"The Love Hack" by Sophie Ranald, narrated by Harrie Dobby, is a clever and relatable exploration of relationships and human nature story.
Lucy, the protagonist, is a rookie advice columnist who's struggling to navigate her own love life after a past heartbreak. She's convinced that she'll never fall for someone in the office again, but then she meets Ross, her charming and hilarious new co-worker. As she gets to know him better, she finds herself drawn to his quirky humour and kind heart.
But things take a complicated turn when Lucy discovers that Ross is most definitely not single. And to make matters worse, she's convinced that an email in her inbox is from him, which throws her whole world into chaos. As she tries to decode the romantic troubles plaguing her life, she turns to her trusty AI assistant for help.
I admit that I was a bit sceptical about the whole AI assistant thing at first, but it ended up being a clever and insightful addition to the story. It added a layer of depth and realism to the characters' experiences and helped to illustrate the complexities of modern relationships.
One of the things that stood out to me about this book was its portrayal of women as strong, capable individuals who are worthy of love and respect. Lucy is a fantastic protagonist - she's smart, funny, and relatable, and she's not afraid to speak her mind. I loved watching her grow and evolve throughout the story, and I found myself cheering her on as she navigated the ups and downs of her love life.
Of course, no review would be complete without mentioning the narration. Harrie Dobby did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life, and her voice was perfect for this story. She captured Lucy's wit and sassiness perfectly, and her narration added to the overall charm of the book.
"The Love Hack" is a great choice for anyone who loves romance novels with a twist. It's a fun, relatable read that will keep you laughing and crying in equal measure. Just be prepared for a little bit of cringe - some of the moments can be a bit awkward, but hey, that's just part of the charm!

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of this book. This is about a girl who is working behind a question column. She isn’t just answering any questions.. she is giving men advice about women. This book is really cute and hilarious! I laughed so much during this book. I loved all the characters. I was really entertained.

The Love Hack
Sophie Ranald
Lucy starts an advice column for men, “Ask Adam.” She answers relationship questions asked by men. When she begins the column, she realizes she knows very little about men. How ironic, Lucy writing an advice column; her weekends are spent watching TV with her cat, Astro. When she meets Ross, a co-worker, things begin to change. Ross makes her laugh; he is attractive, and she likes him a lot. Her last boyfriend broke her heart and used her. She has vowed never to allow that to happen again.
The emails for “Ask Adam” are coming in fast, her column is a success. There are times when Lucy doesn’t know how to answer a question, so she turns to AI.
What I didn’t like about this book:
1. Lucy is obsessed with her former boyfriend, whom used her.
2. Lucy lacks self-esteem.
3. Seemed too long.
4. I didn’t like the use of AI.
What I liked about this book:
1. I liked Ross.
2. I liked the romance between Ross and Lucy.
3. I liked the column Ask Adam.
4. I liked Lucy’s sister.
5. I liked the relationship between Lucy and her sister.
6. Nice cover.
This book has great potential but needs work.
Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy for review.

The narrator was lovely, however this book just wasn't for me.

I feel like nothing really happened until about halfway through, and by that point I was a little bit checked out to care at all. Some of the different events that occurred seemed to be far reaching, and while in the end it was love story for Ross and Lucy, there wasn't enough time actually spent on the development of their relationship for it to mean anything.

Also all of the issues could've been solved with some good old fashioned direct communication.

A super cute office romance between an online advice columnist for men and her new coworker who she's determined not to date especially after she receives an advice request from a man she's sure is him and who is definitely NOT single. Funny and light-hearted this is perfect for fans of authors like Sophie Kinsella and good on audio. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early ALC in exchange for my honest review!

I struggled with some aspects of The Love Hack. Most notably was how Lucy could even consider doing a men’s advice column when she doesn’t like men. I also felt like her relationship with her sister was slightly codependent. I did like Lucy’s relationship with Ross and wish there had been more of it. Thank you Net Galley and Dreamscape Select/Storm Publishing for the advance copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest feedback.

I had to DNF this one half way through. I was disappointed in the fact that it said fans of Beth O’Leary and Emily Henry fans would like this book. I didn’t feel emotionally anything that I feel when I read those authors. This one just wasn’t for me. I didn’t really like Lucy very much. The narrator did a great job! Huge thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape for allowing me to listen and review this book.

Like a lot of the other reviewers, I found The Love Hack to be an interesting premise, but eventually gave up on trying to be sympathetic to the main character's struggles. She was just too immature. This was a DNF at 38%. Sometimes a MC will make one or two decisions that seem immature and it's annoying but easily forgiven when the majority of the book is solid, but I really felt bad for the FMC here because she acted like she'd never interacted with any of her peers before, ever..

I don't see myself picking up any more books by Sophie Ranald, but I would definitely listen to more audiobooks narrated by Harrie Dobby.

Thanks to Dreamscape Select/Storm Publishing, and Netgalley for this ALC. and the opportunity to review The Love Hack in audiobook format.

Lucy is in danger of losing her job when the man who was hired before her was chosen for her position until her witty, man-expert sister pitches an idea to develop an advice column for dating advice for men. “Ask Adam” was a hit with management and with the help she was getting from her sister, Lucy truly believed she would be able to do this job even if it was out of her comfort zone.

Of course Lucy would be unlucky enough to be extremely attracted to the man who sits across from her, Ross - doing the job she truly wants to be doing. She thought the attraction would be manageable until she sees Ross out on her sister’s hen night hooking up with one of the bridesmaids.

And after Lucy’s sister pulls out of helping with the column, she’s at a loss and does her best to find other tools to help her write her replies to the men in her email inbox. She’s thrown through another loop when one of those emails strongly resembles the likes of her sister’s new husband.

This was such a cute read and I truly loved all of the side characters and how much they played a part in the book even if it didn’t seem like that much. As someone who has been THAT GIRL when being cheated on (iykyk, im not proud), it’s easy to get mad and upset when someone is delivering horrible news to you. Even if they care deeply for you, sometimes it’s hard to keep that anger and frustration directed at the correct target.

Lucy and her sister’s relationship made my heart so warm and full and I just absolutely adore them. Such a precious and special bond 🥺

An incredibly solid 3/5 stars. This book is predictable, in the absolute best way. The Love Hack follows a British journalist, Lucy, who is still reeling over the broken relationship of her former workplace romance. Lucy has completely sworn off all men until she is provided an opportunity to host an "Ask Adam" column for her journal/magazine company. Initially supported by her romancing, knowledgeable sister, Lucy has to independently support the column after her sister follows her new husband to New York. Lucy turns to AI to help navigate the woes of British men all over the nation and, unsurprisingly, falls in love with her new co-worker, Ross.

Things I loved:
- Ross, HE'S SO WONDERFUL AND I'M GUTTED THAT WE DON'T GET MORE OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP. C'mon, like 30 pages is not sufficient to call this a "romance" novel
- The budding relationship between Ross & Lucy - give. me. more.
- The narrator - I listened to the audiobook version of this book and the narrating team was fantastic
- The Escape Room scene
- Lucy's New York hotel cocktail bar endeavor

Things I didn't love:
- Dear old sister
- The majority of scenes with Lucy. She's just kind of annoying
- The ChatGPT/AI system - I get that this is becoming more of our zeitgeist but reading about it in fiction novels still feels strange and forced to me

It was just predictable. I mean Hallmark movies are great because you know exactly what you're going to get. This book was no different.

Thank you Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. All above opinions are my own.

A sweet, slow burn workplace with excellent narration, marred a bit by an underdeveloped AI subplot. General readers probably won't care/notice, but given the current ethical issues around AI, particularly in the publishing arena, fellow authors are likely to be a bit taken aback by the breezy pro-chatbot stance the book takes.

Based on the cover and title, I thought I would be reading a romance book, but this book isn’t so much about romance rather than problems surrounding relationships.
Lucy, the lead character, haunted by a past failed relationship and unrequited love, becomes “Adam”, an advice columnist. Her eyes are opened through a series of events about the selfish and human nature of the men that are seeking her advice.
As a side note:I found it interesting that emerging AI technology is woven into the storyline.
While the book doesn’t end with a “happily ever after typical of a romance, Lucy does find satisfaction in understanding men better and feeling more confident in herself.

I’d like to thank NetGallery for the opportunity to preview this free title and offer my honest review.

2.5 ⭐️
5/5 🎧
.5/5 🌶️

I have quite a few issues with this book but let me start with what I enjoyed
I liked the plot and thought the premise was quite fun the idea of a woman writing men’s relationship advice is always so funny and I liked that she was learning how to empathize with the men a bit more despite many not deserving it. The writing style was easy to read and enjoyable despite a few moments, and I really loved the resolution with her sister at the end. The plot with her and her sister was honestly more interesting to me than the romance!

As for what didn’t work for me there were quite a few things that lead to the low rating:

Firstly Ai was HEAVILY featured in this book, it was an integral plot point as hinted in the blurb but I feel like the ethical dilemmas of Ai were not present at all. There was an exposition essentially espousing the wonder of AI at the very end and it made the book feel like an ad for Ai and kind of made me question if this book was at least partially written by Ai.
I would have probably given this book a 3-3.5 rating if the subject matter surrounding Ai was handled differently but it just personally gave me the ick.


In my opinion there was also not enough time spent with the love interests together and the romance felt like a side plot making this feel more like women’s fiction. When the main characters did eventually get together it felt very 0-100 and I wasn’t really rooting for them to get together.

The author kept telling us that the FMC was smart but she continuously made very dumb choices. In general I was not a fan of the FMC ( which I hate to say bc I think FMCs get a lot of hate no matter what but this girl had me ANNOYED)

There was also a 9/11 plot thrown in very randomly that felt super out of place. And I don’t think the cover or title did a good job of conveying what this book was about.

Sadly this wasn’t the book for me, there parts I enjoyed but overall it’s not something I would recommend.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Select for sending this audiobook for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

The book lost me once she went to New York. It became a completely different book. The romance went from -100 to 100 in a few sentences which was so weird to me, and the FMC read like she had a personality disorder (which would be fine except I don’t think that was the authors intention).

A little dry, and I did not love the narrators voice. Found it hard to get through and honestly had to DNF around 75% of the way through. Just not enough wit and chemistry between Lucy and Ross.

Not a bad book overall, just a little cringy in some aspects. Okay storyline.

She’s a rookie advice columnist. He’s her office crush. It’s about to get complicated.
Landing a new job as online agony uncle “Ask Adam” Lucy dishes out relationship tips to men. But when it comes to her own love life, she’d rather spend Friday nights curled up on her sofa with Netflix and her cat, Astro. That is, until she meets Ross, her new co-worker who makes her snort with laughter at his silly jokes and sets off butterflies in her stomach when his hazel eyes meet hers over his laptop. After her last work boyfriend broke her heart, Lucy swore she’d never fall for someone in the office again. And she’s just about to have two more good reasons not to.

An email has just landed in the “Ask Adam” inbox and Lucy is convinced it’s from Ross. He’s most definitely not single. As her advice column goes viral and her inbox overflows with problems, Lucy turns to her AI assistant for help decoding romantic troubles, including her own. Can her state-of-the-art cupid really help her navigate her feelings for Ross? Or will the truth behind “Ask Adam” turn her non-existent love life into a hot mess?

The Love Hack is a women’s fiction (blended with romance) about a woman who is exploring the unknown when she prefers the comfort of the familiar, while also trying to process the relationship of her past so she can move on and have a better future.

I really liked the woven in past relationship because it is integral to the MCs beliefs, and it is quite relatable. When things unfolded in the story and I learned the extent of her past relationship, my jaw dropped and my gut sank, because I know exactly what this type of relationship does to a woman, and the struggle of trying to let it go.

I also liked the career aspect of this story, and how the MC decided to take on something new to make herself valuable.

I listened to the audiobook which was well done by a single narrator. I listened at 1.75x speed (my normal audiobook listening speed is 1.75-2x speed).

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Select for this advanced audiobook copy.

this was sadly not my favorite audiobook- I had to DNF it because I kept falling asleep while listening to it haha. the beginning was interesting but I just was not into the rest…

I love the voice of the narrator and her growth throughout the book. However, I didn't think the other subplots were complete with multiple time, I was let wondering what the point of it was. I can usually get into an audiobook quick but took me a couple weeks to actually finish it as I couldnt get into it.

Rating: 3.5

I want to say I loved this book, but I just can’t. It wasn’t a bad book, just the moral of the story it was a little off for me.
Lucy needs to get a life. This is what was wrong with the story. And it wasn’t a romantic book, it was more about Lucy getting a backbone and learning about how to speak up.
I can’t say I hate the book either, but I guess it could’ve focused more on her relationship with Ross than her focus on her sister’s life. But I did liked how she stood up for her sister. Family does matter. But that shouldn’t have been the focus of the story.
As for the narrator it was okay, can’t say anything wrong about Harrie Dobby! As an audiobook it was easy to listen to it!

Thank you, Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the ALC!