Publishers Weekly
08/10/2020
Though she’s generally fonder of math than people, high school senior Emma, copresident of her school’s coding club, thinks she has a winning idea for this year’s New Jersey state competition: creating a matchmaking app for her schoolmates. After she and club members complete it, everything works beautifully at first, with those using it finding love, but when matched couples start breaking up—and going out with people who don’t fit the formula—Emma starts to worry. She also surprises herself by becoming jealous when a fellow coder finds a match, suggesting that there’s no algorithm for attraction. Those familiar with Austin’s Emma, on which the novel is loosely based, will know how the protagonist fares from the beginning, but Cantor (In Another Time, for adults) adds enough modern twists to keep things fresh. Meticulous pacing and multilayered characters make this story a good choice for romance buffs looking for a light read. Ages 13–up. Agent: Jessica Regel, Foundry Literary + Media. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
I wholeheartedly recommend this book to any young person with a love of classics or a love of numbers. The Code for Love and Heartbreak asks more than just "is matchmaking meddlesome and wrong?" Considering the ubiquitous dating apps available, we have to wonder...is there an algorithm for love? Can passion be quantified? Could someone, with enough determination, truly code their own boyfriend?” –NPR
“A warm coming-of-age story recommended for readers who enjoy a good Austen-esque romp with more modern themes.” –School Library Journal
“Modern twists to keep things fresh. Meticulous pacing and multilayered characters make this story a good choice for romance buffs looking for a light read.” –Publishers Weekly
"A delightful modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma... A fun read for fans of Morgan Matson and Lauren Barnholdt." –Booklist
School Library Journal
07/01/2020
Gr 7 Up—This modern retelling of Jane Austen's Emma presents a coming-of-age story about love and friendship in the last, formative years of high school. Emma Woodhouse knows what she likes: numbers, not people. Her sister is a socialite but Emma would rather stay home and plan her future at Stanford University. Everything changes when she comes up with a project to write a code to find true love. Suddenly she's learning that not everything in life is as rational as a math equation, and that's not such a bad thing after all. Readers will find Emma by turns maddening and charming but always compelling as she navigates a time of difficult transitions. Her story of being a high-school outsider is sure to resonate with many tweens and teens who are similarly growing in their romantic and platonic relationships. This book has a tendency to tie things up a little too neatly—both at the end and in places where the story glosses over heavy topics like date rape. However, in this sense, the book again echoes Jane Austen and her sometimes surface treatment of romantic relationships. VERDICT A warm coming-of-age story recommended for readers who enjoy a good Austen-esque romp with more modern themes.—Talea Anderson, Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA.
Kirkus Reviews
2020-07-14
High school senior Emma Woodhouse, co-president of the coding club, is all about the numbers.
After Emma’s outgoing sister leaves for college on the other side of the country, Emma is forced to survive high school without her. She doesn’t have any friends besides George—who also happens to be her coding club co-president. Numbers make sense to Emma but not people, and her inexperience with relationships leads her to react insensitively to others, making her come off at times as dense and unfeeling. Emma is the last person one would suspect to create a dating app, as she’s never had a boyfriend and has no interest in one. So she surprises everyone when she writes The Code for Love to enter in the New Jersey state coding competition. While Emma thinks she can quantify love, other members of the coding club aren’t so sure she’ll succeed. At times dismissive toward those around her, Emma experiences growth throughout the novel by making friends and learning to stand up for herself. But when the couples the app matches start breaking up and she begins developing romantic feelings herself, Emma must come to terms with how complicated love can be no matter what her algorithm says. Insufficient character development leaves readers longing for greater depth and feeling a lack of investment in the outcomes of the pairings. Most characters are White. Two love matches, mentioned briefly, are same-sex couples.
A middle-of-the-road retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma. (Romance. 14-18)
