The writing was good. The main character was insufferable. The plot had so much promise but I could not connect to it. I enjoyed parts of it but wanted to enjoy more. I’d still recommend it though

How to Get a Life in Ten Dates by Jenny L. Howe is such a sweet friends-to-lovers/second-chance romance with amazing romantic chemistry and witty banter.
This is FREAKING AMAZING! I literally devoured it!
Jenny L. Howe is a favorite of mine! I’ve loved and swooned over her previous titles, but if I’m being honest…. This is my favorite to date!
I love the plus size representation that actually makes sense, is realistic and is relatable.
Her characters are well balanced, sweet, smart, thoughtful. Just flat out amazing.
Another five star read work by this phenomenal writer!

🔟ARC Review🔟

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

I have enjoyed other books by this author so I was excited to read this one and see what she had in store for her readers this time.

She did not disappoint!

This was such a cute read. Being a plus sized person myself, I could really relate to the FMC’s struggles with dating. People don’t realize how hard it can be for a plus sized person to date. It was nice to see this represented in a book as I could see myself in some of the situations and scenarios. Though no, I have never been set up on 10 blind dates.

This book had one of my favourite tropes too, the best friends to lovers. I’ve always loved this trope and wished for a male best friend to fall in love with.

Heartwarming, cute, a fun read overall!

How to Get a Life in Ten Dates by Jenny L. Howe releases Tuesday, December 10th, 2024.

3.5

This was super cute and super easy to read. A perfect lighthearted read when you just want something sweet and comforting.

I breezed through it in less than a day. Jenny L. Howe books are always a good time!

The last third just toed the line of the amount of love triangle-ness I can tolerate in an adult novel, but all things considered, it was a solid and enjoyable read!

I really love Jenny Howe. Her characters are plus size, but that is just a fact: not good, not bad, just… just. This is a sweet romantic comedy that will leave you feeling fuzzy.

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC!

The first 60-70% of this book was absolutely an almost 5 star reading experience for me. It felt like a fun 90s rom-com. I loved all the dates, the questionnaire, and I didn’t mind how and why she needed a date was set up in the plot. My issue was the love triangle because I was rooting hard for the ‘wrong’ (but so much better for her) person. I felt like Haleigh deserved so much better. I feel she needed somebody new to get to know her and they could’ve grown together. I felt like she deserved the person who treated her kindly no matter what. I don’t feel like she got the apology she deserved from Jack. He was always sorry for how he acted, but he never actually apologize for using the hurtful words towards her that he did. The ending ruined the book for me, unfortunately. 😕

I really enjoy Jenny Howe's contemporary romcoms featuring fat protagonists. She also has "interconnected standalone" down pat: you could pick up any of her books and not feel lost. How to Get a Life in Ten Dates is about Haleigh, whose well-meaning friends and family keep getting on her case about finding a partner.

Haleigh is also dealing with her own feelings of financial anxiety since she's piecing together a living from freelance editing and dow walking. This is all exacerbated by pressure to find a plus-one to her perfect sister's upcoming engagement party. She asks 5 of her friends and family to set her up on 2 dates each (thus, Ten Dates). The book follows her on each date, most of which are awful. But Haleigh does end up in a love triangle with her BFF Jackson and one of the people she goes on a date with...

I really loved the structure of the book (we mainly see Haleigh out on dates) and I actually loved the love triangle: I could have seen it go either way, which is not usually the case. In fact I had delightfully mixed feelings on her ultimate decision. I'm glad she got her HEA, but I also think this is a good example of how there might not be just one soulmate out there for each person: she chose who was right for her in the moment, but if he hadn't been an option, she probably would have been happy with the other guy.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

As a huge fan of Jenny L. Howe's previous work, On the Plus Side, I was excited to listen to another novel set in the same universe. However: I found the audio/book to be predictable and knew after the 24% mark who Haleigh would end up with. While this book had fantastic representation and some hilarious moments, I found myself "not finishing" it at the 50% mark.

This was a cute story, lots of funny first date scenes. Some parts were a little over the top but overall this was a feel good book that I enjoyed!

This is my first Jenny L Howe book, and I really enjoyed it! It's a fun premise - Haleigh asks her family and friends to set her up on ten blind dates (2 per person) and has each date complete a survey prior to answer things like name, age, and occupation, but also questions like "Eat only French fries for the rest of your life or never eat them again?"

The results are hilarious - her first date brings his emotional support bird and another takes her to a movie and then proceeds to read the subtitles out loud. Pretty cringeworthy stuff. Fortunately, there is a diamond in the rough, Brian, and Haleigh is smitten.

The problem? Haleigh has been in love with her best friend Jack for forever. The twist? Something romantic happened between Haleigh and Jack on a past trip to Hawaii. The trip ultimately ended in heartbreak, so the duo have created rules for their friendship to ensure they stay within their boundaries and don't risk their friendship again.

The road to the HEA was funny, sweet, and very enjoyable. There was a bit of a love triangle, but you know Haleigh and Jack are meant to be, and I really loved watching them find their way to each other. I wasn't sure what to expect for the third act, but I really like the approach here. It wasn't super dramatic and we saved Haleigh and Jack some additional heartbreak.

I also feel like Jenny presented a very real romance here. Not everything is perfect and the characters still have work to do, but we leave Haleigh and Jack in a really beautiful place.

I plan to reach Jenny's backlist titles, and I am excited to read more from her!

Such a cute book! I couldn't get enough of all of the dating woes of today, so relatable! Follow Haleigh as she tries to figure her life out while going on a few precious dates in the process. Who will be the one for her? Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for a copy of this book for an honest review.

I love Jenny's books and this one did not disappoint! I'm a sucker for a friends to lovers and I really loved how this one handled their past hookup. I thought the concept of the ten dates was so fun and was hilarious to read. I also appreciated the lack of a third act breakup!!!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC copy of How to Get a Life in Ten Dates!

This is a well written book with an interesting premise. Haleigh has a great group of friends and family that love and care for her but she constantly feels a step behind them. So she's on a mission to get her life together, professionally and personally, before her sister's engagement party. In order to do that, she has her friends and family set her up on ten dates to either find love or prove that dating as a fat woman is a disaster and she deserves a break.

I love the idea of this book! I thought it would be a realistic look at dating as a fat person and navigating the chaos that is apps, meeting, dating and ghosting. While, yes, there was some of that in the book it wasn't what I expected going in and lost me pretty quickly because of two main things.

One, Haleigh's friend Jack is her person. He was always her person and it was so obvious that I knew exactly what would happen once I read about him. I love that for Haleigh, Jack is it for her. But, that nullifies some of the point of the dating because she's always going to end up with him. Which she does. And I do love the end and the resolution and seeing how they grew, matured and communicated. The love triangle in the middle is mostly sad, because I know she's not going to pick Brian and he is clearly awesome. I appreciate that there wasn't additional drama with their break up and I really hope Brian is next for a story of his own.

Two, Haleigh is 25. I'm sure that there are some 25 year olds out there who really feel like Haleigh does, that she's already failing at adulthood, doesn't have anything together and needs to be settled. However, I just didn't find it believable. If she was a little older I could have bought it but the level of pressure on her didn't land for me.

I enjoy Jenny's writing and I felt like the anxiety, fat and LGBTQ+ representation was great.

I’m not sure having space from this book before I did the review did it justice. It made it hard for me to remember some things, which doesn’t necessarily bode well. But I do remember it being very funny at times (especially closer to the beginning)—and that it started strong(ish) and ended…frustratingly, for me.

What didn’t work for me

The set up of the plot: The fact that Haleigh was only twenty-five and was acting like she was this old woman who was never going to find anyone to be with and that she absolutely needed someone to go with her as a plus-one to her sister’s wedding bothered me. Her family kind of sucked, true (though I would have liked to know a bit more as to why), but, like, it’s a family wedding—it’s not like she wasn’t going to know anyone. And Haleigh seemed really negative at the beginning of the book. It definitely turns around, but there were other things that were happening near the end of the story that didn’t make it for it. Namely…

Jack: Without venturing too far into spoiler territory, I really didn’t enjoy their relationship. The reason they fought on vacation was silly—it could have been handled way better, especially for friends who seem as close as they do—and Jack’s actions from about halfway through the book to the end didn’t seem genuine to me. I just couldn’t see it.

What I liked

The portrayal of mental health & plus-size bodies: Both Haleigh and Jack suffer from some mental health issues that are portrayed both realistically and sensitively, which I enjoyed. Howe presented coping mechanisms that actually work and were very relatable. In the same vein, I liked how Haleigh’s body type was mentioned and how her feelings about it were explained, but it wasn’t her whole personality.

Brian: This man deserves the world. I really, really hope he gets his happily ever after in the next book of Howe’s.

3 STARS

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

Haleigh is in love with her best friend and is tired of dating. Her family and friends want her to settle down or at the very least have a date to her sister’s engagement party. In an attempt to please them, she agrees to go on ten dates to find a match.

This had all the makings a cute friends to lovers rom com. The dates are funny and sometimes outrageous, there’s a strong family to support and love our FMC but the problem was that I found her unlikeable. I didn’t feel chemistry between Jack and Haleigh.

I appreciated the plus size representation as well as the anxiety and OCD representation. There were moments that made me giggle but overall, this just wasn’t the book for me.

I would recommend this to readers enjoy a friends to lovers romance as well as a book filled with dating mishaps.

Thank you SO much to St Martin's Press & St Martins Romance for the advance copy of this!

This book will be out on Dec 10th.

I have been a fan of Jenny's works since her debut and my love of her work has only increased as each book comes out. This one is now my new favorite!

Haleigh was such a fun character to read throughout the book. I love the relationship between Haleigh and Jack. It was very evident from the beginning how close their and we learn through their friendship rules that something had occurred years ago that changed their relationship. Haleigh just felt so relatable being an adult but not feeling quite like an adult. And by that meaning feeling like she doesn't have things together compared to others. She is feeling the pressure to have a date to her sister's engagement party and one of the rules with Jack is they can't be each other's plus ones.

"You're amazing."
"I'm merely skilled with bath products."
"You're so much more than that, and you know it."

I love Haleigh's idea of having those closest to her pick her dates! It makes me wonder for myself who would my family and friends pick for me if I would be single. As much as I love Jack for Haleigh, I also really enjoyed seeing her interaction with Brian. He just seemed like such a great guy!! But it was just so hard to imagine Haleigh with anyone other than Jack. The way that Jack went about this was both cute and also annoying (not for readers but for Haleigh). "I hope it would help you see me. As an actual option, I mean."

Was this a little predictable? Of course but that is a romance book for you!
I still love the ride that romance puts us through to get to the happily ever after.

I cannot wait for her young adult book coming out in 2025 and of course her next adult book!

If you love a second chance, friends to lover, plus size romance - give this one a chance!

PS - We need a book about Brian! I feel like I need to see him get his happily ever after - please!

I wanted to love this book- parts of it were so endearing. But overall I just fell like Haleigh was not fully fleshed out and left a lot to be desired. While the whole "It has always been you" scene was super sweet and swoony, I hate that this entire book was Jack watching a woman he has been in love with go on ten dates instead of telling her how he feels.

Positives- the fat representation in this was very well done. Reading terms that actually describe her body and size was such a plus for this book! Reading a fat FMC that embraces her size- again such a positive side of this book.

As someone with the name Haley, I thought the spelling of Haileigh was so strange. I didn't want to review this because I didn't really love the book - but I need to up my review score.

It was hard for me to get into, and I found the characters frustrating. Haileigh was so immature, but I did appreciate the LGBTQ and plus size rep. It was fun and the plot was promising, but it ended up being one of those books that I skimmed at the end to finish, as it was so predictable. I did not review on goodreads as I did not want to leave a negative review. I didn't really have anything great to say about it.

I love a good plus size romance!! Haleigh was such a real character, with her anxiety and depression, she was so relatable. I wish I could have a friendship like her and Jackson had, and they were meant to be. Her dates with Brian were the sweetest and I loved how she didn’t want to mess things up by dating multiple at the same time. The idea of having her friends and family hook her up with dates was hilarious, I don’t think I could ever go through that. And the honesty of dating as a plus size woman felt very close to home for me. Thank you to NetGalley for the arc preview.

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, for the Advanced Copy via NetGalley in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Halfway through this book, I realized it was written by the same author as On the Plus Side! Some familiar side characters from that story make an appearance here, though this book stands completely on its own. If you’re like me and enjoy diving into stories with minimal context, rest assured you can read this one independently without worrying about missing spoilers or prior details.

In her mid-twenties, Hayleigh juggles freelance editing and part-time dog walking. She loves her work, but the inconsistent income means she can’t afford to live alone. For now, she’s staying with her friend Stanton, trying to make it work. Hayleigh also deals with anxiety, which adds layers of relatability to her journey.

Hayleigh’s best friend, Jack, has been in her life since childhood. But a trip to Hawaii years ago blurred the lines of their friendship, resulting in a fallout that took months to repair. Though Hayleigh has buried her feelings, she’s convinced they’re meant to stay friends.

Meanwhile, life keeps pushing her forward. Her sister Joey’s wedding is fast approaching, and Hayleigh feels the pressure to bring a date. With Stanton moving in with his boyfriend Ryan, she decides it’s time to focus on her own stability—financially and romantically. To shake things up, she agrees to try Ten blind dates before swearing off dating altogether.

This book is a delightful blend of heart and humor. The characters are imperfect but endearing, and several of them grapple with anxiety, making their stories feel grounded and real. The series of bad dates had me laughing out loud (especially one involving a bird—hilarious!).

This is a sweet rom-com with imperfect, lovable characters navigating life, love, and anxiety. It’s a quick, heartwarming read—perfect for a cozy afternoon with a cup of tea. If you’re in the mood for laughter, romance, and a dash of personal growth, this one’s for you!