Quirky characters? Check. Steamy romance? Check. Story I couldn’t put down? Check. This was a quick, fun read that did not disappoint!I’d definitely recommend Heartbreak for Hire to anyone looking for a fast read! Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the arc to review.

I started out really enjoying this book and liked it less and less as it went on. Overall it was fun-ish and readable, but not especially well-crafted.

The thing that ruined it for me was how academia was represented. I was able to ignore it at first, wave it off as just coming from someone who doesn't really understand it. But at the end it becomes a major plot point and it took me completely out of the story with how ludicrous it all was. Not to mention **SPOILER** he gets a job as a middle school teacher despite having no experience or credential? That's... not how any of this works.

My other major gripe was that the characters were just not well worked. The character arcs were sloppy, mostly the characters were black and white caricatures, and all their problems were basically fixed via deus ex machina.

I was absolutely primed to love this book. I love the concept of folks benignly embarrassing men who deserve it for money!!! But it really failed in its execution and that was disappointing.

Brinkley and Mark first meet when she's hired to publicly embarrass him after he allegedly stole the work of a coworker. Mark is in academia, which Brinkley detests because her cold professor mother has reminded Brinkley at every turn that she failed out of graduate school and is an utter disappointment. Brinkley and Mark nearly hook up, she accidentally tips him off to the existence of Heartbreak For Hire, and then Mark is hired by the firm when Brinkley's boss expands into employing men.

I really enjoyed the development of Brinkley and Mark's relationship, much of which takes places as she's training him on the art of revenge. There's a lot of fun scenes of men having their lives slightly ruined in public, which we love to see. It's enemies to lovers workplace romance, and those are two tropes that very much Work for me. I think that the development of their relationship could have worked very well without the major external conflict of Mark being in academia, as Brinkley processes that her last relationship was emotionally abusive -- I would have really liked to see that element fleshed out more.

Alas, the fact that Mark is a professor is a big rub for Brinkley, especially as he's looking to move from the University of Chicago to Northwestern, which is where Brinkley left grad school and where her mother teaches. The book kind of devolves into a real hatred of academia and the monstrous competitive backstabbers is apparently turns everyone into.

Look: academia has problems. Sexual harassment is rampant, job opportunities are shit, institutional racism and misogyny are real barriers, and pay for anyone who isn't a tenured professor (and even for people who are) is absolute shit. But instead of attacking some of the foundational issues with higher education, Brinkley's issues with academia are intensely personal and remain that way. Mark wanting to be a professor is like a slap in the face to her, and of course it's only because he wants to honor the memory of his grandfather and he'd really rather be teaching middle school. The resolution to the bleak moment facilitated by Mark getting the job at Northwestern is Marc quitting this new job and getting the much more desirable job to Brinkley of teaching middle school. Which is not to say that teaching middle school is a less desirable job to me! Just that to Brinkley it's infinitely better than Toxic Higher Education because both are monoliths.

Beyond the weird "anyone associated with teaching in a college or university is a terrible human being" vibe, I did have issues with Margo, the owner of H4H. Brinkley initially conceptualizes her job as a social good and vaguely therapeutic, which I 100% agree with. Her opinion of her work changes through the book until she wonders if they're really making any changes at all. And the answer is no: it's impossible to create systemic change against misogyny through a four-woman team of secret revenge agents. But it's pleasing to me to imagine all of these gross men getting a small comeuppance. Margo is clearly a toxic boss; she's hired all of these women at personal lows and taken whatever trauma they were experiencing and turned that into their focus area for revenge. This isn't good! But I would have loved for H4H to be a more empowering place for women instead of a way for Brinkley to kind of fall into a place of like "well maybe men are better than we give them credit for."

In the end, this book didn't work for me. I do mean literally in the end: the book is well paced until the last twenty percent, which feels very rushed and has an unsatisfying reconciliation with her mother. And I also mean metaphorically: I don't think it's a bad book per se, but I do really wish the author had gone another way with a few things. Still, I enjoyed large chunks of it and will be seeking out more by this author, including her forthcoming YA.

What starts out as a job to get revenge on Mark leads Brinkley to love. A cute enemies to lovers story that can be read in just a few sittings. I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book MUST be on your radar if you liked The Hating Game, The Ex Talk, or Beach Read.
After a horrible breakup, Brinkley is recruited to work for Heartbreak for Hire, a company whose clients pay to exact revenge on their slimy tormentors—a kind of Charlie’s Angels for women done wrong.
It’s all going along fine, until Brinkley has a meetup-gone-awry with Mark, a target who turns out to be impossibly swoony ... and then he’s hired to be her coworker.
I’ve seen this book described as enemies-to-lovers, but I think it’s more a situation of combustible instant attraction that’s complicated with forced proximity. In either case, it’s a fun book with many laugh out loud moments.
Brinkley is an artist at heart, working this odd job to save up for opening her own gallery—a “someday” dream she keeps putting off. It’s her ties with Mark that seem to intersect several threads of her life and has her questioning what she really wants to do with it after all.
I really liked Mark as a love interest. He had an interesting backstory that’s slowly revealed more and more as the book goes on. I also loved Brinkley’s hissing cat Winnie (a stand-out character of its own), and enjoyed how much Chicago shines as the setting.
And, goodness, just throw all the fire and eggplant emojis at this one. It has to be one of the steamiest romances I’ve ever read.
I wouldn’t call this book lighthearted, though. There is rampant toxicity throughout and, even though Brinkley working through it is a main point of the story, it does dull the sparkle a little bit at times.
I really liked this book overall, though. There are a few surprising twists and the ending nicely ties up all the strings.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Admittedly, I spent a few weeks circling this book and hesitated whether or not I should check it out. The cover is eye catching, but the blurb and mixed reviews were a hard sell for me. I'm glad I read it - this is a fun one.

This is a great beach read or rainy day read with a fast paced, singular POV. It's a fresh concept set in a surreal world - where else would a company where you can pay for revenge exist? - with larger than life characters and plenty of humor, all three qualities akin to a Lucy Score rom-com, so those looking for realism might not dig this. The morality/ethics of the H4H company and its founder's blatant gaslighting and emotional manipulation of her workers is adequately discussed.

Brinkley's unapologetic and brash personality might turn readers off, but her struggle with self-worth, life/career aspirations and complicated relationship with her mother will (hopefully) have readers invested in her transformation/growth by the end. If readers don't like Brinkley, they'll stay for Mark. I loved Mark the moment he was introduced - he's the classic cinnamon roll hero, an ultra nerd who solely wears sweater vests and loves metal detecting but somehow also has the chiseled body of a Greek god. He's an absolute sweetheart battling his own demons and doesn't belong in a cutthroat environment like H4H or, weirdly, academia.

Besides the predictability of the "twists" at the end, my qualm with this book is the chemistry between Brinkley and Mark. It felt forced and stranger than the notion of H4H itself. They felt like best friends at most. As much as I love a good HEA, this would've worked well without one and for a moment towards the end, felt like it wasn't set up for one.

Listen, this book isn't gonna be for everyone. It's not a polarizing read, but its eccentric concept with an arguably unlikeable heroine will dissuade some readers from progressing past the 25% mark. If you can suspend disbelief and settle into the world Sonia Hartl has excellently crafted, you'll definitely enjoy the ride and find a new favorite book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery books for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Here’s the most frustrating thing about Heartbreak for Hire: it could have been so good. The premise is great—woman works avenging wronged women by setting up schemes to get back at the men who wronged them. The beginning of the book, and the meet cute with the love interest, made me excited. There are four women working. Oh! It’ll be a series.

But then, two of the women disappear and the book seemed to peter out until the last 10% which had so many plot twists! Inconsistent plotting isn’t fatal, but there were so many key elements that were completely ludicrous, and I kept stopping reading and noting, “oh, another plot contrivance.” People with phones write their boss’s phone number out on a note card, and then lose it. Anthropological research is stolen! Someone else writes an anthropological journal article and gets it placed in mere weeks. Someone gives up a tenure-track job as though academia is the real evil. All this ridiculousness meant I just wanted to finish it to finish it. I didn’t get love chemistry between the main characters. I figured the main character would still be miserable after the book plot ended, but I just wanted it done.

I received a ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an obviously honest review. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

This book, I will say right up front, was hard to rate. There are certain aspects of it where I laughed out loud and others where I physically and mentally cringed. The laughter outweighed the cringing, case in point a flying fake breast in a cowboy bar, so I’m just going to go with those moments and see what happens here.

I love a good revenge story. I really do. H4H is a revenge business. Women are employed to take revenge out on men who have done other women wrong. To humiliate them in public, discredit them, whatever it takes. Brinkley in one of the H4H operatives with a backstory that makes you really understand why she is doing this as an occupation. The pay is great and she is saving to own her own art gallery.

Enter Mark, one of her, well, marks.
For the first time ever, since starting this job, Brinkley is attracted to the man she is supposed to humiliate. What ensues forms the rest of the book.

I have to say I wasn’t a fan of Brinkleys in the first fifty or so pages. After that, I felt a great deal of compassion for her.

Of course, I adored Mark from the get go.

Some of the reviews of this book have stated the storyline is a mean and dysfunctional one. While that may be true, we live in a mean and dysfunctional world, so it’s really just a reflection of how we treat one another. A sad reflection, but one, nonetheless. I hate spoilers so I won’t tell what happens in the book. Suffice it to say, this isn’t your mama’s Romcom.

Not even close.
Thanks to Netgalley and Gallery books for a sneak peak
4 stars.

This was such a fun, sweet story. I’d definitely recommend to others.. I think people will definitely enjoy the banter and story of this one. I can’t wait to see what the author does next

I really wanted to love this book, but I kind of struggled. Aspects of this book were exactly what I hoped for a romantic comedy with cringe inducing moments, funny moments, and an amusing plot. Where I struggled was the believability that the guy Brinkley is tasked with breaking down at the beginning and who has a stable and demanding job, somehow winds up working at the same agency as her. I think this book could have worked just as well if the conflict came from her falling for, and breaking the rules around her job when it came to Markus and the added layer of him working with her wasn't needed, but I get why it was done, and it did result in some humorous moments though in my opinion not enough of them. I wish this book had focused more on the assignments they had together, because those were the moments that the humor and levity could really shine through. Overall I did like this book, it was light and enjoyable, I just hoped I would like it more. Thanks Gallery Books and NetGalley for letting me read this ARC.

I started and finished this gem in one day. H4H was my first Sonia Hartl book and she had me hooked and engaged the entire read. Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the arc! I’m a new fan of Hartl and I’m crossing my fingers that there will be a sequel continuing the stories of the other H4H girls. 4 stars!

This was a fine romance, and a quick read. I enjoyed the idea of Heartbreak for Hire, a company that is used to combat men who do women wrong, and I thought that Brinkley was a well-developed main character. But the story just didn't flow well. It jumped around in the interest of comedic storylines with no real sense of pacing or timing. The love story lacked development, I felt - there was lust, and attraction, certainly, but the LOVE aspect of it really did not make sense to me.

I’m a sucker for enemies to lovers. I do feel like some points were a little extreme but over all a solid read. I look forward to more from this author

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book! A cute rom-com that will made me feel like I was watching a movie! Our MC Brinkley, just got out of a relationship and is trying to get over it by becoming a hired heartbreaker as the title gives away! It really made me smile and I can't wait to read more from this author :) Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and this did not disappoint!! Brinkley and Mark were adorable and made for such a good storyline, I could picture Mark by the way that Brinkley described him! It was a light read that made me laugh and will be the perfect summer read!

Wow, I absolutely loved this book. Great quippy humor, a strong independent main character, and some romance. I love how everything played out!

This was such a fun and unique read! If you enjoyed "The Soulmate Equation" you'll enjoy "Heartbreak for Hire"

Fun, fun, fun. This is such a delightful rom-com. With characters that you care about and a story that you haven't read before.

This was a really fun, light read—a solid contemporary romance!

Brinkley is 27 and her life has kind of stalled. She isn’t following in her mother’s academic footsteps —she dropped out of her masters program and studied art instead. After a bad breakup she takes a job as a heartbreaker. Women hire her to get revenge on men who’ve jilted them—lovers, jerky bosses or colleagues—Brinkley swoops in a breaks them down. Her life is fine until she meets Mark, one of her targets, and makes a mistake with him. A few days later she finds out Mark had been hired as one of the first heartbreakers and they have to work together.

Although it was generally predictable, it was fun to read and kept me turning the pages. And, the romance is definitely steamy.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

I love how this book was an original idea, and not the same storyline as the next book. It was a great read and makes you wish the heartbreakers were a real company. This was a great beach book!

This book was just so FUN!! I couldn’t put it down. I am a sucker for a fun romance with characters that I like, even with crazy circumstances. The idea of two people determined to drive each other crazy makes for a good time and good laughs. Instead of watching a romantic comedy, pick
Up this instead.