After a particularly brutal breakup, Cassidy Sutton has had it with dating. So when her grandmother gives her a 1950’s dating guide entitled 125 Tips to Hook a Husband, she decides to turn the retro advice into an ironic “What not to do” article for Siren, the popular online women’s publication she writes for. And who better to secretly test the old-fashioned tips on than Jack Bradford, chauvinistic creator of rival men’s site Brawler? She’ll write an article that will entertain female readers everywhere and embarrass their sexist nemesis at the same time. Two birds, one stone.
But her perfect plan soon proves to be anything but. Those vintage courtship tips Cassidy was so quick to poke fun at? They actually seem to work, calling her most closely-held beliefs into question. Even worse? Jack isn’t falling for any of her tricks—and it’s not long before their ‘fake’ relationship starts to feel like the realest one of her life. As her cat and mouse game starts to spiral out of control, Cassidy has to decide if she’s playing to win, or if she’s willing to lose it all for love.
Release Date: Nov 7, 2023
Heat Level: Warm/Sensual
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $10.99
“This article- one my grandmother’s saved for seventy years- is exactly the kind of story we salivate over at Siren. Just reprinting these half-baked dating tips in all their ridiculous retro glory would generate a million clicks and even more shares, but what if we actually tested them on some unsuspecting suitors? I can see the headline now: I tried these old-fashioned dating tips so you don’t have to! Subhead: June Cleaver meets the modern Manhattanite. We could even turn it into a recurring series. It’s a content gold mine.”
I was intrigued when I read this was based on How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, one of the most iconic rom-coms of all time, and was excited to read it. However, I think there is a reason this has never been written before. It’s hard to translate the humor and heart from the movie into a book, and I think it takes a special writer.
This had a unique twist on it, with Cassidy using her grandmother’s antiquated dating tips for a story, and I think that was effective in giving you some of the humor I was expecting. Sadly, this plot point stopped being important around the halfway point, and then it dropped completely. I wish that it had been carried on through the end.
I adored the first half. Jack seemed very mature and insightful, a true gentleman, and I liked watching him deal with Cassidy’s old-fashioned dating rules, but the second half saw his personality do a complete turnaround. He got vengeful, mean, and nasty, and I really struggled to put these two halves together. Jack didn’t handle the big moment like I thought he would, and that disappointed me. There was a lot of back and forth, push and pull between them, but the conclusion felt very anticlimactic.
Overall, this lost steam as it went on, and I was riding on an emotional rollercoaster. It went from me smiling and laughing in the beginning to me pulling my hair out by the end.
If you enjoy romantic comedy authors like Sophie Kinsella and Emily Henry, then this may work for you.
~ Michelle
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