Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts follows Margo, affectionately known as "Go" as she contemplates what her best friend's impending marriage will do to their successful podcast that is centered around remaining single. What is a wedding without drama and a high school nemesis making an appearance? At the arrival of Declan - Go can feel her entire world shifting beneath her feet and the ride that you take with her in this book is breathtaking. It's a story of maturing, growing, and learning how to adapt - even when things look like there may never be a solution. I highly recommend that you read this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Kristyn J. Miller for my eARC of Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts in exchange for an honest review.

When I started this book I really wasn't connecting with the main character Margo and didn't think I would really like her. But boy was I wrong. Although she had her moments I enjoyed every second of her and declan. Declan was just a sweetheart I enjoyed their banter and how naturally their connection progressed.

This book was the cutest quick read ever. I would definitely recommend this if you're in a reading slump.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

*ARC review*

What a delightful read! I notoriously don’t give out 5 star reviews but this was really close for me. I connected with Margo a lot as someone who went through a similar phase of life where I avoided relationships to keep myself from getting hurt. Maybe didn’t have a podcast about it, but she and I had more similarities than differences!

Declan was a great romantic lead for Margo. I enjoyed watching them grow together. I know that I really like a book when I start screaming at characters or laughing out loud at/with them. This happened more than once with this book (ah that bachelorette party scene with Shelley!).

One of the reasons it didn’t get all the way to 5 stars is because a 5 star book for me is one that I will always go back to and will read again. The nature of the premise means that it may not be able to stand the test of time, but in this moment it was such a great book!

Thank you NetGalley, St Martin’s Griffin and Kristyn Miller for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

This was really such an enjoyable read. I was hooked right away and you’re rooting for Go and Jo from the start.

I love the enemies to lovers/forces proximity vibe and even though you know it’s coming, the story to get there was unexpected.

I also really like the overall arc of friendship and the way that Jo & Go’s friendship grows and changes as they get older. And that growing pains that come along with it that they have to come to terms with.

This is going to be a great book to pack for your summer vacation!

Thank you so much to St Martin’s Press for this ARC!

Very cute. I liked the flow of the story to the podcast to story again (the social media comments sometimes felt a little unnecessary, but other times fit well). I liked the banter between the characters and their chemistry.

It's a sweet, quick read, perfect for passing the time or on vacation.

thank you Netgalley for the free ARC

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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"Margo Anderson is sworn off commitment. Alongside her best friend Jo, she runs a viral podcast featuring rules for hooking up without catching feelings. So when Jo surprises her by deciding to get married and takes up a sponsor’s offer to host an all-expenses-paid wedding trip on Catalina Island, they have the whole internet to answer to.

In a scramble for content to appease their disappointed listeners, Margo cooks up a social experiment: break all her own dating rules, just to prove that it’s a bad idea. And she’s found the best man for the job in the groom’s best friend and her old high school nemesis, Declan Walsh. He may be easier on the eyes than Margo remembered, but he’s sure to be as smug and annoying as he was before. There is no chance Margo will ever catch feelings for him…until she does.

The more time they spend together through cake tastings and wedding party activities, Margo can’t ignore their obvious spark, and she may actually be enjoying getting to know Declan. But can she let go of the rules to let him in?"
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What a heartwarming rom-com!
I really enjoyed the characters and their banter. It was a fun nice paced read for sure!
I enjoyed the social media aspect a lot as well as the overall story. This would be the perfect beach read for vacation!
I'm excited to read more from Kristyn in the future.

I enjoyed this! It reminded me of books like The Unhoneymooners and Shipped - vacation romances that funnel into real life. The whole cast of characters was fun and I also loved the social media/podcasting plot as well - plus the chemistry between Margo and Declan was just SO GOOD.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Publication: May 16, 2023

Ouch, this turned out to be one of those books where the synopsis sounded better than the actual execution. I couldn't get into this book since it was bogged down with so much descriptions about influencer life. Margo didn't seem like she was in my age range but rather more immature. As a reader, I didn't like this one.

Margo and Jo run a podcast which features rules for hooking up without catching feelings. Jo surprises Margo by deciding to get married and taking up a sponsor's offer to host an all-expenses-paid wedding trip on Catalina Island. Once the news breaks to their audience the duo has a lot of explaining to do. In an effort to appease the disappointed listeners, Margo devises a plan to break all her own dating rules, just to prove that it's a bad idea. She found the perfect man for the job who is the groom's best friend, Declan Walsh. He also happens to be her old high school nemesis. The plan is foiled when Margo begins to actually catch feelings for him.

I love the setting on Catalina Island. I have many happy memories there myself and I love how the author highlights all of the activities and sights the island is known for. There is snippets of podcasts, text messages, and social media postings which makes the book more fun. The romance was enemies to lovers and both of the main characters were very likable. I was cheering them on and hoping they got the ending they both deserved.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

thank you so much to netgalley and st. martin’s griffin for the arc! i give it 2.5 stars rounded up to 3. while i read the book in one sitting because it was a fluffy mindless read. however, i kept wanting it to end due to the lack of growth i felt from the characters and the plot. i didn’t outright hate the book, but i disliked more things about it than what i enjoyed. i did not really love our female mc margo, i felt she was very self involved, bitter, rude and unlikeable. like she used declan fully for the sake of her own attempted career growth, and made her best friend feel bad about finding someone who she loved and wanted to marry. also she was so rude to the wait staff which was a big red flag to me. declan just seemed like your average tall white guy, who never got over his highschool crush. also he works for nasa yet struggles with technology? that really made no sense to me. i feel like he had such potential but fell flat. which was exactly like the smut in this book, very bland. also the book markets them as an enemies to lovers romance yet it is completely one sided, margo didn’t like him for a few pranks he had played on her. while declan was in love with her the entire time, her reasoning about hating him over such minimal things such as mayo instead of puddling was embarrassing to read. i had liked the concept of the book but did not enjoy the execution. a few random things i did enjoy were: the kayaking scene, declan’s attention to detail, and the good imagery the book had. i would recommend to someone looking for a beach read romance, unfortunately the book just wasn’t for me.

This book is about two best friends Margo and Jocelyn (Go and Jo) who run a podcast called Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts which is all about not catching feelings as long as you follow the seven rules. Jo is engaged and gets married during the book. Initially, Go is a bit obsessed with developing new content for the podcast and eventually decides to purposefully break the seven rules as an “experiment” and ends up falling in love.

I found Margo to be juvenile and that really annoyed me because Declan was very mature (and dreamy). Margo’s influencer persona also annoyed me and like another reviewer said, I did not like the way she spoke to some of the bartenders she interacted with.

Other than those two minor things, this was a cute and quick romance read. I enjoyed it and I would definitely read more Kristyn J. Miller books.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the chance to read this ARC!

4.5 stars
This was such a cute and refreshing rom com! I loved amargo, and found her easy to relate to and empathize with, and I had fun rooting for her. She had a lot of growth in this book, something that doesn’t always happen in a rom com. I loved the main characters together and I was fully invested in their story! I also liked the setting of Catalina Island with all the wedding events in the background.

The texts, tweets, and podcast episodes were fun add ins and helped me to really get sucked into the story.
I definitely recommend this to rom com fans and I think this will be the perfect summer book!

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an eARC!

Wow! I really enjoyed reading this book. The characters were fantastic and the way the author brought them into the storyline was excellent. Such a fun read!

If you want to better understand the life of a social media influencer, Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts by Kristyn J. Miller is for you. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the perks and pitfalls of being internet moderately famous, a strange in-between place where a person is not (yet) paparazzi famous, but luxury resorts will still foot the bill for your entire destination wedding in exchange for promotion on your Instagram feed.

But that’s not the only — or even the most compelling — reason to read this new novel.

Here’s the basic set up. Margo (Go) and Jo run an unexpectedly popular podcast about how to stay single for women who want to stay single. For real, not just pretending because they happen to be single. It's a mutual admiration and support group type of thing. There are rules they all live by (seven of course), like “always keep the ball in your court” and “say no to sleepovers.” Above all, of course, is don’t “catch feelings.”

Then Jo goes and catches feelings. She announces she’s getting married. Loyal single fans are not happy, not at all. Were the podcast just a hoax?

Now what for the Go and Jo fab duo and their heretofore popular podcast by which they both earn a living (and get loads of free stuff)? How do you keep your fanbase when one of you has just broken all seven rules?

As they are deliberating (and shedding sponsors) at Jo’s destination luxe wedding, an old high school hottie-geek shows up as the best man. Go and said hottie-geek have a history and that history means she is not his fan. She gets an idea. Go decides to try taking the podcast in a provocative new direction by using poor hot geek (Declan) as a case study of applying the rules in real time. She will have a pretend romance while showcasing the rules. Without him knowing that’s what she’s doing.

But then it all goes awry. Of course. Sparks smolder and fly and heat up to a full on burn and singe, then it crashes down hard when the truth comes out. Also, of course.

This book is all around fun and I enjoyed it. It’s not often you get to live the life of a social media influencer in a convincing manner. Seven Rules is well-written with a believable female friendship at the core, a sweet relationship between Go and her newly single mom (I’d like to see a book about mom’s romantic life!), and a great second-chance romance between Go and Declan along with entertaining sidebar wedding stuff happening with the bride and groom.

Of note, the pacing of the book is very good. At first, I found it a bit slow-moving but then realized this relaxed pace was allowing me to get to know the well-drawn characters more fully; the leads were believable, thoughtful and whip-smart. In short, people whose stories I was eager to hear.

I definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book!

I have mixed feelings about this book. I didn’t dislike it, but I also didn’t love it. I had more issues with it than things I actually liked. If you are in the mood for a light summer romance, this is a book you could read.

Normally for these types of reviews, I would do a pros and cons list, but I feel like it would be easier for me to divide my review into categories instead.

PLOT: Margo and Jocelyn (Go and Jo) run a successful podcast called Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts, all about seven rules they created to avoid catching feelings for people. However, they get a sponsorship for a completely paid vacation, which is perfectly timed with Jo’s upcoming wedding. But what happens when the best man is Margo’s high school nemesis, along with some retaliation on social media for “breaking” their rules?

I think the premise of the book is interesting. I like the podcast aspect of it, but I wish there was more focus on its creation. The book takes place in between seasons, so it is more of the social media and planning aspect of the job rather than podcasting.

CHARACTERS: I did not like Margo at all. I don’t think the author wrote her specifically to be unlikeable, but I just didn’t really enjoy her character. Also, Declan works at NASA and somehow doesn’t know a lot about technology, which I felt was unrealistic. He’s probably in his 20s-30s and that’s certainly a reasonable age to understand technology. I think this was supposed to be some sort of opposites attract thing maybe like Margo loves technology and Declan doesn't.

ROMANCE: As I mentioned in the plot section, Margo and Declan were high school nemeses… except that isn’t completely true. Declan pranked Margo a few times and she started disliking him, and somehow Declan liked Margo the whole time. This was marketed as enemies to lovers but it was one-sided.

Margo also showed interest in Declan purely to use him to gain listeners on the podcast. She exploited the fact that he liked him for the wrong reasons. I couldn’t get over the HEA because Declan shouldn’t have forgiven her.

FRIENDSHIPS: I feel like Jo got left behind. They are supposed to be best friends who live together and run a podcast together, but once Margo started spending time with Declan, Jo got pushed to the side. I would have loved more scenes with just the two of them. I also vaguely remember some of the bridesmaids being in a few scenes, but they were never really mentioned.

OVERALL: I think the premise was good, I just didn’t really like Margo, who is the main focal point of the novel. I would still recommend this to people looking for a romance, it just had a few more cons than pros for me.

this was such a sweet book. I loved that margo struggled to let people in and believe in the concept of love and trusting another person. the way that tied in with her podcast was really unique. declan was also such a sweetheart I loved that he pined over her for so long. the only complaint I had was I wish there was more genuine conversation before the feelings confession but overall it was so sweet. A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Man the book description made this book sound better than it was. I felt like the main character was super immature. I didn’t really like the romance in this one. I thought this book was just bad. I wouldn’t suggest this one.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.

I wanted to love this book but I found myself not liking the main character. I know we get dropped into an upheaval in her life but she just struck me as unlikeable. She does grow at the end but by then it was hard to care for her.

The *villain* was not believable to me. I kept wanting it to be Autumn instead of the random bartender.

The podcast idea is cute and worked well within the context of the book and overall it’s a cute beach read with some spice.

Margo and Jocelyn are childhood best friends who now host the mega-popular podcast, Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts, that normalizes and encourages staying single #singlenotseeking. Jo and Go provide listeners with not just tips and advice on living and maintaining the single life, but serve as role models in that pursuit. All this changes when Jo meets the love of her life and surprises fans (and Go) by agreeing to have an ultra-luxurious, sponsored wedding celebration over 2 weeks on Catalina Island. Now with the identity of their podcast in question, Go decides to flip the script and start breaking the seven rules on her own. When she reunites with Declan, a former high school classmate, who also happens to be the best man at the wedding, things get complicated as Go finds herself having a tough time not catching feelings for her former nemesis.

What I liked was that the concept was cute and different and the inclusion of the podcast felt modern. I also really enjoyed the development of Margo’s character, finding her own identity and learning to stand on her own. What I didn’t like was that the start of the relationship felt rushed. I would’ve liked more of a connection and build between the 2 MC’s to make the relationship feel more real. The plot also felt a bit predictable, including the break-up to make-up at the end. Overall, a cute read that I rated 3.5 stars.

Thank you to the author, Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to advance read this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This is a perfect summer romcom beach read. It will go over well, especially in libraries near the beaches here in St. Pete.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.