I requested this book because Wordle saved my life during the pandemic and I thought this was a cute premise for a novel.

A Five-letter Word for Love follows college graduate Emily on her quest for personal happiness and her dream career. She meets a charming cast of characters in rural Prince Edward Island who help her find her way.

While at times Emily's mental gymnastics became repetitive and there were some unbelievable plot elements, overall the novel was adorable and I enjoyed the journey.

Recommended for readers who want a sweet story of finding love while finding oneself. 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon books for an advance copy of this novel.

If you like books with a charming small town this is a good one. It's a cute romance with a unique premise. The male main character felt a little flat to me which was a bummer but overall it's a easy good time.

I received an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

I love this book, this book had me giggling and kicking my feet almost the entire time. One of my top reads of the year. As an avid lover of Wordle, who just sacrificed their 600 day streak and support of the strike, and someone who loves a guy named John as well. This book was made for me.

This book was your typical grumpy sunshine, third act break up, but it made all the better, happy ending. The only part that bothered me was Emily, you just kind of wanna shake her and yell at her to make up her mind. But it’s okay!! You can make up your mind and change your mind 1000 times.

Emily a receptionist at an auto shop, who has 1000 ideas to do with her life and her dream job and just doesn’t know what to do. John a mechanic for the shop who loves the small town life and likes racing cars. He’s not a man of many words, and she’s a certified yapper, the one thing that brought them together was Wordle. Throw in some adorable geriatrics and a barrel museum bake at 350 for 279 pages and you’ve great a great book with a really cute story!!!!

A Five-Letter Word for Love absolutely surprised me in some great ways. While on its surface a Wordle-themed rom-com, this book really explores finding oneself and learning to find the value of life's ordinary beauty.

Emily is a woman in her late twenties whose life is not at all what she imagined post-college. She is a dreamer and idealist, yet she finds herself working as a receptionist at an auto shop, applying for a "real job". While constantly optimistic, she also finds herself lonely and grappling with navigating the changing and having friendships of her university days and trying to find new relationships on her current life situation.

Enter John, a mechanic of few words who is perfectly (mostly) content with his life working at the auto shop he and Emily both work at on Price Edward Island. He rarely has interacted with her until a car mishap forces an interaction, which leads to more. They soon discover that what they each saw on the surface of the other was not all there was.

Meanwhile, this book also explores the value of the elderly and local history, storytelling, and recognizing that you can take many paths on life, but eventually have to choose one. Choosing isn't always settling, sometimes it's just knowing your heart.

I could have done with a little less Wordle and a little more personality from John, but the local museum subplot and the elderly people that are so well developed in this book really make this a solid read. Ultimately, this book celebrates the ordinary, and how exceptional each ordinary, well-lived life is.

this was an ok read.
I can relate to the fmc in that she’s still trying to figure out life and what she wants to do. She is in limbo and wants to find her way sooner rather than later. The beginning was fun and quirky. I liked the interactions between the fmc and mmc.

The middle of the book was slower. I wasn’t that interested in the barrel museum stuff😅 I did like how motivated Emily was though.
The wordle aspect was fun. I loved how Emily was with the older folks. It was really sweet and heartwarming.

Overall this was cute and light, but it didn’t reel me in as much as I was hoping.

A FIVE LETTER WORD FOR LOVE – Amy James
Avon
ISBN: ‎ 978-0063399013
December 2024
Romantic Comedy

Waldon, Prince Edward Island, Canada – Present Day

Emily is twenty-seven but doesn’t really enjoy her life right now. She is working in a dead-end job as a receptionist at an auto shop and doesn’t have a boyfriend or any close friends living in town. She keeps in touch with her college girlfriends, but their lives have diverged greatly from hers. It’s enough to make Emily depressed. The one thing that keeps her happy is her daily Wordle puzzle. She is currently on a 300+ daily streak. John, who is one of the mechanics at the shop, rarely says more than grunts to Emily, but one day, she discovers that he is a Wordle player also. This leads to them interacting more, and Emily begins to like John…a lot. A relationship develops.

Meanwhile, Emily has become friends with her next-door neighbor, an elderly woman who is determined to remain independent in her home despite what her daughter wants. Emily starts helping her neighbor, and it soon leads to a part-time job getting groceries and minor things for the lady. Word gets out, and Emily has several part-time jobs. She also volunteers at a local museum, and it doesn’t take long before she is thinking about events there, even if the manager is a horrid person. Emily has a lot going on, but she is the master of none. Her dream job is…what?

I found A FIVE LETTER WORD FOR LOVE to be an enjoyable read because a lot is going on. We start out learning that Emily is basically by herself in Waldon, but she hates it there. She wants to be in a big city doing a job she loves instead of working as a receptionist. However, she hasn’t decided on what kind of job she wants to do, especially since she lacks the qualifications. Emily is what one would call a “dreamer.” Enter John into her life. They fit perfectly, though she wonders why he is working in an auto shop when he could be doing something better. This tale turns out to be a journey for Emily, and a lesson that sometimes what we think are greener pastures doesn’t always work out in the end.

The other characters in A FIVE LETTER WORD FOR LOVE mix in perfectly with Emily and each other. Besides her elderly neighbor, Emily becomes friends with an elderly man she does chores for. She first met him at the museum but when he found out she did chores, he hired her. He enthralls her with stories about his late wife, etc. Things are going smoothly in her relationship with John, even as she contemplates her future. With her life full in Waldon, why is she looking to leave? That seems to be the message for readers in this tale. There is so much going on that readers will want to find out what happens next. As with life, it is up and down for Emily. But is her current happiness enough to have her give up her dreams?

A contemplative tale that will keep you wanting to find out what Emily decides in the end. Will she continue to build a relationship with John? Will her home care jobs keep expanding? Or will she end up finding a pot of gold at the end of her rainbow dreams? Find out the answer by grabbing a copy of A FIVE LETTER WORD FOR LOVE.

Patti Fischer
Romance Reviews Today

This had really charming, sweet moments and was entertaining to read about the characters bonding over wordle. I found aspects of Emily very relatable from her inability to complete crossword puzzles to the struggle of what she wants to do with her life/career. But the love interest, John, was super bland and even though he did have his sweet moments, I think her initial impression of him being boring still rings true. Especially when he didn't support her moving to better her career. I probably enjoyed her relationships with the elderly people she was caring for more than her relationship with John. And after the book ends, I don't see them sticking together, which kind of kills the book for me, unfortunately. Thanks Netgalley for the e-ARC!

A Wordle love story?? Iconic

Emily is currently working as a receptionist at a small-town auto shop while she tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life. She is also a dedicated Worlde player, just 60 days away from hitting a 365 day streak. Over the course of the story, she bonds with one of the mechanics at the auto shop through doing the Wordle, branches out into becoming a caregiver and a museum worker, and tries to make the most out of living in a small town.

I love how relatable Emily is; she's just a girl who has no idea what she wants to do in her life and oh my god I have never related to a character more in my life. I have no idea what I want to do with my life, and it made me feel a lot better knowing that one day I'll be able to figure it all out. For me, this really was more than just a romance novel, it was like a coming of age novel for adults who still have a lot of things to figure out.

Amy James delivers a heartfelt and original contemporary romance in A Five-Letter Word for Love. Set against the charming backdrop of Prince Edward Island, this novel follows Emily, a relatable twenty-something yearning for more than her small-town life. With her clever Wordle streak as a unique plot hook and an unexpected romance with a coworker as the heart of the story, this book offers plenty to admire.

Emily’s journey from discontent to self-discovery is both tender and uplifting. The author’s prose is warm and engaging, with sharp observations about love, ambition, and finding joy in the unexpected.

However, the novel does hit a slower pace in the middle. While Emily’s introspection provides valuable insight into her character, the extended time spent inside her head occasionally slows the story’s momentum. A tighter focus on the external action might have kept the narrative as lively as its premise.

Overall, A Five-Letter Word for Love is a promising debut that showcases the author’s ability to craft nuanced characters and a relatable story. Fans of slow-burn romance and character-driven novels will appreciate Emily’s journey and cheer her on.

If you enjoy romance novels that celebrate personal growth and the joys of unexpected connections, this book will be a delightful addition to your reading list. I look forward to seeing what the author writes next.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the complimentary copy. All opinions shared here are my own.

I picked this arc because I am a big Wordle fan and a romance sparked by my fave NY Times puzzle seemed like a lot of fun. It’s a cute rom com, and I suspect that fellow Anne of Green Gables fans will enjoy the handful of Anne references scattered throughout the book. at times, I struggled a bit with Emily's blindness to her own desires and ambitions. Maybe it was the way she speaks to the reader directly, breaking through the 4th wall in a "fleabag" style narrative structure, that makes it feel like exaggerated naïveté. Overall, it was an easy read with a satisfying ending and a charming tribute to small town life.

The FMC, Emily, is struggling to understand her purpose in life. While she maintains a list of possible career choices, she is stuck between “real jobs” and while house sitting in a small town in Canada and working various, totally unrelated jobs and her Wordle hobby is really the only thing keeping her going.

At 300+ days of a Wordle streak, she learns that a generally quiet and sort of grumpy mechanic at the car shop she works also plays. Although the writer makes suggestive hints that this is going to end in romance, I find this relationship a little boring and difficult to believe. It takes about half the book for the relationship to really develop and honestly. Emily isn’t in and of herself very interesting.

I do think that what works here is Emily’s struggle to find herself in work. She has a lot of aspirations, specifically to work in “the arts,” but she doesn’t have a clue what she wants to do. She maintains a list of possible career choices and romanticizes a lot of things unrealistically, however as the story progresses, its clear that just being given an opportunity is enough to give Emily purpose. 100 pages in and she has a full time receptionist job at the mechanic, a volunteer job with a local museum AND she is being paid to assist three of the local elderly folks who are attempting to live independently.

I find the relationship between Emily and the elderly she works with to be the best metaphor for Emily’s possible future. She is helping these “very interesting” folks continue to live on their own, while helping them with the things they struggle with the most. This happens to be small things like grocery shopping and ensuring medication is taken properly. Her connection to these people directly reflect the future that she aims for – to be interesting by having lived a full life.

I find the author’s writing to be very accessible and straightforward, which is nice. I also find the secondary and tertiary characters to be interesting enough to help balance Emily’s relative boringness. I find Emily’s conundrum to be relatable just not very endearing.

While the story seems to be a romance, I think this book better addresses common issues for a 20-something such as friendship, purpose, and the pursuit of dreams—elements that elevate the narrative more than the romance.

This book is a grumpy/sunshine, opposites attract romance. The FMC is outgoing and wants more than her small town life, and the MMC, is perfectly content with his life working in an auto shop. They've worked together for a while, but don't really connect until the MMC sees the FMC playing Wordle. That's really all they have in common.

There's not really any chemistry between the characters, the progression of the romance was poor, and John fell completely flat. He was completely one-dimensional so extremely boring. He doesn't have ANY personality and Emily was very immature and her internal dialogue was so annoying.

I also understand that FMC's love for Wordle was the main plot of this book. She reeeeaaally wanted to keep her streak, but this came up at the worst times throughout the book.

And don't get me started on Emily leaving the life she always wanted, to come back to the small town she wanted for this man, who would not have done the same for her... I understand that she ended up changing her mind, and realizing that she now wanted something different, but it was just a bit more disappointing than any thing.

Thank you to Amy James, Avon and Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book. This is my honest review.

dnf 11% I'm not going to lie, the book started with "Just between you and me" and I groaned. I hate confessional "let me tell you" style books. The only one that has ever worked is The Hating Game, everything else in this style just sounds condescending. I like the game Wordle and I was willing to give a debut author a chance, but this book was just painful to read. In addition not the confessional style it was first person present POV and the internal monologues of the FMC were just painful. Also what the hell is a degree in science? Science in general is not a major, there are majors within the field of science, but just general science is not a thing I've ever heard of. The book so far has just been the lead whining and I don't know or like her enough to listen to here complain about how she should have picked a major in the arts instead of "science." You have a degree, find a job in the arts, you don't have to major in it to get a job in the field. On top of this I could tell from what I read who the MMC would be but it's a bad sign in a romance when the couple has had one interaction across maybe three pages and from looking at other reviews, he apparently does not become a fully fleshed out character. I decided to cut my losses and stop before I grew more annoyed by the book. I do think the Wordle concept is cute and I liked how here daily solving of the puzzle was integrated into the story, but that's about all I have to say that's positive.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a fun concept for a book! The title and cover originally drew me in and I’m so glad and thankful I got the opportunity to read this! The chemistry is there with the characters from the start and the premise and plot for the book are interesting as well. It felt like a mix of self discovery and romance mixed into one. I’m a Wordle fan and love small town romance so I think that could definitely appeal to readers as well. Thank you so much for the privilege and opportunity!

This book was fun!
I laughed about loud a lot, it's not the best written book ever, and the FMC was annoying at times, but I loved her and I was entertained the whole time

4.5 stars

This was so fun and sweet. I loved how their friendship and relationship blossomed from a little word game. Sometimes we just need one little thing to find a way to connect with others before being able to really show your full self. I enjoyed how calm and quiet the love was which felt very realistic but also made the 3rd conflict make sense for how the FMC saw her life from the beginning. Overall I really enjoyed this and how wordle was I portant but wasn’t the WHOLE story. The storyline of the FMC finding her passion and learning how she wants her life was easy to connect to for me as well.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Solid 3.5 stars.

I'm struggling with this review. The book was adorable, but it felt more like a self-discovery book and not a romance book. It felt very romance light for me. It also read log a blog, not a book? I adored all of the side characters and thought they all had a lot of depth but I was missing the depth from John, the MMC. I wish we'd have had a chapter or two from his POV, just to get inside his head a little bit.

All that said, I couldn't put the book down. I started it after work and finished it before going to bed, so it has a definite unputdownable quality. I just wanted more swoon worthy romance.

3.5 stars

There were several things I liked about A Five-Letter Word for Love by Amy James, and also a few issues that kept me from rating it higher.

But let’s start with the good:
I love me a journey of self-discovery, and tbh I would say this is mostly that and the romance is secondary (we’ll get to that). But Emily’s desire to make her mark and do something big is relatable af—and though I found a lot of her idealism naive, I also understood her as a character. It felt good to see her make new friends, let go of the old ones, and figure out what she wanted.

Also, I was at first unsure how Wordle would play into things, but I liked how she chose words based on her life and feelings—even if I personally find that method of strategy chaotic as he’ll.

What didn’t work so well for me:
A small nit I have is that I don’t like when first-person POV sounds like they’re telling the story to a person. When they refer to the reader as “you” (and it doesn’t make sense in the story, like they are telling the story to someone else), I just cringe. That’s just a me thing, I know. And also I just don’t like it 🤷🏻‍♀️

But the bigger issue is that we don’t see enough of Emily and John together in a real way for me to root for them. We are told they are spending nights together and we are told they are probably in love, but because we don’t get more sweet scenes with them to build up tensions and raise the stakes, I was not left super invested in them as a couple. The book still works as a self-discovery narrative, but the title then feels a bit misleading.

Anyway. Worth reading, but don’t expect a strong focus on the romance.

(Also I received an ARC of this book and chose to leave a review.)

A Five Letter Word for Love by Amy James
⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶

This was a cute story. A well written and sweet romance. I liked it's quirkiness and found it to be a very quick read.

I liked this book. It was really good. It was an easy read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would totally buy this book for my trophy shelf and even for a friend.