“Falling in love beats recycling. At least, I would guess, since I’ve never been in love but I’ve recycled my whole life and it’s pretty boring.”
This retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma was such a sweet little bundle of fluff! Though I haven’t read the original, I really enjoyed this. This is the kind of book that actually makes you excited for school, because Emma is one of those people who enjoys doing her calculus homework and doesn’t need to study before finals because she actually pays attention in class. After reading this book, I was totally prepared to pop off in senior year, until I remembered that I’m literally graduating (?) in two weeks :))
Anyway, the characters in this book completely steal the show. Emma herself is a standard YA nerd, but her emotions are well fleshed out. Even when she makes mistakes, the reader can understand why she acted that way. She’s very closed off, but she really loves her friends and family. She’s a bit of a control freak and a perfectionist, but she always puts her people first. She grows a lot through the novel; even if a lot of it is very stereotypical (nerd who realizes that not everything follows a formula, falls in love etc.) it is well done and feels comforting instead of boring. George, of course, is a scene-stealer from the very beginning. He’s just as smart as Emma, and he’s a swimmer! He’s also far better at socializing than Emma, even if he prefers not to. All of the other characters, from Emma’s fellow coders to her sister, are well fleshed out. Everyone adds to the story, and no one acts irrationally. The story avoids dramatizing people and lets them be.
While the story moves along in a relatively predictable manner, there are a few heavier topics sprinkled in, which helps anchor the story to reality. These are, however, used effectively and sparingly. It served to humanize the characters, rather than having them live in a parallel fantasy world where a coding competition is their one and only problem in life.
Though The Code of Love and Heartbreak was extremely predictable, it’s sweetness provided a nice respite from the harshness of reality.

Thank you #Netgalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. This YAa novel was a fun read! Working in a high school library, I see so many similar kids to Emma and George, high achievers. I’m a struggle socially, but that never bothered her before. Until her sister makes an offhand comment about writing a code for love. Having searched for a project special enough for her final year and coding club with sights set high on college admissions, Emma decides to take on the challenge. Throughout the story, she learns that you may not be able to prove everything mathematically, And love and friendship may not be able to be statistically proven. I will recommend this book to the students who come in to the library this fall.

This book, a contemporary YA retelling of Jane Austen's Emma, was too close to the original Emma to be interesting. With the (perhaps unfortunately) recently released movie adaptation in mind, I found myself hoping that the plot would not be so entirely predictable as I moved through the pages. Unfortunately, my hopes weren't realized.

I had been looking for a quick and breezy read, but The Code for Love and Heartbreak was too bland for me to find it enjoyable.

DNF @ 49%

Having turned 21 this year, I think I'm starting to age out of YA contemporary — which is, of course, very much a me "problem" and no fault of this book (or any other)! But it does mean I have a decreased tolerance for the romantic angst, failure to communicate, and continued poor choices that often characterize teenagerhood, both in real life and in literature.

What I liked so far:
- The cover, title, and synopsis are all very intriguing, which is why I requested it in the first place! And they do match what I did get through of the book.
- I really enjoyed the little details that fleshed out relationships and shared history, such as the way George's and Emma's cupcake preferences complement each other while their pizza topping preferences clash.
- Strong but nuanced family relationships are always a plus for me.
- I am absolutely here for female friendships, though it's a bit of a bummer to have to first sit through snap judgments about the girls who will become the MC's friends.
- Emma's college-and-beyond ambitions are relatable from what I remember of being that age; I remember wanting to read about protagonists who were also dealing with the whole applications struggle.

What I didn't like so far:
- Not quite halfway through and I can already predict two major (and cliched) morals that will emerge by the end of the book, which is disappointing.
- The double love triangle + jealousy + obliviousness to/denial of romantic feelings is exhausting, especially because it feels stagnant. Although there are romantic developments of a kind, there hasn't been much net effect on Emma's romantic-adjacent relationships.
- It's been a while since I read Austen's Emma, but I don't remember that heroine being so all-consumingly arrogant yet naive, completely convinced she's always right and her way is the best way, even though she doesn't "get" people. Though some readers (especially teens) may find this relatable, I personally found it exasperating.
- On a related note, I'm just generally tired of STEM girls being overwhelmingly portrayed as socially isolated/awkward, <i>numbers are better than people because they're straightforward</i> types. It's one thing if it's, like, the (ownvoices) autism rep in The Kiss Quotient, but I don't think that's what's going on here?
- Every teenager in this book texts in what I call "essay case": complete, properly capitalized and punctuated sentences. Which is readable, sure, but not very realistic.
- The fact that 75% of the student body filled out the coding club's survey — having been a high school student myself, I find that extremely difficult to believe. Apathy is rampant among teenagers, even when you have connections. (The marching band was by far the largest student organization at my school, and even with their participation it was rare to get more than 50% of the school to participate in anything.)
- At one point their program is described as being "very beta," which I'm pretty sure isn't correct tech lingo.

I enjoyed this book. I thought it was a very cute and fun play on Jane Austen’s Emma but with a techie/mathematical twist. The book was a quick and easy read but enjoyable at the same time. I liked the characters and I feel like the character of Emma was well developed and thought out. Her struggle to make friends and develop relationships is relatable to many kids.

The Code for Love and Heartbreak by Jillian Cantor comes out in October of 2020. As a librarian, I occasionally get early reader copies of books at the kindness of the publishers. This book is one of them. I didn't realize it was a modern re-telling of Emma by Jane Austen until I was looking up the main characters name to make sure I remembered it correctly and thought, "That's the name of the character in Emma!" Okay, I can be slow sometimes! I even recently saw the Emma movie although I've never read the book, so I don't feel as though I can really compare them. Movies are notoriously unreliable even if they can be quite entertaining.

Emma Woodhouse focuses her attention very well. Little if anything distracts her. She is whip smart and learns quickly. She plays the piano perfectly, can do anything with math, and resides at the top of her class, expecting to be first or second in her graduating class. That other people's opinions don't matter to her proves beneficial for her focusing abilities. Her sister Izzy has kept Emma close to her so that she doesn't miss out on anything after their mother died years ago. Their father works a lot and comes home late. Even though Emma finds joy with math and not with tagging along with her sister, she always goes because she loves her sister. Distraught that Izzy is leaving for college, Emma wonders how she will overcome the loneliness that will ensure. She does have math--always reliable. She also has George--always reliable. With Izzy gone after giving her advice to be more social by jokingly telling her to use her math to code a boyfriend, Emma begins to see a path to winning first place in a coding contest. She decides to code love. She and George are co-presidents of the coding club for their senior year. George wants to create a recycling app. Emma, focused, believes his plan is too mundane while her plan is creative, meaning a better chance at winning. Thus, Emma's senior year begins!

As the app progresses so does the school year. The coding club needs beta subjects to test the app. As they experiment, they need information about why people date or stay married for decades in order to create an algorithm for love. The students at their school are more than willing to be test subjects and start asking for matches as word gets around that people are happy with their matches. Suddenly, Emma is popular, which she didn't pursue and doesn't really pay attention to. She also ends up with a host of friends from coding club. She discovers that she isn't lonely. She takes time to spend time with people in the club and discovers that she likes them and likes having friends as they keep tinkering with the app to adjust for changes or breakups with their matches. Her closest friend, George, knows Emma best and helps her when she starts getting too focused. When changes are needed and Emma is too focused to consider them, George can open her lens to see better.

I like Emma because she isn't the typical girl in a YA novel. There's aren't bullies; she isn't upset about teenage stuff. She has a goal and she has a plan. Although she is stubborn about doing her app idea for the coding competition, she does listen to others when it comes to developing and modifying the app. I also like that she honestly questions how to react to other people. I think a lot of kids navigate these social situations--even adults--wondering what the right response is supposed to be. She makes friends with Jane, whom she considered rather odd before. As Emma gets to know these students as real people so does the reader. Emma can be challenging. She gets so focused that she can't see what's in front of her. Her friends give her a lot of slack and accept her as she is. If there is a problem, they apologize or talk it out--eventually. George knows best how to handle Emma. His presence can calm her and motivate her to do better on a task. She truly would be lost without George as her compass. Of course problems must ensue with the app because love cannot be solved with math, but they do a pretty good job getting people to date and to meet new people. As Emma navigates love for everyone during her senior year and possibly may find it herself, the reader encounters an entertaining read and a good message about getting to know people and forgiving people their idiosyncrasies in order to form solid friendships and relationships.

I really enjoyed this book. It's a retelling of Jane Austen's Emma (which I have not yet read but it's on my TBR) and I know the premise of the book from the movie Clueless, so I had a little but of an idea of what to expect going in, but I think that only enhanced the story for me. In this novel, Emma is one of the presidents of her school's coding club and in thinking of an idea of a project to hopefully win them a national championship in coding, she decides that people can be matched together based on math. Initially, not everyone loves this idea, but it does get selected to be their project and the book goes through Emma and her friends working on coding this app, and she learns a lot about herself and love.

The Code for Love and Heartbreak is a sweet YA contemporary, and while I don't tend to read a lot of contemporaries (I do like contemporaries, but I can be very picky with the ones that I like), I thought this one was really well done. I really felt for the characters, and I went through some of the same emotions that they were feeling as I read. As someone who has always loved math and numbers, it was really cool seeing a character who I could relate to on such a basic level. There are definitely differences between us, but I really liked that. I think there is a really positive message for girls and women in STEM as well, because half of the club was female, and they all contributed so much to the project.

There were a handful of minor things that I wasn't too fond of (for example, when a teacher claimed that something couldn't be bullying if it was anonymous), but overall, it didn't effect my enjoyment of the work, and I am really glad I read this! This was so cute, and it you enjoy cute contemporaries, I definitely recommend this!

i enjoyed the awkward, nerdy characters within this story and didn't feel like this personality was forced or looked down on in any way. I think this also brings coding into a genre that it isn't necessarily as prominent in, which would be great for young readers to see and experience. I really enjoyed this read and think it was a cute, simple read.

Fun, G-rated, STEM, girl-power, YA romantic comedy

Emma Woodhouse is an extremely introverted, high school senior who is a genius at math and also gifted at playing the piano. She is trying to expand her extracurricular activities on the advice of her academic advisor in order to increase her chances of getting accepted to her dream school, Stanford. One such activity, Coding Club, which she has participated in during previous school years, seems as if it could become a real addition to her Stanford application when Emma comes up with what she considers a terrific idea for a computer programming project which might take their team all the way to the top in the annual State competition. Her idea is a dating app which she dubs, The Code for Love. It uses algorithms to calculate romantic compatibility.

Prior to this year, Emma’s best and only friend has always been her older sister, Isabella, in spite of social-butterfly Izzy being Emma’s complete opposite. But Izzy is now a college freshman. She has been madly and mutually in love for many years with a boy named John Knightley, and she has followed John all the way across the country to California for college. Emma feels lonely and abandoned when she no longer has Izzy to talk to and generally help her relate to the rest of the human race. John’s younger brother, George, who is Emma’s age, is someone she’s known for years, but they’ve never been close friends. And as co-presidents of the Coding Club this year, they immediately butt heads over what project the club will do for the State competition.

George dislikes the whole concept of Emma’s app, which he views as an intrusive form of meddling in people's lives. But he and his allies in the club are outvoted by those who like Emma’s idea, and The Code for Love becomes the app they develop.

At first the app seems to work really well, and all the students in their high school who use it to gain a match are delighted. But then, suddenly, to Emma’s dismay, many of the matched couples begin to break up. And along the way of figuring out why, Emma’s competitive and often combative relationship with George begins to shift in ways that no computer code could ever have predicted.

This is a G-rated novel suitable for all ages and is a fun retelling of Jane Austen's Emma. The author uses the same character names from Emma, and each character she recycles is a modern update of Austen’s characters. Unlike in the original, instead of George Knightley being 17 years older than Emma, who is 20 in the Austen book, in this story the two are both 17. In addition, instead of Emma’s sister Isabella being much older than Emma and married to John Knightley for many years, in this book they are only one year older and not yet married. Mr. Woodhouse in this story is not a hypochondriacal old man but a vital, middle-aged attorney. Mrs. Weston is currently still Miss Taylor. She is a teacher at Emma’s school and faculty supervisor of the Coding Club. During this book, in a humorous subplot, Ms. Taylor is courted by Mr. Weston, who is a nerdy calculus teacher at Emma’s high school. Frank Churchill, Jane Fairfax, Harriet Smith, Robert Martin and Phillip Elton appear in this book as student members of the Coding Club.

Emma is a cute and lovable female protagonist. I could relate to her struggles with social situations as an introvert, and I enjoyed the emphasis on her as a STEM heroine. I also liked this version of George Knightley. Humorously, he has some of the same stuffy bossiness as the original, and his competing idea for an app is quite funny.

I rate this book as follows:

Heroine: 4 stars
Hero: 4 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Romance Plot: 4 stars
Coming of Age Plot: 4 stars
Writing: 4 stars
Overall: 4 stars

I started reading this at just the right time. I'm a sucker for an "Emma" story. I like knowing what's going to happen and how the author makes the story his/her own. Bringing a coding club and algorithms to match-making is just perfect for today's audiences.

At one part of the book, Emma states she hates "Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movies". Why does a screenwriter get to determine these two will fall in love? A tongue in cheek reference to the book the words are written in.

There wasn't a character I didn't like. Bringing in todays elements of the #metoo movement and gay/lesbian romances weren't pointed as major plot points, but included in the story as a reflection of our teen world.

I'd recommend this for grades 6 and up. Anyone who needs a happy ending - knowing it's coming but still reading anyway - will fall in love with this Emma-version.

Such an adorable book! I think it is going to be an instant hit! The cover art is awesome and the story is so sweet!

I received a free E- ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. The following thoughts and opinions are my own!
Can the problems of the heart and love be solved by math?
First off I want to say this book was really fun and cute. It is the nerdy high school version of Jane Austin's Emma.
Emma is a student in her senior year of high school and finds that it is math, not people, that is always predictable as well as reliable. She is, at times, socially awkward, but loyal to her friends and family. While this book has a slow start, as the story processes, the pacing picks up. This book centers around Emma and her journey to discover who she is in the light rather than hiding in the shadows of her sister, her brain, and a computer screen. I enjoyed her relationships with her family and friends especially with George, the co-president of the coding club along with Emma. Their senior coding competition entry is an app that calculates a student's perfect match based on a math algorithm. While the code seemly works perfect for those around Emma, she is unclear why some matches are breaking up and some matches are not suitable to be put together. George is so cute and patient with his desire to be more than a friend with Emma. The friends-to-lovers troupe is one of my favorites and this book hit this troupe really well. The writing was good and age appropriate. The ending of the story was very satisfying. I would recommend this book to those who loved the movie Clueless and/ or Jane Austin's Emma. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

This is a cute young adult romance. It does a great job working in the ideas of coding and technology with teenagers and is a good retelling of the story of Emma. It was a very quick read but cute, likeable characters in a nice retelling of a classic tale. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

This YA novel will appeal to fans of coding, dating apps, romance, and retelling's of Jane Austen. The protagonist is a senior in high school but lives a pretty quiet life which could interest some teens. It's a sweet, loose retelling of Emma.

This book proves one thing: I am a sucker for books about High School nerds. Maybe because I am one, so I consider myself to have a pretty informed opinion. While I not on the robotics or Girls Who Code team, I did just submit my final project for my AP Computer Science class. That being said, this book excelled at accurately portraying high school life, especially the club aspect. I loved that that the kids weren't all cookie cutter - each member of the club had their own unique personality and background. Which brings me to my next favorite thing: the complex non-romantic friendships. I went in totally expecting a YA romance, but I lovvveeedd the friendship between Emma and Jane. The way they had secrets and drama added so much to the story. The plot of the book was highly interesting and the romance was not forced at all which is really hard to find in YA. The fact that the reader didn't know who she was going to end up with added a layer of sophistication and anticipation that made you want to keep reading. My only minor qualms are that it started a bit slow and the main character is a bit unlikable at the beginning - however, these problems work themselves out as you get further through.

This is sweet, smart and creative new look of Jane Austen’s Beloved classic. I enjoyed the premise and quirky, socially awkward characterization but some elements of the story, approach to the abuse and bullying between young adults and negative effects of cyber dating weren’t reflected powerfully. I respected to the effort and visionary mind behind story-progression and but conclusion is predictable and flat. So here comes another 3 starred –let’s meet in the middle and stay in Switzerland kind of I didn’t adore it but I didn’t unlike it kind of reading.

I don’t know how many retelling of Jane Austen I’ve read lately and I only gave one book to 4 stars (it was actually rounded up to four) I think when you read passionately the original classics several times, you become tough grader and you start to expect too much from your retellings. So I try to keep my objectivity intact when I start any of those books and consider them as independent stories not to overshadow my judgment and write unfair reviews.

I hooked from the first pages of the novel: we’re introduced Emma Woodhouse, math prodigy, living, breathing and eating numbers! She teams with dear best friend George Knightley (names are same) for special coding task. And they create something fresh, unique, a brand new dating app called: “Code for Love”: filled with algorithms to calculate and find out your match made in heaven.

George doesn’t approve Emma’s emotionless and direct approach, acting like puppet master who pulls the strings and control the people’s love lives. But according to Emma, maths never goes wrong! The proof stands before their eyes! Her app works so well and everyone in the school starts to find their matches. But why people start to break up and why incompatible people start falling in love with each other. Sorry Emma but emotions and feelings cannot be calculated!

In the middle of the story I started to lose my interest but I resume my reading with great patience and I can easily guess the outcome.

Overall: It was mostly enjoyable, light, sweet reading with promising plot. Predictability and its approach to the delicate matters made me lose my interest. But I still want to give a try to new projects of the author.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for sharing this ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

This was such a cute read. I related to the main character, Emma, so much and really enjoyed seeing her grow throughout the novel. She became comfortable in her own skin and was not embarrassed by who she is.
Emma is a flawed character and she also admits that she knows what her struggles are. She works on them and pushes herself.
The first third was a bit slow but it quickly picked up speed from there.
If you like light contemporary with a message, The Code for Love and Heartbreak would be a great pick.
Rating: 5/5
Crude Language: N/A
Romance: 5/5
Spiritual: N/A
Violence: N/A
*I received a copy from the publisher. A positive review was not required and all thoughts are my own.

This is Emma with a modern YA spin. Emma wasn't my favorite book by Jane Austen and she certainly wasn't my favorite character. I find her too annoying. BUT the Emma in this book was relatable and sympathetic. It's a fun book and I really enjoyed it.

Okay, confession. I was looking for an easy read. And an Emma retelling sounded easy.

This book FELT like reading the original Emma, lifted into a modern setting. I had all the same emotions I had reading the original, which, I suppose, means it succeeded beautiful. However, this means it was not easy. It was wonderfully frustrating.

I got about 25-percent of the way in and wasn’t invested enough to keep going. I loved the premise—a socially awkward coder who makes a dating app for a high school competition—as an Emma retelling, but I just didn’t feel like I knew the characters well. The plot moved quickly, and some of the drama with the cast didn’t fit with how little I knew them.