Cover Image: Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts

Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts

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Member Reviews

I thought that this book was cute! It was light and somewhat typical rom-com but I liked the social media aspect of it and I liked to live vicariously through the characters and pretend I was in a fancy vacation!

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This was a hard read. There is very little character growth and I couldn't get behind the plot. I DNFed around 50%.

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Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book! The title and this beautiful cover drew me in and i was excited to read this book! I will be recommending this book to others for readers advisory.

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2.5⭐
Genre ~ romantic comedy
Setting ~ California & Catalina Island
Publication date ~ May 16, 2023
Est page Count ~ 345 (29 chapters +e)
Audio length ~ 10 hours 57 minutes
Narrator ~ Karissa Vacker
POV ~ single 1st
Featuring ~ debut, influencers, podcast, enemies~ish to lovers, forced proximity, lack of communication, minimal steamage

*possible spoilers ahead*

Margo and bff, Jo, are 'celebrity' influencers with a super popular podcast. Jo breaks their own rules when she got engaged. Now they're off for all expenses paid trip for 2 weeks to Catalina Island for Jo's wedding. Margo isn't thrilled that the best man is Declan who she wasn't a fan of in high school.

I am not a fan of influencer centered books, so it's my fault for agreeing to read this one. It was too much with their follower count this and selfie that, and content this and what else can we promote to get for free that for me to really enjoy it. Margo was so mean, too. Making fun of Declan's job and his skin tone. Let's be hung up on things that happened 10 years ago while we're at it. I'm not a fan of the whole my parents had a failed marriage so I'm anti relationship crap either.
The 3rd act is such a predictable disaster that could have easily been prevented with a little communication, or perhaps without setting out to be a horrible person to begin with. Luckily it was NOT a forgive and forget right away type of situation, so yay for that. Declan is likable and it would have been nice to have his POV.

I did like the island vibes and Margo and Jo's friendship, so there's that. Also, liked the first date that Margo planned that showed a different side to her, which helped me to warm up to her slightly for a few minutes, but it didn't overall redeem herself for me.

Overall, obviously I was not a super big fan, but I didn't hate it as a debut. There's a good amount of 3 and 4 star love for it, so seems like I'm on outlier (is)land.

I was able to listen to an audio copy as well.
Narration notes:
A well seasoned narrator that always does a great job, including her male voices.

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In support of the SMP boycott, I will be withholding my review of this title until SMP speaks out. If the boycott is resolved, I will update with a full review.

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This reminded me a lot of "how to lose a guy in 10 days"! The cover was cute and overall it was a cute romantic comedy read. Thank you for the ARC!

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Jo and Margo have an anti-love podcast featuring the seven rules for breaking hearts. So when Jo actually does fall in love and plans to get married, Margo worries about their podcast. She decides to use the breaking hearts rules to her advantage by breaking all of them to prove why they are needed. Enter Declan, the best man and Margo's high school nemesis. This should be a cute second chance, enemies to lovers romance, but I found it hard to love either character. I did like them, but the entire group of friends was no my cup of tea. That being said, I really do like the writing style.

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Margo’s podcast is built around the ins and outs of dating without commitment. When her co-host announces that she’s getting married everything begins to fall apart. Determined to keep the podcast going, Margo uses the wedding as an opportunity to show that “no strings attached” dating is still possible.

Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts is a stand-alone, contemporary romance. The book has a good mix of sweet and swoony.

I’ve read a few romances where at least one of the MCs is a podcaster. This one has a fun twist. Rather than changing the podcast to try to find her “mr. right”, Margo is much more interested in continuing to pursue “mr. right now”. I love the Catalina Island setting. The MCs are really only enemies in Margo’s mind. Declan just seems to play along with it because that’s what she wants.

If you enjoy romance books with some angsty, forced proximity and a little bit of wedding chaos, Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts may be a good fit for you. I look forward to reading more of Kristyn J. Miller’s work in the future.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press (St. Martin’s Griffin)!

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If Emily Henry meets Sarah Adam and they have a love child, you get this.

I enjoyed it more than I thought, I liked the writing, the plot, LITERALLY EVERYTHING. Margo left a little bad taste on my mouth and DELCAN WAS A *SWOONING* A SWEETHEART, I hated the way Margo treated him.

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I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more if I e noted the enemies to lovers trope but that’s my least favorite one. It took a bit to connect with Margo but by the end I truly adored her!

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Very cute, and I'm looking forward to more from this author. This was a sweet opposites-attract romance that I read very quickly. It's feel-good, which some may say leaves it without emotional depth, but sometimes you just want something lighthearted.

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Thank you SMP for the gifted copy.

Two best friends with a podcast about rules for hooking up without catching feelings. One best friend is getting married, and has a destination wedding.

Enemies to lovers and forced proximity are two of my favorite tropes! This was a great vacation read with lots of banter!

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Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts by Kristyn J. Miller has some vibes of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and I wasn't mad at it. Based on a bit of an unrealistic premise (podcast about dating without catching feelings), from there, it's a fun enemies-to-lovers rom com.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

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A quick enjoyable summer read. Perfect for lounging and finishing in one sitting. The enemies to lovers trope is perfectly executed.

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I didn't love this book, but I also didn't not like it. If you like the enemies-to-lovers trope, then you'll probably enjoy this book. That's already a questionable subject for me, and I just couldn't get into this one because the main character, Margo, runs a little on the negative side with all the swearing off commitment. I still finished the book, so it wasn't all bad, but it wasn't my favorite.

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Overall, this was a really cute romance that was fun and quirky. The pace of this story was great, and I definitely enjoyed the writing style which made this a quick read for me. Enemies to lovers is always one of my favorite tropes which definitely delivered here in bringing in the tension as well as seeing the chemistry develop between Margo and Declan.

There were just a couple things here that took me out of the story a bit. The first was the friendship between Go and Jo. There was something in this friendship that just didn't quite fit for me. They both seemed to have very immature moments, but it really seemed like neither could be honest with the other. Their friendship just seems inauthentic, and it left a sour note on a couple of occasions,

One other part that didn't quite gel for me was how Go reacted when Declan told her he did not want to have sex with her. I just felt that how she reacted would be something that would be crucified if it was a male character doing it, and it felt like we were supposed to give her a pass for behaving that way. I do feel like she realizes eventually that what he did was not wrong, but she never really acknowledges that her reaction and how she spoke to him WAS wrong. Maybe I read to much into this, because I definitely did enjoy so much of this story, but this just left me feeling a tiny bit unsettled.

So many thanks to St. Martin's Press and to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

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I enjoyed the premise of Margo and Jo, best friends and co-podcasters. Their podcasts strive to provide dating advice and empower women who are happy being single. They get an all-expenses-paid vacation on Catalina Island and Jo's wedding in exchange for hyping the resort on their social media and podcasts. Margo ends up reconnecting with Declan, her high-school nemesis. Margo debates, throwing out all the rules when it comes to Declan.

This was a fun read, and I wanted to go on vacation with them. The narration by Karissa Vacker was beautiful and an enjoyable listen.

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This was a cute, easy book to read. The location and the characters were really fun and charming. It didn’t capture my attention the way some books do.

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A very smooth and quick read. I loved the pacing as it didn't feel like it was bogged down at any point and just a nice steady read. Enemies to lovers is by far my favorite trope so I knew I would love from the start. I truly enjoyed the characters and the love shared. Very enjoyable!

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Margo and her best friend host a podcast that centers on rules for hooking up without catching feelings but when Jo actually catches feelings it goes against everything they preach on their podcast, but some rules are meant to be broken! Margo is about ready to find out!
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Thank you #griffin and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

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