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A review by betterwithabookinmyhand
Love, Decoded by Jennifer Yen
4.0
Thank you Penguin Teen for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Love, Decoded is a cute contemporary Emma retelling mixed with cool coding and a friends-to-lovers relationship.
Gigi is a high school junior who is near the top of her class. She’s got the grades, the volunteer hours, her best friend Kyle, and a promising career in matchmaking that her grandmother wants to pass onto her. So when the idea hits Gigi to code a matchmaking app using her grandmother’s data she is enraptured in the idea…even more than the matchmaking itself.
When Gigi’s Computer Science class gets word of a coding competition Gigi knows she wants to win and she’s got just the app for the job.
This book was giving me Jenny Han and Blair Waldorf vibes, both of which I’m a fan. The coding element of this book had to be one of my favorite parts, the fact that Gigi cared so much for it gave me a better appreciation for a world I know so little about.
I never thought I would say this but I was expecting the friends-to-lovers relationship to be the big focus in the story and it wasn’t. I can’t tell if I’m slightly disappointed or oddly refreshed. The focus is on Gigi in this mentor/mentee relationship for the majority and with it being an Emma retelling it makes sense, just not what I’m used to in a contemporary.
The pacing of the book did throw me off at times. I read the first third fairly quickly but I was looking for a big plot twist or wrench in the gears but that really didn’t come until the last third. While I would have loved more conflict earlier on, maybe it wouldn’t have been the same story. As it was you get this really easy-going time getting to know Gigi and her mentee over many a meal and shopping date.
I did enjoy Gigi and the side characters in this story and for fans of an easygoing contemporary that isn’t relationship-focused, I’d tell them to try out Love, Decoded.
3.5 stars
Love, Decoded is a cute contemporary Emma retelling mixed with cool coding and a friends-to-lovers relationship.
Gigi is a high school junior who is near the top of her class. She’s got the grades, the volunteer hours, her best friend Kyle, and a promising career in matchmaking that her grandmother wants to pass onto her. So when the idea hits Gigi to code a matchmaking app using her grandmother’s data she is enraptured in the idea…even more than the matchmaking itself.
When Gigi’s Computer Science class gets word of a coding competition Gigi knows she wants to win and she’s got just the app for the job.
This book was giving me Jenny Han and Blair Waldorf vibes, both of which I’m a fan. The coding element of this book had to be one of my favorite parts, the fact that Gigi cared so much for it gave me a better appreciation for a world I know so little about.
I never thought I would say this but I was expecting the friends-to-lovers relationship to be the big focus in the story and it wasn’t. I can’t tell if I’m slightly disappointed or oddly refreshed. The focus is on Gigi in this mentor/mentee relationship for the majority and with it being an Emma retelling it makes sense, just not what I’m used to in a contemporary.
The pacing of the book did throw me off at times. I read the first third fairly quickly but I was looking for a big plot twist or wrench in the gears but that really didn’t come until the last third. While I would have loved more conflict earlier on, maybe it wouldn’t have been the same story. As it was you get this really easy-going time getting to know Gigi and her mentee over many a meal and shopping date.
I did enjoy Gigi and the side characters in this story and for fans of an easygoing contemporary that isn’t relationship-focused, I’d tell them to try out Love, Decoded.
3.5 stars