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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I honestly can’t tell if I would have given a higher rating if the audiobook narrator wasn’t so terrible. Her cartoon nasally voice almost caused me to DNF several times. Writing is fine, the little twists were enjoyable if not totally predictable, and the premise was cute.
See my full review of this title on my blog: Books Under the Blanket (with a flashlight): https://booksundertheblanket.com/when-do-mean-girls-actually-grow-up/
I have a rule that if I devour a book in less the 6 hours I give it a five.
I thought it was a lot of fun. It was.the cheesiest kind of Rom Com. I enjoyed both Main characters. I thought the ideas for H4H was fun. I liked the big blow up fight and apologizing with a cat in sweater vest is so funny.
It was a cute easy read. Especially if you should be asleep.
I thought it was a lot of fun. It was.the cheesiest kind of Rom Com. I enjoyed both Main characters. I thought the ideas for H4H was fun. I liked the big blow up fight and apologizing with a cat in sweater vest is so funny.
It was a cute easy read. Especially if you should be asleep.
DNF at 50%
A high-concept perversion of feminism: our female protagonist works for Heartbreak for Hire, a company that you can hire to exact revenge on men who have done you wrong. But when the female company owner decides to add men to her employee roster, you kinda have to wonder about how honest her female-empowerment schtick is. Even the narrator wonders ("everything Margo had sold us on, which now turned out to be nothing but a fluffy fantasy, full of vague mission statements, pink hats, and empty promises. At the end of the day, she didn't give a shit about women, but she'd found a way to commodify feminism for a while" (131), although not enough to quit her job. Apparently more silly revenge hijinks ensue. There's a lot of misogyny towards the protagonist's professor mother, and a lot of looking down on academics for how cutthroat and disloyal they are (rather than critiquing academia for of the way capitalism has turned it into space for exploiting workers), which only added to the false feminism of the story. A big disappointment.
A high-concept perversion of feminism: our female protagonist works for Heartbreak for Hire, a company that you can hire to exact revenge on men who have done you wrong. But when the female company owner decides to add men to her employee roster, you kinda have to wonder about how honest her female-empowerment schtick is. Even the narrator wonders ("everything Margo had sold us on, which now turned out to be nothing but a fluffy fantasy, full of vague mission statements, pink hats, and empty promises. At the end of the day, she didn't give a shit about women, but she'd found a way to commodify feminism for a while" (131), although not enough to quit her job. Apparently more silly revenge hijinks ensue. There's a lot of misogyny towards the protagonist's professor mother, and a lot of looking down on academics for how cutthroat and disloyal they are (rather than critiquing academia for of the way capitalism has turned it into space for exploiting workers), which only added to the false feminism of the story. A big disappointment.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
I enjoyed the premise of this book with the heartbreak for hire idea, even though the whole thing is pretty far-fetched. I was willing to suspend disbelief for promise of a fun rom-com. What the company does for revenge sometimes goes beyond what would allow you to consider the characters likeable. If the jobs were along the lines of the first one in the book (getting a guy to admit on tape that he scammed a woman so she could sue him), it would feel a bit less unethical. This is somewhat addressed with Brinkley’s realization about Margo and her sometimes feelings of guilt. I enjoyed the chemistry between the main characters, but didn’t love that they get so graphically physical almost immediately. Just because Brinkley hasn’t been on a date in two years doesn’t mean she is going to disregard her “morals and ethics” because she “hasn’t has a man’s hands on her” in a while..
Some of the ethical problems with H2H are kind of explained by showing the owner of the company’s manipulation of the recently abused/mistreated women she’s hired-convincing them they’re doing good when they’re at their lowest. That helps keep Brinkley likeable as you feel she’s just taken time to realize her abusive, manipulative ex-boyfriend broke her down enough to fall for it. It was difficult to find Brinkley very relatable as she’s obviously very beautiful (which is one thing that makes her good at her H2H job) and an (extremely talented) artist…..just not my preferred type of rom-com heroine. But I suppose that it only makes sense considering her love interest is a modelesque guy with a PhD.
Overall, I found the writing very enjoyable and would consider reading something else written by this author.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for allowing me access to this eARC for an honest review!
Some of the ethical problems with H2H are kind of explained by showing the owner of the company’s manipulation of the recently abused/mistreated women she’s hired-convincing them they’re doing good when they’re at their lowest. That helps keep Brinkley likeable as you feel she’s just taken time to realize her abusive, manipulative ex-boyfriend broke her down enough to fall for it. It was difficult to find Brinkley very relatable as she’s obviously very beautiful (which is one thing that makes her good at her H2H job) and an (extremely talented) artist…..just not my preferred type of rom-com heroine. But I suppose that it only makes sense considering her love interest is a modelesque guy with a PhD.
Overall, I found the writing very enjoyable and would consider reading something else written by this author.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for allowing me access to this eARC for an honest review!
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Vomit, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes