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 … 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?
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Loathe at First Sight bursts with humor, heart, and great energy. I loved it! Park is a hilarious new voice in women’s fiction.
office romance
I love this author so much – can’t wait for her next book to come out!
You can check out my booktube video review at https://youtu.be/rz-txQnN3_M
or read my review on my blog at https://lisasiefert.com/book-review-loathe-at-first-sight-by-suzanne-park/
When Melody Joo, a Korean American woman, is brought on staff as a production assistant at Seventeen Studios, a video gaming developer, she didn’t expect to be treated as an outsider. But with the majority of employees at the company being White men, that’s what she is. When she’s in line to grab a beverage and is fooling around with a coworker, the boss happens to overhear their conversation. Next thing Melody knows, she’s suddenly in charge of design production for a new video game aimed at women.
This is a cute story, and I don’t doubt for a moment that Melody would have been treated as badly as she was. Tech industries aren’t always known for their diversity or acceptance of those who are not White men. That Melody suffered from racism, misogyny, and betrayal isn’t surprising. This book highlights how men support men and try to prevent smart women from reaching success.
Never fear though, for Melody is not to be stymied. She steps up and meets the challenges presented to her. She deals with team betrayal, hate attacks via email and social media, even death threats. She’s determined to stand up for herself and make her game a success.
I loved her parents. I could see them perfectly. As immigrants to the US, they want what’s best for their daughter: a husband. Melody shows them that while a man in her life would be nice, she’s perfectly capable of standing up for herself.
This book kept me guessing. I would think I knew what was going to happen, but then something else developed that I hadn’t seen coming. That was nice. The writing and characters were good and well-developed. In other words, I enjoyed this book about a strong woman and her desire to achieve all she knew she could.
I recommend this book to those who enjoy tales of strong women doing the right things.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. I thank all involved for their generosity, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reaction to reading this book.
The title of this book made me think this was going to be an enemy to lovers story, but it was not. This book is more about racism and sexism in the gaming industry. It was an interesting story, with a unique idea for a video game, but not what I was expecting. I did appreciate how things worked out in the end, but some parts of this book were hard to read. I received a copy from netgalley, and this is my honest review.
It’s fun watching the heroine, a newcomer to the game industry, overcome toxic bro culture, vicious doxxing, and dumb-ass prejudice against Asians in this story. She faces MANY challenges (including the most annoying company CEO in history) when she’s charged with launching a mobile FPS game that started life as a sarcastic joke (instead of big-boobed bimbos, the characters include a bunch of male strippers). There’s a fun romance, too, but it’s not the main focus. The parents and the B plot bridezilla are a hoot. This would make a good rom-com.
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.
Romance combined with unconscious and conscious bias. The bias message resonated with me due to 2020 events. I think the author missed the mark having Melody’s parent speak in broken English.This would be a great book club read.
Loathe at First Sight by Suzanne Parks
This is such a fun book with an interesting array of characters. I loved Melody’s personality and her parents were so over the top and funny. Melody’s challenges being a female in a male dominated field were all too real, and handled very well. Nolan, the intern, was a combo of sweet, annoying, and intelligent that morphed into dependable, fun, and hot. I loved that the story didn’t focus on the romance, but left it simmering on the sidelines. I enjoyed seeing the growth and determination in Melody. Most of all, I was so happy that she came out on top in the important areas and showed everyone what she was capable of doing. Thank you to Avon and the author for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.
I gave this one star but honestly GIVE ME BACK MY STAR AND TIME! I’m sorry this was not a hit for me. I found it very misogynistic, sexist, hypocritical, and at times racist!
It was soooo over the top misogynistic that at times I felt the author went out of her way to show the reader just how offensive the guys she worked with are. Like the guys watching porn at work to make the women in their games “more lifelike”
Really Melody is no better because she does her research at a strip club and orders the strippers by a MENU!
So let’s just say this was not the book for me, but if you like gross misogynistic offensive men this might be the book for you!
Melody, our MC, joins a new gaming company. In an attempt to joke about the sexist/toxic workplace culture, she suggests a parody feminist game featuring male strippers as the main characters. When this joke of a game idea is selected to become a reality, Melody is thrown headfirst into a project she’s unprepared and underfunded for. Will she make her game a success?
(Note I made no mention of a love interest or romance–weird, huh? THAT’S BECAUSE THIS ISN’T A ROMANCE. More on this later.)
I really debated what to say and how to rate this book. I rarely do pro/con list for book reviews, but I think that grouping the positives and negatives may help you (is anyone reading this?) understand why I struggled so much with this book.
Positives:
Representation! Suzanne Park wrote an #OwnVoices novel with Asian-American and female representation. Shows the difficulties of women in the gaming industry, the reality and danger of doxxing (which women, unfortunately, face too often). Definitely had some pretty funny moments. I actually, for the most part, really liked Melody, our MC. She didn’t take sh*t from people, even her boss, and was highly competent. The premise was creative and original, and didn’t rely on overused tropes to accomplish the story.
Negatives:
THIS IS NOT A ROMANCE. IT IS NOT ENEMIES TO LOVERS. THE TITLE MAKES NO SENSE. We spend THE ENTIRE BOOK unsure of who the love interest is. That’s not a romance! That’s not enemies to lovers! Melody’s eventual love interest is of such inconsequence to the plot, he’s not even worth mentioning. He’s also only her enemy for, oh, maybe .5 seconds–definitely not enemies-to-lovers. And if this book isn’t enemies-to-lovers WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS TITLE??? It makes no sense. It’s a total bait and switch. If this book were given a new title and classified as fiction/women’s fiction/chicklit instead of romance, it would be 50% better. I do not like being lied to.
This book is… a little racist. And a little sexist. Which is weird, because it seems like it’s trying to combat those things. Melody’s parents are basically walking stereotypes/caricatures, only acceptable because they are written by an author also of Korean descent. If I saw these characters on television, I wouldn’t laugh, I would cringe at their level of inappropriateness. Additionally, her parents make a comment about a black Lyft driver, and we aren’t told the exact comment, but the fact that his race was mentioned leaves a really bad taste in the mouth–it seems to allude to her parents saying something racist and resulting in a bad Lyft rating. If the parents are supposed to be racist, at least acknowledge it. Don’t gloss over it, and chalk it up to cultural differences or ignore it. There’s two other points in the book where the Chinese interns’ lack of English skills are mentioned and there’s a comment to the effect that many Chinese people have the same name. This made me incredibly uncomfortable. I can’t understand how these comments made it through editing.
This has so many problematic elements it hits parody. While a realistic example of something like doxxing is helpful and informative, the level of sexism Melody experienced in the workplace is completely improbable. The diversity training from hell? Women’s Appreciation Day featuring cooking and sewing stations? Would never happen. Every single character seemed like a stereotype or hyperbole. It was hard for me to buy into the book, because it just wasn’t realistic. I think people would appreciate the struggles women face in male-dominated workplaces much more if this book actually presented a realistic portrayal.
These are only some examples of a booking with so many problematic elements it became difficult to read. While the beginning had potential and humor, the lack of love interest made me frustrated, and the rampant problematic behavior made me uncomfortable. The book also includes very strong language, which is used to make a point, but is also unnecessary. I don’t think I can recommend this book, even for its positives.
Melody Joo is excited to land her dream job as a video game producer but this job has a lot of challenges, especially for an Asian woman in the gaming industry with annoying CEO and biased coworkers but the story does not end here. There is a new army of cowards who are ready to pull you down when you are trying to change the norms and do something out of the box. Yes, you got it right, the social media trolls.
This book very well portrays the struggle of a woman in the gaming industry and is quite relatable for all the females working in male-dominant industries with a misogynistic environment.
It beautifully portrays that fulfilling dreams will never be easy but persistence and perseverance is the key. We need to work harder and strive for what we want. Success and respect will come along and quitting is never an option.
Suzanne always comes up with innovative ideas and concepts in her books. Her first book The Perfect Escape was about a zombie escape room and weekend-long survivalist competition.
In this one, Melody Joo strives and shines and romance and our hero Nolan does not mind taking a backseat. I will strongly recommend this book and definitely looking forward to the next one by her.
Park gives us the story that only she could create. It’s hilarious, smart, and the rom-com we need!
Park has created a wholly original, smart, fierce heroine (with a hilarious inner voice) who takes on an industry hell-bent on underestimating her… Just like the “entertaining, fresh, snarky” video game she conjures in her novel, Suzanne Park has written a fast and fun debut, putting females in the lead.
Hilarious and poignant, Park’s debut sparkles as a great addition to the new voices of the rom com renaissance.
I want to start by saying I was super excited to read this book. I love rom-coms, video games and a great enemies-to-lovers story, plus the blurb sounded enticing. So, you don’t know how badly I want to be able to tell you I loved it but unfortunately I just didn’t. To start I really felt that this book was very far from a romantic comedy. To me a rom-com is filled with humor, emotion, angst, longing, desire and a ton of feels. This book had lots of emotions but for the most part they had nothing to do with love or romance. If I am brutally honest, there are so many hateful antagonistic males in this book that it took me more than half of it to figure out who the actual romantic interest was!!! On top of that, this book just felt like work to read. It is not often that I think about not finishing a book but long before the halfway point I was sorely tempted. I could really feel for the Melody though but when you consider everything that was thrown at her, you would have had to been made of tone not to. As for the actual humor in this book a lot of it left me feeling uncomfortable. While reading I had no idea that the author was Korean-American. Does that make the the way Melody’s parents were portrayed OK or not because I don’t know how to feel about that. I’m not saying that there was nothing good here. I applaud the author for shining a spotlight on toxic work environments and misogyny. That being said, this book was so inundated with toxic attitudes, unfairness and outright hatred that this book was simply too much of a downer and I fear that important message gets lost under the sheer weight of this read. This is my candid, volitional review.
Tallyho (when you read the book you’ll get that, I promise!)
The title and cover sold me right away, because it’s obviously going to be an enemies to lovers rom-com…or is it?
Melody is a new assistant producer at a gaming studio and Nolan is the intern who has stolen her coffee mug, and, oh yeah, he’s also the nephew of the world’s worst boss and that’s how he got the job (and the ability to steal Melody’s coffee mug). See enemies to lovers and rom-com ready.
While Melody and Nolan do start off on the wrong foot, they don’t stay that way and their relationship development does have it’s funny and charming moments BUT neither of those things are at the forefront of the story. Loathe at First Sight is much more about Melody’s journey as one of few women, and a Korean-American woman at that, in the gaming industry and the ugliness that comes with trying to succeed where you’re not wanted or valued.
Suzanne Park pulled few punches when diving into the nastiness that online trolls, of every walk of life not just gamer trolls, spew at anyone they deem not worthy or as having trespassed. She uses the vulgar language that is spewed at women and the racist slurs that are hurled at people of color and she shows the very real and scary realities of being doxed, including the often ineffectiveness of law enforcement. So you may want to check out some of the more specific content warnings before diving into this one.
But to balance out the heaviness of Melody’s work life there is her personal life. Her wonderfully imperfect relationship with her parents, who only want what is best for her according to them, and her best friends, who both have their own issues but are there for Melody when it counts, provide a perfect escape for Melody and the reader.
And then there’s Nolan! There is a romance there and it’s got some nice slow burn vibes but for me it was very much a tertiary part of the story. However, he comes in big at the end and gave this romance reader a little happy sigh.
I’m excited to read more by Suzanne Park!
I received a complimentary review copy of this book but all opinions are my own.
While the title of this book is Loathe at First Sight, it is deceiving. The Heroine Melody and the Hero Nolan have a few mild arguments/discussions near the beginning of the story, but that’s it. Not enough for me to consider the enemies-to-lovers trope.
The basic plot is that Asian-American Melody is working at a new job at a video game company. There she experiences a ridiculous amount of racism and misogyny. While that is 100% realistic and does happen in today’s world, it felt exaggerated. She was doxxed on the online gaming community purely for being a woman?! It just felt overdone.
And sidenote: I don’t think Melody was even a gamer. Why work at a video game company if you don’t play video games??
The romance was definitely a secondary plot point. There was very little chemistry between the two characters, and honestly Melody wasn’t even that nice to Nolan. Not sure what he saw in her.
I just…wish I enjoyed this more. My hopes were high and they were not met.
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.
This is an awesome, fun, yet meaningful read with a snarky, feisty, sarcastic, go-getter heroine, doing her best to thrive despite misogyny and racism in the world of video game production.
Melody is a super like-able protagonist, and although she’d dealing with a lot in terms of working in a testosterone central – a gaming company– she doesn’t take herself too seriously, even if throughout the book she will face some true verbal abuse and trolling, verging on stalking.
The publisher’s positioning of this as a pure enemies to friends romcom underplays some of the more weighty themes. Yes, there is a romance storyline, but although it’s a fun read, this book isn’t in any way lightweight or only about a woman being ‘saved’ by a guy. Quite the opposite, Melody is going to save herself from this trolling predicament – she just knows she needs some help to do it.
The concept of the video game with male strippers fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world had me laughing out loud at several points, and Melody’s internal monologue (that sometimes slips external – no filter!) and her relationship with her parents, had me giggling more than once.
You can tell quite how much research Suzanne Park put into getting the gaming elements, environment just right and the writing is flawless. Smooth, and I was not once taken out of the story by word choice or author voice intervening in my reading experience.
A fun read with enjoyable snappy, snarky characters and dialogue. Totally worth your time!