I really tried with this one, but unfortunately it didn't click. The writing felt messy, and the story seemed to jump around the place.

There's cheating in the book, which I wasn't expecting going into it, and I didn't enjoy.

The terminology was unnecessarily technical and while I followed along, it was too much in a romance book.

I appreciate the concept but unfortunately not the execution.

Thank you #Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book which contains spoilers.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The main theme of the book is around people judging others based on appearance/perceived social and monetary status etc and the incorrect assumptions these can lead to.

The thing is the characters do unforgivable things to each other which are seemingly allowed/brushed off by others in the story, because of this theme and each character feeling so hard done by that they allow bad behaviour by others because somehow it just continues to cement the sentiment.

For spoilers the hero is married till the last chapter and goes back and forth about perhaps trying to make things work with his wife again. The heroine somehow doesn’t know the organisational structure of the company she is working for and so doesn’t realise the hero is equal owner and keeps him out of big decisions for the company.

In retrospect the hero’s attitude is completely immature and stuck in how he was treated as a kid and I think he will continue to make bad choices because he is so stuck in this narrative that he is determined to perpetuate it.

The heroine seems as lost at the end as she was at the beginning.

One thing I did like about the book was her descriptions of the work process of developing an app. I actually found that quite interesting. I like romance stories where we learn about something and I get ann insight into other careers/life paths.

I struggled with this one and it didn’t grip me, I pushed through and then found out the guy was still married!! This is huge no no for me and romances and it completely lost me when I found this out.

A really enjoyable first book that I have read of Clara O'Connor's.

I'm rather partial to a STEM romance and this is set in the world of tech, social media app start ups and bother main characters are involved in the project.

It's just that Leonie is only helping as a favour to her step brother Ed to help him get out of a mess, and well a few weeks earlier she had a hot encounter with Jack, in Paris and now they appear to be working together.

And Ed is making her lie to Jack too, which is never a good sign. There is plenty of sexual chemistry within these pages, and Leonie is convinced that there is no way that Jack could be right for her.

I found this really entertaining, and although I was slightly confused by some of the ending, I still really enjoyed the book.

Thank you to One More Chapter and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

This was a DNF for me. There was no chemistry between the characters and the male character was a cheater, a TW for me. Also, there was too much on the field of coding and apps that doesn’t interest me. Only made it about halfway and would not recommend.

This book was not for me so I DNF’ed before 50%. I’m not a fan of a cheating troupe so that really ended my desire to continue reading.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't hate this one but there is nothing special about it. There didn't seem to be a huge amount of chemistry between Jack and Leonie. They were both keeping secrets from each other which turned out to be a big deal to each other when they found out - but from my point of view these were just silly things to be caught up over. I liked bits where they were building an app and the process they went through. Jack however, given his position (which we don't learn aobut until much later in the story), let Leonie walk all over him - that didn't seem realistic. Leonie just took Eric's (her step-brother) word on everything, rather than chatting to her Mum or Step-Dad. Leonie's friends didn't really seem to add much to the story and the ending seemed quite unrealistic and rushed.
1 like

I really wanted to like this book. At the start it was interesting but it jumped in scenes and parts of the story that didn’t make it easy to keep up.

I didn’t vibe with the characters and found them hard to relate to, I think the storyline between the 2 main characters was very flawed and I didn’t respect the choices made.

There was no spice and the world building was lacking. Unfortunately I didn’t like this book

A cute story about modern life, breakups followed by meet ups and dating apps. Friends hook Leonie up with a stranger in Paris. Is it a one night thing? Leonie finds out that the world really is a small place when they meet up again.
Based on a tech company and an app development, some of the tech speak was difficult to understand, but the story was well written and interestingly different.
Very enjoyable.

The premise of this book was interesting AF but the writing got away from me. I also do NOT like cheating in a book (especially when I dont know about it). I ended up DNFing

While this book has a lot of potential, it fell a little short for me.

The amount of focus placed on the tech product and project management made me feel like I was at work and took away time I wish would have been spent developing our characters more. The chemistry between our MCs felt shallow and forced, and often immature.

Overall, I like the concept and end result, but didn’t fully enjoy the path that was taken to get there.

2.5/5

Thanks to OneMoreChapter and Netgalley for the ARC.

I so, so wanted to like this. I really enjoyed Clara's fantasy trilogy and was excited for this story, but it really left me wanting in so many areas. First, the level of tech in the story really took me out of it as I had no knowledge of app development and it felt like it was written like I should have. I like that Leonie is smart, and accomplished, but the emphasis on the jargon and process that I didn't understand made me not really care. Second, this was promoted as a "spicy" story and while I certainly wasn't expecting Sierra Simone levels of spice, this was the same as what many non-spicy stories would have so it didn't in any way feel spicy. Basic kissing, fondling and fade to black......I guess I just expected a level of hotness, and intimacy that would have made the characters have any kind of connection. Really bummed this story didn't live up to what I was hoping for.

Once Upon an Algorithm combines geeky tech jargon with a dash of sizzling romance, creating an ideal pick if you enjoy chick lit with a blend of both technology and passion. For those less inclined towards tech, be prepared for occasional detail overload, as the author has undoubtedly either delved deeply into research or boasts firsthand experience in the realm of product development!

I really enjoyed this book. It took me a bit to get into the office coding world of it. (I may have googled a few things to better understand the book) it was good. The main characters did not annoy me. It had a good built up story line, the dilemma, and the so called HEA.

There was moments while reading that my heart literally sank for the heroine. I wanted her to be happy and get the guy. I know it did not happen like all rom coms but I feel it worked out well for all those involved.

I would recommend this book to others. It was fairly light hearted and not dark romance. Did have a few 🚩 red flags. Don’t want to reveal more than that because I don’t want to ruin the book for others.

Rating: .5⭐️/5
Spice: .5🌶️/5

What just happened to me? We didn’t get an “I love you”? The love interest was married but kinda not in love with his wife but was but wasn’t? Like I just couldn’t with this book. I started confused, got more confused, and stayed mad about it. Also, the main character was classist af when she talked about other people not having educations. The banter was good until it bordered on sexual harassment. The spice was minimal and the writing confused me.

Five Emojis to Describe This Book: 😵‍💫😗🤨😳🤷‍♀️

Wow! This book was definitely not good
I tried giving it a million chances and it did not meet any of my expectations or excitement that were given by the cover.
The characters were all over the place and I don’t think I understood anything that was supposed to be written in this story

Thank you netgalley for the arc tho

Enjoyable rom com, but did we really need all the jargon and details of developing an app?
I found it interesting up to a point, but if you didn't know the jargon to begin with, it soon became quite tedious.

Cheating involving a married man enough said. This book just kept getting worse and I’m not here for it.

I don't know how to deal with this review, because this book is simply the worst thing I've read in a long time. I'm not going to say of my whole life, because I have read bad books and as time goes by I forget about them, but in the last years I have always been able to get something good out of books I didn't like, but I just can't get anything good out of this one. My feeling was bad when I was reading it and when I finished it, and it's bad now that I'm writing the review.

There is one thing that happens that for me makes the book horrible, but it's true that I wasn't liking it before that thing I tell you. In order not to make spoilers, I am not going to say it without putting the spoiler warning afterwards, but I want to emphasize that I was already not liking the reading and it is not that thing that makes me not like the book. A certain thing what makes it is that the book instead of being a 2 is a 0.

In general it is a book that I found quite boring, I think it doesn't have an agile pace and it was very heavy for me. And I think that's a big mistake when you're reading a "romantic comedy" because the theme itself invites you to be a fresher and more entertaining book, but here I found the opposite. However, I think that this point is something very character and that it can really be due to me and my personal taste.

I also think it is a book that sins of being overly technical or to put too many things of technology. It's not something that usually bothers me, in fact there are books that I love and these things have a lot of weight, but if you take this and add that it's a book without rhythm, I think it's the perfect cocktail to get bored. And, honestly, I kept reading out of responsibility to say "they sent me the ARC, I want to finish it".

DNF @ 72% - I really did try. I'm sorry. I also feel awful writing this but I'm hoping it's constructive in some way.

Okay firstly - there were too many characters. In the first few pages you meet your FMC and then 4 or 5 of her friends. I remember 1 of their names. Later on there's a team of people and their roles - again, I only remember one of them. Family and family friends too.

Secondly, I really struggled with the flow of the dialogue. I wasn't sure when one person's dialogue ended and another began, it was quite confusing. I had to re-read parts and go back to try and get the flow of the conversations.

Thirdly, I didn't feel any chemistry between the main characters. The dialogue was jumpy, things happened that made no sense and I was sure I'd misread. The MMC was very unlikeable. The spice really should have been closed door. When the main spice happened, I actually wasn't aware it was happening until about halfway through. It was repetitive ("moving on me, in me") and there was no detail at all about what was happening. I thought they were kissing but my guys were doing the nasty and I didn't even know.

My biggest issue though - I had no idea what was going on. I didn't understand the tech talk at all regarding the app development and at nearly 3/4 in I still don't know what a ticket is or what they were doing. Unless you have a pretty in depth understanding of app development and coding, it was really hard to follow and understand. I loved thay the FMC had an important and technical job but for readers with absolutely no knowledge in that area it was just too confusing.

Lastly.. my absolute least favourite trope of all time - cheating. That was the last straw for me, I'm sorry.

There was soooo much promise with this book. I was really looking forward to another STEM romance but this one just did not work for me. I gave it my absolute best shot but there were just too many things I didn't like to rate it any higher than I did.

Thank you so much to Harper Collins for sending me an advanced copy to read - I wish the result had been different