Month: August 2020

Title: Loathe at First Sight
Author: Suzanne Park
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Avon
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Format: Ebook
Release Date: August 18, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Melody Joo is thrilled to land her dream job as a video game producer, but her new position comes with its share of challenges. Namely, an insufferable CEO and a team that consists of mostly male co-workers who make the term “misogyny” pale in comparison to their obnoxious comments. Then there’s the infuriating—yet distractingly handsome—MBA intern Nolan MacKenzie, a.k.a. “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 on a dime. 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 appointed a key member of her team, Melody’s sure he’ll be useless. But as they grow closer, she sees 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. But she’s here to work—and nothing more. All she has to do is resist the wild thoughts coursing through her mind whenever Nolan is near. Easy . . . or so she thinks.

With her pet project about to launch, Melody suddenly faces a slew of complications, including a social media trolling scandal that could end her career. She suspects one of her co-workers is behind the sabotage and is determined to find out who betrayed her. Could the man she’s falling hard for help her play the game to win—in work and love?

Review:

Melody Joo has her dream job as a video game producer. She has to deal with disrespectful and insulting remarks from men just because she is an Asian woman. When Melody and another female producer joke about making a game for women featuring male strippers, the CEO of the company decides to create the game to appeal to more female gamers. Melody is given the lead role for the game creation, with an almost impossible release date in six months. Melody has to work with the annoying intern, Nolan, who got the job because his uncle is the CEO. The details of the game are leaked from someone in the company, leading to Melody being harassed online and even getting death threats. Nolan becomes an unlikely ally for Melody throughout the development of the game.

This story explores sexual harassment of women who work in technology. I was shocked at some of the things that were said to Melody in this story. They were often said to her face by her coworkers. There was even a scene where they attempted to have a sexual conduct meeting, which failed miserably with the men calling Melody names. These scenes were quite disturbing, but unfortunately they were realistic.

The only parts of this book that could be changed are the title and cover. From the title and cover, I couldn’t tell that it was about video game production. I also didn’t realize that the main character was Korean. Her Korean heritage was mentioned a lot in the story with her hilarious parents calling her all the time. She was also recognized as a minority at her office, which the men thought was a great way to diversify the office, though most of the workers were white men. A different title and cover that shows the importance of video games in the story would give a hint to what the story is about.

This is a great story!

Thank you HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

How to Hack a Heartbreak by Kristin Rockaway

The Perfect Escape by Suzanne Park

Have you read Loathe at First Sight? What did you think of it?