Loathe at First Sight by Suzanne Park (Review)

Title: Loathe at First Sight
Author: Suzanne Park
Type: Fiction
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Avon (HarperCollins)
Date published: August 18, 2020

A physical copy of this book was kindly provided by Books Forward in exchange for an honest review.

Melody Joo is thrilled to land her dream job as a video game producer, but her new position comes with challenges: an insufferable CEO; sexist male coworkers; and an infuriating—yet distractingly handsome—intern, Nolan MacKenzie, aka “the guy who got hired because his uncle is the boss.”

Just when Melody thinks she’s made the worst career move of her life, her luck changes. While joking with a friend, she creates a mobile game that has male strippers fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world. Suddenly Melody’s “joke” is her studio’s most high-profile project—and Melody’s running the show.

When Nolan is assigned to Melody’s team, she’s sure he’ll be useless. But as they grow closer, she realizes he’s smart and sexy, which makes Melody want to forget he’s her intern. As their attraction deepens, she knows it’s time to pump the brakes, even with her Korean parents breathing down her neck to hurry up and find a man.

With her project about to launch, Melody suddenly faces a slew of complications, including a devastating trolling scandal. Could the man she’s falling hard for help her play the game to win—in work and in love?

⤖ My Review ⬻

Lately, I’ve been more and more drawn to contemporary romances that also have a focus placed on the female MC’s career and career growth. That’s one of the things that really drew me to Suzanne Park’s Loathe at First Sight! I read her YA debut, The Perfect Escape, earlier this year and enjoyed it, so I very much looked forward to Loathe at First Sight (especially because I’ve been drawn to adult contemporary romance more than YA contemporary romance lately). I’m also a fan of hate-to-love type romance plots.

While reading Loathe at First Sight, I found that my attention was caught more on Melody’s career and the project that she has to undertake (and the obstacles) rather than the romance portion of the plot.

I didn’t really feel the chemistry between Melody and her love interest to be quite honest, and I’m thinking that this is because I didn’t personally find her love interest to be very interesting? Maybe it’s because I’ve been very career-focused myself, that’s where my attention went in this book. I don’t really know. I will also say that Loathe at First Sight made me laugh and that there were some important tidbits about feminism and the need for inclusivity in the book as well.

I picked Loathe at First Sight up wanting a romance but was still entertained by the overall plot, so I would say that as long as they are aware that this might happen to them as well, I recommend it to contemporary romance fans!

⤖ About the Author ⬻

Suzanne Park is a Korean-American writer who was born and raised in Tennessee. In her former life as a stand-up comedian, she was a finalist in the Oxygen Network’s “Girls Behaving Badly” talent search, and appeared on BET’s “Coming to the Stage.” She found this to be the funniest thing in her comedy career because, well, she is not black. 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.