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A review by gggina13
Heartbreak for Hire by Sonia Hartl
2.0
Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an early copy!
Girlies, this... was not good. It's tough because I adoreddd the author's YA debut, then have actively disliked the next two books I've read from her. I have an ARC of her upcoming YA release, and I guess it'll let me know whether I need to continue with her books or not :(
The whole premise of the novel, which granted, I never read the synopsis because I foolishly allowed hype alone to drive my decisions, is a little absurd. There's this vigilante group of girls who get paid to "break men's hearts" but really all the main character, Brinkley, does is get a guy to be interested in her and then embarrass him. Some of these little meet-ups are so cringe - she dresses as a mermaid, a weird version of Dolly Parton, a Jersey Shore guidette... I just can't suspend my disbelief that much for a contemporary.
So she's hired to "break" this guy, she actually likes him, they almost hook up, then she runs away Cinderella style. Then somehow he starts working at Heartbreak for Hire along with three other men. There's a whole "feminist" subplot about how they didn't want to work with men and that's the whole reason they work at Heartbreak for Hire. Which, their job is already so weird, like cash-only and word-of-mouth only vibes, and their boss is so odd. She found all four of these girls broken, jumped on them while they're literally in the act of crying over their breakups, and made them each in charge of "breaking the hearts" of the kind of men that broke their hearts. It's a weird revenge porn type thing, and then she literally swore to them it would be women only, and then threatens to fire them for not being happy over men being brought in. It's just so ODD and stupid.
So, as par for the course in romance, she's attracted to him but doesn't like him, and is not very nice to him. Somehow they still "fall in love" very quickly just because they discuss their fears and insecurities and what not.
There's also a mommy issues and anti-academia subplot that is kind of just annoying, Brinkley and her mom literally exist to antagonize each other and it gets old quick.
Their sex scenes are just kind of peppered in, and often don't really fit with the ebb and flow of the relationship. The sex scenes aren't awful, but they have some wording I'm not obsessed with, including my personal least favorite: "I let out a noise that sounded a lot like that time I'd shut Winnie's tail in the bathroom door." DURING a sex scene this girl is going to compare the noises she's making to an injured cat??? And that's supposed to give us sexy vibes?
EVERYBODY in this book was straight. Even couples on the street are straight. Including the couple in the MIDDLE OF A PROPOSAL that she speaks to and says "get out now before he really hurts you" or something like that to? Like, that's not a quirky, love-jaded thing to do, that's just straight up being an asshole.
The book isn't entirely awful, the love interest is nice. I finished it. If I continue to think about what I didn't like about this book I'd have to bump it down to one star and I'm really not feeling that right now. But just know that about 75% in to this book, you find out she has a.
Girlies, this... was not good. It's tough because I adoreddd the author's YA debut, then have actively disliked the next two books I've read from her. I have an ARC of her upcoming YA release, and I guess it'll let me know whether I need to continue with her books or not :(
The whole premise of the novel, which granted, I never read the synopsis because I foolishly allowed hype alone to drive my decisions, is a little absurd. There's this vigilante group of girls who get paid to "break men's hearts" but really all the main character, Brinkley, does is get a guy to be interested in her and then embarrass him. Some of these little meet-ups are so cringe - she dresses as a mermaid, a weird version of Dolly Parton, a Jersey Shore guidette... I just can't suspend my disbelief that much for a contemporary.
So she's hired to "break" this guy, she actually likes him, they almost hook up, then she runs away Cinderella style. Then somehow he starts working at Heartbreak for Hire along with three other men. There's a whole "feminist" subplot about how they didn't want to work with men and that's the whole reason they work at Heartbreak for Hire. Which, their job is already so weird, like cash-only and word-of-mouth only vibes, and their boss is so odd. She found all four of these girls broken, jumped on them while they're literally in the act of crying over their breakups, and made them each in charge of "breaking the hearts" of the kind of men that broke their hearts. It's a weird revenge porn type thing, and then she literally swore to them it would be women only, and then threatens to fire them for not being happy over men being brought in. It's just so ODD and stupid.
So, as par for the course in romance, she's attracted to him but doesn't like him, and is not very nice to him. Somehow they still "fall in love" very quickly just because they discuss their fears and insecurities and what not.
There's also a mommy issues and anti-academia subplot that is kind of just annoying, Brinkley and her mom literally exist to antagonize each other and it gets old quick.
Their sex scenes are just kind of peppered in, and often don't really fit with the ebb and flow of the relationship. The sex scenes aren't awful, but they have some wording I'm not obsessed with, including my personal least favorite: "I let out a noise that sounded a lot like that time I'd shut Winnie's tail in the bathroom door." DURING a sex scene this girl is going to compare the noises she's making to an injured cat??? And that's supposed to give us sexy vibes?
EVERYBODY in this book was straight. Even couples on the street are straight. Including the couple in the MIDDLE OF A PROPOSAL that she speaks to and says "get out now before he really hurts you" or something like that to? Like, that's not a quirky, love-jaded thing to do, that's just straight up being an asshole.
The book isn't entirely awful, the love interest is nice. I finished it. If I continue to think about what I didn't like about this book I'd have to bump it down to one star and I'm really not feeling that right now. But just know that about 75% in to this book, you find out she has a