Book Review: Heartbreak Incorporated

 I know I gush about covers a lot, but this one is really enticing. It's half the reason I chose to read this book.

Heartbreak Incorporated by Alex de Campi is an adult urban fantasy romance featuring Evie, a struggling freelance journalist in NYC who stumbles into a new temp job as a receptionist for an investigative firm associated with a big law firm. The boss is Misha, an overly hot and mysterious guy who seduces clients’ spouses to give the client a cleaner way to not break prenups but still file for divorce. The fantasy element comes later in the book, and I won’t spoil it for you exactly, but you’ll see it coming, don’t worry.
 
I really liked the concept of the book. A detective that breaks people up for a living? Juicy! (Too bad that’s not the main focus, though.) The first half of the book really had me. I got invested in the characters, even if Evie made some really bad decisions. (You want to break an ironclad NDA, girl? No!)
 
On the downside, the fantasy element brought it later kind of lost me. The first half of the book was so normal and so set in the real world that the introduction of fantasy was really jarring. There was also a ten page sex scene in the middle of the book, which was much more graphic and awkward to read on my commute than most other sex scenes I’ve happened across. I also was able to predict the rest of the plot elements from that fantasy element introduction onward, maybe because I’m so familiar with urban fantasy tropes, maybe because it was very reminiscent of Twilight. (This is not shade.)

This book is for you if you love urban fantasy, especially those with heavy romance elements. It’s not a classic vampire situation, so it’s for you even if you’re over vampires/werewolves. It’s also for you if you like the concept of a detective breaking people up, just don’t expect that to be the focus. It’s not for you if you are over normal-girl-falls-in-love-with-immortal-being stories, if you don’t want an extremely detailed/lengthy sex scene, or if you are looking for a more detective-focused story.


 Have you read Heartbreak Incorporated? What did you think of Evie and Misha? Let’s discuss in the comments.