I don't think billionaire romances do it for me. I just didn't find any of this to be realistic, and I feel like I have a good grasp on how rich people act thanks to reality TV. I can see why people like this book, but it wasn't for me. Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC!

Read this early thanks to Netgalley. This was a tough read. The way Aston talks is absolutely disgusting. He's actually the worst and is so toxic. There were multiple times in the book I had to put it down because the words he was saying were so horrible. He should not be near another woman. Also this book banks on this random single interaction in childhood that seems so minuscule it throws off the whole book.

Love, love, love! I was in for a nice surprise with this one. I’ve read the other series by this author, and it was nice to see how it all came together with this story. I love a second chance romance. I’m a sucker for it. I loved the chemistry between the characters, and the tenderness they share. I can’t wait to see more from this series.

How to Break My Heart is a small town, enemies-to-Lovers, best friends brother, billionaire romance. I will say while especially in the beginning I was not a huge fan of the MMC, Aston, there was some moments that were redeeming but not enough for me to really care about the MMC in the end.
I will say I preferred Eva’s character more.
This is the first in this series. Will I continue on with it? Yes, I will give it another chance. This is my first experience with this author and I have heard good things about her other series. So I will continue on but for this one I will give it a 3.5 and round it up for reviewing purposes.

I thought I would enjoy this book more than I did. I think the main love interest is actually a douchebag, and his money and tortured soul don’t redeem him enough. His possessiveness screamed of red flags. I think there were potentially some ways to redeem him in the writing, but the author did not make me want to root for the two. The heroine herself seemed a tad self-absorbed even though she is portrayed as a good friend - how did she not notice her best friend, for whom she is planning a wedding, is getting cold feet? It seems like everyone in the book is somewhat spineless until the very end. This means that despite it being fun, the character development was really missing for me.

Had the opportunity to read an arc of this book and I loved every second. I was in a month-long reading slump and tried multiple books to help with getting out of it, but this was the one to do it. This book is what I need. Read this at the most perfect time.

The tension and banter between Aston and Eva were everything. My favorites tropes are Enemies to lovers, small town romance, second chance, and best friend's brother and this book had them all. This was also a slow burn, and it made the book 10x better, honestly.

✨ How to Break My Heart by Kat T. Masen ✨

This book is messy, emotional, and sooo relatable if you’ve ever loved the wrong guy. The heroine is strong yet vulnerable, and the love interest? A toxic, can’t-stop-thinking-about-you type you’ll want to slap and kiss.

It’s angsty, dramatic, a little spicy, and perfect if you’re in the mood to cry, scream, and swoon.

👛 Girly pop rating: 4.5/5
💔 Drama & heartbreak: ✅
🔥 Spice: Yup.
👯‍♀️ Bestie therapy: Highly recommended

I wanted to like this book, but truly the writing was hard to look past. I found the characters to be one sided and the writing to be awkward and even cringey at times. I love a good trope, but when your characters literally talk about themselves living in the trope, it really takes me out of the story telling. Several times throughout the book I put it down because the cliches and the excessive use of exclamation marks was just too much.

I never found myself rooting for the MMC, and his “redemption” arc was short and not well fleshed out. I wish I knew more about Eva and what made her tick. It was hard to root for some of these characters when I felt like I knew so very little about them. I would have really loved some additional character development and more time spent growing the main characters stories and background.

Sadly this book was not for me. I most likely would not have finished this if I had picked it up somewhere else.

Eva is the main character who owns a doughnut shop in the small town of Cinnamon Springs. Aston is a billionaire working in Manhattan. She is tasked to plan a wedding for her best friend Maddy in one month. The caveat is that Eva has to work with Maddy’s brother, Aston. The boy who broke Eva’s heart – in high school.

I found myself bored at some parts of the book and with the main characters. I thought it was going to pick up in the last third of the book. The whole book was about the wedding until the wedding was actually happening.

Overall, this book was not for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

How to Break My Heart completely pulled me in. I love the best friend’s older brother trope, and this one hit all the right emotional and romantic notes. Eva and Aston have so much history and tension between them, and being forced to work together only makes things more complicated, and even more fun to watch unfold.

Their chemistry is incredible, messy, intense, and full of moments that made me laugh, blush, and ache for them. I loved how the story balanced banter and heat with deeper emotional moments. Aston’s character surprised me in the best way, and his growth by the end made the grand gesture feel so rewarding.

I also really enjoyed the side characters, especially the cameos from Lex and Charlie, their book was one of the first that got me back into reading romance, so seeing them again made me emotional in the best way. They have such a special place in my heart.

This was a fantastic read, full of tension, steam, and heart. I’ll definitely be coming back to this one.

I really wanted to love this. Her Forbidden Love and Dark Love series are some of my favorites. Unfortunately, this just fell short. What made me give this two stars instead of one were the cameo appearances of Will, Amelia, Charlotte, and Lex from those other series.

The chemistry between Aston and Eva just felt forced. The author’s note at the beginning of this ARC stated she was taking all the most popular and trending tropes and putting them all in one book to make the book a “TikTok sensation” and to appeal to bookstores owners. The author owns a romance bookstore as well. She specifically states that she’s added all the trending tropes to hopefully make it easier for bookstores to sell this book. Now, had this been written well, you wouldn’t need the explanation or the disclaimer.

The problem with this book is she’s trying to shove all these tropes together formulaically, and it shows. There is no heart in this book. There is no chemistry between the MMC and FMC. There are so many unnecessary and unfinished storylines. Her other series were heartfelt with excellent character development. With this book, it just felt like she was checking off boxes with little to no thought of the actual story.

3.5⭐️ super cute grumpy sunshine/ best friends brother romance! quick and easy read. perfect in between book when trying to find something else to read!

This was a fun, easy read for someone looking for lots of banter, romance, and fun prose. Reading this book gave me the same feeling as watching a Netflix original, and it had that same fun and spice that keeps them moving quickly and makes them so easy to binge. The plot in this definitely felt like it took a backseat to the flirtation and romance, and it acted more as the vehicle for Aston and Eva's spicy flirtation than the main driving point for the novel. This will be perfect for anyone looking for a quick romantic read with some quick wit and colorful banter-- oh! And gorgeous billionaires!

Thank you, Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I’m going to be honest, I was hesitant going into this one because I didn’t enjoy the last kat masen book I read.
BUT this one was so different! I loved it.
-best friends brother
-forced proximity
-billionaire
Sign me up!

I was so happy when Aston and Eva FINALLY figure their stuff out! He was pining for her, and she was pushing him away as much as she possibly could. I also loved that Maddy decided to take up for herself and figure out her own future. I need a book with her HEA too!

Thanks to Atria Books for the ARC of this book! I enjoyed portions of this book, but overall it was not for me! I could not connect with the two main characters and it started off way too slow for me! I typically am a huge fan of small town romance but this one just never got that interesting to me and I found myself not that excited to pick it up. It may be a hit for others but not for me unfortunately. Some of the love scenes were well written and I do think it had potential

Going into this book I was sure this would be an instant hit. Unfortunately I couldn't seem to invest in the characters.
While people who love small town, enemy to loves with a billionaire might enjoy it, I had trouble connecting to either of our main characters.
The event that made them become "enemies" didn't feel big enough or with enough emotion/backstory to warrant an almost decade long grudge.
While the book showed promise, it just wasn't the vibe for me.

3/5 stars. This book fell flat for me. Typically, I eat up the forced proximity of "we had history" troupe, but I felt Aston and Eva's "history" wasn't established enough to be an actual reason to still be pining after each other. On top of that, Aston was just a jerk most of the book. I found myself constantly getting annoyed with him. He did not deserve Eva at all. There were also times I found myself annoyed with Eva. Were there moments that I enjoyed? Yes, but overall, I think the writing was slightly all over the place, which just made the book fall apart in my mind and confusing at times. Wish there could be more things fleshed out, or established more within the book.

Will still read the author a chance in the future, but not sure I would go out of my way to recommend this book to others.

How to Break My Heart had a lot of elements I usually enjoy like small-town charm, enemies-to-lovers vibes, and the best friend’s older brother trope, but overall it didn't deliver how I hoped.

I loved the setting of Cinnamon Springs and the cozy café backdrop. The premise was promising: two people with a complicated past forced to work together on a wedding. It was a great setup for tension and emotional growth. There were also some steamy moments and glimmers of chemistry that kept me interested.

However, the execution fell a bit short. Aston, the male lead, came off more cold and possessive than broody and romantic. I struggled to see why Eva would fall for him, especially when there was another, much kinder love interest in the picture. Their high school kiss, which was meant to be the foundation of all this unresolved tension, didn’t feel like it was enough to justify Eva’s long-standing resentment or Aston’s sudden obsession.

Some of the dialogue felt a little awkward, and I found myself wishing for deeper emotional development, especially in the flashbacks and relationship buildup. That said, I did enjoy the small-town setting, the familiar tropes, and Eva’s journey toward self-awareness.

If you like drama-filled second chances and don’t mind a somewhat morally gray MMC, this could still be your thing. For me, it was an okay read- not a favorite, but not a flop either.

Best friends brother
Forbidden love
Family drama
Found family
Billionaire x small town cafe owner

Based on the premise I thought How to Break My Heart would be super a super cozy romance with some of my favorite tropes such as billionaire romance, enemies-to-lovers, and forced proximity. While those definitely were aspects of the book, I ultimately felt quite let down by the book.

Starting from the beginning, we're introduced to the two main characters and love interests in a flashback to when they were younger. Eva (the FMC) kisses Aston (the MMC) and confesses her feelings for him, which he initially seems to reciprocate. However later, in front of all of their friends, Aston turns super cold and basically rejects Eva. Then they don't speak at all for the next 8 years. It seems like it's trying to introduce a childhood crush to lovers trope, but it's more so just confusing because we don't get to see anything but this brief interaction, so I felt no emotional investment in the two of them getting back together later.

In the present time, Eva owns a small-town cafe and is still best friends with Maddie, Aston's sister. The cafe vibes were probably my favorite part of the story because it did deliver on the coziness that I was expecting. While helping Maddie plan her wedding (which is in only one month - eek!), Eva and Aston become forced to spend time together. This is the part that, while I normally love in enemies-to-lovers books, let me down the most. It just felt far to surface level and we never really got any reflection on their previous 'relationship' with each other or an explanation as to why it fell apart so drastically.

The relationship between Eva and Aston felt very basic and boring, and even as someone who loves steamy books, their relationship definitely seemed like a lot of steam and not a lot of actually romantic connection.

This book was dual POV and one of the aspects that I found most interesting was learning about Aston's family and the dynamics of it that still affected him, even as an adult. I wish we had gotten more of that and that it was a bit more connected to his actions. As it is, Aston seems arrogant and cold as opposed to broody and secretive.

I'm sure there is an audience for this book as it is small-town, cozy, and features a best friend's billionaire brother romance, I unfortunately found myself very uninterested in the characters and the plot.