I love this new adult romance from Sonia Hartl. This was one of my most-anticipated books of the year, and it lived up to the hype. It features all of the signature elements of Sonia Hartl in adult romance form - humor, sass, and super relatable female characters and relationship dynamics. Fans of Christina Lauren, Alisha Rai, and Sally Thorne will love this book.

Sonia Hartl's Heartbreak for Hire features one of the best and most unusual meet cutes ever! Brinkley is a gal I'd love to hang out with. Her cat Winnie needs her own graphic novel adventure. : ) Mark is a flawed but absolutely amazing guy. So glad this one has a happy ending.

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was a decent opposite attract romance novel. I loved the spunky, badass Brinkley who works undercover ruining the lives of egocentric men. She meets Mark and he's not the typical egocentric jerk. They hit it off and things get complicated when he decides to work for the same agency. While this novel had laugh out loud moments and funny banter, I wish thier romance would have played out more slowly. They barely knew each other before they start making out. Mark is supposed to be an academic but he acts out of character way more than was necessary.
Although it's an imperfect novel its worth the read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Books for the chance to read and review Heartbreak for Hire prior to it's release in July!

The description of this book really drew me in as it follows a female who is hired to break male hearts and diminish their egos. How cool is that?! It basically provides the revenge for women who have been brought down by men in their personal and professional lives.

The opening sentence is: "Dealing with the male ego was a lot like painting" which instantly drew me in. The chapters are short and well-written, so you feel instantly immersed in the story and the characters. It is a classic enemies-to-lovers romance, that really leaves the reader rooting for the main characters to finally get together and stay together.

Brinkley is a great character who grows a lot through the story and really begins to find herself. She works through many problems that she has been dealing with all her life with the help of our male main character, and we see her finally stand up for herself and take a risk by the time the book finishes. It's refreshing to see her take on the world without fear, or without assistance from a male. Yes, Mark helps her with some things and discovery of herself, but overall he does not make or break her and I think that's important to note in a romance book. It is easy for our female characters to get lost in their male counterparts in a romance novel.

This book does bring some steam, so be prepared for detailed sex scenes between our two characters. They are pretty quick and short, but if you don't like steam then I would recommend either skipping those chapters or skipping this book all together.

Overall, a fun read that will have you laughing and rooting for our characters from the first page until the very last sentence.

3 Stars

In the beginning of the novel, the reader meets Brinkley, a graduate school drop-out who is aspiring to be an artist. Ever since she was dumped by her ex, Aiden, she has been working as a heartbreaker for two years. She finds the job therapeutic; attracting men and getting back at them for embarrassing her clients. However, that’s until she meets a target that she has an immediate attraction and wants to hook-up, Professor Mark.

Mark and Brinkley hit it off, and end up at his apartment for a very steamy make-out and oral sex session, but that all ends when her coworker calls and she has to flee. She runs out of the apartment, but accidentally leaves her cheat-sheet with her boss’s number on it. Mark calls her boss and learns about the set-up and plan for the heartbreak revenge.

A couple days later, Brinkley’s boss announces that for the first time she is going to hire male heartbreakers, and the female staff are livid. Some are fired, and Brinkley has to train, you guessed it, Mark. Their sexual chemistry is strong, and they begin to genuinely care about each other’s dreams, troubles, and aspirations.


What I liked:
The banter
Romance

The idea of a hireable service that will help you get revenge on the man who has wronged you is a great premise for a romance novel. I was definitely super interested to determine how the male lead would be involved, and the twists and turns of this book were fun to ride. There was great chemistry between the main characters, and the relationships that the main character had with the females in her life felt relatable and genuine. My only gripe about this book was that it ended too soon, which feels to me like a good sign that it was a great read!

I loved Heartbreak for Hire! I really enjoyed the two main characters, Brinkley and Mark, in this one!

Heartbreak for Hire is a professional service that women can use to "deal with male egos". Brinkley, and a few other girls, work undercover for women who hire them to get revenge on men who have cheated on them, been overlooked in the workplace, or mistreated them in other ways. All is going well until Brinkley's target, Mark, is a hot professor, who she gets to know pretty well and she has a hard time believing he's the real "bad guy".

Then, Heartbreak for Hire decides to branch out and hire men. This was never part of the deal and the women are furious, as they were promised an environment with all women. Their boss assures them that the addition of the men will help the business, but first, they will need to help train the men. Brinkley and Mark are paired together, and she is not happy about it.

I loved the tension between Mark and Brinkley! There were lots of cute, funny moments as well that had me laughing out loud. This story had a unique story line, with witty banter and fun characters.

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for an Advanced Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars
What a fun concept!
I kind of wish I had Brinkley’s job. It oddly sounds super fun.
This was a very sweet romance. I thought the 2 characters were fantastic on their own and together. Especially Mark. I love Mark.
It felt like a true adult romance. Not just because of the steaminess that makes it “adult” (though it does have that), but it didn’t have a bunch of added nonsense such as ridiculous miscommunication that a lot of rom coms have. There was not drama for drama sake.
They had great banter and got along well, and I could clearly see how they would fall for each other. It all made sense.
I couldn’t put it down, and if I didn’t start it the day of the Super Bowl, I would’ve finished it in a single setting.
So far, this is my favorite rom com of 2021!

Interesting idea for a storyline but the plot fell flat. I think it started when main character ended up involved with one of her targets that the story just dragged and it was very hard to move through the second half of book with no plot after that. I wish there were more character development because it felt like a gender bashing story which had lots of loose ends and storylines all over the place.

Heartbreak for Hire follows Brinkley who works at H4H to get revenge for scorned women. Her particular field is the men with egos but it goes wrong when she falls for a target. Even worse, that target becomes a coworker and she has to navigate a lot of new and confusing feelings. There were pros and cons to this book that I think could really make a reader love or dislike this book. I leaned more towards the later with a final rating of 2.75 stars. I did love the romance dynamic in this book. I enjoyed the back and forth between the two main characters and enjoyed the way they grew together throughout their journey. There were also a lot of fun rom-com chaotic moments that were super fun.

I want to look closer at the things I disliked in this book because I feel like a reader may be able to enjoy this book more if they go in knowing what to expect. Firstly, the first 30% of this book is a struggle! I do recommend continuing to read if you find yourself considering a DNF because a lot of the issues I had at the beginning diminished during the rest of the book. One of two major issues for me were the characters being very one note. The girls (especially at the beginning) generalize A LOT about men. All guys are horrible, backstabbing, and unreliable in there eyes and they have no remorse for their destruction to the point that I didn't support them. Instead they felt like a group of mean girls that each had a single personality role. The mother/daughter relationship felt the same but went more in-depth towards the end. Although the characters didn't get as much depth as I would have liked I will say they became less annoying and outrageous by the end.

Secondly, the boss, work environment, and general concept was manipulative and toxic to the point where it was painful to read.(slight spoilers ahead) It took me some time to accept that this was the point of the book and the main character realizing the wrongness of H4H was part of the plot. Still I struggled with the way the boss kept saying it was empowering for women to get revenge all while manipulating her employees who had been hurt and were still vulnerable. In my mind the resolution to this plot point did not get enough of a turn around and I wanted a stronger statement against the H4H business than I received by the end of the book.

Brinkley Saunders works alongside a handful of other women at Heartbreak for Hire (H4H) -- an undercover agency that specializes in exacting revenge against men, be they cheaters, liars, appropriating coworkers etc. For Brinkley, it is a temporary position to make the money she needs to open her own art gallery. Work at H4H takes a turn when the boss announces male heartbreakers will be joining the team. Brinkley begins to really rethink things when her male counterpart ends up being one of her past targets.

This book has a couple so funny I laughed out loud moments. The story pulled me in and I had to know how everything worked out in the end. And the Brinkley-Mark romance... the escape I need in books like this. But... I found the premise of H4H to be so petty and hate-full, And honestly ridiculous. While it piqued my interest as the premise of a novel, the overall idea really turned me off. I have a hard time picturing something like H4H actually taking place because it is so far from what I view as a healthy way to deal with conflict.

The dynamic between Brinkley and her mother is very obviously loaded with conflict. The reader gains an appreciation for why Brinkley is the way she is because of her mother. I found the twist with mom's past to be a bit abrupt in how it was unveiled / described / presented.

If half stars were a possibility I'd award this 3.5

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my review.

I am frustrated by this book. It started so strong: Brinkley is employed at Heartbreak for Hire, where she makes her living getting revenge on men who have wronged her female clients (an original, clever idea). On a job one night she finds herself attracted to the man she’s supposed to “take down.” An excellent steamy scene follows, but unfortunately the plot quickly begins to unravel from this point forward. What followed was a mishmash of things: Brinkley’s feelings of inadequacy with her mother, her former target Mark inexplicably becoming her co-worker at Heartbreak for Hire, her fears of pursuing her dreams of opening a gallery. There was so much thrown at the reader, but none of it was developed enough for it to ring true. Some conflict between Brinkley and Mark develops at the end, and it was good, heart wrenching stuff, but it was so quickly and simply wrapped up that it lost any impact it might have had. Sonia Hartl definitely has a lot of potential, but sadly this one was a miss for me.

Everyone in Brinkley Saunders's life thinks she's a graduate school dropout who works in admin at an insurance agency. Really she works for a company that hired women to commits act of revenge on men who have scorned women. However, when Brinkley is hired to hurt the ego of a local adjunct professor/super hottie Mark, everything goes sideways.

Heartbreak For Hire is a perfect enemies-to-lovers contemporary romance.

Brinkley works for a company that specializes in revenge for men who need to be taken down a notch or two. Her world is flipped upside down when her company brings in men to help with the revenge and one of them is her former target she had been paid to take down. Liked the strong friendship between Brinkley and her best friend and that it was based in Chicago, didn’t like how unlikeable Brinkley was at times due to being insecure and that it seemed to lag at time - 2.5 ⭐️s.

*Thank you to Netgalley, Sonia Hartl and Gallery Books for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review*.

Imagine if there is an agency you could hire to exact revenge for those who have wronged you? Welcome to Heartbreak for Hire. An agency that will take your nemesis down for a nominal fee. It is Charlies Angels meets the Mafia (in a kinder, gentler way). I have to admit I was nervous to read this book, thinking it would be full of angst but it was laugh out loud funny and oh so satisfying.

Heartbreak for Hire has four divisions: Cheaters, Grifting, Egos and Coworkers. Brinkley, the main character, is at work taking down Egos all over Chicago. That is until she meets her match in Markus, a man they have assigned her with, who embarrassed a coworker. Their undeniable chemistry brings her to her knees, but little does she know Markus is carrying his own secrets. Unfortunately, amid a steamy hook-up, she drops her "calling card", letting Mark know exactly who she is! Hilarity ensues when Mark calls Heartbreak for Hire and speaks with Margot, Brinkley's cut-throat boss, and is hired on the spot.

Brinkley is a complex character, which makes Heartbreak for Hire more than your typical Rom-Com. She has been raised by a selfish Mother, who is a professor at Northwestern. She has been told her Father is unknown, a sperm donor from a local sperm bank. She consistently puts Brinkley down for pursuing Art instead of a doctorate.

One of the many things I loved about this book was the depth of characters. Each person that the Author introduced was worthy of their own story. This book is hard to put down!

Adorable romantic comedy about two people who are anti romance. I loved it. Great characters and plot. I highly recommend.

An entertaining, heartwarming, and uplifting read! It's also quite hilarious at parts so there is that, too.

I liked it at the beginning, but the further in I got...the better it got! There is so much depth added by Brinkley's tense relationship with her mother, ex-academic friends, and then the PLOT TWIST involving Brinkley's mother and.........well, I can't say more without spoiling it! Needless to say, her mother is NOT quite what she portrays herself to be. And that's an understatement.

Brinkley's self-growth, how Mark pushed her to own up to her crap and quit staying stuck in the same rut because she was afraid to take risks, put herself out there, and fail. And then Mark. Oh, Mark. He redeems himself so well and it's beautiful! I love the "grand gesture" in romance novels.

Both MCs have emotional baggage in the form of expectations placed upon them by others, and they both have to embrace their TRUE selves and goals before they can be all happily-ever-after and whatnot.

And there is one part in this book where I quite literally laughed out loud, which does NOT happen often at all to me. It was splendid. All I'm gonna say is...Dolly Parton. When you read it, you'll know what I mean!

What a plot! What a book! I loved Heartbreak for Hire. It was such a funny, well-written romantic comedy. Brinkley Saunders is a professional heartbreaker. That should be enough to draw you in. The banter between her and the new male heartbreaker, Mark, AKA one of her previous targets (!), is so much fun.

I loved Heartbreak for Hire! This one included unique jobs, I felt like Brinkley was such a bad ass for getting to crush men’s egos. I loved the witty banter between her and Mark. Their relationship wasn’t perfect but they were definitely supportive of each other. The author definitely created lovable characters with a plot that was not always predictable. This one is definitely a fun romcom, I read it over two days! Check it out!

Nice book, I liked the. relationship between Mark and Brinkely they had a lot of chemistry but the side characters were underdeveloped and the books was too long. overall an entertaining book.