I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

A hate-to-love romance awaits in Heartbreak for Hire, the newest release from author Sonia Hartl. This rom-com touches on cheaters and revolves around revenge which leads to some hilarious missteps and misguided intentions.

Brinkley is a Heartbreaker, hired by women who have been cheated on, lied to, emotionally torn down, or had their careers jeopardized by egotistical men. It’s Brinkley’s job to embarrass and humiliate these men, sometimes recording their incriminating behavior, basically she tears down their egos. For two years, she’s been happy with her line of revenge work until her latest target turns out to be a genuinely nice guy. She finds herself attracted to him in all the wrong ways, and ultimately fails in her task. Imagine her surprise when her boss announces that they are no longer just a woman’s organization and are hiring men and one of those men was her nice guy.

I really like Mark. He’s not at all what Brinkley expected. He’s an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago, and despite everything Brinkley has experienced in academia, Mark is the opposite of her expectations. Their attraction to one another oozes off the pages, making them easy to root for.

Romances are usually pretty straightforward: meet-cute, some kind of problem keeping them apart, and then an HEA. It’s how the author executes those things that make a book. While I really enjoyed how this process in the book, Mark and Brinkley really are fun, I had a hard time with the company they are working for. The revenge plot felt slimy to me. While I get that it was how the author got them to meet, it made me cringe, even if I’ll admit I did laugh at a few of their assignments.

Overall, I enjoyed Heartbreak for Hire. Brinkley and Mark’s witty banter and their on-page chemistry drove the story. If you are looking for an out-of-the-box, hate-to-love rom-com, I recommend you check this one out.