Review: The Love Code

I love a good, lighthearted romance and that’s what I expected with Susannah Nix’s The Love Code. It’s pretty much what I got but I still found myself wanting more from the story.

Here’s the book’s description:

Opposites attract in this STEM romantic comedy when a super intelligent geek girl meets a bad boy billionaire.
The last thing Melody expects when she accepts a dream job offer is to run into her college one-night stand again. Not only does the hunky blast from her past work at the same aerospace company in LA where she's just started in the IT department, he's the CEO's son.
Jeremy's got a girlfriend and a reputation as a bad boy, so Melody resolves to keep her distance and focus on building a new life for herself in Los Angeles. But despite her good intentions, she can't seem to stay away from the heavenly-smelling paragon of hotness.
As the two begin to forge an unlikely friendship, Melody's attraction to Jeremy grows deeper than she's ready to admit. Can the woman who always plays it safe take a risk on the man who's all wrong for her in all the right ways?

This is the second novel I’ve read this year that had been republished/repackaged several years after it had originally been written. I knew going in that The Love Code had previously been published but I was still surprised that there were no updates made to the content since it had first come out in 2017. You may think that wasn’t that long ago but, trust me, seven years in contemporary fiction is a lifetime. There were references that kept pulling me out of the story and I didn’t love some of the comments Melody’s mom made (from a place of love and Melody tried to explain they were offensive but…). Melody would not have used “online dating” and even a slightly out of touch mom would know that apps are the way dating has gone. I had totally forgotten Emma Watson had had a pixie cut until Melody referenced it as the reason she had cut her hair. And any time TV shows are mentioned? I find it immediately dates a story. I just really wish the publisher had made some edits to update the story for 2024.

I can understand why the series is being republished though. STEM romances are still having a moment and I think that’s important. It’s not a field women typically work in so it’s nice to see it in the genre that is predominately read by women. That, yes, you too can work in a STEM role. Representation matters.

It’s important to know going in that Melody is fresh out of college which makes this novel a New Adult story (my personal rule for NA is the characters must in in/just graduated from college/university or be of that age, 19-24 or so). I’m usually pretty open to NA books but Melody seemed so…unprepared for her first Big Girl job. She kept talking about how she grew up being poor but then goes out and leases a brand new car? And frets about being responsible with her money but completely furnishes her new apartment immediately instead of adding piece by piece? It was just so contradictory that I couldn’t get my head around it.

As for the romance? I adored how Melody and Jake met. Slightly unrealistic, perhaps, but not unreasonably so. But Jake was an idiot. I did not think he proved himself to be a reliable partner and whether that’s his fault or the fault of the writer and Melody? I’m not sure. I think he could have had the chance to change and explain himself but Nix didn’t really give him that space. So, to me, he was a spoiled rich boy who charmed everyone and always landed on his feet. That didn’t really make for a great romance for me.

All in all, The Love Code was a miss for me. I’m still interested in reading more from Susannah Nix but I don’t think I’ll be checking out the rest of this series. I’ll stick to some of her newer stuff.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, PGC Books, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*