Heartbreak for Hire started off really promising for me, but about a quarter of the way into the novel I realized there were two things that were going to make me not enjoy the rest of the book: 1) the dialogue. It did not feel realistic or organic. I had a hard time imagining some of the lines being spoken in real conversation. 2) the characters. The main characters were ok for the most part, but the supporting ones felt like caricatures.

Thank you for letting me read an early copy of this book!

I love the premise of this one! I thought it would be a cuter story than it was though. The cover seemed much more light hearted. I was sad by the H4H ladies back stories. I can't imagine staying in a relationship like Brinkley had. I'm not sure the Heartbreakers for Hire idea is at all plausible but it was very creative and unique to this story.

The two main characters had really great chemistry and it was easy for me to root for them even from the start. I enjoyed watching them get to actually know each other and trust one another. I also LOVED Brinkley's evil sweater wearing cat! That was such a fun addition to the storyline.

Brinkley's relationship with her mom was interesting to me though sad. I was happy to see them be able to communicate better as the story went on.

I really did like the character growth and how things ended for this one.

Heartbreak for Hire is romance ambrosia. It’s the perfect blend of humor, sex, reality, and self-reflection, with a true friendship bonus. The characters have depth and struggles that enhance their relatability. Best of all, I was drawn in from the very beginning. I loved witnessing Brinkley and Mark find, flounder, and fall in love. I highly recommend this read and look forward to reading more from Sonia Hartl.

HEARTBREAK FOR HIRE by Sonia Hartl is a fast and funny read. While the premise is fun and somewhat contrived, you won't find yourself lingering too long over the impossibility of it all due to the strong characters, witty dialogue and romantic tension. Brinkley comes across a bit brash in the beginning, but as the backstory of her life is filled in she becomes an increasingly sympathetic character and you'll find yourself rooting for her in the end. It was hard not to fall for Markus from the very beginning even though you know he is a little too good to be true. The banter and chemistry between the two of them is fantastic and just plain fun. I like that both have complex backstories that are revealed over the course of the book and play directly into how they relate to one another and the career paths they have chosen. I had some literal laugh out loud moments at their antics and felt some true joy when they finally got to their happily ever after. I will definitely be recommending this book to fellow contemporary romance readers who like a side dish of humor and a fair bit of steam.

I enjoyed the enemies to lovers portion of the book, great chemistry between Brinkley and Mark and some amazing banter. The heartbreak job part was an intriguing concept, and I wished there was a little more of that - maybe showing some of the other "departments" so we could see how her friends played it out. Excellent characters that played off our main couple well- family, friends, friends-turned-enemies, academics, the hissy cat (my favorite side bit). Definitely recommend for those who love rom-coms.

It's always frustrating when a book that seems like it will be perfect is a disappointment. The blurb and cover had me really excited but this was not for me. The style didn't land, the concept of the company fell flat when more fully explained, the constant hating on all men was annoying, the sexual content was too graphic, and the love interest was too perfect and forgiving. That being said I am sure this book will find an audience and lucky for them it seems obvious that this is just the start of a whole series of stories involving the Heartbreak for Hire women.

Thank you, NetGalley for the free copy!

I really liked this book! The concept of H4H was really intriguing and the plot line as a whole kept me interested. All of the characters were well-rounded and definitely not boring. There were a couple of little twists towards the end that I did not see coming, which I always appreciate.

Brinkley and Mark were so cute. I liked how their relationship grew - my only wish is that there was an epilogue of some sort! I always want to know a little more about what happens after the end. All in all, the writing was great and I loved the story.

Heartbreak For Hire by Sonia Hartl

Rating 3.5 / 5 Stars
Publication Date - 7/27/2021

** Thank you to Netgalley, Gallery Books, and of course, Sonia Hartl, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book really surprised me with how much I liked it. Originally, I thought of this as a normal meet cute, enemy to lover book, but when you dig deeper there is so much more to it. Not only did I feel the emotions Brinkley felt when it came to H4H, I also felt her change in tone for it as it arrived. I became sick of it when she did. I think Hartl did a great job with Margo's character - but I would have loved to see a flashback of when she recruited the girls. I found her to be a kind of baseless villain, the same with Eve. I do think if the book had been longer, this would have been a great way to add to it. As much as I didn't like Margo, I did like that she somewhat stood for women empowerment - even if it did eventually turn into a form of gaslighting, etc.

Brinkley's storyline was slightly predictable, and I for sure knew how the book was going to end from the first spotting of a character, it was just a matter of when that happened. I did find that her forgiveness was a little too quickly won over by her mother. Especially after so much over the years. IT also would have been interesting to see Richard have a conversation with Brinkley? I feel as if he just showed up and left. I am happy that Mark and Brinkley ended up together, but more importantly than a love story - this is a rom-com for truly finding yourself in a world that is pitted against you.

I would have loved to see Charlotte, Allie, and Emma's stories play out more. Perhaps if the book had been longer it would have been possible. I also think a few flashbacks would have played well when it came to Mark and Brinkley's trauma. Not much, but more than just simple statements. For example, why she hated Eve so much - seeing how much Eve betrayed her in the past. Another pesky little thing that annoyed me was something so small. I really didn't like the name Brinkley. I am someone who kept thinking of the Disney Channel Original Movie (Brink) every single time her name came up.

Heartbreak for Hire is a fun, fast read that has a stick it to the man storyline. Brinkley is a part of a team of women that specialize in a secretive service that gets revenge on men for jilted women. Now enters Mark, who Brinkley is supposed to be taking down but there is a major plot twist!! As the story takes place, Brinkley is questioning her life choices and has to find herself in order to deal with past traumas. Her and Mark had great, steamy chemistry and some good banter between them. I didn’t love Margo, H4H’s founder and the girls’ boss. I thought she was mean spirited and didn’t go with the overall feminist feel of the book. Overall it was a quick, fun read that I enjoyed.

What a different beginning to a romance novel! I loved the setup of the characters and the enemies-to-romance trope. While I did like the main characters, Brinkley and Mark, though, I didn't really care for any of the supporting ones. The heartbreaking assignments provided lots of entertainment, but I would've liked to see more plot development. It was an entertaining read that I liked, but I've read other books I would probably recommend to friends and other readers more.

This is definitely a book club pick! I think my friends will really enjoy this one! Thank you to Netgalley for this arc ebook.

Heartbreak for Hire (H4H) is a secret service that specializes in revenge for jilted lovers, frenemies, and long-suffering coworkers with a little cash to spare and a man who needs taken down a notch. After breaking up with a cheating manipulative ex-boyfriend, Brinkley is recruited to work for H4H as the Egos department. She is working to save up to have her own art gallery and (she believes) helping empower women along the way. However, when her boss makes an announcement that not only is she hiring me heartbreakers, she is also hiring one of Brinkley’s previous targets - Brinkley is not so sure she’s doing the right thing.

Heartbreak for Hire was a quick read, and I really enjoyed Mark and Brinkley’s relationship. However, the storyline with Brinkley’s father felt very much like an afterthought and just a nice way to tie up all loose ends. Would’ve liked that to be fleshed out more.

Overall, a four-star read for me.

This story required a heady level of suspension of disbelief, and there is a lot of warranted drama as nobody can seem to manage to tell the truth. A bunch of red herrings as well (would this have been more interesting if the boss had had other plans for her heartbreakers)? At any rate I loved the hero and liked the heroine, and I thought it was a fun peek into the dark side of academia with a whole lot of artistic wish-fulfilment on the part of the author. Four stars for making me cry and sigh. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for this unbiased review!

Heartbreak for Hire, by Sonia Hartl, seems on the surface to be a book I would absolutely love. A workplace romcom with the enemies to lovers trope (my favorite!), Heartbreak for Hire tells the story of Brinkley, who has worked for two years as a Heartbreaker, tearing down men with oversized egos — for a fee, of course. Brinkley dreams of owning her own art gallery, but after the psychological damage done to her by her ex and her mother, it seems like an unreachable goal. When things go too far with a target, Brinkley never expects to see him again — until he shows up at the Heartbreak for Hire offices, having been recently recruited as the newest Heartbreaker.

Although the writing is quite readable, there is little else going for H4H (the acronym the author employs for the company within the book, with the same name as the novel). I was happy to overlook the slightly out there premise, even ready to suspend my judgment of any character who thinks heartbreaking is a good career move, but H4H has little else to recommend it. The characters are one-dimensional, filling roles rather than acting like people (the evil ex, the cold mother, the best friend). Brinkley herself has little going on to make the reader invested in her successes or failures, and the love interest is downright unlikable.

This book suffers also from a distinct lack of diversity. Set in Chicago, it nonetheless boasts an almost exclusively white cast. The only possible person of color is fellow Heartbreaker Charlotte Diaz, who gets one line to suggest she might be non-white (“Her warm skin paled to a light brown.”). Otherwise, this is a book made up entirely of white characters, in spite of its being set in a major, racially diverse city.

Similarly, there is not a single queer character in sight. Every character is emphatically straight, and the very premise of H4H is incredibly gendered. There is never a mention of non-cis, non-straight people even existing, much less being main or even side characters.

This ties into one of the biggest overall problems with H4H — its casual misogyny. This book literally refers to women as girls in the same sentence it calls men men, and that’s just the beginning. This book paints with a broad, broad brush, showing men as almost entirely cheating, egotistical jerks, who care about sex and nothing else, while women are entirely victims out for vengeance.

Heartbreak for Hire is disappointing across the board, with very little going for it, although it may be the first romcom with a romantic metal detecting scene.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC.

Heartbreak for Hire has just become one of my absolute favorite RomComs! With a great premise, sizzling chemistry, A+ snappy banter, moments of absolute hilarity, and a cast of characters who feel both authentic and unique, I was hooked from page one and the second I finished, I was ready to read it all over again! This fantastic RomCom deserves five VERY enthusiastic stars, and if I could give it more, I would!

Had high hopes for this, but it disappointed. Lots of things that I did not like.. Pacing was really weird. This book felt like random chunks of developmental scenes, rather than a gradual build up, especially for Brinkley and Mark’s relationship. Also, at the same time, there was too much but too little going on. There was topics like woman empowerment, toxic relationships, familial issues.... but none of these were given the time they deserve. Since there was so much going on, nothing was really deep dived into (breadth vs depth!). This book just tried to cover too much.

For the last two years, Brinkley Saunders has worked for Heartbreak for Hire (H4H), a secret service for women looking to get revenge on men who have wronged them. Brinkley and three co-workers were all hired by Margo to take down the male Grifters, Players, Cheaters and Egocentric men of Chicago. At first, the job was therapeutic for Brinkley who had found herself at loose ends following the end of an emotionally and psychologically abusive relationship and dropping out of graduate school. When she meets her newest target, Markus Cavanaugh, he doesn't seem like the typical egomaniac Brinkley would enjoy taking down a notch or two. In fact, he seems charming and sweet and before she knows it her usually strong walls are slipping. When the night goes array the best she can hope for is she'll never see Markus again, but...then he turns up as one of the first male employees at H4H and Brinkley is expected to train him. The more she gets to know Markus, the more he seems to break all the stereotypes she expects him to break as a struggling academic adjunct professor (a world Brinkley has sworn to never be apart of thanks to own experiences as a graduate student at Northwestern and growing up with a mother who ran the psychology department). Can the two set aside their rocky start and find some common ground or is heartbreak inevitable for these two heartbreakers?

VERDICT is that this book is such a fast and funny read that you won't find yourself lingering too long over the impossibility of it all. Brinkley comes across a bit brash in the beginning, but as the backstory of her life is filled in she becomes an increasingly sympathetic character and you are really rooting for her in the end. It was hard not to fall for Markus from the very beginning even though you know he is a little too good to be true. The banter and chemistry between the two of them is fantastic and just plain fun. I like that both have complex backstories that are revealed over the course of the book and play directly into how they relate to one another and the career paths they have chosen. I had some literal laugh out loud moments at their antics and felt some true joy when they finally got to their HEA. I will definitely be recommending this book to fellow contemporary romance readers who like a side dish of humor and a fair bit of steam.

I enjoyed this so much! From the sisterhood of revenge work to the cut throat world of academia and all of Brinkley’s wit and sass, it was awesome. Throw in the enemies-to-lovers romance between Mark and Brinkley and you’ve got a winner. I couldn’t put this book down and it constantly had me grinning from ear to ear.

Brinkley is a jaded struggling artist who works for Heartbreak for Hire. After a mishap on the job her life is turned upside down when Mark comes into the picture. Everything from her love life, to her job, to even her past life as an academic comes crashing together and she has to finally decide what she really wants to do with her life.

I loved just about everything about this book! The friendships were really great, especially her close friendship with Emma. The budding romance with Mark was fiery and deep. Their instant connection through Brinkley off her game and I liked that Mark was persistent. I was also really happy to see the mother-daughter relationship on the mend. This book had everything, it was deep and emotional enough to pull at heart strings, had a fiery and steamy romance and fun banter that kept it light. Overall great read! Would definitely read again and would easily recommend!

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.

This is going to be a perfect summer trip book. The chemistry between to two main characters is off the charts. Brinkley is very likeable lady except a bit too insecure from a bad gas lighting relationship she had back in college. She has an overbearing mother who wants nothing more than her to follow her footsteps in the academia world. Which is a bit of a problem since Brinkley dropped out of college before finishing her masters. She works at a private cash only firm of women that specialize in getting even with double crossing men.

Insert the main love interest. He is a target of Brinkley. Who immediately finds herself breaking character and wishing she was really getting to know this handsome stranger.

The book came with several plot twists. The writing was very sharp, witty and funny. Half way through you start thinking the book should end now and then comes another little twist or hiccup. However, by the end of the book everything is tied so neatly together you forgive the extra 100 pages.


Thank you for the opportunity to read this gem.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishing team for sharing this ARC with me!

Heartbreak for Hire is about two unlikely characters meeting when they need each other most.

I went into this book expecting a workplace enemies-to-lovers romcoms but it wasn't quite that. Despite the hero and heroine work together briefly, there wasn't much of that or it really being enemies to lovers. I liked the journey each character had in acknowledging their pasts and how they can move forward.

Brinkley and Mark were very cute together but the romance felt...half-hearted. The pacing was also a little choppy. Overall, it was a cute read but not very memorable.