3 stars.

"A Five-Letter Word for Love" by Amy James is a goofy and over-the-top grumpy/sunshine romance centering on Wordle, but I enjoyed it for the most part. It's a relatively quick, very easy read that is sure to cleanse your palate. Emily and John are the total opposites of one another, but they are both prickly in their own ways. I understood Emily's issues probably more than I should admit. I think the quirkiness of their (eventual) romance is what kept me reading and not totally DNFing, but I can see why a lot of readers might take issue with some of the things that happen in this story. There are a few eyebrow-raising moments that could have ejected me from this ride expeditiously, but I think author Amy James recovered well from her stumbles. There is a little bit of a lack of chemistry between Emily and John early on, but again, the longer the story goes on, the more their chemistry becomes apparent. Actually, while writing this, I think I talked myself down a half of a star because Emily was willing to move heaven and earth for John and he definitely wouldn't have done the same for her??? I just went back and re-read some of the ending and I convinced myself to lower my rating, lol. Just be aware that this book HEAAAAAVILY focuses on Wordle, like, A LOT. Emily almost has several tantrums because she either can't get the word or forgets to do her daily puzzle. Again, a little quirky and odd, but it's ultimately harmless. Heck, I have a 1200+ day Duolingo streak going, and I certainly don't want to break that! Anywho, this book is fine, light, you could do worse.

Thank you to NetGalley, Amy James, Avon, and Harper Voyager for the complimentary ALC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm kind of amazed that there is now a book based around Wordle. While it was kind of fun to see it be part of the plot for a little bit, it got a little bit repetitive after awhile. This book was decent, nothing amazing and not bad at all. A perfect example of a 3 star book to me.

While there is a romance there it's not my favorite and this book really does focus more on Emily and what she wants to do with her life. So if you are looking for a romance book I don't know if I would pick this one.

This was such a cute and cheesy book! The fmc is an extroverted, upbeat (idealistic) person who is trying to find her dream job, not realizing that sometimes dream jobs are right in front of you (AND don't have to be overly grand or lofty). The whole book focuses on her obsession with the game "Wordle", as shown with the cute cover, and I found it fun and quirky. I really enjoyed the funny writing style, as if the character was talking to you. I felt like it brought me into the story more. Every now and then the fmc was frustrating with how judgy she could be, but I thought it also humanized her, so I was able to overlook that.

OH, I loved that the book is set in Prince Edward Islands and there were so many Anne of Green Gables references!!

Thank you NetGalley and Avon/Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Who would've thought that Wordle would become so popular that it inspired a romance? What a creative novel! I absolutely loved it. If you are a fan of wordle -- and romance, I highly recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC and ALC.

As a total word nerd who loves doing the NYT word games with my true love, I adored this sweet story. I defintely recommend it!

I didn’t really click with this book. The concept was super cool and I think it was a great idea but the execution just didn’t really match my tastes. The protagonist, and narrator of the story, annoyed me. It wasn’t that she was dislikable as much as it didn’t match my preferences. I think many people will love this story but I am not one of them. I never got into it and even once I did it fell short of my expectations and I never was fully invested in it.

A Five-Letter Word for Love is Amy James’s closed-door romantic comedy set on Prince Edward Island, Canada. It’s an opposites-attract, grumpy/sunshine story which prominently features the Wordle game. It’s told in first person POV.
27-year-old Emily is stuck in a rut. Although she has a degree in chemistry, she has only worked a series of temporary jobs, with her latest being a receptionist at a two-man auto repair shop. She dreams of doing something in a creative field in a large city like New York, but she is rejected for every position she applies for. Her best friends from college are all successful, and she realizes that she has nothing in common with them anymore. She still lives in her hometown on Prince Edward Island, Canada, but is renting a beautiful home while the owners are out of the country. Her only joy is talking to the elderly customers at the auto shop and solving the daily Wordle puzzle.
One night when her car breaks down, Emily is rescued by her irritating and taciturn co-worker, John. He arranges for a free tow for her car after he diagnoses that it needs a new battery. She’s obsessing about losing her 302-day winning streak on Wordle so he gives her some clues. That begins a tentative friendship between the two, and she starts to notice that he’s handsome when he isn’t wearing dirty coveralls.
Emily and John begin dating, and they slowly begin to rub off on each other’s personalities. Emily’s “hot mess” sunshine matures, and John becomes less grumpy with customers. He’s a cinnamon roll hero who patiently waits for Emily to realize that he’s “the one” for her. The side characters, especially the senior citizens, really add to the story. Every day there’s a long description of Emily solving the daily Wordle puzzle.
A Five-Letter Word for Love is an interesting concept romance for fans of the Wordle puzzle. Some readers will engage with the heroine, Emily, and identify with her “not meeting her high potential” character. Others may be like me, who just want to shake some sense into her. I will say that the author performed a dis-service to all Chemistry majors, because there is no way that Emily could have earned a degree in Chemistry and have the lack of knowledge that she did (what engineers do, car batteries, all things based on science, etc). A Five-Letter Word for Love contains no profanity or sex, so readers of all ages can enjoy this story.
I received an advance review copy (ARC) from NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Finding your footing in this chaotic world of life is the subject of A Five Letter Word for Love. We've always been told that we should know everything by the time we reach a certain age. that we ought to be living according to the precise plan we established for ourselves. But this isn't reality, for better or worse. it was crazy how many times I could identify with Emily's quest to discover her life's purpose. Her relationship with John was sweet, and I loved the trip we took with her!

This one really missed the mark for me. Emily and John's relationship felt rushed and lacked substance with very little character development.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! What a sweet, hilarious and unique Wordle Meet-Cute - great story and vibe!

This was a solid 3 star read for me! It was a great start to my 2025 reading year and I thought this was a fun debut novel for Amy James. Emily, our main character, came across as vapid and immature at times, however reading flawed characters makes them more relatable to me. Her relationship with John was a bit slow to start and I was not sure he was going to make a good book boyfriend but I was wrong! He was so sweet and caring and had me rooting for them to make things work. The story line revolved around Emily's long streak on Wordle and her trying to find her purpose in life. Overall this was an easy read that I found myself looking forward to read. I would recommend this book!

THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY AND AVON AND HARPER VOYAGER FOR AN ARC OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW!

#AFiveLetterWordforLove #NetGalley

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It's only January 5th and I can already tell this is going to be one of my top favorite reads of 2025.

As someone who loves word games, the cover of this book pulled me in immediately, and I found the title to be very clever.

The female main character was one of my favorite things about this book. I loved her bubbly nature, the way she would reframe negative thoughts and encourage herself to be better to herself and others, and the way she didn't get offended easily/kept trying even when things were hard.

The book was lighthearted, fun, and warm. I loved seeing what the new Wordle word would be each new day in the book, and was delighted by the connections these words had to the story.

I'm surprised at some of the other reviews as I thought for sure this would be a 5 star read for readers across the board. I am recommending it to the book club I'm in as our monthly read.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this great book!

A Five-Letter Word for Love was a super fun and cute love story. The integration of Wordle and their love story was an entertaining treat. The slow build between the characters was refreshing. It is a perfect book for fans of slow burns with realistic scenarios and heartfelt discussions!

DNF — I wanted to love this, but it just read slow to me. The premise of using Wordle was cute, but I just had a hard time getting into this one.

This was my palette cleanse so to speak for my in between thriller reading. I loved how light and fun this one was while giving all the small town romance cozy vibes you could ask for. I have never done Wordle but this made me want to pick it up and join into the fun! I love how a game was incorporated to almost be like a guiding life path in a quirky way!
Emily's character really developed throughout the book from a lost I don't know what to do with my life, into figuring out a path that would make her happy. Emily and John were a little weird for a couple, but it was also cute taking the polar opposite personalities and making them fit into a relationship built off of Wordle. The barrel museum was a cute idea, and I liked how the older individuals were incorporated in the story to give it more emotion and empathy to give a lot of focus to community, generational influence, and how small towns can really come together which gives small towns their own uniqueness!
If you want a lighthearted, a little emotional, but such a good read this is a gem! In a way it gave me Virgin River vibes ( I have only watched the show so far, the books are on my TBR), but I like that there were a lot of characters that could be incorporated in to give that community feel without being too many personalities to sort through.
Thank you to the publisher and getting a #Bookclubgirlearlyreads copy to review with my own thoughts!

This novel follows a woman living in a small town on Prince Edward Island in Canada, where she works as the receptionist at a car repair shop. She wants to do more with her life, yearning for life in a big city. As she gets more involved in her community and begins to fall for a coworker at the auto shop, she finds that she may not need to leave to find happiness.

I found the main character frustrating to follow and I think there were more mentions of Wordle than there was a serious plot.

On the other hand, I appreciate the character development that the main character had in the second half of the novel and I liked how the story wrapped up. I think the barrel museum seems like a charming place.

When I read the blurb and saw that it was set on Prince Edward Island, the FMC was obsessed with Wordle, and there was a quest for the "perfect dream job" I was excited to read.

While trying to make ends until Emily can find her dream internship and job she leaves her family and heads to live in Prince Edward Island working at a body shop as a receptionist. I love a small town story with a setting that has its own charm, local characters, and a peacefulness that makes the everyday mundane into an adventure. If you are looking for a book where Prince Edward Island is a main character in the story this might not be the book for you. Having spent decades traveling there I was hopeful for more than just a "taste" of this magical place.

Instead we find Emily working at the local autobody shop working with a guy who doesn't speak much and irritates her. Making the most out of her time she befriends a few older residents and takes a second job as a caregiver while building friendships along the way. It's a little difficult to swallow that her inexperience taking care of the elderly becomes something lucrative but this is fiction and moves the plot arc for Emily.

Despite wanting to put the book down half-way through I decided to read until the end because I had to know what Emily finally decided to do about her dreams and the goals she set for herself. What happened to her friends back home? Did she complete her Wordle challenge? Did she find her dream job?

While this didn't connect for me I'm sure there will be readers who devour this story and find a connection with the plot.

I liked the idea of this book but the execution was just not good. First major issue is that it’s a book using the theme of Wordle, but then mistakes are made in the Wordle patterns. At one point, the letter “A” is grey in the first guess but then “A” is one of the five letters! Second major issue was the timeline. At first it seems like the FMC is a recent college grad, at most, 3 years out. But then, one of her University friends already has three kids?! Everyone else is very established in their careers? Also, she was a chemistry major - which I was too! Yet, she comes off as incredibly stupid. You can’t get a chemistry degree if you are as stupid as the FMC seems. Also, the acceptances she gets towards the end of the book, not even fathomable in fiction! And putting an application together in two days?! There is a level of things not being 100% realistic that’s fine in fiction, but this is just poorly research and conceptualized. The FMC is judgy and kind of mean at the beginning but just doesn’t seem to understand life. Even her storyline with John doesn’t work and feels really forced. There’s some okay ideas here but it just doesn’t work. 1.5⭐️, 1.5🌶

A cute rom-com set in modern times. I actually really enjoyed this story and thought it was overall well done. Our main female character lives in a town reminiscent of Anne of Green Gables meets Gilmore Girls. It was interesting that her main love interest was someone she already knew but wasn't initially attracted to, made it feel very friends to lovers. Also, I love that in the end she found community and relationships beyond a love interest. The only downfall for me was the way everything seemed rushed towards the end, like very weird timelines but I understood it was due to the urgency to reunite. I also did not think the main male character felt developed for me, like I cannot remember a single trait he had except that he owned a fish. Overall an enjoyable book.

As a wordle girlie on day 299 of a streak, I was immediately drawn into the premise of A Five-Letter Word for Love, a debut romance by Amy James. I wasn't sure how she would tie wordle in throughout the story, but she did it seamlessly! The romance itself was a bit lackluster for me, but I appreciated the creativity.

3.5 stars