Review: How to Hack a Heartbreak by Kristin Rockaway

 

How to Hack a Heartbreak
by Kristin Rockaway

July 30, 2019
352 pages

Goodreads      Indigo

Goodreads Summary:

Swipe right for love. Swipe left for disaster.

By day, Mel Strickland is an underemployed helpdesk tech at a startup incubator, Hatch, where she helps entitled brogrammers--"Hatchlings"--who can't even fix their own laptops, but are apparently the next wave of startup geniuses. And by night, she goes on bad dates with misbehaving dudes she's matched with on the ubiquitous dating app, Fluttr.

But after one dick pic too many, Mel has had it. Using her brilliant coding skills, she designs an app of her own, one that allows users to log harrassers and abusers in online dating space. It's called JerkAlert, and it goes viral overnight.

Mel is suddenly in way over her head. Worse still, her almost-boyfriend, the dreamy Alex Hernandez--the only non-douchey guy at Hatch--has no idea she's the brains behind the app. Soon, Mel is faced with a terrible choice: one that could destroy her career, love life, and friendships, or change her life forever.

Review

I'm always on the lookout for a good romance so when How to Hack a Heartbreak appeared on my radar of course I went for it ;) The story was a little long but it contained powerful messages.

How to Hack a Heartbreak is a story of truth with a focus on social media vs. live human interactions (especially when it came to relationships): "It was funny: modern technology could forge a connection between two people on opposite ends of the earth, but it could just as easily drive a wedge between two people standing side by side in the same room." (eARC, Loc 1599).

Melanie had a lot of self-doubt when it came to finding love. From her parent's example and personal past experiences, she was paranoid and overall very distrustful of men. Her budding romance with Alex was greatly affected by this. It wasn't pretty witnessing her suspicions but I can understand Melanie had to make mistakes, go through it all so that she can find herself and become her own person. In the end, her journey was a fulfilling one.

I was appalled by the way the Hatchlings, aka Melanie's coworkers who were all men, treated Melanie. Their attitude and sexist remarks were absolutely disgusting. And they weren't even the only assholes she encounters in her life. I hated how Melanie stayed silent and suffered through a lot of it: "...I merely turned the other way, hoping that if I ignored them, these guys would simply vaporize into thin air. It required a healthy dose of self-delusion, and the ability to instantaneously incite an out-of-body experience." (eARC, Loc 576). I mean I get it. But it didn't make the unjustness and frustrations any easier to swallow. I really wanted Melanie to take a stand sooner.

While How to Hack a Heartbreak didn't become a favourite, the reality it laid out (about modern technology) couldn't have been more accurate: "It was a daunting prospect, to speak honestly from the heart without the benefit of time to come up with the ideal words, to reread them, revise them, and proofread. To second-guess them before putting them out into the world. There's no deleting the things that you say out loud." (eARC, Loc 3180). This really resonated with me and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Melanie also has three besties and through them we hear about different types of relationships. They're all refreshing takes and totally valid in this day and age. Even though these girls all have their own viewpoints to love/relationships, they're as supportive of each other as they can be.

Not only does How to Hack a Heartbreak reflect current societal standards and workings, it depicts just how ugly and cruel reality can be. We need more books like it!

 

*I received a digital Advance Reading Copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and not affected in any way. All quotes were taken from the eARC I received.