Despite interesting blurbs and descriptions, this story fell short for me in a crowded market. Second round purchase at best

I loved every single thing about this story! I am a romantic at heart and loved that the main characters just walked away from it all to be together.

This is a great book about a secret society that sets people up with love matches. I really enjoyed this and will be reading more of Hoen in the future.

This was such a fascinating read! Books about possible matchmaking services always intrigue me. It's a quirky story that encourages self reflection, especially in terms of how far you'll go to find love.

The Arc is a different spin on romance with a slightly futuristic look at matchmaking. Ursula is quirky, supporter of other women who is seeking someone to share her life with. She's almost given up on finding it on her own and hopes the secretive, scientific matchmaking service The Arc can help. After a devastating break up, Rafael hopes the The Arc can find "the one" for him because his heart can't take much more. Can science make a better match than the human heart?

I was intrigued by Ursula and Rafael story. It weaves in some timely topics like women's frustrations with dating after a certain age and the challenges of being a successful woman in the workplace. I enjoyed the ups and downs of their relationship and the role that the mysterious Arc played in it. The book does try too hard at times, making this read "just ok" instead of one that I really liked.

I would recommend The Arc to those who aren't typically fans of the romance genre. It has enough futuristic details, mystery, satire, and commentary on today's society to make it much more than your typical romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the digital copy of this book.

“The Arc’by Tory Henwood Hoen was a bit of a twist on finding your perfect soulmate? Ursula decides to take a non traditional way of meeting the guy meant for her by joining the arc. The Arch is a top secret matchmaking service, costly but practically guarantees the perfect pair. Ursula who is a perfectionist who is set on finding the perfect match is matched to Rafael who seems to good to be true. Could this method work, could this be Ursala’s true love and her life long partner? As they start to hit some bumps in the dating life they begin to question their fate or is this just normal, or did the Arc get their match all wrong.

Smart Rom-Com, witty and fun read.

“You’re a perfectionist who is tormented by the possibility of failure.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

#thearc #julesbookshelf #netgalley
#goodreads

Cool premise: at The Arc, for about $50k, you get a guaranteed match with the man or woman of your dreams. Not just a regular dating-app-esque match though; a gold-standard one, based on complicated algorithms blah-blah-blah. Anyway, who cares how it works? The point is, you're almost 100% guaranteed to be compatible with the person you match with, on all levels. Ursula matches with Rafael and darned if it doesn't seem to work. Quirky Ursula and solid, steady Rafael are not only wildly attracted to each other, they enjoy and are amused by each other, they become best friends. Until there comes a glitch ... of course there does. Because this is a romance novel after all. But it was more than that.

Besides its satirical treatment of our trend- and technology obsessed world, and the difficulty making genuine connections with people both personally and professionally, there was an underlying feminist message. Ursula has a strong, supportive best friend who both calls her on her shit and celebrates her zany nature; and Ursula herself is a boss to a young woman who she tirelessly champions in the workplace and looks for opportunities to reward. And Ursula doesn't need a partner, she just freely acknowledges that she wants one, and a baby, and a family, without having a sense of "emptiness" with her life as it is. She has friends, and hobbies and a career. She isn't incomplete when she meets Rafael, she just wants someone to share the ride of life with. I also liked that the conflict in the relationship wasn't based on a slender thread of a stupid misunderstanding, amplified to create drama, but on real-life differences that could cause many couples to wonder whether they want to same things.

And then thrown in there, the intriguing factor of The Arc methodology and the questions it raises: is there a "perfect" person out there for everyone? Can a good relationship be designed, if you just know the right ingredients? And can true love be made, or does it have to happen organically? It was fun watching the characters grapple with these questions that most of us--coupled, and uncoupled--have at one time or another considered for ourselves. A fun, quick listen.

Audiobook note: the narrator nailed it. She had a tongue-in-cheek, almost glib manner that captured the spirit of the book and the funny flirtatiousness of the couple. Her female and male voices were distinct and identifiable for each character and didn't come across as campy, which can sometimes happen when someone is voicing characters of the opposite sex simultaneously. Recommended for a fun, lighthearted, though not shallow listening experience.

My rating:⭑⭑⭑⭑

I absolutely loved this book! I found it hard to put down. I highly recommend reading it! You won’t be disappointed.

I could not finish this one sadly!! I was so excited for it, but it fell so flat at the halfway mark. All the action happened right up front and then I was not interested in the rest. So sad because I was so looking forward to this book

This book is about Ursula Byrne, she is an executive in a branding company who is quite successful, however her personal life is another matter.

She and her friend are in a spa just for women with odd activities, like a crying chamber and a hair brushing room. During this visit an employee of the spa overhears Ursula complaining about her last date and she recommends a place called The Arc.

Ursula decides to visit this place and finds out it is a matchmaking place that you spend a week in and they find you your perfect match. for the low low price of $50,000 ($40,500 if you are female). Ursula commits to this after she gets a millionaire to contract her to scope out companies for him to invest in (because we all have a millionaire in our back pocket that we can get to hire us on the side, NOT)

So Ursula immerses herself in the week long assessment and gets matched with a 40 year old lawyer, Rafael.
and they end up on a never ending date, it's love at first sight.

I continued reading the book but found it quite unrealistic and was waiting for the other shoe to drop which it does about a dog adoption vs breeder. I only finished the book to see what happened because I honestly didn't care about any of the characters in the book. Ursula is supposed to be a modern professional woman who seems so wishy washy and indecisive. I skimmed over most of the book just to finish.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Expected Publication Date: 2/8/22

I really loved the premise of this book. I think this book might hit home for a lot of 30-somethings who are trying to navigate the dating scene and still coming up empty. The characters are interesting, they are the kind of characters that you root for. I wanted them to have a happy ending.

This was a meh book for me. I considered not finishing it actually at one point in the middle when it was really getting drawn out, but I can't actually remember the last book I didn't finish reading so I powered through and got it done. Surprisingly I really liked the ending and how things got wrapped up, but there was a LOT to get through to get to that point! The general concept of the book was interesting - a kind of "higher powered" match making service but with a ridiculous price tag attached to it. Ursula was both cute with her rambunctious and spunky personality but also annoying to me...I alternating enjoying her and getting a little tired of some of the overly feminist themes from her and overall in the book (an elite club named "the stake" as a play on when women were burned as witches on the stake? Seemed a bit much to me) SLIGHT SPOILER: as is always my complaint with romance themes - the reason for her and Rafael's break up just seemed so dumb to me and a forced way to make conflict and drama in the book. Overall the book was a lot longer than I was expecting or felt like the story needed to be and I was happy to be done and moved on!

This book started off a little slow to me, almost to the point I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get through it. it did pick up a little later on in the book and I was able to finish it, but It wasn't my cup of tea. Normally, the miscommunication troupe does not bother me, but it irritated me with these two characters so much to the point I was rooting for them to break up and stay away from each other. This just wasn't the book for me.

This book started off promising, but I found it difficult to relate to the characters. It also felt so far fetched and uncomfortable. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there was something about the storyline that didn’t sit well with me.

That being said - the premise is interesting and the book itself is well written. I wonder if I am simply not the target audience for this particular story.

I received an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are mine alone.

There were so many wonderful surprises in this one!

The unique premise and implications about how far the characters would go to find love is certainly compelling and makes for an exciting, fast-paced reading experience.

I'm sorry.  I really wanted to like this one.  The cover was bright and eye-catching.  The description sounded like it would be a fun read.  But it was just TOO MUCH.  So over the top.  So trying too hard.  I couldn't bear to get past the first 50 pages.  Sorry, maybe next time.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Ursula has a successful career, great friendships and a mostly great life. But at 35 she is feeling her biological clock ticking. She's exhausted all the dating apps, blind dates and other ways to meet men. Then she hears about The Arc. For the fee of $40,500 she would be put through a in depth process where The Arc guaranteed they would find her perfect match. She just has to spend a week in their offices, answering questions, being thoroughly examined health wise. There would also be daily sessions of meditations and she would be completely cut off from the outside.

She receives the notice of her match, Rafael Banks and they arrange to meet for their first date. They have immediate attraction and chemistry. They dive head first into a relationship and everything seems perfect. About 4 months later they have their first disagreement. Shortly after that they have a check in at The Arc. After describing their disagreement the Arc tells them, they made a mistake and they weren't a perfect match after all. Ursula and Rafe refuse to believe them and leave while committing to each other to forget what the Arc said and live happily ever after. Until they don't.

This book took me through a lot of emotions. Hope, happiness, loss, confusion. It will make you think about what it means to find love in this day and age. I thought it would be a rom com, but it is so much more. There is humor, but it doesn't fall into that category. I would call it Women's fiction. "Love can be scary, especially for people who have been burned." I think love is scary whether or not you've been burned, but if you've been burned you tend to have trust issues which are even harder to overcome.

I did enjoy this book. It was well told and engaging. It makes you realize other people have trouble with the voice in their heads too.

A new matchmaking service that uses a very thorough process to guarantee finding your perfect match. All for the small price of 50,000. While Ursula has gotten used to the idea of being alone, she cannot pass up the chance to give the ARC a chance.... 😻❤️🍦

This book has an interesting premise, reminding me greatly of The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren. While there are some sweet moments, there were definitely some cringey moments as well. I appreciated Ursula's sense of humor though. Overall, I enjoyed this one. ⭐⭐⭐

Thank you @stmartinspress for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was worried when I read the synopsis for "The Arc" that it would remind me too much of last year's hit "The Soulmate Equation" by Christina Lauren. This was NOT "The Soulmate Equation," and I appreciate the differences between the two books. "The Arc" is a literary romance, and less of a rom-com.

Ursula is 35 years old, and she decides to drop $40k for a dating service that promises that she will find the love of her life through them, and that 18 months in, the relationship will be successful.
I think some of the fun takeaway from this is--- if $40k could guarantee you the perfect relationship, the one MEANT for you... would you do it?

This was a fun read, different from the romance novels I generally read. I recommend it for readers who want to read a romance without spice- this is a great story about two people who have to face their insecurities to make a relationship work.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-arc copy of this book. I'm a little late on this review (publication was close to Valentine's Day this year), but a good romance book can be read at any time of year, right? :)

Fast-paced with a fun premise and a fantastic ending, The Arc is one of those books you need to talk about after you've finished. The characters were flawed but it made them seem so real and the writing is just sublime. I can't wait to read whatever Hoen writes next!