Review: Suzanne Park's LOATHE AT FIRST SIGHT.

3⭐️.

Tropes: workplace romance; enemies to lovers

Q: what’s your fave mobile or video game to play/that you have played?

Suzanne Park’s ownvoices Loathe at First Sight was an interesting read for me.

I took so many notes about it & this is where I landed: it’s an enjoyable read with an admirable heroine, a nice guy hero, & an engaging game development premise. I loved dipping my toes into the world of gaming but there’s also enough misogyny from the gamers to make this reader mad over & over again for said heroine. And the romance isn’t super successful for me, so I’d label LAFS as fiction with romantic elements.

But onto the plot!

Melody Joo has gotten a job as Production Assistant for a game development company. Through a series of events she ends up leading the team developing her game idea involving a band of strippers & the women they encounter as they try to survive against zombies.

She’s supposed to work with Nolan MacKenzie, an intern & a relative to her annoying jerk boss, & a man she assumes won’t be capable of offering her assistance. In the course of developing her game she’s targeted by some absolutely trash people who are angered by the fact that she’s a woman &/a Korean American woman. She also just works with coworkers who are similarly dismissive of women/not supportive of women. Gross!

But I’m a big fan of the heroine, who refuses to give up or give in, to cow to the disgusting trolls who feel comfortable harassing her from their computers & to her often inhospitable work environment.

It took me a while to like the hero, who ticked me off the first time I met him & then slowly grew on me—though he still comes across as fairly lackluster.

Though Melody & Nolan’s romance feels on the periphery & some of her responses to him confuse me, I did appreciate that they learn to genuinely respect & support each other. This is a kissing only romance, btw .

Overall I enjoyed getting a peek into a world that I don’t know a lot about & it was exciting & uplifting seeing a heroine rise above the trolls & all the other people trying to bring her down. But I do feel like the romance trajectory isn’t clear enough for me & while I don’t shy away from a complicated character, so many of the the secondary characters provoke a strong emotional response from me—as in I disliked most of them.

I’m really curious to see what another reader will think about this one!

CW:
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Heroine receives dick pics; messages indicating stalking. She’s doxed.

Loathe at First Sight is out on 08/18. Thanks to Avon & Edelweiss for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.