It’s possible I’m just not into Emma adaptations. I wasn’t a fan of DFTBA’s Emma Approved either, even though I loved their Pride and Prejudice remake Regardless, this book just didn’t hold my attention.

Emma is a brainiac, and I found her know-it-all and hyper focused narration more annoying than charming. Add in bland dialogue and a too-slow conflict build up, and the story overall just feels meh. Not terrible, but not memorable.

While Emma isn’t my favorite Jane Austen book, it IS my favorite romance and my favorite hero. So even though math & numbers are most definitely not my thing, I couldn’t resist reading this cute new Young Adult retelling of Austen’s classic by Jillian Cantor. And, after all, I am a sucker for best friends who fall in love (married to mine for 20 years now).

Retellings are always a bit tricky because they could go either way. On the one hand, they might be too kitschy in how they incorporate the story elements – and on the other hand, they might not be true enough to the story in this new setting. I am pleased to report that The Code for Love and Heartbreak has neither of these problems. If you are already familiar with Austen’s classic, you will love the creative way Cantor keeps the heart of the story and adds her own flavor as well. And, if you’ve never read Emma, you’ll still be able to appreciate a cute story and a breath-stealing romance.

I love that Emma and her friends are nerdy & socially awkward without being over the top about it (though at the beginning of the story ‘friends’ is probably a generous title to give the other members of the coding club). I mean, don’t get me wrong… Emma especially can’t see past numbers and equations and quantifiable things. She misses a lot of social cues that most of us are comfortable with, and she has some definitely wince-worthy moments that come from not socializing enough. But, unless we were in the super popular crowd (and maybe even if we were) don’t we all have similar memories from high school too? I enjoyed seeing her character growth throughout the novel, and on the flip side I also appreciated that Cantor left Emma with more growing still to do, just as Austen does with her titular character in the original. And of course there’s George – sweet, noble, best friend George. Cantor does a great job of making him his own, layered character while also staying true to the man he’s modeled after and his role in Emma’s life.

Bottom Line: The Code for Love and Heartbreak is a light, sweet, really cute read about friendship, falling in love, and being comfortable in your own skin. Its similarities to Austen’s Emma are noticeable without being overdone, while also retaining its own distinct identity and flair. There’s not a lot of unnecessary-to-the-story drama, which I appreciated given the high level of unnecessary drama in our current world – sometimes it’s nice to just sit down and read a story that makes you smile. And that’s exactly what Cantor’s latest did for me!

(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)

This was okay. I got bored and started skim reading halfway. But it was nice seeing the coding.

Oh, I failed to see this was an Emma retelling. Gah. I hardly read synopsis in fear of spoilers. So missed that factor. If you love Emma your are going to enjoy this modern take on Jane Austen’s beloved heroine.

Sadly, failed to enjoy it.

Would like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for this arc.

This book was so cheesy good! Obviously, it's a modern retelling of Jane Austen's <em>Emma</em>, but far more fun.

I was very similar to this Emma growing up, except instead of being a numbers person, I was far better with words. I didn't understand people at ALL. So I definitely felt for our sweet lead, even if she is a bit of a stereotype.

I feel like every single character in this one is extremely likeable, which is rare for modern YA books. I also feel like this version is ripe for adaptation.

If you're looking for a quick, fun, sweet read to distract from *gestures at everything*, look no further! The Code is perfect.

Thank you so much to Inkyard Press for having me as a part of their blog tour for the Code for Love and Heartbreak! I'm running so behind on reading all of the books I really need to be reading, so even though this book came out on Tuesday (the 6th) and I was trying to have it read and reviewed by yesterday, I wasn't able to get to it until today BUT I started it early this afternoon and I finished it so fast because it was such a fun/quick read!

The Code for Love and Heartbreak 4/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads: Emma Woodhouse is a genius at math, but clueless about people. After all, people are unreliable. They let you down—just like Emma's sister, Izzy, did this year, when she moved to California for college. But numbers...those you can count on. (No pun intended.)
Emma's senior year is going to be all about numbers, and seeing how far they can take her. When she and George, her Coding Club co-president, are tasked with brainstorming a new project, The Code for Love is born—a matchmaking app that goes far beyond swiping, using algorithms to calculate compatibility. George disapproves of Emma's idea, accusing her of meddling in people's lives. But all the happy new couples at school are proof that the app works. At least at first.
Emma's code is flawless. So why is it that perfectly matched couples start breaking up, the wrong people keep falling for each other and her own feelings defy any algorithm? Emma thought math could solve everything. But there's nothing more complex—or unpredictable—than love.
This book was so, so cute! I loved how Emma really came into her own throughout the book, and like sure, she didn't have all of the answers, but she was more confident by the end of the book and awwwww the ending made me so happy! I loved Emma and George and all of the coding club really. Izzy annoyed me slightly at times, but at the same time, I remember being a freshman in college and not being as cognisant about the feelings of the rest rest of my family. I remember thinking that their lives revolved around my relationships. This book was the feel good, fun read that I didn't know I needed at the end of this week and I definitely think that y'all should read it too!

This was such a fun and cute book! I loved every second of it!

Emma is a coding wizard and is the co-president of the coding club at her high school. She is such a cute character! She is shy and socially awkward. She's so smart but when it comes to people she's just doesn't have a clue. When it comes to romantic relationships she's is even less knowledgeable.. It was so entertaining reading about her navigating high school and the types of relationships teenagers encounter.

I really enjoyed how the author was able to keep me so interested in the coding club and their project without it being dry and boring. There was some VERY basic information about the coding process which was just enough for me to understand what they were doing but also keep it light and fun. Also, the coding project was so timely and shows how dating apps are both super helpful but how they shouldn't be totally relied on.

Overall, this was a great story about a teenage girl just trying to be super smart but also learn how to have relationships and grow into a young adult. The school aspect was great! I liked the coding club. The characters were well rounded and I honesty felt like I was friends with them all. They were so relatable. I enjoyed the teenage drama!! AND OF COURSE, I loved the relationship that formed! SO CUTE! I literally live for teenage awkward romance lol.

If you like YA contemporary romances with nerdy kids and a really sweet growing up/coming of age feel then this is for you!!

As a contemporary romance, I really enjoyed CODE FOR LOVE AND HEARTBREAK. I tend to like smart heroines, so it was a pretty strong possibility that I’d love Emma going into the book. And it turns out, I totally loved her.

I’m also a pretty big fan of sister relationships, so I loved the relationship between Emma and Izzy. I loved that they were so different from each other and that sometimes that caused sparks to fly and other times, they needed each other in ways that only sisters truly do.

As an update of Jane Austen’s EMMA, though, I have much more mixed feelings. I missed some of the dynamics in some of the relationships. I missed the Miss Bates of Austen’s version, in all her sweet, trying chattiness. I missed the connection between characters– the Westons and Frank (Sam) Churchill, and between Jane and Miss Bates.

In fairness, I don’t know how someone could bring all those relationships and the complexities they add AND tell CODE FOR LOVE AND HEARTBREAK without adding like 100 more pages. Which I probably wouldn’t have minded once I was into the story, but I imagine the average reader might not feel quite the same! Ha.

All in all, I think this is a super cute romance with smart characters and interesting relationships. Fans of friends to lovers or of sister stories will find lots to love here. I think the story will appeal to fans of WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU by Marisa Kanter and TODAY TONIGHT TOMORROW by Rachel Lynn Solomon.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

As a Jane Austin fan and enjoyed Emma I thought that I would give this book a try. This was an ok read for me. It was just plane and monotone. The one thing that was exciting is that it was based of a high school that likes to code, that one the only thing that I thought was interesting.

This was really cute and sweet! It means nothing to me as a retelling since I've sadly never read Emma, but I enjoyed the story nonetheless. Emma was actually kind of unlikable a lot of the time, which I absolutely mean as a good thing. I would get so frustrated by her and want to just take her by the shoulders and shake her and tell her to get it together. I also liked all the side characters, too, which for me is pretty rare- usually I feel like one or two of the side characters aren't as fleshed out as they could've been, but here, Jillian Cantor did a great job of building each character's personality to the extent necessary. I do wish we'd gotten a bit of a follow-up about Ms. Taylor and her match, but that's just me. The only reason I didn't rate this higher is because I wasn't 1000% entirely gripped by it and I wouldn't bother reading it again, but I absolutely think you should pick this up soon!

3.5. The plotline and characters are safe and predictable even for a retelling of a classic story, but it's a fairly engaging read--Emma is robotic at times (no pun intended), but it was sweet to see how the relationship between her and George developed over time. I also enjoyed the inclusion of STEM-focused activities; I could have used more information about the coding process, but that, too, was fun to follow.

I’m a sucker for any adaptation of Emma and this was no exception— I read the entire thing in one sitting on a plane ride. It was entertaining, sweet, and well-adapted to a modern setting but my favorite aspect was seeing different interpretations of familiar characters; hopefully readers unfamiliar with the source material still enjoy it on its own!

This was a cute, wholesome YA contemporary. Nothing earth-shattering, but enjoyable. I liked that the MC was into math and science instead of bookish like many YA characters. If you’re looking for a a light-hearted read, this fits the bill. *ARC provided by NetGalley for review.

*𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝑅𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌* & Book Tour Stop
The Code for Love and Heartbreak
By Jillian Cantor
4 / 5 🌟

Thank you to @harpercollins and @inkyardpress for an invitation to the book tour for The Code for Love and Heartbreak.

This book has been dubbed a modern retelling of Austen’s Emma. I have to be honest, I’ve never read Emma, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying this nerdy, young adult rom-com.

Emma Woodhouse is not what you would call a “people person.” She prefers her math over people any day. The numbers are reliable. Emma’s mom died when she was very young and this fall her big sister, Izzy, left for college out on the West Coast. Things change, people leave, numbers make sense to Emma.

Emma is a senior this year and co-president of the coding club. Although Emma has never had a lot of friends, at least she has George. He is the club’s co-president and a family friend. The club needs a big project if they want any chance at winning State this year. As they start bringing ideas to the table for the club project, Emma suggests a matchmaking app. A strange idea for Emma, since she’s never dated, but she believes that there’s an algorithm that could tell the kids at school who their mathematical match is.

George is not too keen on the idea at first, but the others in the code club agree it could work. Many even want to be beta-tester. So “The Code for Love” app is born. Couples are being matched up right and left. Emma finally has a social life, friends even. As Emma always says, “the math doesn’t lie.” But what happens when people don’t follow the code and play by the heart? Is this some kind of glitch or is this really love?

If you enjoy being swept back to high school this will be a perfect read for you. You won’t find a lot of angst and steamy scenes are a nope; just smart kids trying to figure out romance. And a lot of math and computer talk too, but it's all in the name of love.

This was a cute story with lots of numbers and the unpredictability of human nature. Emma loves numbers more than she loves people so when brainstorming with her co-president for Tthe Coding Club, she decides to create an app that matches people based on algorithms to calculate compatibility. Everything seems to be going well until couples start breaking up. Emma was a very head strong character and at times reminded me other "nerdy and shy" YA protagonists. Knowing that this was a loose retelling for Jane Austen's Emma, it was fun to pick out small similarities in the plotline and I enjoyed how the author made the story unique in a modern setting. Overall, I enjoyed reading and would definitely recommend to those looking for a coming-of-age YA story.

When I requested this book I didn’t even realize it was a retelling of Emma. I was drawn in by the cover art and description. Ultimately I decided I had better know a little about Emma before reading this version and I researched accordingly.
The Code for Love and Heartbreak is a modern retelling of the classic, and is an accessible way to expose younger readers to the story. Though I can’t speak definitely for lovers of the original, I do believe they would also enjoy this book.

This was another book that came to me in a big email of fall books to review. My editor and I received the same email so we picked and choose what we wanted to do and that was one that I knew I had to read. When I saw that it was a modern-day spin on Jane Austen’s classic Emma I was gone. I grew up watching Emma and Pride and Prejudice with my mother every winter. I was never a huge Sense and Sensibility fan. I was excited to read it.

Emma is a senior in High School. She is the co-president of the coding club with her best friend George. Numbers rule her world. Math never lies. She is navigating her life without her older sister who has gone off to college across the country. Her mom died when she was young and her sister was always there. So for coding class for their coding competiton she comes up with on her own a matching app that mathmatically matches people together. The other people in the club are not convinced. Will this idea work or will everything implode? This book was absolutly adorable. I read it fairly quickly and enjoyed every minute of it. At times the teenage angst did get annoying but it wasn’t to bad.

In this certain book Emma is my spirit animal in high school…heck even today. I never had a close knit group of friends. Even today I have a select few that i converse with on a regular basis, and those friends I am sure know way to much TMI. What is ridiculous is the book literally made me cry. When Emma was so upset about what was happening with the app and with her friends, I felt that pain. I also felt the pain of the older sister making sure that her younger sister is doing good and the guilt of being so far away. I feel at times that issue. I currently live 3 hrs from my family and don’t see them often as I would wish too. This book is an excellent YA romance book for those kids who want a romance but want something sweet and clean and no over the top like romances can be now. I will certainly be checking out more books by this author in the future.

Thanks NetGalley for giving me an ARC of The Code for Love and Heartbreak by Jillian Cantor in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. Very sweet story, nothing awful happens. Unique, but clique at times. Overall, an easy single read.

The cute, high school, math nerd retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma I didn’t know I needed, The Code for Love and Heartbreak by Jillian Cantor gives me all the happy vibes of the original.

Emma Woodhouse spends all of her time coding, because math makes more sense than people do. Her one constant companion is her older sister, Izzy, but Izzy is leaving her for college on the other side of the country. Before she goes, she advises Emma to make some friends… and a boyfriend.

Without Izzy, Emma focuses all her energy on the coding club, which she is co-presidents with longtime friend George Knightley. Last year, they came in third place at the state competition, but this year, Emma is determined to win so she can put it on her Stanford application. But can she come up with an idea good enough?

Emma is starting to doubt that Stanford is in the cards for her. Her counsellor advises her to socialize more, because without extracurriculars, she’s just another math brain to the admissions board. Even if she gets in, however, she still might want to stay on the East Coast for their widowed father, who struggles to care for himself.

Finally, Emma comes up with a brilliant way to be both more social and also win the state competition… an app that mathematically finds your perfect match. If Emma can break human relationships down into something quantifiable, maybe she can understand them. At first, George isn’t wild about the idea, but he eventually comes around and helps her create the app.

Of course, as most of us know, love isn’t quantifiable. Although the app is an instant hit, creating scores of happy couples, it doesn’t last. Couples that were perfect for each other break out and people who aren’t perfect for each other get together. Worst of all, George has started dating his perfect match, their classmate, Hannah, which shouldn’t bother her, except that it does. Has Emma’s app failed? Was she wrong about everything? And how can she make it right?

Emma is one of my all-time favorite classics, so I had high hopes for this retelling, and I was not disappointed. Yes, it’s predictable, but I find most retellings predictable. Neither is it incredibly profound. It’s a sweet, fun rom-com that’s a quick read, so don’t expect anything more from it, but I personally fully enjoyed it.

This particular Austen novel lends itself well to modern adaptations. I’m a huge fan of both Emma Approved and Clueless, and this novel reminds me of the latter, but with a nerdy twist. Making Emma a math nerd is never a change that would have occurred to me, but it worked so well! Instead of being popular and stylish, the way modern Emmas are usually played, being a nerd really capitalizes on how awkward and naive Emma really is. The reason why she makes so many mistakes in her quest to matchmake is because she genuinely has no idea how people work. I loved seeing her grow as a character, from being totally clueless at the beginning to finally realizing what she’s doing wrong and working to fix it at the end.

I also loved Emma’s relationships with all the different characters, especially her sister and George. Since Emma doesn’t have any other friends, she and Izzy are very codependent, but as the novel progresses and Emma grows close with the other girls in the coding club, she starts to become her own person, even standing up to her sister later, when Izzy wants Emma to come to a party, and Emma says no. I will also always and forever adore George Knightley in any form, and this modern version did not disappoint. He tells Emma when he disagrees with her and has honest conversations about it, and yet he’s always there for her when she needs it, even driving her to the hospital and caring for her when her dad gets sick. I’ll admit, it takes forever for these two to get together, but when they finally do, I feel all the feels.

I highly recommend that you add this lovely book to your TBR list, whether you’re a fan of the original Emma, Clueless, or just rom-coms in general. It’s a quick read and a true delight.

DNF 75 pages in

While the idea is a good one (using Emma with online matchmaking), the characterization is very one note. Emma's rather robotic, and the commentary on the dating app is like every other book with dating app plots. Though Cantor's writing and ideas are good, without the heart, the book is only okay.

This book was awesome, I read it in one sitting and I did not want to put it down. I laughed, I cried, and I had a great time reading this romance novel about a group of teenage "nerds".

If you are looking for a fun, interesting, read I highly recommend reading The Code for Love and Heartbreak, it is fantastic!

Thank you NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the ARC.