The Launch Date – ARC Book Review

What if the secret to finding true love on a dating app was meeting them IRL first?

In this witty and fun rom-com debut from Annabelle Slator, rival coworkers become reluctant daters after they’re forced to work together on a brand-new dating app in hopes of winning a promotion—perfect for fans of Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game.

Grace Hastings’s dream job at the popular “true love” dating app, Fate, has turned into a nightmare. Her boss is a leech, her career is stagnating, and her fiancé has just brutally dumped her. Her hope for finding her own love story is waning, and she feels like a fraud for promoting a concept she no longer believes in. When the company’s CEO offers her an opportunity to earn a big promotion, she resolves to fight her imposter syndrome to show she deserves a seat at the table.

The opportunity? To launch a brand-new app focusing on IRL dating and genuine connection.

The problem? She must develop and test-drive a series of “first dates” with the other person gunning for the job: notorious socialite playboy and Grace’s biggest work rival, Eric Bancroft.

During their disastrous hikes, dangerous cooking classes, and steamy yoga sessions, they begin to realize their stark differences may just be surface level and Eric might just be the perfect person to challenge Grace’s perceptions of love, dating culture, and self-worth.

Grace Hastings seems to be facing downhill–she had a nasty breakup, her career is stagnating, her boss is a nightmare and she has begun to hate her dream job at the popular dating app Fate as she doesn’t believe in happily ever after anymore. However, the CEO offers her a chance for promotion and Grace is determined to prove to everyone that she was reliable and hardworking. However, she has to develop a series of test dates and she has to work with her work rival, Eric Bancroft. Grace reluctantly starts fake dating Eric but didn’t realize that she was going to be in love with her own work rival.

This was a fun read. Grace is a likable character and I enjoy enemy to lovers trope, which suited well for this story. The whole story is well written and engaging and there were some funny parts in the book that will make you love. I also grew to like Eric. I also like how friendship developed between Eric and Grace and then eventually, they for real started falling for each other. This would have been a typical Hallmark movie but as a reader, you would have wanted a happily ever after for both Grace and Eric. There were some spicy scenes in the book as well. Overall, I actually enjoyed reading this book and had fun time reading this one–worth 4.5 stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.