However, you need to think of that gloss like icing glaze. Glaze on a cake is pretty awesome: it makes it all shiny and presentable, while bringing out the inherent sweetness. Glaze is generally good. However, no one is going to sit there and eat glaze; glaze is cloying, needing to be tempered with the substance of the cake, and not at all satisfying. Nor would you eat glaze on a turd - it doesn't matter how good the glaze, I'm not eating shit.

Hartl acknowledged the existence of the issue, but never addressed the issue. She didn't truly address any reservations about Mark;

I guess because he's hot and happens to have family, one showy gesture of putting clothes on her cat (for which his hatred was established but not felt) is suppose to undo this notion that he may be a sabotaging misogynist?

She mentions Brinkley's guilt over her position, but it is so fleeting and easily forgotten

the moment she quits the agency

, that it does not seem genuine and does not come across as having character. Yeah, we've all done things that are actually against our morals (I don't like who I become when I wasn't watching, was pushed, etc.) but, if she's really a grown-up - a heroine - there's needs to make amends, prove her worth to herself, residual guilt, more conscious efforts to be different, something! I hate this trope of I acknowledged it and put it into words, so now it's okay and I get to do the horrible thing. *sarcasm* After all, just saying it puts an end to prejudice, misogyny, and every other evil-will.

And the sex just made Brinkley look like a slut. It's not that she would have sex early in a relationship, enjoy it, whatever. It's that it is not erotica; sex in romance is fine (heck, healthy sex where the woman gets to orgasm too? I encourage it!), but the genre necessitates emotional bond, usually before the sex but sometimes after. Sure, there's chemistry, there's lust, but little real between the characters. Yet, she lies to herself that this is a relationship. No, Brinkley, you are just lonely and wanted sex with the hot guy. You're allowed, but own it like a grown woman.

All-in-all, don't bother.

Content Warnings

lnzava's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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