REVIEW: Dealbreakers by Lauren Forsythe

Dealbreakers by Lauren Forsythe: Marina loves her lists, her plans and keeping everything in order, but when it comes to her love life order is the furtherest thing from what she has. After being dumped by her last boyfriend Marina is now crashing on her newly married besties couch – where she is beginning to out stay her welcome. More determined now than ever to get her life back on plan Marina creates an overlay app to help sift out the duds on dating apps.

Its all really brilliant, Dealbreakers is a platform where woman can submit feedback on guys that they have dated so that other woman can learn from their experiences. Now here is where the problem comes in, her very own work nemesis Lucas is on the app and he seems to have ticked every single one of Marina’s dealbreakers, all she has to do is keep her distance, right? Well now that Lucas and her are both vying of 4th every same promotion and have to work closely together, keeping distance between them is next to impossible. Even more annoying are these new feelings that Marina is starting to develop for Lucas, what is a girl to do when she is staring at a walking red flag but her heart just wants to let the guy in?

Dealbreakers was such a cute opposites attract, work place love story. The thing that really stood out for me was how relatable this story was especially when it came to the reality of dating in the current world, truly not for the faint hearted. I think one of the most important take backs from this book was that not everything will always go to plan and what we might think we want doesn’t always end up bring what we actually want, I really liked that Dealbreakers highlighted this between Marina and Lucas.

Marina was one determined lady, she knew what she wanted and she was not about to settle for less than that. I largely liked this about her but at the same time I think her perfect man list was a bit unrealistic and superficial. Though I do have to say that she was a very relatable leading lady and I enjoyed getting to see her learning to let go of old idea and rather living in the present. Where Marina was goal orientated and focused our hero Lucas was more laid back and chilled. These could not be more different but at the same time compliment each other so perfectly. For the most part Lucas played into his role of charming damaged bad boy to perfection but when he left his guard down and got real and emotional, now that is when he truly became swoony.

These two together was just fire, their banter, the sly stolen glances and the oh so sweet journey to love made for book bliss. I just loved this couple together, they brought out the best in each other but also kept each other on their toe. I really loved that Lucas loved the things that Marina saw as her flaws and he helped her embrace these imperfections. I’m a total sucker for the guy falling first trope and this was very much the case in this book, Lucas truly went out of his way to try and show Marina that he liked her, it was more all these little things that had me swooning. And once she realised that he was so much more than what she had pegged as dealbreakers, well that was when this book truly won me over. These two were just perfection and I loved every moment!

If you enjoyed The Hating Games then this really will be right up your alley. I loved every moment of Marina and Lucas’s slow burn love story, if anything these two remind us that snap judgements are not always accurate. Dealbreakers is a total must read from me!

Book Info:

Publication: August 1, 2023 | G.P. Putnam’s Sons |

Marina Spicer is stuck.

Her boyfriend of fifteen years dumped her on her birthday, she’s living with her best friend and new husband (who are politely waiting for her to leave), she’s working at a start-up she’s not sure she believes in, and she is absolutely tired of wasting her time dating men who seem like a good match but turn out to be anything but.

At thirty-two she hasn’t got any more time to waste so she creates an overlay for dating apps, called Dealbreakers, where women submit feedback on the men they date so that other women can learn from their experiences.

Enter Lucas Kennedy, an uppity content writer and her newest work rival. Their bosses have put them in direct competition, and only one of them will be able to win the coveted promotion. Thing is, Lucas is not only the most annoying human on the planet, he has the most dealbreakers listed on the app…ever.

But as they’re forced to spend time together, competing for the promotion that could change both their lives, Marina is left wondering how one man can have that many dealbreakers, and why, even when she hates him, something has her wanting to let him win?