Dealbreakers

Work nemeses fall in love via a twist of the fake-dating trope in a slow-starting but ultimately satisfying enemies-to-lovers rom-com from Forsythe (The Fixer Upper). Marina is a type-A programmer looking for a very specific kind of love. She creates a dating app overlay called Dealbreakers, which allows women to rate their dates. It turns out that the man with the most negative reviews—and who possesses most of Marina’s own deal-breakers—is her work nemesis, Lucas. She and Lucas end up having to spend work time together on a variety of outings to judge their suitability for dates, and, well, romance readers can guess the rest. Unfortunately, Lucas is almost unforgivably obnoxious when he’s introduced, and Marina’s obsession with her biological clock and her search for a perfect husband are a little over-the-top. But some funny dates, illuminating conversations, and shenanigans with friends mostly redeem the pair by the time the epilogue rolls around.