Loathe at First Sight by Suzanne Park Pages: 368
Published by Avon on August 18, 2020
Genres: adult, contemporary, Romance
Source: eARC from Publisher
Melody Joo is thrilled to land her dream job as a video game producer, but her new position comes with challenges: an insufferable CEO; sexist male coworkers; and an infuriating—yet distractingly handsome—intern, Nolan MacKenzie, aka “the guy who got hired because his uncle is the boss.”
Just when Melody thinks she’s made the worst career move of her life, her luck changes. While joking with a friend, she creates a mobile game that has male strippers fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world. Suddenly Melody’s “joke” is her studio’s most high-profile project—and Melody’s running the show.
When Nolan is assigned to Melody’s team, she’s sure he’ll be useless. But as they grow closer, she realizes he’s smart and sexy, which makes Melody want to forget he’s her intern. As their attraction deepens, she knows it’s time to pump the brakes, even with her Korean parents breathing down her neck to hurry up and find a man.
With her project about to launch, Melody suddenly faces a slew of complications, including a devastating trolling scandal. Could the man she’s falling hard for help her play the game to win—in work and in love?
Loathe at First Sight is a romantic comedy by Suzanne Park. This is my first book that I have had the pleasure of reading by this author, but it certainly will not be my last. I loved everything about Loathe at First Sight- the characters were realistic and fantastic, the plot was engaging and very entertaining, the romance was cute and the writing was hysterical. Loathe at First Sight was a fun romantic comedy own voice novel that I loved!
In Loathe at First Sight we meet our main character Melody on her very first day at her new job as a video game junior producer. I loved that Melody’s job was at a gaming corporation because that is such an interesting line of work, but also a very male heavy line of work. So as a reader, I felt like there were two parallel story lines going on- there was the romance aspect of the story but there was also the more serious story line of a woman in a predominantly male corporation. Watching Melody address her male bosses and stand up for herself to claim the accolades she deserves was oh so satisfying for me as a reader. I flippin’ loved it! And don’t worry- if you are looking for a good romantic comedy, Loathe at First Sight is completely that. Even the more serious topics and scenes were jam packed with full on laugh out loud moments. I really loved the peek inside of male dominated corporate office. It was great to see some of the things women in the workplace have to put up with being addressed. Melody is my hero for the way she can stand up for herself! When she put her jerk of a boss in his place, publicly I might add, I was quite literally whooping and clapping my hands. And speaking of her jerk of a boss, when he made his appearance in the very start of the novel I had a moment of panic. I hated him! And I really, really didn’t want him to be the love interest. But I quickly re-read the summary of the book, and let out a collective sigh of relief…he is not!)
But there was another character that I intensely disliked at the start of the book, View Spoiler »and as the story progressed, I felt like I really got to know this person much better and ended up completely changing my opinion of them. The romance in the story was super cute, and I really really loved Nolan. I want a Nolan for myself! I will admit that I did feel a bit sorry for him at the start, because I thought Melody came on a bit strong and rude in their first few meetings, but over time watching them interact was adorable.
Bottom line: Loathe at First Sight is a fantastically fun romantic comedy that also manages to send a well delivered inside look and message about women working in a predominantly male field. I honestly loved everything about this book so much!
About Suzanne Park
Suzanne Park is a Korean-American writer who was born and raised in Tennessee. In her former life as a stand-up comedian, she was a finalist in the Oxygen Network’s “Girls Behaving Badly” talent search, and appeared on BET’s “Coming to the Stage.” Suzanne was also the winner of the Seattle Sierra Mist Comedy Competition, and was a semi-finalist in NBC’s “Stand Up For Diversity” showcase in San Francisco alongside comedians Ali Wong and Nico Santos.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2020 New Release Challenge
- Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge 2020
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