Book Review & Excerpt | The Code for Love and Heartbreak by Jillian Cantor

Goodreads’ Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What an enjoyable story!  I couldn’t put this book down as it took me through a range of emotions from bringing a tear to my eye to making me laugh out loud – a story that defines love while exploring the social psyche that defines most teens.

What I Loved

I loved all the more profound messages in this story.  In a world of swiping right, The Code for Love and Heartbreak takes a candid look at what romantic love is and is not.  I have often wondered if this truth about love has gotten lost in the quest to find dates through an app, and I found the exploration of what people in a committed long-term relationship love about each other intriguing.  It is a good reminder of what is essential.

The main character, Emma, stole my heart with her reliance on numbers and her inability to understand much of what is taken for granted by society. I have worked with students similar to Emma who just don’t understand the social aspect of life, so it was easy for me to feel compassion. She has a sincere heart that cannot fathom lies and deceit with an enviable focus. She is determined to go to Stanford even if it means coming entirely out of her comfort zone to make it happen. And, she does come out of her comfort zone and grows more in one year than she had in all the years she has been alive.

The romance in the story is believable and the epitome of pure and genuine. I loved that most of the relationships made within the story’s frame are more about compatibility and not gratuitously taken to sexual places that too many teens have in their minds as to where they should be.  This story is about respect as much as it is about love.

The story is so relatable and made me laugh out loud many times.  It even brought a tear to my eye as Emma is faced with a reality that rocks her world to the very core.  The relatability takes you through a gambit of emotions as it touches on pieces of your own life, your own love, and your own fears.

Lastly, I loved that it is a modern retelling of Emma by Jane Austin.  She is one of my favorite authors, and it is nice to have her writing brought to the forefront.  I hope that it will make more people discover and appreciate such good works from hundreds of years ago.

And also, a quick note about the portrayal of the school counselor, Ms. Taylor. I have seen many examples of school counselors portrayed in an incorrect light, as many people do not truly understand what they do. Yet, in this novel, the role of the school counselor was wonderfully spot on.

To Read or Not to Read

If you are looking for a quick read to remind you of what is essential in life and love, then this is the one for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About the Book

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In this contemporary romcom retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma by USA TODAY bestselling author Jillian Cantor, there’s nothing more complex—or unpredictable—than love.

When math genius Emma and her coding club co-president, George, are tasked with brainstorming a new project, The Code for Love is born.

George disapproves of Emma’s idea of creating a matchmaking app, accusing her of meddling in people’s lives. But all the happy new couples at school are proof that the app works. At least at first.

Emma’s code is flawless. So why is it that perfectly matched couples start breaking up, the wrong people keep falling for each other, and Emma’s own feelings defy any algorithm?

BUY LINKS:

• Harlequin
• Indiebound
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Books-A-Million
• Walmart
• Google
• iBooks
• Kobo

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About the Author

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Jillian Cantor is the author of award-winning and bestselling novels for adults and teens, including In Another Time, The Hours Count, Margot, and The Lost Letter, which was a USA Today bestseller. She has a BA in English from Penn State University and an MFA from the University of Arizona. Cantor lives in Arizona with her husband and two sons.

SOCIAL:

Author Website: https://www.jilliancantor.com/

TWITTER: @JillianCantor

Facebook: @AuthorJillianCantor

Insta: @JillianCantor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1651861.Jillian_Cantor

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Excerpt

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PROLOGUE

 I’ve always loved numbers a whole lot more than I love people. For one thing, I can make numbers behave any way I want them to. No arguments, no questions. I write a line of code, and my computer performs a specific and very regulated task. Numbers don’t play games or hide behind some nuance I’ve missed. I write an equation, then formulate a definitive and absolutely correct answer.

And maybe most importantly, numbers never leave me. I tell this to Izzy as she’s sitting on her suitcase, trying to force it closed, having just packed the last of her closet before leaving for her freshman year at UCLA, which is exactly 2,764 miles from our house in Highbury, New Jersey. A number which seems insurmountable, and which makes me think that after this day, Izzy’s last one at home until Christmas break, we’ll be more like two strangers floating across a continent from one another than sisters.

 “Numbers,” I say to Izzy now, “are much better than people.”

 “You’re such a nerd, Em,” Izzy says, but she stops what she’s doing and squeezes my arm affectionately, before finally getting the suitcase to zip. She’s a nerd, too, but not for numbers like me—for books. Izzy is running 2,764 miles away from New Jersey to read, to major in English at UCLA. Which is ridiculous, given she could’ve done the same at Rutgers, or the College of New Jersey, or almost any one of the other sixty-two colleges in our state, any of which would’ve been within driving distance so we could’ve seen each other on weekends. Izzy says she’s going to California for the sunshine, but Dad and I both know the real reason is that her boyfriend, John, decided to go to UCLA to study film. Izzy chose John over me, and that part stings the most.

“I can’t believe you’re actually going,” I say, and not for the first time. I’ve been saying this to Izzy all summer, hoping she might change her mind. But now that her suitcase is zipped, it feels like she’s really leaving, and my eyes start to well up. I do love numbers more than people. Most people.

 Izzy and I are only seventeen months apart, and our mom died when we were both toddlers. Dad works a lot, and Izzy and I have barely been apart for more than a night in as long as I can remember, much less months.

 She stops messing with her suitcase now, walks over to where I’m sitting on her bed and puts her arm around me. I lean my head on her shoulder, and breathe in the comforting scent of her strawberry shampoo, one last time. “I’m going to miss you, too, Em,” she says. “But you’re going to have a great senior year.” She says it emphatically, her voice filled with enthusiasm that I don’t believe or even understand.

“You really could stay,” I say. “You got into two colleges in New Jersey.” This has been my argument to her all summer. I keep thinking if I say it enough she really will change her mind. But even as I say it, I know it’s probably too late for her to change anything for fall semester now, no matter how much I might want her to. And she just looks back at me with worry all over her face.

“Em, you know I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?” I wipe my nose with the back of my hand, pulling away from her.

She leaves me on her bed, and goes back to her suitcase. She shifts it around, props it upright and then looks back at me. “You know what you need?” she says, breathing hard from managing the weight of her entire life, crammed inside this giant suitcase. “To get out there this year. Be more social. Get some friends. Maybe even a boyfriend.”

 “A boyfriend?” I half laugh, half sniffle at the ridiculousness of it.

“If you keep busy, you won’t even notice I’m gone.” She speaks quickly, excitedly. There’s nothing Izzy likes more than a good plan, but this sounds terrible to me. “Christmas will be here before you know it—” she’s still talking “—then next year, you’ll be off to college, too.”

 Maybe that would be true for her, if I were the one leaving, and if she were staying here. If I were the older one, leaving for California first, Izzy would stay here, spend the year with John and barely even notice my absence. Which is what I guess she’s about to do at UCLA. But I’ve always needed Izzy much more than she’s needed me.

“I hate being social. And I don’t want a boyfriend,” I say. “And anyway, you know what the boys are like at our high school. No thanks.” Mostly, they’re intimidated by me and my penchant for math, and I find their intimidation so annoying that I can barely even stand to have a conversation with them, much less a date. And the few that aren’t? Well, the one that isn’t—George—is my equal and co-president of coding club. He also happens to be John’s younger brother. We’re something like friends, George and I. Or maybe not, because we don’t really hang out outside of family stuff, school or coding club, and I guess in a way we’re supposed to be rivals. One of us will for certain be valedictorian of our class this year. The other will be salutatorian. And knowing George, he’s going to be more than a little bit annoyed when he’s staring at my back during graduation.

“You love numbers so much and you’re so good at coding,” Izzy says now with a flip of her blond curls over her shoulder. She wheels the suitcase toward her bedroom door and stops and looks back at me. “You could always code yourself a boyfriend.” She shrugs, then laughs a little, trying to make this moment lighter.

I don’t even crack a smile. “That’s a really ridiculous thing to say,” I tell her. “Thank God you’re going to be an English major.”

 But later, after it all fell apart, I would blame her. I’d say that it was all Izzy’s fault, that she started the unraveling of everything with her one stupid offhand comment on the morning that she left me.

Excerpted from The Code For Love and Heartbreak by Jillian Cantor Copyright © Jillian Cantor. Published by Inkyard Press.