This is a cute rom-com with enemies to lover’s trope. There are many fun moments that made me laugh so hard I cackled like a witch. This has the vibes of ‘Hating Game’. If you love that book, I am pretty sure you would love this.

Brinkley works for ‘Heartbreak for Hire’ where four of its employees are women and it is run by a Margo. Commissioned by jilted lovers, disgruntled employees, she takes revenge on people by deflating their egos and humiliating them publicly. It gets awkward when Margo hires male heart breakers for the first time and one of them was Mark. He was Brinkley’s target; she was paid to take him down but that turned out a little steamier and forced her run away from her job.

She is on a mission to make Mark’s life miserable so he can quit his job. Her machinations are extremely amusing. Their snarky and witty banter had me rooting for them. She has to fight off her attraction and stick to her job in hand to achieve her dreams of opening a gallery.

I loved Brinkley, she is such an independent, hard-working, passionate and ambitious woman. I admired her tenacity in resolutely holding to her dreams despite her academic mom’s persuasion to make her enroll in masters by giving up her dreams and constant nagging.

Mark is also a great character, he's kind and very patient with Brinkley until she sees him for what he really is. Their sizzling chemistry is too hot to handle.

Overall, I absolutely recommend this delightful, witty, and smart rom-com.

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for this arc and in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I received this book complimentary from NetGalley but all opinions are my own.

Oh man! This was so sweet. I really loved the premise. The characters were well-drawn and interesting. I loved how Brinkley and Markus met and how they got together. I love the Chicago setting. This was just so well done. A really quick but really enjoyable. I will definitely keep an eye out for more from this author.

This book is hailed as a fun romance read for fans of Christina Lauren and Sally Thorne, and so immediately, I knew I'd be interested in this one, especially after I read the summary. Here, twentysomething Brinkley works at "Heartbreak for Hire," a Chicago based company that helps women take back their power and get revenge on the men that jilted them. This undercover gig helps her earn enough money to eventually open her own gallery while still getting her frustrations out on her ex and helping to empower other women. When her boss reveals her plans to hire male employees to join the team, she questions whether or not she's in the right field. Then, we find out one of her former targets Mark, who made quite the impression, is hired as one of these new hires. Mark's an adjunct professor struggling on the academic ladder, quite the attentive and attractive nerd. Soon, Brinkley learns people aren't always what they appear as they start working together and she trains him closely. They have such delicious snappy banter that pulls me in and yearns to see what will happen next. This book is full of witty and captivating language that had me turning the page and polishing off this read in a single setting in only a few hours. The premise does give me such "The Hating Game" vibes and its tone and language are whipsmart, witty, and banter-laden that backs that idea up. With that similar tone, rich and authentic characters, a heck of a plot twist, and more, it's such a delicious, juicy enemies to lovers romance read.

Workplace romance? Check. Steamy, dreamy professor? Check. Headstrong heroine who's getting revenge on trashy men on the daily? CHECK. Everything about this book-the cover, the title, the description-drew me in, and I am so happy to say that I loved every bit of it.

Brinkley, who works for Heartbreak for Hire (H4H: a super secret service that allows women to pay to get revenge on the jerks in their lives), is mortified when her boss announces that H4H is now hiring male heartbreakers. To make matters worse, her assigned trainee is Mark, one of her former targets (and the only one she's ever been honest about herself with). If she wants to fulfill her dream of opening an art gallery, Brinkley's going to have to find a way to work with Mark and keep her job. As the chemistry between them grows, can either go on to fulfill their dreams with their hearts intact?

I made the mistake of beginning this book at 12am and I did not sleep until I literally couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I haven't devoured a book like this in awhile, but it was SO DELICIOUS. Brinkley is like every Sex and the City heroine mixed into one kick-ass heartbreaker who's still learning how to heal from past wounds. Author Hartl knew just how to balance the romance with other human emotions and struggles, all while refusing to allow anyone to steal Brinkley's limelight. I could not give a more enthusiastic 5/5 stars.

So many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the opportunity to read this ARC in an exchange for an honest review.

This book was a bit silly... and predictable... but also a lot of fun! Our main character breaks hearts for a living... until one of her marks (conveniently named Mark) captures HER heart. Will they wind up together? READ TO FIND OUT! The most unbelievable part of this book was how easy it was to get a professorship at Northwestern! This book is perfect for those lazy, stay inside days of the pandemic. Thank you to netgalley and to Gallery Books for the ARC!

Heartbreak for Hire by Sonia Hartl is an excellent and unique modern rom/com novel. It has it all: sass, romance, and excellent plot and cast of characters that all kept me engaged.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book with the concept of almost “undercover operations” with the company called “Heartbreak For Hire”. It was refreshing to see a group of strong, independent, and creative women leading this brigade to set right the wrongs that have been done to clients that have been lied to, scorned, abandoned, hurt, and what have you. Sure, some might say there was an underlying tinge of maybe something bitter and aggressive, but if it all involved men, I doubt that thought would surface. I thought it was ingenious.

I enjoyed Brinkley Saunders. Despite the deals that have been handed to her, the disappointments, and let-downs, here she is advocating for others so that at least she has been able to help address someone else’s issues and leave them in a better place emotionally then where she is at the moment. Is she perfect? Nope. But that is what is endearing. She is flawed, but that makes her realistic and interesting. I thought the plot of H4H and the inclusion of Mark was perfect. There was chemistry, there were sweet moments, and there was fire-quick banter and prose. All leading to a great ending.

I think the author has a great concept with this book and I think there is potential for subsequent novels.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for this arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR, Instagram, and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 7/27/21.

Brinkley has worked at Heartbreak for Hire for 2 years, ever since she went through a terrible breakup. She loves getting revenge for her clients and sticking it to men who remind her of her ex. Then, girl meets boy. Mark is one of Brinkley’s targets before he suddenly shows up as her new co-worker at Heartbreak for Hire.

As a counselor, I enjoyed the psychology talk and felt the academic sabotaging (though for me on a smaller scale).

I loved Mark and was rooting hard for him. He was sensitive and kind and extremely patient with Brinkley. Like most romance novels, Brinkley and Mark had unresolved issues they needed to work through in order to make it work.

I couldn’t put this one down and read it in a day. Have you ever picked up some ARCs, and they just didn’t feel like a real book? This one wasn’t like that. This felt solid to me.

What I didn’t love were the intense sex scenes. I’m no prude, but these scenes went from 0 to 100 REAL QUICK. Some of the dirty talk made me cringe because it seemed so out of character.
Lastly, the ending just felt a little rushed.

Thanks, Netgalley, for the ARC.
3.75/5

I loved this!! Wow! I loved how Brinkley has passions and opinions outside of her job and relationship. I thought the meet cute and the resulting relationship was excellent. I am just over the moon with this book!

I thought I was going to love this book. It started off.... ok and then it went downhill for me. I didnt like the main character. I thought the premise was rom com. It was not rom com at all. It was a little more mean girl.

I had high hopes for Heartbreak for Hire, in part because workplace enemies-to-lovers romcoms are a favorite category of mine. Don't be fooled by the cover art or jacket copy -- this is far from a workplace romance despite the fact that the hero and heroine work together briefly. That workplace is a big part of the problem with this novel; "Heartbreak 4 Hire" (or "H4H" as it's referred to in-text) is a strange and mean-spirited concept that toes the line of entrapment under the guise of giving "bad men" their due. "In the world at large," Brinkley explains, "men still had the upper hand, and in our own twisted way, we considered what we did an evening of the odds." There's just... so much wrong with this. Margo, H4H's founder, is more ambiguous than enigmatic, and her claim to be helping her four female employees (all victims of misogyny in various forms) overcome their past traumas is the weakest weak sauce. Our main character, Brinkley, has reservations about her work at H4H, but even her glimmers of guilty conscience can't save her from the distasteful association.

Brinkley herself suffers the same ambiguity as her boss. She's an artist -- a painter -- but her dream is to open a gallery. To start, gallery ownership and curation are entirely separate disciplines from making art. We never see Brinkley interact with her local art scene, visit a museum, participate in the art community in any way. So... why is she opening a gallery?

Brinkley's foil, Mark, is similarly vague. He's a reluctant academic because of his loyalty to an already-dead character whose presence is only noted in a single scene. He longs to teach middle school and run a metal-detecting club for children, since patience and disappointment are ideal qualities to introduce during after-school activities. Mark is miraculously ripped and a sexual wonder, but don't worry -- he wears sweater vests, so he fits right in at the university.

The writing is spare and oddly paced, with a penchant for casual hyperbole (did it really take Brinkley an HOUR to put her hair in a bun? Does Mark really smell like "rain and moonlight"?). There was a pervasively perfunctory feeling to the prose... not much joy in the writing.

Overall, this was a miss for me. If feminism is about justice, H4H is a perversion of the desire for equality. The characters were thinly drawn and largely unlikeable. I never cared whether or not Brinkley and Mark got together, which seems the most basic emotional investment readers should make in a romance.

Heartbreak for Hire is a quirky romcom that has laugh out loud moments. The plot is like the opposite of Hitch (the movie) and it was fun to see Brinkley and Mark go on their revenge assignments. There were some moments that I wished were explored a little more to see Brinkley and Mark's relationship outside of work. Overall, it was certainly an enjoyable and escapist read!

A unique premise, a steamy romance, and a fierce female lead overcoming the garbage the world has thrown at her? Of course, it's a a Sonia Hartl novel! Hartl's first adult romance is engaging and funny, and my only complaint is that some of the secondary characters weren't given as much time on the page as I would have liked. More friendship to go with the excellently developed romance!

This was a fun book to read. The twists and turns in the plot were great to keep me buried in the book, I really enjoyed the author's writing styles, and you cannot help but love the characters. I don't want to spoil anything, but I absolutely loved the ending!!

Realistic fiction. Brinkley's heart was broken, but she was "saved" by her current boss (and now works) at Heartbreak for Hire. It's here that Brinkley feels that she can help other women who have also been mistreated by the male species. And then there's her mother who just cannot understand why art, instead of academia, is so important to Brinkley. And then Brinkley meets Mark. Wow! Her life just got even more complicated... what's a girl to do?!

I enjoyed Heartbreak for Hire, liked the concept and was giggling over the banter and back and forth of B and M’s relationship. Was a quick enjoyable read.

A delightfully witty romcom, Heartbreak for Hire leaves a reader smiling from beginning to end. With believable characters and a plot that leaves one guessing, this is a book worth adding to your shelf.

Main character Brinkley Saunders appears to have it all - beauty, brains and a job that she enjoys. Or so it seems. Everything is going well until she meets Markus Cavanaugh, who just happens to be her latest target. Suddenly what looks like a perfect life begins to show cracks. As things begin to unravel, the author takes her readers into the middle of a colorful mess full of interesting situations, people and memorable moments.

At times laugh-out-loud funny and at others sweetly poignant, this is a love story that is as much about learning to love yourself as it is about finding the right person. Overall, it left this reader enjoying the ending and wondering about a possible happy ending for the other characters in the future.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this one!
I was pretty excited about it based off nothing but the cover and the description that the dude wears a lot of "criminally sexy sweater vests". Like, hello, sign me right up please.
But I don't know, this book felt a little mean spirited.
Brinkley didn't feel like an entirely formed character to me, and the concept of H4H didn't make a bunch of sense. Namely she's not _actually_ breaking hearts, just humiliating dudes, and also how on earth does she explain this high paying under the table job on her taxes? Charlie's Angels but for revenge is a weird concept!
She felt like a bummer. And obviously that dude her mom was trying to hide from was her dad. She's not very observant for someone who is supposed to be super observant and read people for her job.
Mark was ok! I wanted more of a nerdy vibe instead of secretly hot, super good at sex dude.

Bits were steamy, which is good, but it couldn't entirely save it for me, which is why it's 3 stars.

Heartbreak For Hire had such a compelling story! After being dumped by her cheating ex, Brinkley starting working for a company who brought down bad men. This isn’t Brinkley’s passion though, she dreams of opening her own gallery full of her own art, she just hasn’t worked up the courage to do so. Enter Mark, who pushes her to be herself all while facing the same thing in his life. This is a love story but also a story about finding yourself and deciding what you truly want. Not to mention, there was SO MUCH good chemistry between the couple in this book.