Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts is a sweet story of a couple getting together after many years of knowing each other. Margo hasn’t liked Declan since high school, when he was a cool guy who played pranks on her. However, those pranks probably reflect something more than just his desire to annoy her.

I enjoyed this book, but found some of the pacing odd. I didn’t really buy the way Margo is “exposed” online, but I was glad we sort of breezed through that section. A cute and easy read.

Margo and her best friend run a podcast instructing women how to stay single. But then her friend decides to get married so Margo has to adjust her focus or play down her insecurity around relationships. Seven Rules explores the duality of social media - the perks of being an influencer and the threat of losing one’s privacy when secrets are revealed. I found the writing to be quite smart and the dialogue between the two romantic characters, to be witty and indicative of their history as well as their potential relationship. The hate-to-love trope also works really well because of the the characters’ personalities. There were a couple side characters and sub-plots that didn’t seem to be well incorporated but overall I enjoyed the story, and even learned some things about the Catalina Island setting.

Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts was a quick and light read! While a typical romance story with a rather predictable ending, I loved the non-typical characters!

Jo and Go are best friends with a podcast on their seven rules. At Jo’s wedding, Mo falls for Declan, a guy from her past, but not in a typical sense.

This story was fun to follow along with the little details and added spice. I would recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a light romance story. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

First off, I loved all the little details about life in Southern California. I could tell the author lived, or had, lived here, right down to how the same weather can be stifling inland and perfect on Catalina Island (where I worked as a summer camp counselor for two summers, fifty years ago). Though my eyebrows did shoot up at the idea of Margo not knowing about the buffalos despite spending many summers there. (But then maybe Margo never had buffalo wander through her campsite at two a.m. time after time.)

I found the main character interestingly complex. Margo is prickly, having grown up dealing with a cheating dad, and then as a teen having to work to support her kind of hapless mom. I loved the way Miller didn't make a big deal of it, but we see how that shaped Margo, who has quite a fence built up against men. She has a podcast with her longtime bestie that focuses on women who want to stay single. They have seven rules, and discuss their own lives on the podcast as Jo and Go (for Margo) ... until Jo decides to get married. And during the two weeks on Catalina before the wedding, Margo encounters her high school nemesis, Declan. Who of course is Our Hero.

Their romance follows the expected arc, with plenty of hot times while Margo reluctantly tears down emotional walls. I was sorry to see the friendship with Jo strained by Margo's development, though that's realistic. I just like supportive female friendships in fiction.

We get the usual climactic Big Misunderstanding, which was okay; basically I liked the beginning and middle more than I liked the end, but that might just be a taste thing. I really liked the writing, and will definitely watch for more by this author.

If you want a fun, escapism-type romcom with a great vacation backdrop, this would be a great recommendation for you. I’m sure this would be fantastic on audiobook for the podcast element! As someone who has also worked in social media, it was really refreshing to see both up and downsides of working with sponsors and having your life out on the internet.

The love interest is so freaking adorable. I loved watching them build their relationship alongside the changing best friend relationship between Margo & Jo. I was pretty sure I knew what the classic third act issue was going to be, but damn I didn’t see *how* it would happen. Ooo the way I wanted to punch somebody in the face.

Enemies to lovers, best friends wedding, week trip away. This one has all the tropes. But sadlY they didn’t deliver for me as much as they could have! And a miscommunication trope is not my thing. I loveddd the concept of the two best friends hosting a podcast and the involvement of social media in such a natural way versus feeling forced!
One of my favorite podcasts talks about similar things jo and go did, it really bummed me out when they went their separate ways. I feel like this could have been a romance that came back to best friends first but it didn’t? The last 20% really disappointed me, but overall it was super cute and easy to read even with minor plot holes.

loved this romance and having a podcast mixed up in the story. Loved the friends and the romance that happened over the week. Good romance.

I really wanted to love this. The premise was cute, the cover was cute. But it was lacking. I didn’t like Margo. She was immature and selfish. It’s hard to like a book when you don’t like the main character. If some chapters had been written from Declan’s point of view, readers might have seen another, more likable side of Margo. I also felt like there were too many secondary characters (all of the bridesmaids, Renée), so they were underdeveloped. Maybe a sequel is coming so we can get to know them better? I also think the book would have been stronger if there had been some flashbacks to high school. Then we’d better understand Declan’s crush, Go & Jo’s friendship, her parent’s divorce. This just didn’t do it for me, but I appreciate NetGalley offering me an advanced copy!

Funny and entertaining. I recommend this to readers who enjoy enemies-to-lovers stories. The destination wedding and activities were a nice touch. The messages from the sponsors also added a bit of realism. Changing your format can be a risk. But is such a cute love story.


Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-arc in exchange for an unbiased review.

Other reviews may lead you astray by calling this an enemies-to-lovers romance, but if you go into this thinking that, you will be a tad disappointed. Margo calls Declan her high school enemy, but that's about as many 'enemies' vibes that there are in this book; neither of them start out actually hating the other.
So, this book follows Margo, who runs a slightly popular podcast called Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts. It talks about the seven rules that Margo and her bestie Jo follow in order to stay single. Until! Jo decides to get married and a sponsor of the podcast pays for a two-week vacation and the whole wedding. In order to create new content (and answer for Jo's actions) for the podcast, Margo decides to also break the rules, deliberately, so she can show people why they have them in the first place. And the man that she decides to use as her guinea pig is Declan, the best man and a guy she holds a grudge against from high school. She's sure there's no way she could ever actually catch feelings for him, but they're stuck on an island vacation together for two weeks. Will anything--wedding included--go to plan?
This was a super cute book that cast an intense light on commitment issues, giving people second chances, and trying to be yourself as a mild celebrity with a certain kind of image. I enjoyed the characters and their development, and it was very interesting to delve into Margo's mind as she had these extremely clear reasons for everything she did, and then once she started questioning them, everything she had built up started falling apart.
This book is what I call mildly predictable, but not in a bad way. You'll guess pretty early on what's going to happen, but it's still super enjoyable!

This was an enjoyable read. Margo's attitude toward dating, commitment, and life in general was so far from anything I could relate to. Then I found myself feeling sorry for her and hoping she would realize how unsatisfying her life was, open up, and maybe find happiness. Of course, the path couldn't be smooth, because where would the story be in that?

The book kept me reading to see exactly how things would turn out. There were a few things that didn't seem to be tied up or answered, but overall a good book.

Thanks to Kristyn J. Miller, NetGalley, and St. Martin's Press!

Margo is brash and outspoken and has been running a podcast about relationships and dating (a celebration of being single) with her best friend, Jo. But now Jo is getting married. Her wedding's being sponsored spits on Catalina, and she's marrying someone she and Margo went to high school with. Only one of his groomsmen is Declan, who Margo had ... history with in high school. Margo is at a pivotal intersection in her life: Jo has outgrown the podcast, and Margo has too although she doesn't know what else to do with her life. She's worried about money and her job and even though she has sparks with Declan, she's desperate to stay emotionally unconnected both for herself and for the good of the podcast.

There is so much I liked about this book. The examination of how toxic influenced culture can be. Margo's issues with family money and feeling inadequate. The very real connection between her and Declan. The most frustrating part is the whole setup where Margo plans to date Declan for content, he finds out (from a villain doing something outrageous) and then leaves Margo. It felt like too much conceit that overshadowed the heart of the book. I don't think you needed the villainy to get to the same place.

Another nitpick: Margo hasn't seen Jo's fiancé since high school. I get that she needs to have not seen Declan, but her having no interaction with her best friend's fiancé beggars belief. She could have had short interactions with him at sponsor events where Declan doesn't show and they don't go beyond surface level, and it would have been more realistic and served the same function of showing the growing estrangement between Margo and Jo.


The resolution feels very earned and realistic, although I wanted a second epilogue to show up Margo and Feclan further into the future.

I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What happens when your life's work turns out to be keeping you from finding your happy ever after? Margo aka "Go" is faced with that exact dilemma. She and her friend Jo have been hosting a podcast dedicated to and for single ladies everywhere. Their pitch: Stay Single!

Everything goes haywire when Jo reconnects and falls in love with her former HS classmate & now fiance Peter, With a wedding to plan and a podcast season to salvage, Margo finds herself paired up with her former high school nemesis, and Peter's best man, Declan. Who better to test out her pitch for the final season of the podcast?

As the wedding draws nearer, and Margo & Declan become closer, Go is left to wonder if breaking the rules may be the way to find happiness in the end.

Great debut romcom! I thought the author incorporated social media in a non-annoying, authentic way and I loved the banter between the main characters. The Catalina setting was so lovely and in general the vacation vibes reminded me of Shipped, the Layover and the Unhoneymooners. This book is steamier than any of those ones, and this was appreciated!!

This was such a cute, fun read! I really enjoyed the characters and their love story. This would be the perfect read for a beach or summer vacation!

Thank you St Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. It was a fun and sweet read. I love enemies-to-lovers and this checked all the boxes for me. The use of social media and pop culture references was seamless and worked so well. I look forward to more from this author.

I really enjoyed this book! Margo’s best friend and podcast co-host, Jo, gets engaged..leaving Margo to spiral a bit. Their podcast is dedicated to breaking hearts and not “catching feelings,” but when Jo breaks their rules and falls in love, how does Margo continue their podcast? Enter Declan, a guy they went to high school with who ends up having the best tension with Margo. There’s some silly miscommunication, and jumping to conclusions, but this book was a great, quick read.

It took me a chapter or so to get into this book, but once I did I could NOT put it down. I was so invested in Margo and Jo and Declan and the podcast and everything!

I loved how the author included tweets, clips from previous podcasts, texts, etc. I think it added a nice touch to some of the chapters. I saw other reviews about the formatting being weird, but it seemed fine to me.

I also really enjoyed how the conflict in this book wasn’t the typical romcom conflict - at least, it didn’t feel that way to me. Declan was the perfect romcom boyfriend, and Margo, although flawed, came through in the end.

Overall, I really loved this book! Thank you so much to Kristyn Miller, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the eARC!

Another thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC! Pub date May 16, 2023.

I’m usually hesitant to read books about social media but I love a good podcast so I dove right into this one!

Things I loved:
* Despite being considered as influencers, Jo and Go didn’t show much entitlement
* Declan is not your typical male romcom lead. I actually found myself poking my husband multiple times and to tell him the similarities between him and Declan. Must be an engineer thing 😂
* The relationship timeline between Margo and Declan is super realistic!
* Use of podcast episodes, social media posts and texts throughout the story

Things I didn’t love:
* The formatting of the text messages on my Kindle was very off. This might be an issue with the eARC that will get fixed but it did throw me off every time it happened

Lighthearted, fun and fast read. If I owned a physical copy, I would recommend and loan it out!

This book was such a sweet, awesome read. The characters had amazing chemistry and I love how Margo’s character development ended up. The friendship between Jocelyn and Margo could’ve used a little more development, but they were both written so well and it was great to see how it was all wrapped up. I blew through this book in just a few days because I was dying to see what would happen with them all. Absolutely looking forward to more fun reads from Kristyn Miller.