Abandoned by Booklikes

Please note that I received this via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

Well this was downright delightful. I really got a kick out of Rockway's book and the characters she introduced in this one. Besides the main character of Mel, she has some really awesome best friends (Whitney, Lia, and Dani) and a great roommate (Vanessa). I loved the book taking a look at women who are very good at coding (like Mel) and how hard it was to break into the tech world due to the douchebros that seem to inhabit it. The writing was very crisp and the flow was great. I loved the romance and the ending!

"How to Hack a Heartbreak" has 20 something year old Mel ready to hang up dating. She has used all of the dating apps, and the latest craze, Fluttr, is still not providing her with a guy that actually wants to date her. After being stood up and receiving one more "[redacted] pic" she has enough. After being egged on by her friends, she sets up a site called JerkAlert which women can anonymously post to about guys they have met or messaged on Fluttr. After JerkAlert goes viral, Mel also finds herself trying to start a relationship with her coworker Alex and wonders if she can trust him, or is he a jerk in sheep's clothing. 

God, I felt Mel. I still am on some dating apps, but don't even check in anymore. Once you have someone send you a picture of them in full black leather (with a mask on) with a message asking can they call you a slave, I pretty much decided that books and my cat were sufficient. I regret nothing.

Mel keeps getting her hopes up, but she either meets guys that are just looking for a one night stand, ghosted her after a while, and or she gets the before mentioned "[redacted] pics." She wishes she was more like her friend Whitney who is not looking for anything serious and relishes her one night stands. But after her friend Lia has seemingly met the one on Fluttr, Mel is wondering as all women do, what's wrong with her. Mel is also a pretty great coder. She is stuck working at the help desk at a company called Hatch and sits around and watches a lot of men trying to get their start-ups off the ground. She's verbally abused and if she tries to stand up for herself, her jerk of a boss acts like she's being a bit too "female".

Besides Mel, I loved her friends. Whitney was fearless and also scared me a bit. She's protective of her friends and tells it like she sees it. Lia is a romantic at heart and no spoilers, but I was shrieking while reading about her and Mr. Right. Dani was good, but we really don't get in depth with her that much in this book. Not a criticism, but definitely she didn't feel as present in the book as Whitney and Lia did. I will also say that the girls remind me of my friends and I at that age. Getting together at night, wondering why all the guys we went out with were such a PITA and holding out hope for a nice guy. 

The other characters we get, Vanessa (Mel's roommate) and Alex (her love interest) were written very well too. I get why Mel was apprehensive about Alex.

The writing was very good. I loved Mel's voice throughout. When her site goes viral you get her emotions about it (yeah she's great at coding and yikes what if someone finds out) and her realizing that parts of JerkAlert aren't that great. The flow was really good from beginning to end. I honestly couldn't put this book down once I started.

The setting of New York was pretty great. I loved how realistic it felt with Mel being stuck at her job at the help desk and she had to room with someone to afford to live in New York. I am always baffled at the romance reads I get into when some 20 year old is living in some sun lit two bedroom apartment somewhere. And there's no mention of the tininess of their apartment, commuting on the subway, and the insane rent. 

Really loved the ending and the message it was pushing!