Marina is a coder who has had her heart broken so naturally she designs an app to help her sift through all the duds in the dating apps to find her perfect match. When she is pitted against her nemesis Lucas at work for a promotion in a contest that involves going to test out dating sites sparks start to fly. Too bad her app says he’s absolutely not her perfect match. Should she trust her head or her heart? Fun romcom!
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

Marina and Lucas are competing for a promotion at work, when a coworker recommends that they work together to try out their ideas. Forced to test out some date night events, Marina struggles to see how someone like Lucas could ever meet all her goals for a man, but Lucas is also offering that they could have some fun together in the meantime.

This book was just ok. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t dislike it. Marina felt like a relatable single woman in her thirties, while Lucas’s laid-back suave personality seemed to contradict everything she was hoping for.

Thank you to GP Putnam Sons for an advanced copy of this book!

I went into this book with no expectation and I was pleasantly surprised. Marina is a driven woman who sees her vision-the job, the husband and the kids. She creates an app where women can go in and rate men they meet on dating sites. This is supposed to be a women helping women, giving the inside scoop type thing so you don’t waste your years on the wrong one. She is chasing more ways to get backing for her app.

Enter Lucas. They are workplace rivals who are paired up to test a bunch of local date spots. She also looks him up in the app and finds out he is the lowest-rated man. She already doesn’t like him. Except she starts to like him. And what does she do with that?

I really enjoyed this book. Marina stood in her own way of getting happiness and I just wanted to yell at her sometimes, but Lucas preserved and became an endearing character. I greatly enjoyed the audiobook and found the whole story to be enjoyable all around.

This was a good adult contemporary romance, that I would recommend to those who think it sounds interesting!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher

Super quick, fun, easy batter filled romcom by Lauren. Did I know where it was going to end up? Yes like every romcom I ever pick up or hallmark movie I watch but still enjoyed it every second of the way? Of course! Marina was very set in her ways with her lists and it was a bit like hitting you’re head against a wall over and over and wanting to shake your friend and tell them they are their own worst enemy, yep. But was happy to see her growth after seeing Adam with his pregnant baby mama. Loved love Lucas actor and wish they would have been a pov from him honestly to get some of his side of the dates or his opinions on Marina. I also felt like some more of their chemistry was missing with cutting out all the “connecting” scenes, not asking for rated r but felt like it was a cut off whenever it got there and felt like a missing part of the book. Overall a good book I’d recommend to my romcom loving book clubs and friends. Thank you for letting me read and review

Loved this book, the characters and the chemistry in this book. The unique situations they were put in made for an enjoyable read.

Such a cute and fun read! I loved the characters and genuinely miss them now that the book is over. I wish we could get more books about them!! Excited to read more by Lauren Forsythe.

This book was... fine. Good even! Just nothing groundbreaking. I thought her premise was cute - the female protagonist creates an app to let other women review men they went on dates on from dating apps. I just feel like it fell flat in the chemistry between the two. While she can be described as more "type-A" and he's more laidback (sometimes seemingly unfairly so), it didn't work for me. She honestly just came across as mean to him sometimes and not in an endearing way.

A enjoyable addition to Lauren’s library. After having read The Fuxer Upper I was excited to jump into this one. I love the workplace romance trope so this hit that dynamic for me. I enjoyed the chemistry and development of Lucas and Marina. i thought this also did a great job of illustrating the expectations around timeframes that woman place in themselves (as well as others place on them).

Dealbreakers | Lauren Forsythe
a deliciously competitive rivals to lovers

Marina Spicer has the rest of her life planned out. Find THE guy. Have some kids. Get the house, the job, the life she’s been working toward her whole adult life. She even streamlined the process using her coding skills to create an app that knocks dating duds out of the running by compiling data on where it all went wrong on previous dates. It is not only her love-life that is plotted out to a T – she is climbing the corporate ladder by creating an opportunity to expand into management. There is only one thing in her way and its muddling both work AND play: Lucas Kennedy. He is not only in competition for the promotion, but he is giving her the butterflies for all the wrong reasons. This tattooed, foul-mouthed charmer is taking up all her time and she hates it! Or, at least, she should… just when she thinks everything is falling into place, it quickly spirals out of control and into the loveliest mess she never wanted.

Oof. This one is full of the hard hits for us overachieving, organized, pick-me girls. It is impossible to balance control over getting everything we’ve ever wanted. And getting it doesn’t always hold the glow we expected! I loved watching Marina soften all the way up to her aha grand gesture and the slow reveal of the more intricate details of their back stories. I’m always digging to know more about my favorite characters and what makes them the way that they are, in all their dysfunctional glory. Finding the ‘why’ behind all the restrictive preferences she held tightly to is the exact brand of lighthearted deconstruction I love to see play out.

There is another layer to this novel that compares activities for couples vs groups and I loved the tension in this competitive element. Mr Dates contrasting with Ms More-the-merrier was even more interesting as Lucas was firmly in the social camp where Marina was more comfortable with her tiny group of solid friends – almost as if each was batting for the opposing team! Overall, the competition plays out well, the blogs as so endearing and the happily ever after is chef’s kiss! (Added bonus for every time I remembered to read Lucas’ dialogue with a Northern Irish accent *swoon*)

4/5 stars for this sweet and spicy competition
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC for review!

This was super cute!
An Irish mmc YES PLEASE

I loved the banter and tension between the characters. Like others have said the pacing was weird at times, but ultimately this was a quick little romcom read.

Dealbreakers (eARC) — 3 ⭐️

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 —
🧲 Opposites Attract
🔐 Closed Door Romance
😏 Witty Banter
💗 Contemporary Romance
🥊 Rivals to Lovers
🔒 Forced Proximity
💼 Workplace Romance
😂 Plenty of LOL Moments

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐟 —
🍽️ You’ve been on countless first dates
🏺 You enjoy pottery classes
👠 You have high standards
🎮 You’re very competitive
👧 You want a big family

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 & 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: After adoring Fixer Upper, I was stoked to get my hand’s on the author’s newest book, Dealbreakers! Compared to the first book, this standalone novel fell short for me. I felt like the characters were hard to connect with as a reader. While I enjoyed this new take on “fake dating” which was more of a workplace rivals to lovers romance, I was overall disappointed in the lack of deep conversations. Everything just felt more surface level than I wanted or expected, but the witter banter was top tier. Overall, it was a quick, easy read, and the book cover is gorgeous!

𝐓𝐖: profanity

Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam, for providing me an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The constant push-and-pull dynamic between the two is a true highlight, and also their banter and button -pushing are equal parts frustrating and heartwarming; which makes this a very enjoyable and an angsty read!

Lucas and Marina’s story completely captured my heart. I am not the biggest fan of workplace romances, but I thought this one was amazing!! The tension between Lucas and Marina on the dates had me swooning. I love the way Lauren Forsythe writes about women in STEM & I enjoyed that she explores the pressure women feel to be at a certain place at a certain time in their life.

The characters and style of writing were okay and the story line kept me intrigued. The cover is absolutely what drew me in but some of the storyline aspects had me a tad confused.

What a precious meet cute. It’s very predictable but isn’t that a part of all of these romance novels that we read?!? But hey, I love a main female character that thinks she knows what she wants, because that’s relatable. I thought I knew what I wanted in a man and found someone who’s perfect for me but isn’t who I expected at all.

Love enemies to lovers. Also love the idea of technology having a play in what determines someone’s future because I hear NOTHING but horror stories from real dating apps. So, I love having a book about an app that actually works out in love. And the fact that they were going fake dating to see what types of dates work out and what types don’t, yet they had SO much fun (secretly or not), is such a unique spin on the fake dating. A cute story overall with fun banter and unique ideas. Thanks for the opportunity to read!

Workplace rivals to lovers? Women in STEM? Commentary on confirmation bias? Seems like a dream of a book. I absolutely loved the premise of the book. The story itself could have been executed better in a lot of places. But overall a great read!

Marina and Lucas are competing for the same promotion. Marina has also based all her opinions on men on her app, Dealbreakers. When she finds out that Lucas has the worst rating on the app, she forms a very negative opinion of him. They spend more time together when they are forced to work together to get their promotion. It's an interesting romance about biased opinions and how they affect relationships.

I enjoyed this but it felt like it lacked depth in many moments. And many of the actions of the characters frustrated me throughout the book.