3.5/5 ⭐️ Code for Love Audiobook
Goodreads review on: 07/26/2025

Overall, I loved the basis of the story but it was a bit of a rough listen at first. Pandora was a cute and quirky character but did tend to ramble which was sometimes hard to follow and understand.

Izzy was a great character, putting up with Pandora’s rambling and strange behaviors. Coders are stereotypically aligned as aloof, quirky and strange. It was nice to see the stark contract between Pandora and Ozzy and how despite their differences, they made a relationship and friendship work.

I thought it would have been nice to have more of the trip
To Mexico detailed but overall the storyline was nice!

This book had such a fun premise, and I really wanted to love it, which is why I gave it a 3.5 star rating. The idea of two neighbors turned prank war rivals, forced to go on a road trip while secretly competing for the same job, had so much potential. There were definitely cute and spicy moments that made me smile, but overall the story felt a bit uneven.

Pandora is a software engineer, and while I was excited to see a strong female lead in tech, it became frustrating how often she reminded us that she worked in a male-dominated field. I wanted her to step into her power instead of constantly shrinking back and complaining about how invisible she felt. It made it hard to connect with her. On the other hand, Ozzy was an absolute sunshine character. He was kind, open, and brought all the charm. I loved his energy and honestly kept listening to see where he would go next.

The story jumped around a bit. Their past kiss was oddly ignored until it suddenly wasn’t, and the shift from prank war to romantic tension felt rushed. The second half, especially the road trip, picked up the pace and brought a few emotional beats that helped round things out.

What really saved this audiobook for me was Mooreghan Martin’s narration. She brought so much light and personality to Pandora that I stayed engaged even when the character didn’t quite work for me. I’ll definitely be looking for more of her work in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the advanced listening copy of The Code for Love.

How many different times can the narrator tell us that they work all the time, live in a small apartment, and describe the MMC?

DNF. Annoying.

I enjoyed the story, the only issue I had was the narration. I love this narrator too! I just don’t the they fit the role as the main character. This story was wonderful. Just the right amount of spice and comedy. Will be recommending to my followers.

The Code for Love dives in fast and doesn’t slow down, throwing readers into a whirlwind of coding humor, messy dynamics, and questionable decisions. It’s chaotic, unpolished, and occasionally hard to follow, but there’s still something oddly compelling underneath the clutter.

Ozzy is the standout here—endearing, enthusiastic, and emotionally open as the story unfolds. I genuinely enjoyed his arc and kept turning the pages to see where he and Pandora would end up. Unfortunately, Pandora herself felt underdeveloped in comparison. Her identity seemed entirely wrapped in work and people-pleasing, which made it hard to root for her.

The road trip section in the second half brought much-needed momentum and a few heartfelt moments. The banter, though rough at times, had potential, and tech lovers will appreciate the niche references peppered throughout.

In the end, it wasn’t quite the adorable rom-com the cover promised, but if you enjoy offbeat romances with a side of nerdy chaos, you might still have some fun with it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for an advanced listening copy for the code for love in exchange for my honest opinion. This book will be released to retailers on July 29, 2025.

This book was okay. I didn’t love the narrator (I feel 2 narrators would have been better). I also had a hard time staying focused on the story. The enemies to lovers trope is represented well here, but I felt the FMC was overly whiny and the MMC wasn’t explained enough. The concept of an app to find a travel buddy gave me stranger danger. However; it was an easy listen and I finished in 2 days. Cute in some parts, pretty spicy (the spice scenes were the best part of the book), and just okay everywhere else.

This had potential. The story line was fun but something felt off. Pandora and Ozzy met once on the beach, kissed and never spoke again. Only for them to become neighbors, but they both acted like they didn't remember the kiss, which I thought was weird because Ozzy brings it up later in the book. I kind of felt the storyline was a little over the place. They are neighbors who play pranks on each other and then in the second half they are forced to go on a road trip. It didn’t really flow that nicely and the fmc was just annoying as hell.

This book had some great things and some not so great things to it. First off, the FMC is a MASSIVE pick me girl. She spends pretty much the entire book talking about how invisible she is, being miserable, and making others around her out to be the villains of her story. I was not a major fan of this character, which bummed me out because I was so excited about having the FMC be a software engineer.

Then there’s the MMC who is sunshine personified. He’s always happy, always taking things in stride, and everybody loves him. While I enjoyed his character, he doesn’t bring a lot of depth to the story.

In short, the two kiss at a work function. She freaks because he doesn’t know her name (they’ve only met a few times in passing), and then some time later he moves in next door to her. A prank war commences from there (big fan of a prank war), but ultimately a real friendship takes hold. Then the two are competing for the same job and blah blah blah. It wasn’t a captivating plot line from here, which was also a let down.

The absolute saving grace of this story for me was the narrator. Mooreghan Martin brought brightness and fun to a character I genuinely didn’t like. She kept me engaged in a story I wanted to be checked out of. Her bright and funny narration of a fairly flat character brought this book from a two star listen to a three star. I am so excited to go find more of her work for future audiobook reads!

I think I was not the right audience for this book. From the descriptions of video games to a strange random make out as the meet cute, this made me feel old. I liked the idea of a woman in STEM romance with a surfer, but this did not work for me. I felt no chemistry.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Audio for the advanced listening copy. I didn't connect with the narrator and her voice didn't vary much for other people's voices.

The narrator was great and I wanted to love this book! Unfortunately, it was really hard to get into. I tried but ended up not finishing it. I do think it is the perfect story for a target audience and hope those folks find their way to this book!

This enemies to lovers and workplace romance was a cute read. It did feel like it dragged on for being a short listen, but I enjoyed the narration, so it wasn't bad. I'm a sucker for forced proximity and a fake dating romance so I enjoyed that aspect of the book and how they were on a road trip together.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This story was interesting, relatable, and fun. The fmc was career focused, neurodivergent, and inward oriented which made her feel real. She didn’t care about what she looked like (until she did lol). The mmc was what every nerdy girl dreams of and he loves her unconditionally. It was adorable and perfect.
The narrator did a great job. Her pacing was great, her narration was clear and her voice acting was really good.
This is a really fun summer read/listen!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for providing me with an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book did not hit with me. It's a workplace, enemies to lovers romance where they end up on a road trip together. The characters were hard to connect with and the story was disjointed and slow. Honestly, if this wasn't an ARC I would have DNF'd this book around 15% in. But I felt like I owed it to the review process to keep going.

The narrator did what she could with this story, but I'm not sure she was the best choice for these characters or this story.

Cute cover! This book is extremely descriptive, to a fault imo. The narrator did a good job, but didn’t have a good variation between the two characters voices. The content just felt unbelievable. Fake dating x one bed usually works, but nothing about this book worked for me.

I really wanted to love The Code for Love, but I could not get into this at all and ended up not finishing :(

Rating: 3/5
Pandora is a software engineer who comes up with the great idea of an app that pairs you to your perfect travel buddy. Her pair?? Well, it's no other than world-famous surfer boy, Ozzy Wylde. The same Ozzy Wylde that Pandora made out with on the beach a few summers ago and never spoke to him again. The same Ozzy Wylde that just so happens to be the new neighbor that moves in next door. In order to promote the app, the company's executive team decides both Pandora and Ozzy should go on their pre-selected trip adventure, a road trip across Mexico. It is during this trip that the two find out more about each other and how much they actually have in common.

This was a cute, forced proximity romance. It wasn't my favorite, but still worth a read. Bonus points went to having a FMC as a woman in STEM. I'm always a sucker for a STEMinist romance book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

1⭐️ I’m so glad to see authors embracing the STEM heroine! More of that please!

Alas, typically when a book is not my cup of tea, I can always identify something redeeming that I know might appeal to other readers. This is a rare book that I consider a true miss. From the cover art misrepresenting the FMC’s race and body type, to the poorly constructed plot and suboptimal writing, to the unsatisfactory audiobook narration, I’m sad to have found no redeeming elements in this one beyond the broad concept that initially drew me in.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for access to an audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The FMC felt just a little too manic and all over the place for me in this STEM summer romance involving a coder looking for love with the surfer she finds herself obsessed with. This one just wasn't for me even though it sound good on paper. I didn't like the narrator much and couldn't find myself getting invested in either the characters or the plot. Overall it was a miss for me by a new to me author. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

DNF @ 25%
I choose not to rate the novel.

Anne Marsh is a very creative and unique writer. I loved the way she wove tech-related phrases into much of her novel, even the passages that had little-to-nothing to do with technology. The plot is rather silly/unrealistic, but I was still in it to win it, as I enjoy cute escapes, which I believe is what this novel presents. The writing, however, got in its own way. This story is told from the perspective of our heroine, who is deeply in her own mind, even while carrying on conversations, which stunted the progress of the plot and made it impossible to connect to the characters. I just couldn't get into the story, always floating on top of it, bombarded by countless ruminations and observations by our heroine.

I'd rather DNF and not rate the novel than to continue on with a book that, while interesting, isn't the right fit. I'd rather not negatively impact the rating of a story that just isn't for me (but might work well for others). I'd like to thank Harlequin Audio and Netgalley for the ALC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

I was provided both an ALC and an ARC via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This unfortunately didn't work for me. The narration was a bit too monotone for me and the characters were far too immature for my liking. As this is told from Pandora's perspective I found that much of it felt as if Pandora was rambling for 26 chapters. I felt like it was one big rambling inner monologue. This is marketed as an enemies to lovers, but Ozzy is never really her enemy, Pandora is just a workaholic introvert. Their "meet cute" is super awkward, all of their interactions are immature, their conversations make no sense, and they have no chemistry. Pandora is constantly objectifying Ozzy and his body or she is complaining and self loathing, it makes for a weird dynamic and the plot suffers.

Having worked in software development for much of my career, I question if the author did any research or has experience in development. I often found myself saying "that is not how that works" in many situations. I admit it is possible that my experience could differ from someone else's however many of these situations were inappropriate or just unrealistic for a professional setting. Inaccuracies like that are an immediate turn off for me in a book. I also didn't need to be told 50 times that Pandora is an engineer and that is her entire personality. Engineering is a profession and not all engineers are nocturnal introverts who ignore basic hygiene.

Overall I think this had a good premise, but this suffered from trying to throw every romance trope into one book. I wasn't a fan of the rambling style of stream of consciousness style of delivery. The character development and plot were also lacking.