From the publisher:
A smart, sexy, and witty romantic comedy—perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Sally Thorne—about a twentysomething who lives out every woman’s fantasy: getting paid to give men who do us wrong a taste of their own medicine. But when a previous target unexpectedly shows up at her office, she’s forced to rethink her life as a professional heartbreaker.
Brinkley Saunders has a secret.
To everyone in the academic world she left behind, she lost it all when she dropped out of grad school. Once a rising star following in her mother’s footsteps, she’s now an administrative assistant at an insurance agency—or so they think.
In reality, Brinkley works at Heartbreak for Hire, a secret service that specializes in revenge for jilted lovers, frenemies, and long-suffering coworkers with a little cash to spare and a man who needs to be taken down a notch. It might not be as prestigious as academia, but it helps Brinkley save for her dream of opening an art gallery and lets her exorcise a few demons, all while helping to empower women.
But when her boss announces she’s hiring male heartbreakers for the first time, Brinkley’s no longer so sure she’s doing the right thing—especially when her new coworker turns out to be a target she was paid to take down. Though Mark spends his days struggling up the academic ladder, he seems to be the opposite of a backstabbing adjunct: a nerd at heart in criminally sexy sweater vests who’s attentive both in and out of the bedroom. But as Brinkley finds it increasingly more difficult to focus on anything but Mark, she soon realizes that like herself, people aren’t always who they appear to be.
With Sonia Hartl’s “bitingly funny” (Publishers Weekly) prose, Heartbreak for Hire is a clever romcom you and your girlfriends won’t be able to stop talking about.
This was an interesting premise; women for hire to take down whatever man did you wrong. Not cheap, but possibly therapeutic? The woman who started the company found her employees crying in coffeeshops or bars etc. She offers them a way to work out their demons, and Brinkley certainly has some. She was in a psychologically abusive relationship for several years while she was in college. In fact, the breakup led her to drop out of her masters program at Northwestern, where her mother is a professor.
Brinkley and her mom do not get along. Her mother was determined that Brinkley follow her footsteps into a career in academia. But when Brinkley changes her major to art and then drops out, her mother is just beside herself. They meet up every week for lunch where her they end up fighting. Every week. Her mom thinks she is an administrative assistant in an insurance company because Brinkley never tells anyone what she really does for a living.
Then she meets Mark. The woman who contracted for his takedown is a nightmare, and Brinkley isn’t sure she even believes what she says, but a job is a job so off she goes. Except when she meets him, she likes him. A lot. They end up back at his place but she panics and runs out on him. Then they keep bumping into each other, and soon a relationship is keeping them both busy. But when he is hired by her company in their attempt to add men to the roster, none of the staff are happy, to say the least.
This was a laugh out loud book for me, lots of crazy situations along with the romance and some hot sex. Total fantasy, but what’s wrong with that!
8/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
HEARTBREAK FOR HIRE by Sonia Hartl. Gallery Books (July 27, 2021). ISBN: 978-1982167783. 320 pages.
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In this world – we all need a little fantasy.
Definitely!