This was my second book by Howe and I’m not sure I’ll continue. It wasn’t bad per se but it also went exactly good either. I’m not sure if what it was as exactly that did it but I found myself struggling to finish. The characters end storyline had potential but yeah, it just didn’t quite hit the mark for me

Haleigh Berkshire is fed up with the dating scene for plus sized women, as well as her family’s expectations to find her perfect match and get married. As a matter of fact, she decides to turn the tables on her family and best friend to prove that finding a decent partner isn’t as easy as they think.

Haleigh allows each family member and her best friend to set her up with two people, totaling ten dates. Most dates are a disaster including a man with an emotional support bird that steals her bagel and talks to her. But, a couple are absolutely wonderful and she is faced with making a choice between the two.

This is a cute friends to lovers read for the hopeless romantic. Being a plus sized individual, I can relate a lot to how Haleigh describes the dating scene and societal expectations. It can be a rough road and certainly isn’t for the faint of heart.

I found the characters to be cheesy and not very realistic. I appreciate the representation attempted in this book, but unfortunately it fell a little flat for me.

This was charming and fun and fabulous! I love Jenny’s work and this book was no exception. She writes fat characters with so much care and intention and I appreciate her so much.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Haleigh is tired of dating. One disastrous date after another has made her wish for a hiatus - but her family is on her case about having a +1 to her successful older sister's engagement party/weekend coming up in a few months. Complicating matters is that Haleigh has been in love with her best friend Jack for years - but a disastrous hook-up in Hawaii 5 years ago proved they were better off as friends and they developed rules to maintain the boundaries of their friendship. Haleigh, with the help of Jack, come up with a plan to appease her family and give herself the break from dating that she's craving - 5 family members/friends, 2 blind dates each. If nothing clicks, they leave her alone for 6 months. Let the datepocalypse begin.

I gave this book 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 for goodreads. I found the ending to be incredibly disappointing, and unfortunately the reasons why are rather spoilery. Suffice to say, as much as I'm usually a sucker for the main trope in this book, I did not ship it. Spoilers start below.

<spoiler>One of Haleigh's dates is wildly successful and I felt that they clicked incredibly well - I was a big fan of the pair. And after one mediocre date, during which Haleigh seemed like she was going to try to 'turn him' into a reader (despite him making it very clear that he's not a reader), suddenly all the previous chemistry was just..... gone. The abrupt flip was so jarring and out of left field, it was hard to believe that Haleigh found it ultimately so easy to throw aside that budding relationship. To her credit, there was a very mature conversation regarding it instead of ghosting him so thank god for that. I also feel like Jack did not show the amount of personal growth needed for their relationship to develop -- for starters, it took him over 5 years to apologize for the things he said to her that he clearly knew echoed her own deep-seated insecurities over being messy/disorganized/chaotic. He also had crossed the boundaries of their clearly stated and agreed upon rules SEVERAL times, resulting in new rules being created over the past 5 years - and Haleigh says that he's crossed these boundaries when drunk several times over the years. I don't care how much personal history there are between two people, you don't cross boundaries. If he was unhappy with the boundaries, he should have had a conversation with her - after all, HE was the one who said he regretted hooking up. Instead, he had to be convinced to be more open with his therapist about his struggles so that he could go through all that personal growth AFTER they got together. I don't think people have to be perfect/healed in order to be in a relationship - but the fact that Jack didn't ask Haleigh for support through some of these struggles as best friends, and only once they were dating, left a sour taste in my mouth. For the last spoiler - who the fuck thinks it's a good idea to propose to your girlfriend in the middle of her sister's engagement party? Like not even at the end of the weekend - in the middle of the dance floor, on the first day, right at the start? If this was an AITAH post, I would say ESH.</spoiler>

Jenny L. Howe has quickly become one of my favorite writers, especially with how she approaches plus size characters and plus size romance. The last couple of books I have read of hers have all been stories I truly connected with, which can be rare in a lot of the romance genre.

The characters here were fun and witty. I loved the premise and getting to see Haleigh go on all of these crazy dates and how the connections did or didn't develop from them. I truly loved the bisexual representation here as well and how it wasn't even really addressed, and instead just woven in seamlessly as no big deal. As it should be.

The only reason that this didn't quite reach a 5 star for me was that because there was so much time spent on Haleigh on her dates with everyone she was being set up with, I am not sure if I was fully invested in her and Jack's chemistry by the end. I almost feel as if we didn't get enough time with him to fully want to root for him.

This was such a great read and was really more of a 4.5 for me. Really do recommend giving it a read.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

i dnfed this book — just too cringe for my liking. however, i'd like to give this author a chance and see if there are other titles that i might enjoy!

I swear I couldn’t put Haleigh’s story down because it was just so entertaining and relevant to me. Maybe it’s because Haleigh reminds me so much of myself, but Howe really captured the feelings of being 25, plus-sized, and absolutely jaded by the dating world. Not to mention the feelings of anxiety? They were so accurate i found my body physically reacting to Haleigh’s interactions before she did. I can’t wait to read more of Howe’s books now that I’ve dipped my toe in!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

3 stars - Overall this fell short of Howe's prior novels. I found myself exasperated by the FMC decisions and lost interest. She wasn't a strong, confident woman and it was hard for me to get invested in the book. Maybe this was because it seemed like a less good version of Sophie Cousen's Is She Really Going Out with Him?

Thank you to Netgallery for an e-arc and my library for the audiobook. All opinions are my own.

Jenny's books are always great. I've been reading since the first came out - and will continue to do so.

I really loved the OCD, and anxiety rep. I loved Haley as a character and Jack as a love interest.

Even Brian was a great character, and I was worried how he would react at the end. But the story was very well done. 🥰

A very cute second chance romance! Fell a bit flat for me in a few spots. Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC of this read.

My second read from Jenny L. Howe, I enjoyed this one! Fat rep in romance is so important, and Howe does it so well. It’s great that more are coming out now, but to have it more as an own voices representation with the reality and not a performative interpretation from a skinny author is what makes it best (coming from a reader who has always been on the bigger side).

Haleigh and Jack are BFFs, never with a romantic thought between them… until she needs a plus one for her sister’s wedding and decides to go on multiple dates to find “the one,” having her close friends and family set her up on ten dates. Jack suddenly realizes that he might actually have those kind of feelings, so realizes he’s sabotaging her plans to be that winner… especially when she’s pretty sure she’s found her guy, and it isn’t him.

A great read which I highly recommend! I enjoyed it greatly the entire way through. The best friends aspect added a lot to a regular friends to lovers storyline, and the awful dating stories was a lot of fun. A sort of love triangle done right, since that is a trope I really don’t do. Howe is a great author!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press (St. Martin’s Griffin) for the early copies. This is my honest opinion and feedback.

This is a review of the audiobook.

Jenny Howe has given us what we want yet again with How To Get a Life in Ten Dates. A new play on friends-to-lovers, we follow FMC Haleigh as she navigates the (awful, treacherous, fill-in-the-blank-here) space of online dating. Add in the pressure and complexities of familial pressures - drama and comedy ensues. Jenny expertly tells a tale of a 20/30something trying to find themself as a person and what they bring to their multitudes of relationships, realizing what may have been right beside them all along.

Goodreads review

This was a charming and light romance. The premise is fun and engaging, and the authors writing style is easy to read and entertaining.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was absolutely delightful. I love best friends to lovers more than anything, so I already knew I would like this one. What I wasn’t expecting was how much I appreciated the carefully written representation of mental health struggles. I think Jenny did a great job of showing people who are struggling, but also showing what they are doing to actively work on themselves. This was such a fun, thoughtful read

I love Jenny Howe's romances, and this one didn't disappoint! Such a lovely character study, plus lots of delightful banter, heat, and healing. Loved it as always!

I am finding a lot of new favorite authors lately, and I think Jenny L. Howe has to be one of them! How to Get a Life in Ten Dates is everything I love in a rom-com because it is hilarious while also having lots of depth. Like a Hallmark movie, it is likely you will see where this one is headed, but that doesn’t take way from the enjoyment of it. The dogs 🐶 in the book are adorable, and questionnaires the men have to fill out to date Haleigh are priceless. Howe’s humor felt much like my own, and I appreciated that she made anxiety a part of the story. There is a bit of spice, but it wasn’t overly spicy, and I felt like it fit quite nicely into the storyline.

I loved how authentic the characters in How to Get a Life in Ten Dates were and I don’t think there was anyone better to voice the audiobook than Billie Bryant. She hasn’t narrated much yet according to Libro.fm and I need her to voice more romance stat! She did such a wonderful job with this book and perfectly portrayed Haleigh from beginning to end. I also loved the growth that the characters (especially Haleigh) went through, and by the end I was a little teary over it. I will definitely be reading more of Howe’s work ASAP!

Read this if you enjoy romance books featuring younger characters (our FMC is only 25), a focus on fat (not derogatory here) women trying to find love in a tough dating world, and a dose of family drama.

My Spice Rating: 🌶🌶
Audiobook Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

*3.5 stars*

This was really cute and fun. I loved the concept. This book follows Haleigh who has had terrible luck with dating and she’s fed up with her loved ones hounding her about getting a serious partner. So, she decided to come up with a plan, she will let her family/friends set her up on 10 dates and in exchange, after the 10 dates they will stop judging her for not having a partner. It includes bi representation, anxiety representation, best friends to lovers, plus-sized FMC, and a slight love triangle. I adored Haleigh’s character, she was so fun and the little surveys she would have each person fill out before each date added such a fun element. I loved seeing all the different dates throughout. I also think Jenny L. Howe did an incredible job of showing how anxiety can feel for different people, both MCs dealt with their anxiety in different ways, which was done really well. I wasn’t a huge fan of the mild love triangle situation included, while it added an interesting part of the story, it was just obvious who she was going to end up with the whole time, and it felt a little unnecessary for moving the plot forward, in my opinion. However, I really enjoyed how the story wrapped up and how much both MCs really cared for each other. Overall, if you’re a fan of rom-coms, Jenny L. Howe’s writing definitely gives you that. I was laughing and smiling so many times throughout, she did a great job implementing comedy into the story.

A quick and fun read that kept me interested and entertained. However admittedly, it didn't stay with me after I finished the way my very favourite romances do.

Thank you so much St. Martins Griffin and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

What a fun delightful story! Haleigh is a young woman who isn’t sure what’s going on to cause all of these terrible dates. As a fat woman (used as a descriptor per Haleigh herself) she knows who she is, but she’s struggling with finding her place. At least she always has her best friend Jack, right?

Overall, this book has some of the healthiest representation of mental health I’ve ever personally read. There’s descriptions of general anxiety disorder both medicated and unmedicated, plenty of discussions about therapy from both MCs, and lots of real world strategies to trick the brain. This was so refreshing to see. I thought Haleigh and Jack navigated this really well.

I also liked the accurate depiction of dating while knowing your worth. Haleigh went on multiple dates, good and bad, and had healthy communication on why things were and were not working (for the most part). I appreciate her creating a character that while not perfect, was still honest and upfront with her dates.