Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
While the premise for this novel held my attention the execution left much to be desired. Melody gets her dream job working production at a video game company only to encounter sexist and racist remarks. Her boss steals her idea and she gets moved from her cubicle by the new intern and nephew of the hated boss. Nothing seemed to be going right for her. Despite all of this she manages to get her footing and reclaim her master piece.
Unfortunately I was underwhelmed by the story and the characters. The romance took a back seat to all the commotion around producing the new video game. It just didn't hold my interest as I felt the author was trying to relay a deeper message but sacrificed the story to do it.

I had high hopes for this book but was left disappointed. From the title I expected a story that had a prominent hate to love relationship but that wasn't really the case. The main character and the love interest didn't get along for maybe the first few chapters but then they became really good friends. I did like how this story was all about girl gamers. It was my favorite part of the story and I absolutely loved the main character. Melody went through a lot of shit in this book and she fought hard to get what she had earned. Overall I give this book 3 stars. I definitely would've enjoyed it more if I didn't go in expecting it to be a hate to love story.

I was disappointed because I expected this to be a romance. The cover and the title and the description led me to believe this. It's not a romance. It has a very small romantic sub-plot, but definitely it's women's fiction. I enjoyed it, but for the first third I was so confused at what I was reading.

This book was exactly the escape I needed right now. I loved the screwball comedy that is our hapless-yet-determined heroine's daily life, and the insider view of the gaming industry with its bro culture and toxic masculinity. The romance is sweet and supportive (you can totally share this one with your mom without having to blush), and the family scenes are hilarious. Things take a more serious turn with a taste of the online vitriol directed against women in the gaming industry, but that plot thread is both true to life and satisfyingly resolved. To avoid spoilers, I'll just say that I will never stop being amused by the concept of the central video game.

I was very excited to receive this book as an e-arc, primarily because it has a blurb from Helen Hoang, who writes delightfully steamy romances. The novel's characterization of Melody Joo was superb. Her inner monologue is entirely believable, her fraught-but-fond relationship with her parents is relatable, and her position in a male-dominated field feels authentic. However, for a romance novel, there was surprisingly little romance. The book as advertised suggested an "enemies-to-lovers" storyline that never materialized. Instead, Melody has a few preconceived notions about her new colleague (a "pretty boy" who got the job out of nepotism in the industry), but they're quickly dismantled. In fact, Melody's other colleague, a bumbling frat boy, seemed more of the "enemy" than the person deemed as such by the novel, and experienced more of the typical "romance novel" tropes with the main character than the romantic lead. The novel, though lacking in true romantic chemistry, excels as a modern workplace drama. Melody, as a woman in a toxic, male-dominated field, becomes the target of a Gamergate-style online attack, which quickly escalates when she is doxxed online. The story of Melody career triumph is the most compelling part of the novel.

*Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing this e-ARC for an honest review. Pub date: August 18, 2020

Let me start off by saying I was stoked to read this book...a look into women in the gaming world and a bit of romance too? Great!

Unfortunately that excitement didn’t last. I struggle with unlikeable main characters and my goodness is this woman unlikeable. So much page-space is filled with her endless nit-picky complaints. I understand a character who isn’t always happy and doesn’t like certain things but this is taken to an alienating level. She’s constantly mean to people who try to help her, makes rude comments about her supposed friends, and is annoyed by her parents more than is believable. There are so many unnecessary snide side comments that I almost didn’t make it through this one.

This book is labeled as a romance but I’m not sure why. Aside from a few kisses throughout, this is really a drama about mistreatment in the workplace.

I was really hoping for a strong female character who would come in and change things AND get the guy in the end. Instead I got someone who is faced with endless terrible situations but doesn’t really do much to help herself (what 27-28yo responds to unsolicited dick picks in 2020?!!) ...so while some things may change in the end, the journey is so unpleasant that it’s not even satisfying when those changes happen.

Suzanne Park's Loathe at First Sight is an interesting journey into the world of video game production. It's obvious that Park did a ton of research into how that the mechanics of that industry work, and Melody Joo was a really fun, self-aware, and pithy protagonist.

I'd say the biggest problem with this one has nothing to do with the book itself but the marketing. Between the title and the official description, it's pretty clear that the idea was for this to be sold as an enemies-to-lovers romance taking place against the backdrop of the misogynistic and racist world of video game development. The professional feminist politics and culture writer in me SCREAMED because it sounded SO PERFECT.

However, I'd say the romance was definitely relegated to a secondary storyline (and tied in terms of airtime with a whole separate subplot featuring Melody's two friends Jane and Candice), and it wasn't even an enemies-to-lovers story. (I don't consider one brief argument at the beginning enough to be worthy of the term "loathe," especially because it wasn't really followed up with much else.) That's probably where a few readers will be disappointed.

Aside from that, after a while it seemed that a lot of storylines were just blowing through all of major social issues within online gaming without necessarily a ton of reflection. Just wish there was a tad more nuance there. Some folks might also find the blatant misogyny, racism, and brief homophobia triggering.

I wanted to love this one because the premise was so cool, and I'm sad that I didn't!

I absolutely adored this book! Melody is the exact female character I love to read about; she is placed in a very difficult position as a woman in a mostly male-dominated field: video game development. She gets met with setbacks but she stays adamant that she knows her stuff and I admire that so much! I love the romance and the dialogue was nicely written. I would highly recommend and will definitely be reading more from Suzanne Park in the future.

I really enjoyed this book. There were not too many surprises or big plot twists, but I enjoyed it for what it was, which was a very enjoyable romance. I did really like that it had a women of color as the lead character, and that it took place in an environment I knew nothing about. I know very little about video games and game development and I thought it was a cool place to set the story.

Such a fun romantic book! Very witty writing and I love the way she wrote the hate to love trope! The hate to love trope is very hard to write but in this book it’s funny and effortless! I work on site at a video game company so seeing the behind the scenes making of a game was fun also! The writing is very witty and many of the scenes with the main characters parents are so relatable! I would recommend this book!

Suzanne Park is a unique voice, and this story about gaming companies and culture really blew me away. The characters, particularly Melody, are quirky and interesting, and the pressure of the game launch is a really effective narrative thread that builds tension and had me turning the pages long after I should've stopped for the night.

I really admire the deftness with which the author deals with multiple different issues: the toxicity of male chauvinism in the workplace, nepotism, harmful stereotypes (gender, racial, etc.), and the difficulty of labels. The romance definitely takes a backseat to the previously mentioned issues, and I have to say Nolan is possibly the least interesting guy in the story, but the other males more than made up for it.

I know a little about some of the doxxing that's been leveled at female gamers and female critics of gaming culture over the past decade, and I applaud the author for doing such a great job of demonstrating the mental, emotional and even physical effects of this horrible behavior. This is an important book, one I wish every gamer was forced to read. Four solid stars for this book (and I should mention as well - this author's style reminds me more than a little of Helen Hoang, so Hoang fans, take note!).

*I received a review copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

This was a face-paced, sweet romance. I enjoyed this very quick read with relatable characters. There was a lot of pride and prejudice, haha. I didn't realize until I finished this, but it was a pretty clean read.

A fun and fast-moving romance that features a young woman trying to build a career in the world of computer gaming. I enjoyed the romance, but even more, I appreciated the way the author features the ways women and Asian women are so often stereotyped and overlooked. It wasn't heavy handed, but it definitely added depth to the story. Looking forward to recommending this.

Loved this novel! Original, quirky character with a sarcastic sense of humor who is thrown into a bunch of situations where she has to think on her feet and be willing to speak up or be knocked down and pummeled. She is definitely tough enough; I really liked her! I would read this author again!

I liked this one so much. For a good chunk of it, I saw a lot of similarities with Christina Lauren's Hating You/Dating You but then the plot turned and I enjoyed all of the fresh material. (Because of those similarities though, it was clear that Ian was behind the leaks.)

It was obvious to me that this was well-researched. Though I enjoy video games, I don't know shit about how they are made. Those skills are beyond me, so it was fun to see these characters describe the ins and outs of game production. I also felt this was a very real portrayal of how it is to not be a cis het white man in the world in general.

The romance was sweet. Nolan is lovely. I enjoyed the enemies-to-friends arc with Asher. Kat was a great work friend and mentor. This was a really good read and I'll recommend it to my other nerdy friends.

I got angry at this book for all the right reasons, and I really loved reading it! I like that the romance wasn't the central part of the book and that the characters were actually developed. There were some time skips that weren't super clear at times, but it worked out really well. I loved the ending and how it ties everything together! The look into the gaming industry was cool and I love how much research the author put into it. Highly recommend!

Fast-paced and funny, LOATHE AT FIRST SIGHT is a rom-com that doesn't shy away from serious issues. The protagonist Melody is a new employee at a gaming company who often finds herself trotted out for the company's diversity initiatives, both because she's a woman and because of her Korean heritage. When she becomes lead producer on a game catering to women gamers (a game that she came up with as a satiric joke), she quickly becomes the target of an online smear campaign. The abuse leveled against Melody by these online trolls is awful—and all too real. As much as I enjoyed Melody's dance around a relationship with her attractive, well-connected intern, it was the misogyny and racism she encountered at work and online that really got me fired up. I was rooting Melody the whole way!

Cute little cozy romance, in the same vein as Sophie Kinsella and other fun and easy romance writers. Good for a rainy day when you need a little pick me up.

This book isn’t what I expected it to be. I thought it was going to funny and with an enemy to lovers romance. It went over the top with the toxic work environment (while I absolutely understand and have seen/experienced first hand these type of things) it was just too repetitive in the book. I just felt bad for the main character the entire time, she never gets a break. It’s not a terrible book, it’s just not what I was looking for and the synopsis made me think it would be something different. Barely any romance and just more about work environment and stereotypes.

Melody's character was great and easy to root for (but it was a struggle reading about some of the bad things that happened to her, especially the doxxing), and I really appreciated the depiction of how hard it is being a woman of color in the world but especially in male dominated industries. I could just feel the frustration and uncertainty of figuring out the balance of trying to be assertive and not allowing people to walk all over you while hoping that it's not taking it too far while struggling not to over apologize. It's definitely relatable!

This book could use with a bit more polishing, especially since there was so much unnecessary detail while ultimately some things never felt properly resolved.