Suzanne Park

"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 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 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--intern Nolan McKenzie, 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?

Loathe at First Sight

This book is an exercise in main character syndrome. I rarely DNF any book, no matter how terrible, but I couldn't make it more than 30% of the way into this one.

Main character Melody really has no positive traits. She's not smart, not funny, not interesting (has no hobbies), not attractive -- y/n female lead. Her only characteristic is that she's an Asian woman (a temptation for diverse authors), to the point that I actually understand why her shitty male colleagues hate her -- that's an attribute, not a personality. She has no motivation for joining the gaming industry (therefore isn't clear why she sticks around for the plot to unfold), and treats people like crap (at work and her so-called friends). She's a mean girl, seemingly hoping one friend will fail and hating her. She allows others to say truly terrible things to her (passive aggressive cowardice?) and behaves in kind. Her gender swap character is Asher, the a-hole office mate (they're both hypercritical and believe the rumor mill).

The male lead Nolan only has a couple of traits also: hygiene, competence, not overweight-ness. Maybe in the Seattle dating pool that really is such a trifecta, but leaves him 2D for readers.

So take those characters, put them in a world with minimal description and less plausibility (has the author ever had an office job? even an internship?), and struggle through. It's unreadable, especially the dialogue, unfortunately.

Marika

This book is an exercise in main character syndrome. I rarely DNF any book, no matter how terrible, but I couldn't make it more than 30% of the way into this one.

Main character Melody really has no positive traits. She's not smart, not funny, not interesting (has no hobbies), not attractive -- y/n female lead. Her only characteristic is that she's an Asian woman (a temptation for diverse authors), to the point that I actually understand why her shitty male colleagues hate her -- that's an attribute, not a personality. She has no motivation for joining the gaming industry (therefore isn't clear why she sticks around for the plot to unfold), and treats people like crap (at work and her so-called friends). She's a mean girl, seemingly hoping one friend will fail and hating her. She allows others to say truly terrible things to her (passive aggressive cowardice?) and behaves in kind. Her gender swap character is Asher, the a-hole office mate (they're both hypercritical and believe the rumor mill).

The male lead Nolan only has a couple of traits also: hygiene, competence, not overweight-ness. Maybe in the Seattle dating pool that really is such a trifecta, but leaves him 2D for readers.

So take those characters, put them in a world with minimal description and less plausibility (has the author ever had an office job? even an internship?), and struggle through. It's unreadable, especially the dialogue, unfortunately.

sydney

i liked this book but it was marketed wrong. this is not a romance novel, it’s about a woman trying to make her way in the gaming industry. it has romance but that is not the main focus of the story

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 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?

A Novel

Sheena

'Loathe at First Sight' shouldn't be considered a romance novel. It wasn’t. The storyline primary's focus was on Melody's career and the struggles she faced through the racist (subplot mostly), misogynistic and sexist work environment she was stationed at. The general romance aspect of this read was few and far between and with the minimal interactions Melody and the intern Nolan had, I was surprised that a romantic relationship was established between them by the end of the novel. 
 
It was such a disappointment because I was anticipating an enemies turned lovers office romance but ended up getting humorless triggering read that left me irritated enough to not bother finishing this read. There were too many underlying issues with this novel making me realize that this just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Maegan Kennedy

An Arc was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This book is everything that a women who feel like they don’t belong because of their ethnicity, gender, or skill, needs to read. This was an amazing representation of what minorities face in white, male-oriented work spaces. This book made me angry for the women, in a good way though. I felt as though I wanted to stand by their side as they proved the egotistical men wrong. I really like how Melody stood up to her boss, who was a terrible person. The atmosphere of the gaming company was a nice change and was different from what I’ve read about in the past. I thought this book was really funny and totally on point with a lot of the remarks made by the females in the story. Nolan was freaking adorable and actually reminds me of a guy I know. Melody and Nolan’s relationship was so relatable and adorable. I liked the pace of it and it didn’t feel rushed at all. I wasn’t a huge fan of Jane, which I guess was kind of the point, but I just found her to be a little self-centred. I don’t like people like that so she rubbed me the wrong way. I liked Candace a lot and I loved that she stuck by Melody through the whole book. I thought this book was very easy to follow along with and I was able to grasp the emotions in the book. Overall , I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend this one! 

4.5 / 5 stars

Izabel

always, annej 〄

Huge thanks to the author - Suzanne Park, the publisher - Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers and to Books Forward PR for my #gifted copy. 

This story is about a Korean female lead living the American life who strives to fit herself in a workplace dominated by men. Just like The Perfect Escape, it also has a techie-feels with all the video games info. This character is not your normal whiny young adult who always rants about this or that. She's a force to be reckoned with. She knows how to go well with the flow. But of course, sometimes, it gets too much. For example, the oppression of women in the video game world and stereotyping that they can't do any good. It was mixed with the classic trio girl friendship, a romantic comedy and using popular authors and books as names for conference rooms in the company.

I like that the lead character knows how to stand her ground. She's an optimistic character and very funny in an honest way. Although most of the times she chose to neglect her family because Asian families can do that. I also like that the book gives insight to the world of video games and what's really behind the scenes. Not just the process of creating a new hit game. But also the dirty works and oppression that female workers usually experience. It was very fitting in today's world where we are mostly lost in the digital world of video games. You'll know it will be cliche but it was still so cute and funny for me. What made me sad about the book is not the story but those bad people again. You can see clearly how some people will surely do whatever it takes to get their way to the top. Even if that involved hurting others in the way. 

The story was set in a city just like the normal YA contemporary novels. The romance in the book was so cute. The dedication got me laughing so hard - so witty of Suzanne to do that! I love it! Also, I was thinking it could pass for a new adult if only for some steamy romance in there. To say that it involved adult characters already. I was laughing while reading the book and I didn't notice I was close to finishing it. The atmosphere of it was so light and like Suzanne's first novel, it will surely make you feel good. Okay, the coffee mug got me. That's so witty! Also, the misnomer every time for Melody and how she'd react was so funny. 

For the characters, I don't have a particular favorite but the funniest of them was Melody herself. She can be annoying at some points but her honesty fuels her sarcasm. The ending was lovely and it was wrapped well. It's a perfect standalone romcom read for the summer. You'll surely laugh then roll your eyes because why not? It's not Melanie it's Melody.

tw racist, sexist, homophobic language, doxxing, stalking

this book is not really about video games and i am sorely disappointed. it’s also not romance-focused as the goodreads genres would lead me to believe. now i’m not that picky about romance and i hardly ever read romance so i’m not going to focus on that. i play video games though so let me talk about that.
while i would not self-identify as a gamer, melody seems to, despite barely ever talking about video games. her goal, for some reason, was to work for a gaming company, and that’s what she’s doing, and she’s somehow the lead director of a game despite repeating multiple times that her background is in marketing. she also talks about video games a total of two (2) times that i can remember. the first time it’s with her friend nick, who’s designing a trailer for her game, and they talk about mobile games a la candy crush. now i don’t want to gatekeep gaming but that’s like me saying i’m a gamer after playing some Argonavis from BanG Dream! AAside. it’s also established that she didn’t know what f2p stood for, although it is written as ftp like file transfer protocol in the book, which is kind of weird. how do you play mobile games and develop mobile games and not know what f2p means?? the second time is in the epilogue, where melody name drops mario kart and resident evil. like it’s nice to see her finally talking about games but why did it take the entire book for that to happen?

a small list of some other things that were a little ??? to me:
1. nolan is one of the only decent male characters. it’s like his uncle purposely staffed the company with asshole gamers.
2. there were many uncensored slurs in melody’s magazine interview. how did that get published?
3. melody’s parents are shallow characters just for comedic relief. they act pretty stereotypically, eg. “become doctor or lawyer,” constantly asking melody when she’s going to get a bf, and honestly the only funny moment was kimchi in the baby bathtub.

Kath Lau

trigger warning: sexism, misogyny, racism, cyber bullying, doxxing, harassment

Melody Joo has recently started her new job as a video game producer at Seventeen Studio. Her idea (which originally conceived as a joke) of a game that has male strippers in a post-apocalyptic world fighting zombies suddenly becomes the next big thing. She ends up being in charge of the game development. As if it isn’t challenging enough, she also has to deal with her sexist boss and co-workers plus online trolls.

I was informed from the beginning (when I received a review request for this book via email) that this is an #ownvoices women’s fiction so I was quite confused why it’s being marketed as enemies-to-lovers rom-com. Probably because of the title and cover, which are quite misleading. There is romance in this book but it wasn’t really the main focus and it’s a little bland if you ask me.

This book focuses more on Melody. Her struggles in a toxic and misogynistic woking environment and how she deals with racism and online harassment. There were a lot of scenes that made me very furious. Not to mention that what Melody is dealing in this book is happening in real life. Not only in gaming industry but everywhere in the world. I had to stop from reading so I could calm myself down.

Melody is determined and clever. I personally liked her. I didn’t care for the other characters because they all felt one-dimensional. I liked playing online games so it was interesting for me to see all the process of creating and developing a game. As I’ve mentioned earlier, the romance was very flat. I didn’t care if Melody and the love interest will end up together or not. I wasn’t also satisfied with how some of the issues were resolved towards the end of the book.

Despite of the heavy themes/topics in this book, I still thought that it’s a good story with an important message. If you’re looking for a lighthearted and feel-good read then this is not the book for you. If you want to read a story about an Asian-American woman and her fight against patriarchy especially in the video game industry, then you might want to consider reading this book. But please be aware of the trigger warnings.

Disclaimer: Huge thanks to Avon and NetGalley for my free e-arc. This did not affect my overall opinion of the book.

See all of my reviews at http://kath-reads.com/category/book-r...

Meri Lancis

I liked it even though the ending was a bit rushed, specially on the romance side

Heather Harrington

Melody Joo has landed her dream job at a gaming company, but it's not without its flaws. Namely, all the sexist men she has to work with. After a joke with a co-worker lands her her first big mobile video game project about male strippers surviving in a post-apocalyptic world, Melody quickly learns how cutthroat the gaming community can be. Soon, she finds herself dealing with threatening and nasty messages from trolls, and even a leak at the company. The only person Melody seems to be able to rely on is Nolan, who just so happens to be her intern and the nephew of the CEO, and not one Melody should be attracted to. But the more time the pair spends together, the more they can't deny the spark between them. Are all the hardships Melody is facing worth the risk or is it game over?

Not going to lie, this was extremely disappointing for me. I was really looking forward to this, and it was painful to get through. I didn't like Park's writing style, especially all the times she capitalized words for extra emphasis. That really grated on me throughout. There were also moments and dialogue that didn't feel very believable to me. There were a few things I liked such as how determined Melody was and how she never let the words of others deter her from her accomplishments. I also thought it was a pretty accurate portrayal of women in a mostly male-dominated field. As a fan of video games, I was hoping to enjoy this and thought maybe it just had a rocky start, but in the end, it wasn't for me.

Southern Today Gone Tomorrow

Written by Suzanne Park, Loathe at First Sight follows Melody Joo as she starts her new job at a video game company, managing both a CEO who is very aggressive in his goals, dealing with his nephew who got her old spot and broke her favorite mug, and being thrown into a game designing situation that she and another woman rattled off as an excuse to the CEO one day.

This novel is a classic contemporary romance novel of our time – by that I mean it makes a lot of references that we understand now, is a nice smooth read, and is kind of predictable once the various plot points/starts are revealed.

I really enjoyed this novel, I really enjoyed Suzanne, but if you don’t like contemporary romances, don’t read this. That is definitely the group that this is aimed for, and it hits the mark very well.

Kayla | @chapterobsessed

Loathe at First Sight by Suzanne Park.

> A woman takes a job working for a gaming company. Her boss is an ass, her coworker is an ass. Her friends are getting married and her parents are on her to find a man. When she gets an opportunity to develop a game geared towards female gamers, she starts getting trolled by male gamers and her life gets thrown upside down.

This isn’t your typical romance. There was way more to this story than a woman falling for a man. This was a love letter to female gamers. Us women have been talked down to, told we’re not good enough or told gaming is ONLY for men. Well guess what? GAMING IS FOR WOMEN TOO!

I loved Melody’s take no sh*t attitude at work. She didn’t care who she was talking to, she spoke her mind. It was a breath of fresh air. As for Nolan, I think I fell for him right away. I can’t explain why, I just got a good guy vibe from him and I went with it.

Loathe at First Sight

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