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Loathe at First Sight
ONE OF NPR'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR!
“Bursts with humor, heart, and great energy. I loved it! Park is a hilarious new voice in women’s fiction.”—Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient
“[A] punchy adult debut set in the world of video game design. Park makes tough topics go down easy by couching them in wry humor and lighthearted romance, and her fierce, snarky heroine is irresistible. This smart rom-com is a winner.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
In a debut perfect for fans of Jasmine Guillory and Sally Thorne, a junior video game producer finds herself getting closer and closer to the one person she hates most after a mass troll attack online almost ruins her life.
Melody Joo is thrilled to land her dream job as a video game producer, but her new position comes with 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 attractive, 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?
“Bursts with humor, heart, and great energy. I loved it! Park is a hilarious new voice in women’s fiction.”—Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient
“[A] punchy adult debut set in the world of video game design. Park makes tough topics go down easy by couching them in wry humor and lighthearted romance, and her fierce, snarky heroine is irresistible. This smart rom-com is a winner.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
In a debut perfect for fans of Jasmine Guillory and Sally Thorne, a junior video game producer finds herself getting closer and closer to the one person she hates most after a mass troll attack online almost ruins her life.
Melody Joo is thrilled to land her dream job as a video game producer, but her new position comes with 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 attractive, 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?
367 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 18, 2020
330 people are currently reading
15723 people want to read
About the author
Suzanne Park
8 books1,151 followersSuzanne 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.
More info about her books can be found at https://linktr.ee/suzannepark
More info about her books can be found at https://linktr.ee/suzannepark
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,222 reviews
December 9, 2022
I think I got why the author named this book like this: because a few chapters later I started to loathe the chapters I’m reading and wanted to put those male colleagues into spit bath. I haven't read something hateful and irritating for so long!
This is my second rodeo with the author! (She only wrote two books so that means I looked like a devoted fan! But both books are received as ARC copies. I was so lucky I guess!) I had hard time to connect with Perfect Escape’s characters and post-apocalyptic zombie competition universe! But when I saw another fantastic covered book of the author, I told myself, the first book was debut so let’s give another try. At least this book’s plot seems more intriguing even though it’s still about the video games and I hope the romance parts won’t fail me. Fingers crossed!
But when I reached the middle of the story, I wanted to stop reading and throwing my Ipad against the wall or throwing myself out of the window with so much angst, frustration and volatile anger. I chose to read this book because I wanted to relax and read something funny, soft, chic lit, frenemies story. But instead of that, I bottled up more stress that I can take! The racism, toxic work environment, harassment, stalking, psychological abuse the heroine endured way too much to handle! I clenched my fists, took several deep breaths, cursed a lot and truly boiled in anger.
The heroine/video game producer, brilliant Melody Joe, still living with her family, got so many death/rape threats from anonymous trolls, humiliated by her vicious, wild, ignorant male coworkers and followed by an obsessed stalker (by the way we still don’t know his identity and his motives!) And the relationship with her parents was unreliably annoying. They seemed like added to the chapters to take a break from terrifying harassment parts to entertain the readers but I haven’t found anything funny about their involvement and the way they put their daughter into embarrassed and humiliated positions! And at the work place: even her love-hate relationship with Nolan (cousin of the boss) didn’t save the story as well.
And of course, Melody’s mobile game app about male strippers’ fighting against the post-apocalyptic world to survive and her sudden success are also interesting plot choices but I found them unrealistic as well.
I think I found the harassment parts were too much irritating and toxic. I didn’t find anything funny, humorous or feel-good theme about this story and romance part is also overshadowed by those serious and suffocating issues. So unfortunately this book is not my cup of tea.
Special thanks to Edelweiss and Avon/Harper Collins for sharing this ARC in exchange my honest review. I wish I could enjoy it more.
This is my second rodeo with the author! (She only wrote two books so that means I looked like a devoted fan! But both books are received as ARC copies. I was so lucky I guess!) I had hard time to connect with Perfect Escape’s characters and post-apocalyptic zombie competition universe! But when I saw another fantastic covered book of the author, I told myself, the first book was debut so let’s give another try. At least this book’s plot seems more intriguing even though it’s still about the video games and I hope the romance parts won’t fail me. Fingers crossed!
But when I reached the middle of the story, I wanted to stop reading and throwing my Ipad against the wall or throwing myself out of the window with so much angst, frustration and volatile anger. I chose to read this book because I wanted to relax and read something funny, soft, chic lit, frenemies story. But instead of that, I bottled up more stress that I can take! The racism, toxic work environment, harassment, stalking, psychological abuse the heroine endured way too much to handle! I clenched my fists, took several deep breaths, cursed a lot and truly boiled in anger.
The heroine/video game producer, brilliant Melody Joe, still living with her family, got so many death/rape threats from anonymous trolls, humiliated by her vicious, wild, ignorant male coworkers and followed by an obsessed stalker (by the way we still don’t know his identity and his motives!) And the relationship with her parents was unreliably annoying. They seemed like added to the chapters to take a break from terrifying harassment parts to entertain the readers but I haven’t found anything funny about their involvement and the way they put their daughter into embarrassed and humiliated positions! And at the work place: even her love-hate relationship with Nolan (cousin of the boss) didn’t save the story as well.
And of course, Melody’s mobile game app about male strippers’ fighting against the post-apocalyptic world to survive and her sudden success are also interesting plot choices but I found them unrealistic as well.
I think I found the harassment parts were too much irritating and toxic. I didn’t find anything funny, humorous or feel-good theme about this story and romance part is also overshadowed by those serious and suffocating issues. So unfortunately this book is not my cup of tea.
Special thanks to Edelweiss and Avon/Harper Collins for sharing this ARC in exchange my honest review. I wish I could enjoy it more.
August 17, 2020
I actually really enjoyed this! I will say don’t go into this book expecting it to be fully romance & a hate to love story because honestly I don’t think it is.
It’s more about a woman working in a field dominated by men & having to prove herself time and time again. It’s got a ton of misogyny in it and honestly horrible men but you will root for the main character, Melody to stick it to these men over and over.
It does have some romance in it but it’s not the forefront of the book at all, I think if you know that you’ll like the book much more.
It’s more about a woman working in a field dominated by men & having to prove herself time and time again. It’s got a ton of misogyny in it and honestly horrible men but you will root for the main character, Melody to stick it to these men over and over.
It does have some romance in it but it’s not the forefront of the book at all, I think if you know that you’ll like the book much more.
September 3, 2020
DNF @ 51%
The good: this story has a realistic portrayal of what life is like for many women, especially women of color, in the game development industry, even down to the ways the women themselves are almost always blamed for the harassment they receive.
The bad: I didn't enjoy the writing itself, Melody's character, the total lack of chemistry between Mel and Nolan, or Melody's parents being raging assholes for comedic effort (like when she calls them out on being rude to Liftr/Uber drivers, one of her parents says to the other one something about "that Black person driver" and literally NOTHING is said about it — like it's a joke???).
Also, please correct me if I missed something or just didn't read far enough into the story to get to this point, but... is Melody a gamer at all? Her motivation for getting into the industry felt like she was less interested in gaming and more interested in being able to say she did it. I never really understood why she wanted the job and it never felt like she had any passion whatsoever for what she was doing. I don't remember a single mention in the first half of the story to her actually liking video games. I went into this book expecting a gamer as an MC, but didn't feel like I got that at all.
All of this combined had me wanting to stop reading anyways, but then it reached a point where I realized I just wasn't even remotely enjoying the story enough to justify how miserable the harassment plot line was making me. It's all 100% valid and very true to life, so don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing the way it was written — I just didn't want to read it.
As a woman who's been in the gaming community, especially online, basically my entire life, the kind of shit Melody was hearing (aside from the racist elements, which I'm very aware I can't relate to but make her experience much more terrible than any experience I've had) was stuff women who game have been hearing as long as I can remember and it wasn't something I wanted to read about in my fiction, too. It was just bringing back WAY too many traumatic memories and I finally realized it was better for my mental health if I just put the book down.
I felt like this message was one I could have enjoyed more if I wasn't a gamer myself. I also couldn't help but be bothered that (again, in the first half — please correct me if this changed in the second half) we literally only see ONE dude in the entire company who isn't a raging piece of shit, and much like our MC, there is NO mention at all of him being a gamer (he only works there because it's his uncle's company), which I feel like paints some sort of idea that the gaming community has no safe spaces at all for women and that the entire thing is a lost cause. Loving a community is holding it accountable, yes, but it also needs to allow a little room for celebrating its successes, and I didn't see that happening anywhere here.
I didn't mean for this review to be so long or frustrated. I guess I'm just so immensely disappointed in this book and I had such high hopes that I can't help but vent. I think plenty of other people will love this romance for what it is, but it wasn't for me.
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!
December 30, 2022
This is the kind of romance novel that I need more of! It does a great job at balancing out the story to where the romance doesn't overtake every aspect of the plot. I really enjoyed following Melody's journey despite all the hardships she had to face at the workplace. It was nice seeing her fight for herself and for other women within her industry. I feel like Suzanne Park is a *severely* underrated author and I'm going to need people to stop sleeping on her books. WAKE UP FAM!
dnf
June 14, 2021Content Notes under the spoiler tag. I strongly believe that CWs will help readers prepare for the potentially upsetting content. If you don't want spoilery details, I think it's important to know that racist/misogynistic online harassment is a significant subplot (if not the central storyline) of LOATHE AT FIRST SIGHT.
1) This is a weird DNF because I almost read the whole book. As I was writing my GR comments, I realized that it wouldn’t be fair to rate the book for the following reasons: 1) I was not expecting the level of harassment present in the book (yes, it’s in the blurb but I overestimated my ability to tolerate and enjoy that storyline. I assessed wrongly) and 2) since my dislike is caused by the unexpected difficulty to enjoy the harassment storyline (a plot point that is laid out in the blurb), I don't feel comfortable rating the book.
2) I want to discuss Melody's parents. Discussion under spoiler tags.
3) An important note about genre categorization: Helen Hoang’s Instagram says that while she considers LAFS more women’s fiction than romance, it still has a love story (Hoang blurbed the book).
https://www.instagram.com/p/B786zzNAF...
To add to the confusion, these are the three author blurbs on Amazon:
“LOATHE AT FIRST SIGHT bursts with humor, heart, and great energy. I loved it! Park is a hilarious new voice in women’s fiction.” (Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient)
“Hilarious and poignant, Park’s debut sparkles as a great addition to the new voices of the rom com renaissance.” (Roselle Lim, author of Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune)
“Park gives us the story that only she could create. It's hilarious, smart, and the rom-com we need!” (Alexa Martin, ALA Award-winning author of Intercepted)
Interestingly enough, Hoang's blurb is shortened for the cover quote, which leaves out the WF sentence and just says, "LOATHE AT FIRST SIGHT bursts with humor, heart, and great energy. I loved it!"
All these contradictions confused me. One author says it's WF (but that part is excluded in the cover quote), the other two say it's a rom-com. It can’t be both! The marketing/publisher/blurb/Edelweiss tags made me assume that LAFS was Genre Romance (central romantic arc with HEA/HFN). I decided to investigate and read the book earlier than I would have (it isn’t out for another five months). After reading the book, I agree with Hoang’s assessment that LAFS is more women's fiction than romance.
In my opinion (or perhaps it's a fact), LOATHE AT FIRST SIGHT is not a romance novel because it does not have a central romantic storyline. The book focuses more on Melody's single POV, her career, and her experience with workplace/online harassment. The MCs don't spend that much time together on page. There are a couple kisses. They don't verbally express romantic interest in each other until the very end (the MCs agree to start dating after their confession). There is a love story, but it's not central. While there's nothing wrong with a non-central love story, I want to make genre/romance expectations clear for interested readers.
Disclaimer: I received a free e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
1) This is a weird DNF because I almost read the whole book. As I was writing my GR comments, I realized that it wouldn’t be fair to rate the book for the following reasons: 1) I was not expecting the level of harassment present in the book (yes, it’s in the blurb but I overestimated my ability to tolerate and enjoy that storyline. I assessed wrongly) and 2) since my dislike is caused by the unexpected difficulty to enjoy the harassment storyline (a plot point that is laid out in the blurb), I don't feel comfortable rating the book.
2) I want to discuss Melody's parents. Discussion under spoiler tags.
3) An important note about genre categorization: Helen Hoang’s Instagram says that while she considers LAFS more women’s fiction than romance, it still has a love story (Hoang blurbed the book).
https://www.instagram.com/p/B786zzNAF...
To add to the confusion, these are the three author blurbs on Amazon:
“LOATHE AT FIRST SIGHT bursts with humor, heart, and great energy. I loved it! Park is a hilarious new voice in women’s fiction.” (Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient)
“Hilarious and poignant, Park’s debut sparkles as a great addition to the new voices of the rom com renaissance.” (Roselle Lim, author of Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune)
“Park gives us the story that only she could create. It's hilarious, smart, and the rom-com we need!” (Alexa Martin, ALA Award-winning author of Intercepted)
Interestingly enough, Hoang's blurb is shortened for the cover quote, which leaves out the WF sentence and just says, "LOATHE AT FIRST SIGHT bursts with humor, heart, and great energy. I loved it!"
All these contradictions confused me. One author says it's WF (but that part is excluded in the cover quote), the other two say it's a rom-com. It can’t be both! The marketing/publisher/blurb/Edelweiss tags made me assume that LAFS was Genre Romance (central romantic arc with HEA/HFN). I decided to investigate and read the book earlier than I would have (it isn’t out for another five months). After reading the book, I agree with Hoang’s assessment that LAFS is more women's fiction than romance.
In my opinion (or perhaps it's a fact), LOATHE AT FIRST SIGHT is not a romance novel because it does not have a central romantic storyline. The book focuses more on Melody's single POV, her career, and her experience with workplace/online harassment. The MCs don't spend that much time together on page. There are a couple kisses. They don't verbally express romantic interest in each other until the very end (the MCs agree to start dating after their confession). There is a love story, but it's not central. While there's nothing wrong with a non-central love story, I want to make genre/romance expectations clear for interested readers.
Disclaimer: I received a free e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
September 10, 2021
This had so much potential but I just didn’t… enjoy any of these characters, so it was hard for me to feel invested.
******
Enemies to lovers? Video games? Office romance? I need.
******
Enemies to lovers? Video games? Office romance? I need.
September 1, 2020
3.5 stars
I think reading a few reviews before I started this one helped as I had a heads up this book wasn't going to be a strong enemies to lovers romance so I was able to change my expectations a bit. And while there were some definite issues, overall my feelings are more positive than negative about the book.
Melody Joo has recently landed a job as a video game producer. This is her first time working in the industry and her job is even more difficult given how sexism runs rampant at the company. Melody is joking around one day with a female co-worker about a video game concept she came up with involving male strippers fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world. Well, the boss overhears the conversation and decides the video game concept should be a top priority project for the studio and puts Melody in charge. The project could make or break her career. Assigned to Melody's team is Nolan MacKenzie, an intern who just happens to be the CEO's nephew.
There's a lot going on in this story to the point in which it is overwhelming. At times it felt like the story meandered from one thing to the next without a clear focus. Good intentions by the author to bring substance with some relevant issues but it left some aspects underdeveloped. Eliminating some of the minor plot points like the ride share dilemma that was pointless or anything to do with the wedding might have helped a bit. And to be honest the interactions with her Korean American parents didn't seem to work well either in the story.
So while I do have some complaints, I thought the video game aspect made this book unique. And even though the plot wasn't heavy on the romance, at least there was some chemistry between the two characters. I think this makes a better fiction read than romance. I always appreciate the chance to read something different and at least the writer mixed things up a bit. Just because the end result wasn't perfect doesn't mean I didn't find value in reading the book.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher but was not obligated to post a review here. All views expressed are my honest opinion.
I think reading a few reviews before I started this one helped as I had a heads up this book wasn't going to be a strong enemies to lovers romance so I was able to change my expectations a bit. And while there were some definite issues, overall my feelings are more positive than negative about the book.
Melody Joo has recently landed a job as a video game producer. This is her first time working in the industry and her job is even more difficult given how sexism runs rampant at the company. Melody is joking around one day with a female co-worker about a video game concept she came up with involving male strippers fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world. Well, the boss overhears the conversation and decides the video game concept should be a top priority project for the studio and puts Melody in charge. The project could make or break her career. Assigned to Melody's team is Nolan MacKenzie, an intern who just happens to be the CEO's nephew.
There's a lot going on in this story to the point in which it is overwhelming. At times it felt like the story meandered from one thing to the next without a clear focus. Good intentions by the author to bring substance with some relevant issues but it left some aspects underdeveloped. Eliminating some of the minor plot points like the ride share dilemma that was pointless or anything to do with the wedding might have helped a bit. And to be honest the interactions with her Korean American parents didn't seem to work well either in the story.
So while I do have some complaints, I thought the video game aspect made this book unique. And even though the plot wasn't heavy on the romance, at least there was some chemistry between the two characters. I think this makes a better fiction read than romance. I always appreciate the chance to read something different and at least the writer mixed things up a bit. Just because the end result wasn't perfect doesn't mean I didn't find value in reading the book.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher but was not obligated to post a review here. All views expressed are my honest opinion.
December 28, 2020
I received an ARC of this book for free from Books Forward in exchange for an honest review.
So first off, this book is Own Voices (Korean American). I was happy to see that since this book is about gaming, which is typically a white male dominated field.
The title of the book is a little misleading. Loathe at First Sight implies that this is an enemies to lovers romantic comedy. In actuality, there was not much of that. The romantic storyline was not the main focus of the book and the two characters were hardly enemies to begin with. As a whole, the love story was not that exciting. I never really felt the chemistry between the two.
One thing that took me as a surprise was all the harassment. This book has a lot of harassment. From racism to misogyny this book covered it all. On one hand I liked that it went there and tackled that issue. But on the other hand, it was a little off-putting at times because it was so heavy. The book tries to be light at times with some humorous scenes (I really liked some of funny scenes), but all the harassment takes away from it.
I did like the ending. It all worked out and a lot got resolved at the end so I was left feeling very satisfied.
As for the writing style, I liked how easy the book read.
Overall, this book didn’t live up to my expectations but I was able to enjoy some parts of it.
So first off, this book is Own Voices (Korean American). I was happy to see that since this book is about gaming, which is typically a white male dominated field.
The title of the book is a little misleading. Loathe at First Sight implies that this is an enemies to lovers romantic comedy. In actuality, there was not much of that. The romantic storyline was not the main focus of the book and the two characters were hardly enemies to begin with. As a whole, the love story was not that exciting. I never really felt the chemistry between the two.
One thing that took me as a surprise was all the harassment. This book has a lot of harassment. From racism to misogyny this book covered it all. On one hand I liked that it went there and tackled that issue. But on the other hand, it was a little off-putting at times because it was so heavy. The book tries to be light at times with some humorous scenes (I really liked some of funny scenes), but all the harassment takes away from it.
I did like the ending. It all worked out and a lot got resolved at the end so I was left feeling very satisfied.
As for the writing style, I liked how easy the book read.
Overall, this book didn’t live up to my expectations but I was able to enjoy some parts of it.
September 20, 2020
September 19, 2020: This is what happens when a book isn't marketed correctly. I'm a little disappointed but the humour and discussions in this story are worth giving it some positive points. Review to come some day.
May 19, 2020: I'm ready to see how Melody navigates this misogynistic world of working for video games. Thank you, Books Forward for the digital review copy!
May 19, 2020: I'm ready to see how Melody navigates this misogynistic world of working for video games. Thank you, Books Forward for the digital review copy!
March 30, 2023
2.5 stars ehhh it was okay. I thought this book was going to be a romance based on the cover and summary. Although this book does have a small romance subplot, this book is a fictional story about the sexism Melody faces working in the video game industry.
I love and appreciate that this book focuses on sexism in the work force but I wish there was more to the plot. Overall, it was just okay. However! That may have partly been because I was expecting a romance. I could see this book being a 4 stars for someone who is looking for pure fiction about sexism in the work force.
I love and appreciate that this book focuses on sexism in the work force but I wish there was more to the plot. Overall, it was just okay. However! That may have partly been because I was expecting a romance. I could see this book being a 4 stars for someone who is looking for pure fiction about sexism in the work force.
September 1, 2020
3.5 stars.
When your workplace is in chaos, the last thing you can handle is a workplace romance. At least that's the case in Suzanne Park's fun rom-com, Loathe at First Sight .
Melody Joo thinks she’s landed the perfect job as a producer at a video game company, but she learns quickly how wrong she is. The CEO is a petulant jerk, her male coworkers are sexist (and a bit racist), and there’s even a handsome yet insufferable intern, who happens to be the boss’ nephew and seems to get all of the perks she isn't. She wants to quit ASAP.
When a joke about a video game featuring male strippers fighting to save the world (as opposed to the ubiquitous hyper-sexual female characters which appear in video games) gets taken seriously, she’s put in charge of developing it. Nolan the intern gets assigned to help her, and while she’s ready for him to be useless, Melody is surprised by how smart—and sexy—he is. But the last thing she needs is to hook up with the boss’ nephew and an intern to boot, given that half of the guys she works with already think she's slept her way into the opportunity to develop the game.
Suddenly she faces intense pressure to deliver the game amidst unrealistic and unfair demands from the CEO, hostile coworkers, and a trolling scandal which actually frightens her. Couple that with constant nagging from her Korean parents to get married and some meddling from her best friends, and she’s ready to crack. All she wants is to turn to Nolan, but is that the worst choice she can make? (I think you know the answer to that question.)
This was a cute enemies-to-lovers (sort-of) rom-com. I liked Melody and Nolan and definitely rooted for them. I thought she really took a lot more verbal abuse from her coworkers, the public, her family, even her friends, than was enjoyable. There’s only so many insults—even when done in love—that are fun to read.
Still, I thought the book had some good messages about sexism in the workplace, particularly in the gaming industry. And so much of what Park describes about gaming fans is true. It's a fun romp.
Avon Books provided me a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2019 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2019.html.
Check out my list of the best books of the decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
When your workplace is in chaos, the last thing you can handle is a workplace romance. At least that's the case in Suzanne Park's fun rom-com, Loathe at First Sight .
Melody Joo thinks she’s landed the perfect job as a producer at a video game company, but she learns quickly how wrong she is. The CEO is a petulant jerk, her male coworkers are sexist (and a bit racist), and there’s even a handsome yet insufferable intern, who happens to be the boss’ nephew and seems to get all of the perks she isn't. She wants to quit ASAP.
When a joke about a video game featuring male strippers fighting to save the world (as opposed to the ubiquitous hyper-sexual female characters which appear in video games) gets taken seriously, she’s put in charge of developing it. Nolan the intern gets assigned to help her, and while she’s ready for him to be useless, Melody is surprised by how smart—and sexy—he is. But the last thing she needs is to hook up with the boss’ nephew and an intern to boot, given that half of the guys she works with already think she's slept her way into the opportunity to develop the game.
Suddenly she faces intense pressure to deliver the game amidst unrealistic and unfair demands from the CEO, hostile coworkers, and a trolling scandal which actually frightens her. Couple that with constant nagging from her Korean parents to get married and some meddling from her best friends, and she’s ready to crack. All she wants is to turn to Nolan, but is that the worst choice she can make? (I think you know the answer to that question.)
This was a cute enemies-to-lovers (sort-of) rom-com. I liked Melody and Nolan and definitely rooted for them. I thought she really took a lot more verbal abuse from her coworkers, the public, her family, even her friends, than was enjoyable. There’s only so many insults—even when done in love—that are fun to read.
Still, I thought the book had some good messages about sexism in the workplace, particularly in the gaming industry. And so much of what Park describes about gaming fans is true. It's a fun romp.
Avon Books provided me a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2019 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2019.html.
Check out my list of the best books of the decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
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May 14, 2020
I hope you've got your morning brew and a comfy chair because I have lots! to! say!
Suzanne Park's Loathe at First Sight is an interesting journey into the world of video game production. It's obvious that Park did a ton of research into how that the mechanics of that industry work, and Melody Joo was a really fun, self-aware, and pithy protagonist.
I'd say the biggest problem with this one has nothing to do with the book itself but the marketing. Between the title and the official description, it's pretty clear that the idea was for this to be sold as an enemies-to-lovers romance (very much My Shit™!!!) taking place against the backdrop of the misogynistic and racist world of video game development. The professional feminist politics and culture writer in me SCREAMED because it sounded SO PERFECT.
However, I'd say the romance was definitely relegated to a secondary storyline (and tied in terms of airtime with a whole separate subplot featuring Melody's two friends Jane and Candice), and it wasn't even an enemies-to-lovers story. (I don't consider one brief argument at the beginning enough to be worthy of the term "loathe," especially because it wasn't really followed up with much else.) That's probably where a few readers will be disappointed.
Aside from that, after a while it seemed that a lot of storylines were just blowing through all of major social issues within online gaming without necessarily a ton of reflection and with a too-tidy ending. Just wish there was a tad more nuance there. Some folks might also find the blatant misogyny, racism, and brief homophobia triggering.
I wanted to love this one because the premise was so cool, and I'm sad that I didn't!
Suzanne Park's Loathe at First Sight is an interesting journey into the world of video game production. It's obvious that Park did a ton of research into how that the mechanics of that industry work, and Melody Joo was a really fun, self-aware, and pithy protagonist.
I'd say the biggest problem with this one has nothing to do with the book itself but the marketing. Between the title and the official description, it's pretty clear that the idea was for this to be sold as an enemies-to-lovers romance (very much My Shit™!!!) taking place against the backdrop of the misogynistic and racist world of video game development. The professional feminist politics and culture writer in me SCREAMED because it sounded SO PERFECT.
However, I'd say the romance was definitely relegated to a secondary storyline (and tied in terms of airtime with a whole separate subplot featuring Melody's two friends Jane and Candice), and it wasn't even an enemies-to-lovers story. (I don't consider one brief argument at the beginning enough to be worthy of the term "loathe," especially because it wasn't really followed up with much else.) That's probably where a few readers will be disappointed.
Aside from that, after a while it seemed that a lot of storylines were just blowing through all of major social issues within online gaming without necessarily a ton of reflection and with a too-tidy ending. Just wish there was a tad more nuance there. Some folks might also find the blatant misogyny, racism, and brief homophobia triggering.
I wanted to love this one because the premise was so cool, and I'm sad that I didn't!
January 6, 2020
I LOVE THIS BOOK!
August 7, 2020
I so wanted to love Loathe at First Sight, a rom-com/chick-lit read featuring a Korean American mc *and* set in the cutthroat (and renowned den of toxic masculinity) set in the gaming development community. But everything felt so scripted: the mc is quirky! but also kind of a doormat who has to learn to really stand up for herself with her friends, family, her job, and herself! It's like every box of stereotypes you could check was brought out and crossed off and what could have and should have been a charming, clever read turned into a slogfest that left me feeling like Loathe at First Sight is sadly very, very aptly named.
Tl;dr: Skip.
Tl;dr: Skip.
February 16, 2020
So much to love about this book. I loved Melody so much, who works her butt off to prove herself in a profession dominated by white males: the gaming industry. It was easy to share all of the emotions of frustration and anger of the racist, misogynistic environment of Melody's workplace because it was all spot on. And then, those victory moments came when I wanted to high five Melody because she is all kinds of smart, savvy, and funny. TBH, I think the title is misleading because while there is definitely a good story thread featuring a romantic interest (well-paced, too), I felt like this book was all about Melody and I was 100% behind her the whole way.
Read
March 22, 2021dnf @ 30%
I went in expecting an enemies-to-lovers office romance but it wasn't that at all. It had so much potential too, it's so nice to have a Korean-American female character (Melody Joo) navigating a male-dominated industry, but I couldn't keep reading because I found some content upsetting which hindered me from enjoying the book.
maybe someday I'll pick this back up.
Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC.
I went in expecting an enemies-to-lovers office romance but it wasn't that at all. It had so much potential too, it's so nice to have a Korean-American female character (Melody Joo) navigating a male-dominated industry, but I couldn't keep reading because I found some content upsetting which hindered me from enjoying the book.
maybe someday I'll pick this back up.
Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC.
August 16, 2020
The best thing I have to say about Loathe at First Sight is that it isn't very long. That isn't even damning with faint praise, I was just glad to finish. I had such high hopes - I love the enemies-to-lovers trope in romcoms, the cover is cute, and the video game background sounded so promising. But the actual novel was one of the biggest disappointments I've read in a while. For starters, the enemies-to-lovers romcom promised by the cover, title, and marketing copy? Barely present. Protagonist Melody and office crush Nolan are kind of enemy-ish for about five minutes (more like irritating co-worker, but I can work with that)... but then they get over that, and very quickly become perfectly amiable coworkers who are obviously attracted to one another. Okay, so much for that. But the romance takes a backseat, as the main plot is really focused on Melody's struggles at her new job, a video game company, where she's found herself thrown into a lead producer position on a title that was a joke idea in the first place and is given minimal support from the company, dealing with virulent misogyny in the office as well as a GamerGate-esque harassment campaign online, as news of the "feminist" (allegedly) (ohhh so allegedly) game leaks. Meanwhile, she's also stuck being maid of honor to a bridezilla friend, while her parents nag her to get a boyfriend already. All of which would be a perfectly fine plot, if it was what was promised, but...
However, in practice, even those plot elements are painfully, frustratingly mishandled. The theme of sexual harassment at work makes a weird background for...Melody actually lusting after her intern the whole time, and the so-called "feminism" is, across the board, superficial and hypocritical - for instance, Melody (rightly) tells off a co-worker for referring to adult women as "girls", while doing the same herself. That seems like a small example, but the book is rife with such tiny, trivial, incredibly frustrating details. There's a weird scene where Melody, who has more than once assured us that she's a size Medium, tries to fit into an XS t-shirt; a male coworker offers her his Large tee instead, saying something about how it's better than an S. She quickly assures him that actually this is an EXTRA small, and then, when she apologizes for the "weirdness" of mentioning that, he assures her that he has a wife and daughters, so he's used to that kind of thing. You know, that girly talk, about...T-shirt sizes.
And that wasn't even an example of her coworkers' sexism.
Melody is simply an unpleasant, cranky, entirely unlikeable heroine, whose "quirky" traits just make her sound immature and selfish. The maid-of-honor plotline, for instance, hinges entirely on the idea that Jane, the bride, is shallow, loves to throw money around, and is a total control freak bridezilla...but the examples of this we see are things like sampling cake flavors that sounded pretty good to me (but that, to Melody, sound gross - which she makes sure to tell Jane out loud. Jane then ends up getting a chocolate cake AS WELL because God forbid Melody and her five-year-old tastebuds go without cake at someone else's wedding), wanting an expensive wedding gown (although even there, if the point is to show how she throws money around, it fails weirdly - she tries on a dress that's nearly twice her budget, tells the saleswoman that's too much, and gets it discounted and is able to afford it. Great! She wasn't even rude to the saleswoman in accomplishing this! So... what's the issue here? Is it that she makes more money than Melody?), throwing an engagement party (excuse me, a "pre-rehearsal rehearsal dinner," as Melody insists on calling it, finding that weird) and then not even being annoyed when the other bridesmaid announces both a pregnancy and her own engagement at it, and having a schedule for her bachelorette party (schedule: pick up bridesmaid at this time, reservation at this time. That's it. Melody calls this level of planning "neurotic"). She is, admittedly, passive-aggressive to Melody about her weight a couple of times (suggests that they go on a diet together), but Melody is constantly acting disgusted by how big her officemate is, and mocking women with bigger bra sizes than her, so you know what, I don't have a lot of sympathy there.
Anyway, Justice for Jane, she sounds like a perfectly normal, albeit much richer than me, woman trying to have the wedding of her dreams even though she doesn't appear to have a single real friend. No justice for Melody, who is a detestable heroine who legitimately thinks that women had it better in "the olden days" of art, because artists back then CELEBRATED women in their paintings, in contrast to the trolls tweeting her death threats for daring to be a woman in the gaming industry. (Don't ask me what the one has to do with the other.) (And really don't ask me what Melody thinks the female artists "back then" were doing, her feminism hasn't reached that far.)
In case you can't tell, Loathe at First Sight left me seething, and the only reason I finished it is because I try to read every word of an ARC before writing a review. But it isn't just the badly pasted-on pseudo-feminism that irritated me, but the actual writing - there's a Chekhov's gun situation with a cat allergy that just...filled a scene and then went nowhere, for instance, and the whole thing felt stretched and padded with story lines and plot elements that didn't lead to anything. It just wasn't a good book, from start to finish.
Cute (if misleading) cover, though.
I received a copy of Loathe at First Sight from NetGalley and Avon Books in exchange for an honest review.
However, in practice, even those plot elements are painfully, frustratingly mishandled. The theme of sexual harassment at work makes a weird background for...Melody actually lusting after her intern the whole time, and the so-called "feminism" is, across the board, superficial and hypocritical - for instance, Melody (rightly) tells off a co-worker for referring to adult women as "girls", while doing the same herself. That seems like a small example, but the book is rife with such tiny, trivial, incredibly frustrating details. There's a weird scene where Melody, who has more than once assured us that she's a size Medium, tries to fit into an XS t-shirt; a male coworker offers her his Large tee instead, saying something about how it's better than an S. She quickly assures him that actually this is an EXTRA small, and then, when she apologizes for the "weirdness" of mentioning that, he assures her that he has a wife and daughters, so he's used to that kind of thing. You know, that girly talk, about...T-shirt sizes.
And that wasn't even an example of her coworkers' sexism.
Melody is simply an unpleasant, cranky, entirely unlikeable heroine, whose "quirky" traits just make her sound immature and selfish. The maid-of-honor plotline, for instance, hinges entirely on the idea that Jane, the bride, is shallow, loves to throw money around, and is a total control freak bridezilla...but the examples of this we see are things like sampling cake flavors that sounded pretty good to me (but that, to Melody, sound gross - which she makes sure to tell Jane out loud. Jane then ends up getting a chocolate cake AS WELL because God forbid Melody and her five-year-old tastebuds go without cake at someone else's wedding), wanting an expensive wedding gown (although even there, if the point is to show how she throws money around, it fails weirdly - she tries on a dress that's nearly twice her budget, tells the saleswoman that's too much, and gets it discounted and is able to afford it. Great! She wasn't even rude to the saleswoman in accomplishing this! So... what's the issue here? Is it that she makes more money than Melody?), throwing an engagement party (excuse me, a "pre-rehearsal rehearsal dinner," as Melody insists on calling it, finding that weird) and then not even being annoyed when the other bridesmaid announces both a pregnancy and her own engagement at it, and having a schedule for her bachelorette party (schedule: pick up bridesmaid at this time, reservation at this time. That's it. Melody calls this level of planning "neurotic"). She is, admittedly, passive-aggressive to Melody about her weight a couple of times (suggests that they go on a diet together), but Melody is constantly acting disgusted by how big her officemate is, and mocking women with bigger bra sizes than her, so you know what, I don't have a lot of sympathy there.
Anyway, Justice for Jane, she sounds like a perfectly normal, albeit much richer than me, woman trying to have the wedding of her dreams even though she doesn't appear to have a single real friend. No justice for Melody, who is a detestable heroine who legitimately thinks that women had it better in "the olden days" of art, because artists back then CELEBRATED women in their paintings, in contrast to the trolls tweeting her death threats for daring to be a woman in the gaming industry. (Don't ask me what the one has to do with the other.) (And really don't ask me what Melody thinks the female artists "back then" were doing, her feminism hasn't reached that far.)
In case you can't tell, Loathe at First Sight left me seething, and the only reason I finished it is because I try to read every word of an ARC before writing a review. But it isn't just the badly pasted-on pseudo-feminism that irritated me, but the actual writing - there's a Chekhov's gun situation with a cat allergy that just...filled a scene and then went nowhere, for instance, and the whole thing felt stretched and padded with story lines and plot elements that didn't lead to anything. It just wasn't a good book, from start to finish.
Cute (if misleading) cover, though.
I received a copy of Loathe at First Sight from NetGalley and Avon Books in exchange for an honest review.
May 7, 2020
I'm so sad to only be giving this book 2 stars, I was genuinely so excited for it and always thought I would love it. An enemies to lovers story featuring a female Korean-American main character who works as a video game producer sounded right up my alley and like something that we definitely needed in the book world.
However, I feel Loathe at First Sight can be a bit misleading at first glance. Despite having the perfect enemies to lovers title, it isn't really an enemies to lovers story. In fact, I wouldn't say that romance is even at the core of the story. The main plot line follows our main character and her struggles of working in a male dominated world as well as dealing with online harassment.
Thank you to HarperCollins and Edelweiss for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Loathe at First Sight follows Melody Joo as she embarks on her new job as a video game producer at Seventeen Studios. Being part of a world that's mainly male dominated, Melody has learned to stand up for herself and defend her worth to everyone who thinks less of her. One day, jokingly, Melody and a friend from work discuss a new idea for a video game that follows strippers in a post-apocalyptic world fighting off zombies, vampires, etc. Suddenly Melody's idea becomes an actual concept for a mobile game that she has to develop in an unrealistically short amount of time.
As a character, Melody Joo is great. She is smart and capable and strong and has no time for misogyny. Nolan, our love interest, is also a very well developed character and instantly likeable. Rooting for Melody and Nolan was one of my favourite parts of this novel, however as I previously mentioned the romance isn't at the centre of the story and we rarely get any romantic interactions between the two.
Another thing I would like to point out as a reason to why I couldn't particularly enjoy this book was the comedy. Being advertised as 'bursting with humour' I was definitely expecting something very different to what we get in the novel. Most of the comedy comes from Melody's over the top Korean parents and although I understand how some interactions/scenes could be humorous to some people, I really struggled with seeing the funny aspect of it.
I'm really disappointed that I couldn't enjoy this book more because I was really looking forward to it. Perhaps if I had gone in expecting that romance wouldn't be a big part of the plot line and that it was mostly going to revolve around Melody's work and harassment, it could've worked out differently.
However, I feel Loathe at First Sight can be a bit misleading at first glance. Despite having the perfect enemies to lovers title, it isn't really an enemies to lovers story. In fact, I wouldn't say that romance is even at the core of the story. The main plot line follows our main character and her struggles of working in a male dominated world as well as dealing with online harassment.
Thank you to HarperCollins and Edelweiss for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Loathe at First Sight follows Melody Joo as she embarks on her new job as a video game producer at Seventeen Studios. Being part of a world that's mainly male dominated, Melody has learned to stand up for herself and defend her worth to everyone who thinks less of her. One day, jokingly, Melody and a friend from work discuss a new idea for a video game that follows strippers in a post-apocalyptic world fighting off zombies, vampires, etc. Suddenly Melody's idea becomes an actual concept for a mobile game that she has to develop in an unrealistically short amount of time.
As a character, Melody Joo is great. She is smart and capable and strong and has no time for misogyny. Nolan, our love interest, is also a very well developed character and instantly likeable. Rooting for Melody and Nolan was one of my favourite parts of this novel, however as I previously mentioned the romance isn't at the centre of the story and we rarely get any romantic interactions between the two.
Another thing I would like to point out as a reason to why I couldn't particularly enjoy this book was the comedy. Being advertised as 'bursting with humour' I was definitely expecting something very different to what we get in the novel. Most of the comedy comes from Melody's over the top Korean parents and although I understand how some interactions/scenes could be humorous to some people, I really struggled with seeing the funny aspect of it.
I'm really disappointed that I couldn't enjoy this book more because I was really looking forward to it. Perhaps if I had gone in expecting that romance wouldn't be a big part of the plot line and that it was mostly going to revolve around Melody's work and harassment, it could've worked out differently.
January 19, 2021
2.5/5 Stars
This wasn't a bad book, I actually appreciated how many important themes it deals with, but it's just not what I was looking for.
I went into this book thinking it was going to be a romance set in the workplace, which in this case is a video game company. Well, it wasn't exactly that. The novel is very focused on work and it explores themes such as double standards, how women are perceived in the gaming world, and also stalking. I believe these parts were very well done and even though I'm no expert of the gaming world community, I feel like some of the portrayals in the book just hit the nail on the head.
So why the low rating? Well, this book is advertised as a romance and it's funny to me since the romance is next to non-existent in the novel. We have some moments here and there, but they are really disconnected and the characters have no room to know each other and form a believable connection.
This wasn't my kind of book, but if you're interested in a novel that's set in the gaming world community and that deals with important topics, then you might wanna give this a chance.
This wasn't a bad book, I actually appreciated how many important themes it deals with, but it's just not what I was looking for.
I went into this book thinking it was going to be a romance set in the workplace, which in this case is a video game company. Well, it wasn't exactly that. The novel is very focused on work and it explores themes such as double standards, how women are perceived in the gaming world, and also stalking. I believe these parts were very well done and even though I'm no expert of the gaming world community, I feel like some of the portrayals in the book just hit the nail on the head.
So why the low rating? Well, this book is advertised as a romance and it's funny to me since the romance is next to non-existent in the novel. We have some moments here and there, but they are really disconnected and the characters have no room to know each other and form a believable connection.
This wasn't my kind of book, but if you're interested in a novel that's set in the gaming world community and that deals with important topics, then you might wanna give this a chance.
February 10, 2020
Besides being funny and romantic, which it absolutely is, LOATHE AT FIRST SIGHT gives us a smart heroine who's easy to love. Melody Joo is a video game producer new to her job at Seventeen Studios. Early on, she jokes with a female coworker about fighting the patriarchy by making a video game about male strippers in a post-apocalyptic world. Although she was only kidding, before she knows it, the idea's been passed to the board of Seventeen Studios, and it's quickly named their next big thing. Melody should feel ecstatic to be running such a high-profile project as a junior producer (and of course, she is deservedly happy), but it's not an easy road. As a woman and Korean-American in an industry known for its bro culture, she never gets the same level of support that her white, male counterparts on other projects get. Everything she accomplishes is through grit, smarts, and savvy thinking on her feet. I absolutely loved her blend of toughness and vulnerability and think readers will really relate to this wonderful character.
The story is hilarious and well-written. Plus Melody's blossoming romance with the office intern is all kinds of sweet. I can't wait for LOATHE AT FIRST SIGHT to hit shelves!
The story is hilarious and well-written. Plus Melody's blossoming romance with the office intern is all kinds of sweet. I can't wait for LOATHE AT FIRST SIGHT to hit shelves!
Read
June 28, 2020DNF @ 35%
I really really tried, but this is yet another book that did not work for me this month. I wanted to love it but the MC's voice as well as the way she perceives/talks about everyone around her starting getting on my nerves. This book just wasn't for me, I guess.
I really really tried, but this is yet another book that did not work for me this month. I wanted to love it but the MC's voice as well as the way she perceives/talks about everyone around her starting getting on my nerves. This book just wasn't for me, I guess.
August 13, 2020
Read to 55% and then skipped to 85% and read to the end.
I loved that cover and the synopsis and expected an idiots to lovers office romance with banter galore. This was none of those things.
I liked Melody well enough. She’s sassy and tenacious. I’m not really sure why she got into the gaming industry as there are a few mentions of her not playing or being “a noob”. I guess she just wanted to try it? Nolan felt like a cardboard cutout. He read like a teenager, when he’s a year older than Melody. Oh, and every other male character in this story is a misogynistic dirtbag.
Plot wise it was meh. The romance is fairly non-existent and competes with a plot thread about the lives of Melody’s friends (one of which is lovely, the other is...not.) I did like the ever so horrible reality of what happened. It’s clear that the author did some research on women gamers and to me, that came across.
Overall, this was a case of a misleading cover and title. I think I probably would have avoided the book if it would have been properly marketed.
FYI: LOADS AND LOADS AND LOADS of misogyny and sexism, scenes of homophobia.
**Huge thanks to Avon for providing the arc free of charge**
I loved that cover and the synopsis and expected an idiots to lovers office romance with banter galore. This was none of those things.
I liked Melody well enough. She’s sassy and tenacious. I’m not really sure why she got into the gaming industry as there are a few mentions of her not playing or being “a noob”. I guess she just wanted to try it? Nolan felt like a cardboard cutout. He read like a teenager, when he’s a year older than Melody. Oh, and every other male character in this story is a misogynistic dirtbag.
Plot wise it was meh. The romance is fairly non-existent and competes with a plot thread about the lives of Melody’s friends (one of which is lovely, the other is...not.) I did like the ever so horrible reality of what happened. It’s clear that the author did some research on women gamers and to me, that came across.
Overall, this was a case of a misleading cover and title. I think I probably would have avoided the book if it would have been properly marketed.
FYI: LOADS AND LOADS AND LOADS of misogyny and sexism, scenes of homophobia.
**Huge thanks to Avon for providing the arc free of charge**
December 7, 2020
3.5/5
I was really excited to start Loathe at First Sight by Suzanne Park because 1 - there aren't many books (especially romance) centered around the gaming industry, and 2 - I love a good romcom, especially around the holidays. But the romance kind of takes a backseat in this story, and it is really more about sexism and misogyny in the workplace. I really couldn't believe everything that Melody had to put up with, and I felt so bad for her throughout the book. There is definitely some humor though, so fortunately it wasn't a completely heavy book. I also didn't really understand how the book got its name, and half expected our leading lady to end up with someone else entirely.
I haven't read a book by Park before, but it definitely seems from this one that she writes books that are heavier than your typical romcom. I don't mind this at all, and the look at the gaming industry was interesting and insightful for me. A note on the audio; it is narrated by Greta Jung who I'm not a huge fan of because of her choppy narrating style, but I think she might be starting to grow on me. I did really like the parts where she read Melody's parents, and I really like her voice.
All in all Loathe at First Sight wasn't really what I expected but it was still an enjoyable, if rather unromantic, read. I would definitely recommend going into this one not expecting a romcom, but rather a book that takes a look at harassment in the workplace. I will definitely be reading Park's next book and not go into it thinking romcom, I will just let it take me where it will!
Thank you to the author for my advance reader copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I was really excited to start Loathe at First Sight by Suzanne Park because 1 - there aren't many books (especially romance) centered around the gaming industry, and 2 - I love a good romcom, especially around the holidays. But the romance kind of takes a backseat in this story, and it is really more about sexism and misogyny in the workplace. I really couldn't believe everything that Melody had to put up with, and I felt so bad for her throughout the book. There is definitely some humor though, so fortunately it wasn't a completely heavy book. I also didn't really understand how the book got its name, and half expected our leading lady to end up with someone else entirely.
I haven't read a book by Park before, but it definitely seems from this one that she writes books that are heavier than your typical romcom. I don't mind this at all, and the look at the gaming industry was interesting and insightful for me. A note on the audio; it is narrated by Greta Jung who I'm not a huge fan of because of her choppy narrating style, but I think she might be starting to grow on me. I did really like the parts where she read Melody's parents, and I really like her voice.
All in all Loathe at First Sight wasn't really what I expected but it was still an enjoyable, if rather unromantic, read. I would definitely recommend going into this one not expecting a romcom, but rather a book that takes a look at harassment in the workplace. I will definitely be reading Park's next book and not go into it thinking romcom, I will just let it take me where it will!
Thank you to the author for my advance reader copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
August 2, 2019
I read an early version of this book and loved it! It’s an empowering read with charming characters and a lot of comedy! I couldn’t help but root for Melody as she tackled creating a video game in her male-dominated workplace. Suzanne Park does a great job of creating a realistic character anyone can identify with, and she kept me laughing the entire time. I can’t wait for this to hit shelves so I can read it again!
September 23, 2020
📚 Hello Book Friends! LOATHED AT FIRST SIGHT by Suzanne Park was a fun read. I love the main character Melody Joo. She is a strong, quirky, mouthy woman, and yet, she has her insecure moments. The story is about her trying to make it in the video gaming world and being repeatedly thrown under the bus by her boss. She will face many adversities because she is a thriving woman in a man dominated industry, but she does not give up. Add to the mix an office romance, overbearing parents, and the responsibility to be the maid of honour at a friend’s wedding and you will start to understand the stress Melody is facing. This is a quick and enjoyable read.
🙋🏼♀️ Thank you, Books Forward for sending me an ecopy of this entertaining book. LOATHED AT FIRST SIGHT by Suzanne Park is now available at your favourite bookstore.
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February 19, 2020
I was so excited to receive an early copy of this book and it did not disappoint! I laughed...a LOT. Suzanne Park's novel is effortlessly funny and entertaining, while also fully immersing readers in the world of tech & gaming (the good and the terrible). I couldn't help but root for Melody, who was brave and messy and wonderful. My heart ached reading about the alarming sexism and racism she experienced simply by trying to do her job. There were some turns at the end I didn't see coming. I look forward to seeing what this author writes next!
setting-aside-for-now
September 1, 2020Like Suzanne Park's recent YA, The Perfect Escape, Loathe at First Sight isn't really as advertised. (I liked The Perfect Escape even though it really had nothing at all to do with zombies, which was okay with me.)
Loathe at First Sight? That title + this cover suggests to me a hate-to-love rom com.
A mismatch between a book's cover and description vs its actual content is not super helpful for matching the book with the right reader. Or giving a reader the right expectations.
To me, Loathe at First Sight seemed mainly a story about harassment and misogyny in the gaming industry (something I consider a worthwhile and interesting issue) with romantic elements. I don't object to serious issues being incorporated into a romance but if those issues take over the story, you no longer have a romance.
Given the very deep dive this took into the issue and the level of detail, maybe this book should have been women's fiction marketed in the #MeToo vein, not the rom com vein? Just a thought. (Though Undercover Bromance did address the issues of misogyny and sexual harassment in the restaurant industry and managed to put the romance front and center. So it is possible.)
Also, some of the humor in the book was a little uncomfortable for me. Other reviews seem to cover this and I'm not sure I'm the best person to discuss it so I will leave it at that.
Setting this aside for now as I have a lot of other ARCs to get to! I will definitely try this author again, as I think she writes things worth reading!
Read more of my reviews on JenRyland.com! Let's be friends on Bookstagram!
Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review!
Loathe at First Sight? That title + this cover suggests to me a hate-to-love rom com.
A mismatch between a book's cover and description vs its actual content is not super helpful for matching the book with the right reader. Or giving a reader the right expectations.
To me, Loathe at First Sight seemed mainly a story about harassment and misogyny in the gaming industry (something I consider a worthwhile and interesting issue) with romantic elements. I don't object to serious issues being incorporated into a romance but if those issues take over the story, you no longer have a romance.
Given the very deep dive this took into the issue and the level of detail, maybe this book should have been women's fiction marketed in the #MeToo vein, not the rom com vein? Just a thought. (Though Undercover Bromance did address the issues of misogyny and sexual harassment in the restaurant industry and managed to put the romance front and center. So it is possible.)
Also, some of the humor in the book was a little uncomfortable for me. Other reviews seem to cover this and I'm not sure I'm the best person to discuss it so I will leave it at that.
Setting this aside for now as I have a lot of other ARCs to get to! I will definitely try this author again, as I think she writes things worth reading!
Read more of my reviews on JenRyland.com! Let's be friends on Bookstagram!
Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review!
September 15, 2020
This definitely had an unsteady start for me, but over time... I actually found myself enjoying it, interested to see what would happen next.
- Follows Melody, a video game producer who has to grapple with misogyny and sexism in the gaming industry when producing a joke-turned-high-profile game - all while slowly falling in love with her company's intern.
- This is an entertaining book that also challenges sexism, misogyny, trolling, and what it means to succeed as a woman of colour in a very white and male-dominated industry. It makes light of these issues without entirely diminishing their importance as issues (though the portrayal is far from perfect), making the book quite readable and fun.
- The thing with the writing was that it toes a fine line between subverting and challenging bigotry and playing into it. I was really uncertain at first - though, the more I read, I realised that the writing does challenge bigotry.
- The humour here is a little self-depreciating, especially when it comes to being Korean and Melody's Korean parents (whom are really caricatured). It worked in some places, but I felt like it was... really shallow in others? So the humour worked for me in a few places, but not all.
- I actually enjoyed the bridesmaid subplot because I REALLY related to Melody's overwhelming feeling of exhaustion.
- I struggled to connect to the romance. I liked Nolan's character, but I just didn't understand their connection as a couple -- so the romance didn't do it for me.
I was provided an eARC of the book by the author's publicist. This does not influence my opinion of the book in any way.
Trigger/content warning:
- Follows Melody, a video game producer who has to grapple with misogyny and sexism in the gaming industry when producing a joke-turned-high-profile game - all while slowly falling in love with her company's intern.
- This is an entertaining book that also challenges sexism, misogyny, trolling, and what it means to succeed as a woman of colour in a very white and male-dominated industry. It makes light of these issues without entirely diminishing their importance as issues (though the portrayal is far from perfect), making the book quite readable and fun.
- The thing with the writing was that it toes a fine line between subverting and challenging bigotry and playing into it. I was really uncertain at first - though, the more I read, I realised that the writing does challenge bigotry.
- The humour here is a little self-depreciating, especially when it comes to being Korean and Melody's Korean parents (whom are really caricatured). It worked in some places, but I felt like it was... really shallow in others? So the humour worked for me in a few places, but not all.
- I actually enjoyed the bridesmaid subplot because I REALLY related to Melody's overwhelming feeling of exhaustion.
- I struggled to connect to the romance. I liked Nolan's character, but I just didn't understand their connection as a couple -- so the romance didn't do it for me.
I was provided an eARC of the book by the author's publicist. This does not influence my opinion of the book in any way.
Trigger/content warning:
September 29, 2020
This book exhausted me to read. I don't even know where to begin with this book but to say the least I was greatly disappointed. *I received this book in exchange for an honest review*
To start: This book paints itself off as a sort of feminist novel ie: WOC tackling sexism in the video game industry. Yet, I felt the main character herself was very misogynistic. Her relationship with her supposed "best friends" was nothing short of toxic, fake, and full of the "women vs. women" mentality that I feel is an incredibly stereotypical and sexist trope. They all secretly hated each other and played off of other sexist tropes in this story (the vain and rude rich friend obsessed with diets who is a "bridezilla"). The MC even had a "love/hate" ratio she kept in her head for how she felt about her "friends". I find relationships where women are pitted against each other exhausting and sexist, the complete opposite of what it means to be feminist. This relationship the MC had with her friends was so at odds with the main message of the story that it was hard to stomach. It made it difficult for me to root for her success in the male dominated work space of gaming and dealing with the sexism there, when she would come home and treat her friends like this.
Next, the MC's parents: They only served as a sort of punch line in the story to make fun of the main character's: weight, looks, career and lack of relationship status. What could be written off as funny or endearing, became cruel after the repeated harassment from her parents. I do understand that this is an own voices novel and her experiences are very different from my own, but her shame and mortification that she felt about her parents didn't sit well with me (not to mention their treatment of her). Severe instances are brought to mind, but there were scenes in this book where threats to the MC's life happened and her parents just didn't care. The MC was receiving bomb threats to her apartment and also had threatening phone calls made to her parents house, and her parents just criticized her love life and didn't seem to care she was in danger. Also, there was a side comment made about how her parents made a racist comment about a black taxi driver once that I feel was supposed to come across as part of a "greater joke" but it felt so out of place (not to mention racist) and was never mentioned again???
The romance: This didn't feel like it was part of the book at all. I felt the characters barely knew each other and there was little to no romantic interaction between them the whole book except for the end. I was expecting an enemies-to-lovers type relationship and I barely got anything from this. Bundled together with a lack of chemistry between the two of them, this fell flat for me. Also, I feel as though the main love interest was put on the pedestal to be the "only nice guy" in the WHOLE company and felt super unrealistic to me.
The story itself was so heavily saturated in so many things at once that I felt pulled in to many directions. I felt like every single chapter had a huge conflict or problem in it. The examples of sexual harassment the MC had to deal with were SO heavy and happened so often, that it became triggering for me and was hard to read. It was not just verbal, but soon escalated to severe threats of sexual assault/rape, murder, bomb threats and stalking. Back to her parents, they didn't seem to care about what was happening to her and the severity of it and nearly treated this as a joke (even when she was being physically threatened). It was so much to deal with all in one book and it all happened so frequently that I felt burnt out after every chapter. Not even to mention the toxic culture of the work place, where, I know this is part of the plot, it happened SO often from everywhere I was shocked there weren't dozens of HR cases opened against almost all the employees.
I'm not a gamer and I do wish I was, but reading this book almost makes me even more weary and hesitant to enter that world of gaming. All in all, I am just so disappointed in this book. I was expecting a great story about a powerful woman of color making her way in the gaming world and falling in love along the way, but instead I felt so burnt out by everything that happened that I couldn't even enjoy the little victories and what romance there was. I feel like the advertising for this book is very misleading as well. I was expecting a light-hearted romcom (the publisher Avonbooks is known for romances) but instead received this heavy-handed novel about sexism that I feel should be classified into a different genre.
To start: This book paints itself off as a sort of feminist novel ie: WOC tackling sexism in the video game industry. Yet, I felt the main character herself was very misogynistic. Her relationship with her supposed "best friends" was nothing short of toxic, fake, and full of the "women vs. women" mentality that I feel is an incredibly stereotypical and sexist trope. They all secretly hated each other and played off of other sexist tropes in this story (the vain and rude rich friend obsessed with diets who is a "bridezilla"). The MC even had a "love/hate" ratio she kept in her head for how she felt about her "friends". I find relationships where women are pitted against each other exhausting and sexist, the complete opposite of what it means to be feminist. This relationship the MC had with her friends was so at odds with the main message of the story that it was hard to stomach. It made it difficult for me to root for her success in the male dominated work space of gaming and dealing with the sexism there, when she would come home and treat her friends like this.
Next, the MC's parents: They only served as a sort of punch line in the story to make fun of the main character's: weight, looks, career and lack of relationship status. What could be written off as funny or endearing, became cruel after the repeated harassment from her parents. I do understand that this is an own voices novel and her experiences are very different from my own, but her shame and mortification that she felt about her parents didn't sit well with me (not to mention their treatment of her). Severe instances are brought to mind, but there were scenes in this book where threats to the MC's life happened and her parents just didn't care. The MC was receiving bomb threats to her apartment and also had threatening phone calls made to her parents house, and her parents just criticized her love life and didn't seem to care she was in danger. Also, there was a side comment made about how her parents made a racist comment about a black taxi driver once that I feel was supposed to come across as part of a "greater joke" but it felt so out of place (not to mention racist) and was never mentioned again???
The romance: This didn't feel like it was part of the book at all. I felt the characters barely knew each other and there was little to no romantic interaction between them the whole book except for the end. I was expecting an enemies-to-lovers type relationship and I barely got anything from this. Bundled together with a lack of chemistry between the two of them, this fell flat for me. Also, I feel as though the main love interest was put on the pedestal to be the "only nice guy" in the WHOLE company and felt super unrealistic to me.
The story itself was so heavily saturated in so many things at once that I felt pulled in to many directions. I felt like every single chapter had a huge conflict or problem in it. The examples of sexual harassment the MC had to deal with were SO heavy and happened so often, that it became triggering for me and was hard to read. It was not just verbal, but soon escalated to severe threats of sexual assault/rape, murder, bomb threats and stalking. Back to her parents, they didn't seem to care about what was happening to her and the severity of it and nearly treated this as a joke (even when she was being physically threatened). It was so much to deal with all in one book and it all happened so frequently that I felt burnt out after every chapter. Not even to mention the toxic culture of the work place, where, I know this is part of the plot, it happened SO often from everywhere I was shocked there weren't dozens of HR cases opened against almost all the employees.
I'm not a gamer and I do wish I was, but reading this book almost makes me even more weary and hesitant to enter that world of gaming. All in all, I am just so disappointed in this book. I was expecting a great story about a powerful woman of color making her way in the gaming world and falling in love along the way, but instead I felt so burnt out by everything that happened that I couldn't even enjoy the little victories and what romance there was. I feel like the advertising for this book is very misleading as well. I was expecting a light-hearted romcom (the publisher Avonbooks is known for romances) but instead received this heavy-handed novel about sexism that I feel should be classified into a different genre.
![Profile Image for laurel [the suspected bibliophile].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1645808644i%2F7494844._UX200_CR0%2C6%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
September 20, 2020
Trigger Warning: Sexism, Racism, Harassment, Doxxing, Discrimination
Melody Joo has made a drastic career change, leaping the opportunity to get into the world of video game producing. But she's not prepared for the level of intersectional racism and misogyny leveled at her from all sides—from her famous boss to her coworkers to her team. When a joke idea to a female coworker is overheard and stolen by her boss as a last-ditch effort to the higher ups, Melody is thrown into the game as lead producer. She's not going to let the whispers get to her, however. She's going to produce this game...or else.
I feel that this book was horribly mismarketed from the start. That cover, that title, that blurb...it all screams contemporary romance when the relationship between the intern and Melody is slow-burn and recognized as taboo as hell (and not acted upon at all) until the very, very end when the intern is no longer an intern.
However, I loved this for what it was: an insightfully scathing look into the gaming industry, and definitely not a contemporary romance.
A woman of color (note: an Asian woman, the subject of far too much fetishization within the gaming industry...and elsewhere) gets a job in a predominantly white male environment that has never felt the push for diversity because any push was ridiculed by the top.
And despite the set-backs, the micro-aggressions, the flat out harassment and discrimination and targeted attacks by coworkers and the gaming industry trolls and everyone else, despite having her flagship game getting consistently sidelined in favor of "woke feminist" games developed by her male peers, she succeeds and earns the respect of her team by being a true leader.
And Melody does reach lows. She's inherently clumsy, something that both is a nod to actual contemporary romance that has weirdly klutzy cute heroines, and a critique of that trait. She takes on the world and drives herself to the brink of exhaustion and beyond. She is targeted and harassed and doxxed and receives absolutely no support from her awful boss, who wants her gone so he can continue with the way life has always been: light and breezy with no need to think about implications of his comments or actions upon marginalized communities.
I did like that this book talked about the whiteness and toxic masculinity of the gaming world, from the idolization of white fantasy writers who were um, really problematic towards women and people of color, and yet revered without criticism. This was shown in mildly subtle ways, with the naming of the various conference rooms: Tolkien, Martin, Card, Butcher, Rothfuss, etc. You name a problematic white fantasy author, he had a room named after him—which further elevated those authors and erased the contributions of women, people of color and the LGBTQIAP+ community in the realm of science fiction, fantasy and gaming.
So who should read this?
I'll be real: it's not a 100% pleasant read. There were so many micro-aggressions and flat out aggressions that it's going to be incredibly painful, particularly if you are a woman who has worked in an all-male environment that was inherently lacking in actual introspection.
But if you watched or read about the 2020 Hugo Awards and your blood boiled, then this is the book for you.
I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.
Melody Joo has made a drastic career change, leaping the opportunity to get into the world of video game producing. But she's not prepared for the level of intersectional racism and misogyny leveled at her from all sides—from her famous boss to her coworkers to her team. When a joke idea to a female coworker is overheard and stolen by her boss as a last-ditch effort to the higher ups, Melody is thrown into the game as lead producer. She's not going to let the whispers get to her, however. She's going to produce this game...or else.
I feel that this book was horribly mismarketed from the start. That cover, that title, that blurb...it all screams contemporary romance when the relationship between the intern and Melody is slow-burn and recognized as taboo as hell (and not acted upon at all) until the very, very end when the intern is no longer an intern.
However, I loved this for what it was: an insightfully scathing look into the gaming industry, and definitely not a contemporary romance.
"You shouldn't stay there if you hate it so much."
A woman of color (note: an Asian woman, the subject of far too much fetishization within the gaming industry...and elsewhere) gets a job in a predominantly white male environment that has never felt the push for diversity because any push was ridiculed by the top.
But I was ten minutes late to a mandatory sexual harassment training in the Orson Scott Card large conference room.
And despite the set-backs, the micro-aggressions, the flat out harassment and discrimination and targeted attacks by coworkers and the gaming industry trolls and everyone else, despite having her flagship game getting consistently sidelined in favor of "woke feminist" games developed by her male peers, she succeeds and earns the respect of her team by being a true leader.
"And you're probably doing what you always do...you take on everything by yourself, keep piling on responsibilities, and then burn out in the process."
And Melody does reach lows. She's inherently clumsy, something that both is a nod to actual contemporary romance that has weirdly klutzy cute heroines, and a critique of that trait. She takes on the world and drives herself to the brink of exhaustion and beyond. She is targeted and harassed and doxxed and receives absolutely no support from her awful boss, who wants her gone so he can continue with the way life has always been: light and breezy with no need to think about implications of his comments or actions upon marginalized communities.
I did like that this book talked about the whiteness and toxic masculinity of the gaming world, from the idolization of white fantasy writers who were um, really problematic towards women and people of color, and yet revered without criticism. This was shown in mildly subtle ways, with the naming of the various conference rooms: Tolkien, Martin, Card, Butcher, Rothfuss, etc. You name a problematic white fantasy author, he had a room named after him—which further elevated those authors and erased the contributions of women, people of color and the LGBTQIAP+ community in the realm of science fiction, fantasy and gaming.
So who should read this?
I'll be real: it's not a 100% pleasant read. There were so many micro-aggressions and flat out aggressions that it's going to be incredibly painful, particularly if you are a woman who has worked in an all-male environment that was inherently lacking in actual introspection.
But if you watched or read about the 2020 Hugo Awards and your blood boiled, then this is the book for you.
I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.
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