I really enjoyed this book, it was a fun quick read.

It did get really steamy there pretty close to the beginning but don’t let that one scene in the beginning fool you, because this is a little bit of a slow burn.

My favorite part of this book was Brinkley’s angry cat, Winnie who was also obsessed with sweaters.

This book was really funny and I enjoyed the back and forth banter between Brinkley and Mark.

I totally did not see the twist coming that caused the fight at the end (maybe it was super obvious to other people,) but I was super surprised.

I received an ARC of this book from Gallery Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.75 stars

When Brinkleys boss announces she’s hiring male heartbreakers for the first time, all of the heartbreakers are up in arms. Brinkley begins to wonder if she should continue the work and if she ever really had been doing the right thing. Then, she finds out her latest target is one of the heartbreakers, she can't handle it. This is a story of the women heartbreakers joining together to get the men out, but ends in heartbreak, unemployment, and a rush to begin your own dreams before you thought you could. I recommend it, it's a quick and fun read with some surprises along the way.

I'm going to be honest, I DNF'd this book. It was a cute premise, but the execution was not well done. I wasn't invested in the relationship and didn't feel the romantic tension.

After a semi-slow start, we meet Brinkley and learn about her previous romantic relationship that ultimately led her to H4H. H4H (heartbreak for hire) is a company that specializes in embarrassing men who tend to be absolutely terrible. However, when Brinkley meets Mark, she starts to feel bad about what she does for a living.

This novel was wholesome and had you cheering for the protagonists the whole time. I definitely recommend this book if you’re into slow-burn romance books.

This one was juicy. What a great idea for a business. I'd like to hire them to make an ex feel like a dirt bag, or maybe an old boss, wait...No, definitely an old co-worker. Back to the book. I loved the way this company gave these women a way to take back control of their lives and get over the ex's, bosses, and co-workers that had wronged them. It was an inventive scenario which made me read straight through the night. I couldn't put this one down.
And the hero is so awesome it made my heart go pitter patter and couldn't wait for her to figure out he was the one. That took a while though and some great shenanigans ensue that make you love both characters even more. She is continually running, while he just waits his turn to love her. Can't fault a women running from heartbreak who doesn't always see what's right in front of her. She eventually gets it right and takes the big step.
There is even some tough love in this book that feels like something a mom would say to her heartbroken daughter. You'll want to stay up all night to get to the end too. I promise.

I thought this was such a fun and fresh concept! I absolutely loved it. The leads were likeable and I absolutely fell in love with them!

I had the pleasure of interviewing author, Sonia Hartl for the Boobies & Noobies Romance Novel Review Podcast (episode coming in November 2021). Though I enjoyed our interview, I will say this book was not my favorite... specifically because of the lack of chemistry between the two main characters.

The heat level definitely exceeded my expectations, but the love, the connection between Brinkley and Mark is lacking... There's a part of me that's drawn to the concept of Heartbreak for Hire, however it never felt fully-developed enough for me to buy in. Instead, I found myself questioning Brinkley's intentions (not to mention, everybody else who works for HFH - which also includes Mark). His whole purpose for being there just felt very random...

There's a seed of something in there I like, but like I said, the pieces never really fit together for me. I did enjoy the author's tone though and I'd be interested in reading future stories by Sonia Hartl.

Rounding up from ⭐⭐ 1/2

I liked the characters and the premise of this book a lot. I thought it was an interesting take. I laughed out loud multiple times and just generally enjoyed it.

A company founded on revenge is who Brinkley finds herself working for after dropping out of grad school. It's a secret undercover job, so she can't tell anyone what she does, but is quietly squirreling away money to open an art gallery; her true passion. All was going well until her company hires men to take on sabotage on women. Not only that, they hire one of her past clients, Markus. Markus and Brinkley are clearly attracted to each other, but have a complicated past since she targeted him as someone who hurt another woman's career.

While the plot is definitely unique, the sabotage element is a bit unsettling. Overall, it has all the elements of a good romantic comedy if you can take the premise of the plot.

This rom-com for readers who love Sophia Kinsella and Meg Cabot was a delight from start to finish. The whip smart and hilarious heroine was completely relatable as well as the hijinks. When the two start falling for each other it's utterly adorable and made me squeeze my device to my chest. Plus, the hero? Um, yum! Pick this one up if you want humor and to be unable to stop turning pages.

This book was a mix for me – I liked the premise, it seemed like a fun set up for a RomCom. The book was compelling enough to keep me reading – good pacing and an interesting storyline. I was definitely intrigued by the characters – especially the secondary ones – and would be interested to see what happens with them.

I think elements of the story worked for me and kept me interested enough to keep going. There was a lot going on throughout the story, and that took away from it a bit – I think because of all the competing story bits, nothing was able to go deeper. I started off liking the main characters more, but as the story went on I started to feel more apathetic towards them. Unfortunately, overall I’d have to say this one wasn’t for me. I think it had promise but fell a bit short of what I hoped for.

On a positive note, the writing was good – and I have hope that the next book will show a bit more. I would try this author again.

Brinkley works for a secret company that takes cash only to "ruin" men who have wronged others. There's different divisions, but only one woman working in each division. Brinkley is in "ego" and is a "master" at taking egotistical men down a few pegs (or ruining their career). Or so we are told.

Brinkley joined this job because of huge mommy issues, dropping out of her graduate school program, and not being ready or willing to take a leap on her painting. All she really wants is "a gallery" for her career. Sure.

But of course, when she's sent on the first mission we go along with her on, she fails and gets some oral instead because the mark is just her type and they have sparks. Sure. Okay. But, before she can come she gets outta dodge and hides behind a dumpster because what is she doing!? I'm also thinking this by the by.

Turns out dude is just a Nice Guy because the woman who hired the H4H is truly the villain here (good job vetting clients???) and Mark is just trying to get his foot in the door at Northwestern University as a professor, because that is all HIS grandfather ever wanted for him.

Oh, and now Mark is working for H4H because the evil CEO who someone in my book club described as being just like the evil pink wearing teacher from Harry Potter, has decided to now hire men for the business. And Mark, despite just being a "failed mark," is now Brinkley's underling.

What?? Why??

Of course Brinkley has already fallen for Mark - all the why bickering and fighting, and he is apparently the bees knees, and she worries about ethics all of a sudden while also getting a bar to chant "Little D*ck" at a shitty guy for "revenge" and another crowd chanting "Finger Butt" at another shitty man. Is Brinkley good at this job? seems to me she just throws lame and offensive names out there and is chaos in each situation.

Anyway, I do not get what this book was trying to do. All Brinkley wants is her gallery, on her own merit. That doesn't happen (on her own merit), and I never get why Mark would actually be in love with her, or frankly really anything about him.

There's also a shitty mom subplot, a sperm donor subplot, and oops I wrote a a secret article about your shifty "job" subplot, and well, I just didn't like any of it at all. Also, if your cat doesn't like wearing sweaters and attacks you all the time, that isn't a good thing?? And if the cat scratches you and hisses at you because it is forced to wear a sweater vest for the grovel, well, why are you torturing the pet?

anyway, what a ride that was, and I AM excited to talk about it at book club.

Somewhere I read a review calling this "charming" and pft, no.
13 likes

This is a book I just couldn't get into and therefore didn't finish. The main character, Brinkley, was harsh, abrasive and generally unlikeable. The instant romance/sex scene 10% into the book was absolutely unbelievable and cringe-worthy. This set the tone for a few more pages until I couldn't bring myself to read any further. Maybe more character development happened, maybe the plot became interesting...I don't know. The book couldn't hold my attention long enough to find out.

I absolutely loved reading this book, it’s a perfect beach read or just want to get your mind of things read. I wish Heartbreak For Hire was a real life service!

Heartbreak for Hire is a delightful read. It's hilarious, quirky, fun, with a little bit of dark humor. I loved Brinkley. She was a slight train wreck, but aren't we all in some way? She felt real in her challenges with her mom and career and feeling stuck. I haven't gone that quickly from love to hate for a character as I did for Mark. The plot twists were perfect, and I was left until the very end wondering if it was all going to work out. Spoiler, it did. I really enjoyed everything about this, the pacing, the secondary characters, the style of humor, It was all good.

This book had flares of being enjoyable but I was really frustrated through a lot of it. I often didn’t get Brinkley’s motivations and there were some inconsistencies in the book.

I have to say this book is so different to what I expected it to be. I knew first hand that the main Character would fall for one of her client's targets, but I didn't expect that he would join that secret company. There is so much to love and dislike about this book but how it ended and how things progressed for Brinkley was everything I adore. I love her determination and her well to get to her dreams. I love that she finally got out of her 2 year job to pursue something she'd always wanted to pursue. I also love the family aspect of this book. The tension between her and her mother was... But I loved that at the end they got along and she supported and saw who Brinkley really was. I also enjoy seeing the love interest and how their relationship progressed. It might have been a insta love scene but they had a falling out and that falling out was what they needed to see each other's worth.

I am just beyond honored to get the chance to read this book, may it be late but at least I did!

I couldn’t get into this book.. the first chapter was a good hook but once I dove into the following chapters, the main character just fell flat for me and what was supposed to be funny, really wasn’t.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book! The title and this beautiful cover drew me in and i was excited to read this book! I will be recommending this book to others for readers advisory

A great, fresh concept with wonderful chemistry. I loved Hartl's banter. A perfect rat for anyone looking for more workplace enemies to lovers.