Loathe at First Sight: A Novel

Written by Suzanne Park

Narrated by Greta Jung

“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?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Aug 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9780063016736

Suzanne Park

Suzanne Park is a Korean American writer who was born and raised in Tennessee. She is the author of the adult novels The Do-Over, So We Meet Again, and Loathe at First Sight. As a comedienne, she was selected to appear on BET’s Coming to the Stage. Suzanne was also the winner of the Seattle Sierra Mist Comedy Competition and was a semi-finalist in NBC’s Stand Up for Diversity showcase in San Francisco. Suzanne graduated from Columbia University and received an MBA from UCLA. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, female offspring, and a sneaky rat that creeps around on her back patio. In her spare time, she procrastinates. 

Reviews for Loathe at First Sight

[Jennifer Cornelius · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This story was entirely too long for no reason and full of random, pointless events better suited to a movie script than a book. The love story didn’t inspire cute fluffy feelings and the narrators voice for men is GRATING. They all sound like nasal Neanderthals. Racism and sexism are rife in the book, but I think that’s an accurate depiction of life and the corporate world for so many people - myself included. Still, this book didn’t resonate with me at all. I’m at chapter 19 and just groaned when I saw 10 chapters remained. Hate to rag on someone’s art - but this was not well executed and the loathing to loving part was lacking.

[Kate · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm trying to get through this book but the amount of sexism/racism the main character experiences is just.. really draining. It may be cathartic for some, but the focus of the book seems to be more "workplace sexism nightmare " than any romance. It feels like a bad dream you want to wake up from, and I don't read romance looking for that experience.

Also, the narrators voice is quite grating when she's voicing the men's lines. Like it's difficult to listen to because it's so bad. Her voice is nice otherwise, it's just the men's voices that are distracting.

[Morgan · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Not great. It might be because of the reader, but none of the characters are likable. Their interactions with each other don't flow naturally and don't seem realistic at all. The male love interest's personality is so boring, just "cute nice guy" but he hardly ever appears in the story line so I guess it doesn't matter that he's one dimensional.

[mj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was cute! I really liked the main character and her love interest. Occasionally I felt a little pulled out of the story because the gamer stereotypes felt a little heavy handed. The author did eventually address those stereotypes, so it didn’t ruin the book by any means. Overall, would recommend! A side note that doesn’t affect my rating: like another reviewer, I really struggled with the narrator’s vocal choices for men. They really did sound so distracting. If that would be a problem for you, I’d recommend reading a physical copy or ebook if you are able.

[tornadox-962417 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The title promises an enemies-to-lovers story that it does not quite deliver. Had I gone into this book expecting a workplace romance that illustrates the frustrations of being a woman (of color) working at a gaming company, I would have given it another star.

Melody Joo has started a new job at a bro-gamer company. She has to contend with a whole lot of white privilege and microaggressions. She responds with grumbling, anger, tears, and some well-timed words.

[kayla · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[Amanda · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Enjoied this book quite a bit, however, it was very hard to tell which guy she was falling for/end up with as there were 3 guys that she loathed at first sight. I honestly assumed it was a different guy for almost the whole book. I also didn't like all of the everyone is sexiest and racist parts of the book. If you ignore those things it's a pretty good story.

[Caitlin Wilson · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

1.5 stars. This was a chaotic mess and not in a fun way.

[yonitdm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was such a fun read. I found Melody's experience as a woman in technology very relatable. I wasn't sure which of the three men at her office she hated the most or which would become her love interest. I liked very much that there was a plot other than the love interest as well. The cast of characters was so fun and ironically diverse.

[mikedowd_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

fine. just not really for me. didn't really like any of the characters. dialogue felt unrealistic

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure I could take the world Melody lives in professionally - the level of sexist and misogyny portrayed at her gaming company was appalling. It made me even more admiring of her character - able to gain credibility and admiration not through hostility but through smarts and success. The romance part of the novel was fun, but the meat of the story was Melody having the strength to never back down or give into fear but move forward with what she believes in.

[oddandbookish · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received an ARC of this book for free from Books Forward in exchange for an honest review. So first off, this book is Own Voices (Korean American). I was happy to see that since this book is about gaming, which is typically a white male dominated field. The title of the book is a little misleading. Loathe at First Sight implies that this is an enemies to lovers romantic comedy. In actuality, there was not much of that. The romantic storyline was not the main focus of the book and the two characters were hardly enemies to begin with. As a whole, the love story was not that exciting. I never really felt the chemistry between the two. One thing that took me as a surprise was all the harassment. This book has a lot of harassment. From racism to misogyny this book covered it all. On one hand I liked that it went there and tackled that issue. But on the other hand, it was a little off-putting at times because it was so heavy. The book tries to be light at times with some humorous scenes (I really liked some of funny scenes), but all the harassment takes away from it.I did like the ending. It all worked out and a lot got resolved at the end so I was left feeling very satisfied. As for the writing style, I liked how easy the book read. Overall, this book didn’t live up to my expectations but I was able to enjoy some parts of it.