This was such a fun romance book. I loved the coding aspect and I think it would be great for people who love romance and coding. I would recommend this to friends.

There were several elements of this book that I liked, but also quite a few that I didn't.

Ozzy was my favorite part of the book by far.

His unwavering gleefulness and, as the story progresses, ability to be vulnerable, pulled me in and kept me interested in how things were going to end up between Pandora and him.

Unfortunately, Pandora didn't hold a candle to his character. I feel like I never got to learn anything about her other than she's obsessed with coding/work and being a doormat for people to walk on.

The road trip in the second half of the book was a definite improvement to the first half. I finally felt like there was movement in the story that wasn't just Pandora planning her next prank.

Overall, I felt that the book left some to be desired. The cover and the premise sounded really cute, but Pandora and Ozzy's love story just didn't do it for me.

I'd like to thank NetGalley for providing a free ARC of this book.

1 STAR — and that’s for the cover and the surfer abs. That’s it.

I wanted to love this. I really, truly did. A workplace rivals STEMinist rom-com? An algorithmically mismatched enemies-to-lovers road trip? YES, PLEASE.

But what I got? A messy, glitchy plot where emotional growth and character arcs were nowhere to be found, chemistry fizzled out like a soda left in the sun, and the “STEMinist” rep? Yikes.

As someone who LOVES nerd girl meets sunshine boy tropes and devours fake dating like it’s a food group, this had so much potential. But from page one, it felt like a first draft that never got debugged.

Don’t get me started on the tech inaccuracies. If you’re writing about engineers and code, please Google Java syntax at least once. Pandora invents a whole matchmaking app and the payoff for that arc? Nonexistent.

Honestly, I felt gaslit by this book. It promised a fun, swoony rivals-to-lovers, but what I got was a relationship built on miscommunication, boundary-pushing, and pure physical attraction with zero foundation. By the end, I didn’t buy the romance or the resolution. All I wanted was a Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

The forced proximity/fake dating trips drew me in; the enemies trope nearly drove me out.
A lot of the progressions in this story felt like they were there because the author wanted to write them whether they had the appropriate transition or build up. Physical descriptions of actions were hard to follow and i had to start paragraphs over to try to figure out who was standing where our when he had moved across the room.
The main character was so set on hating the guy that she was completely blind to him saying he never hated her and only wanted to be her friend or more.
The guy did not listen to or respect boundaries, climbing onto her balcony when she didn't answer her door.
I couldn't make sense of why they would end together apart from physical chemistry. I wasn't rooting for them at all.
Any conflicts in the story were settled anticlimactically and, in one case, off-screen.

Brilliant coder Pandora is tired of putting in all the hard work and bringing all the brainpower, but being ignored and forgotten. She comes up with a fantastic new app to match people to their perfect travel companions. And her match is…Ozzy, HOT celebrity surfer, guy she kissed under a pier in the dark, and new neighbor who really gets under her skin. Her company insists she and Ozzy go on a road trip through Mexico—their perfect trip according to the app. If it’s successful, she’ll get a promotion and maybe her boss will actually learn her name.

The Code for Love was filled with hilarious banter, quips, and such clever writing. I loved the premise—road trip is one of my favorite romance tropes. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get into it. Pandora’s hatred of Ozzy was pretty extreme for what seemed like petty reasons. I love a good enemies to lovers romance, but I need a solid reason for them to hate each other and it just wasn’t there. I also didn’t feel the chemistry between the characters, and there wasn’t much depth to either character or in the relationship; everything felt superficial. And the characters just weren’t very likeable, with Pandora always being so mean and Ozzy turning into a selfish jerk. But I would have loved getting Ozzy’s point of view too. Still, there were some beautiful moments, and the author definitely can write humor!

Lots of people will love the snark, wit, and fun of this book. I’m sorry, it just wasn’t for me.

e-ARC: 2.5⭐️ rounded up; I love the premise of this book. It had a lot of really cute moments, and overall it was a fun, quick summer read with a forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers plot line.

BUT unfortunately I feel like it fell short in numerous ways. The plot was kind of all over the place—rather than flowing as a cohesive storyline, it felt like we jumped from scene to scene and it often felt like the plot leaned on tropes in ways that left the characters and story feeling under-developed. Why did Pandora hate Ozzy, really? There was no real driving force for them to be “enemies” and as she continued to be hateful towards him it really made her feel unlikable. Both MCs lacked meaningful character development/growth, though there was so much potential there for both of them. Pandora was so strongly autistic-coded and I wish that had been explored more. I really would have loved to see her finally stand up in a more meaningful way. And I would’ve loved to see Ozzy embrace vulnerability and learn how to be more self-accepting and confident.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Anne Marsh and Afterglow Books by Harlequin for this digital ARC.

This author is new to me, but I will be keeping an eye out for anything else they publish. I loved the story and the characters. The pacing of the story was great and the characters were relatable.

This was a quick and easy summer read involving women in STEM, forced proximity, and he falls first. Pandora the invisible app developer and Ozzy the surfer are matched up to travel together to test a new single travel buddy app. Their former sizzling beach kiss fuels a casual romance that begins to turn into something more. Ozzy is a golden retriever man who follows Pandora around like a puppy. Pandora is constantly rejecting him even though she is attracted to him. There just wasn't enough angst or character depth to keep the story interesting. I also found the plot difficult to get behind. What company would send a celebrity surfer to travel to Mexico in a van with a software developer? One bed with no privacy seems like an HR nightmare. The third act twist was predictable and the spice was cringe. Overall, it was fine and I do support stories with women in STEM careers, but this one had a few issues.

Thank you to Net Galley and Afterglow Books by Harlequin for the ARC. I received this book in exchange for a review, but all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. It was an enemies to lovers sort of workplace, close proximity story. The two main characters end up matched as the perfect companions for a travel app. There was some time where it seemed to drag but overall it was a good story.

The Code for Love by Anne Marsh
A charming blend of STEM and heart, this romance wraps you in wit, intellect, and sizzling chemistry. Marsh creates characters you’ll root for and a love story that feels refreshingly smart and sweet. Ideal for fans of nerdy, feel-good romance.

I liked that it was a bit of a reverse grumpy/sunshine and that the FMC was an independent STEM girly. Wasn’t a fan of the 3/4 fight or the contradiction describing her. First she says she a curvy nerd, then toward the end she’s not curvy. Which one is it? lol

The story was alright, but was not my favorite. Most of the plot was on the surface level, rather than diving deeper. I wish there was something more to the characters to make them even better. Predictable ending for the novel.

I had a really hard time getting through this one. I couldn’t connect with the characters and while the book itself is short, it felt like the story moved by so slowly. There wasn’t a lot of depth to the story. Unfortunately it was a miss for me.

I liked the premise a lot more than I liked the full story. As the book went on, I was hoping for some more excitement but the third act conflict was just not it. It just felt unnecessaryily cliche and actually something that took too long to be resolved. In terms of the relationship, it felt like there wasn't enough 'on-screen' communication as the feelings developed, it was just a lot of chemistry and physical stuff happening but no serious conversations..

I wanted to love this book - the cover is cute and the plot fun. However it fell flat for me. It lacked structure and dragged on, though it was a short read. The characters didn’t have much depth, and the ending was pretty predictable.

It’s an enemies-to-lovers, workplace romance about Pandora, a software engineer, and Ozzy, a laid-back surfer. Pandora creates an app that matches people with their ideal travel partner, and surprise—Ozzy turns out to be her perfect match. They end up on a road trip together, forced to spend time in close quarters, and of course, have hot chemistry.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

i absolutely loved this book!! the writing was really amazing, both of the characters were extremely likable with a lighthearted and lovely slow burn relationship development! if you like emily henry, i think you would like this one.

i will say that there wasn’t a great deal of scene/spatial description, but for someone with a vivid imagination like me, this wasn’t a problem. there were also a few continuity issues, but i think this is common in ARCs and doesn’t reflect on the story.

i would re-read this, which is uncommon for me! overall just a great, well written romance.

thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC!

This was a really fun book! If you love a book that feels like summer then this book is for you! The romance was so swoony. Definitely read this book

Pandora Fyffe is underappreciated and overworked. Ozzy Wylde is unable to do the one thing he's always done: surf. When Pandora's genius idea pulls her company together under a matching app for single travelers, she accidentally matches herself to Ozzy, her annoying(ly hot) neighbor, bringing their prank wars from home into a too-small camper van to drive across Mexico. A PR stunt or a match made in heaven?
Pandora and Ozzy are not going to last. Their literal first encounter was clothed sex on the beach. They have no chemistry, it's typical nerd x jock, and they hate each other. Sure, passion is often mistaken for other feelings, but the transition from "he's stealing my job" to "I want to kiss him" was too stark. Also, what's up with the job stealing? Pandora coded this whole app. Sure, she's pretty unbearable as a person, but they can't be like "okay toss these two people on a van, one of whom can't even code, and whoever we like best personality-wise will have the job by the end." They didn't even know Ozzy?? He just has abs??? By the way, Ozzy shows that he's "smart" ONE TIME to Pandora. Privately. He is by no means qualified. He might be a stakeholder in the company, but this made no sense. His personality is extremely inconsistent; he's passionate about Pandora, but it's all tell-no-show. This whole relationship, which was never really a relationship, was driven on lust. There's no way they're making it in the long term.
Where was Pandora's character arc? The author spent the entire book talking about how undervalued she was, how she ran the whole company and they laid her off, or she coded this whole new app and they chose someone else for the job, prepping us for some grand success story at the end. What did we get? Nothing satisfactory. Pandora's gonna "try something new". Okay, and will she still be undervalued? Will she still be stuck where she's always been, except now she has some hot ex-surfer dude? Nothing felt fleshed out in the novel, which made it hard to love. I maybe only enjoyed some of the bits and pieces of Pandora and Rosie's friendship, or Ozzy's nicknames for Pandora. And the cover. I adore the cover. This book should have been a quick read, but it dragged mentally.

The Code for Love was a cute read with the fmc who is a software engineer. While I found this book cute, at times I wasn’t enjoying it too much. Thank you Netgalley for the arc!

This book was just not my cup of tea. The cover and the premise was cute, but lacked in several areas. It lacked structure and dragged on, even though this is a short read. The characters lacked depth to them and I found that the ending was predictable.

This is an enemies to lovers, workplace romance. It is about a software engineer named Pandora and a surfer boy named Ozzy. Pandora wants to make an app that predicts the user’s ideal travel partner. Come to find out, the demo of this app says that Ozzy is the perfect match to Pandora. This is a forced proximity and a fake dating romance as they go on a road trip together. They start to get to know each other more and sparks between these two opposites begin to happen. Overall, I give this a 2 out of 5 stars rating.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Anne Marsh and Afterglow Books by Harlequin for this digital advanced reader’s copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book is expected to be published on July 29, 2025.