Book Review – A Five Letter Word For Love

I absolutely love doing Wordle every morning with my coffee, so when I heard about this book centered around the game, I knew I had to pick it up! Unfortunately, “A Five-Letter Word for Love” left me feeling pretty disappointed. The concept was super unique and I was really excited about it, but the execution just didn’t work for me.

I’ll break it down….

1. The premise really drew me in because who doesn’t love a good romance centered around something so relevant to our daily lives? I mean, I literally start every morning trying to guess that day’s Wordle word while my cat Luna demands her breakfast. So seeing a book incorporate this addictive little game into its plot felt fresh and different from the usual social media-focused contemporary romances we see nowadays.
2. Emily Evans is our main character, a 27-year-old receptionist at an auto shop who’s struggling to figure out her life path. I wanted to connect with her – I really did! I remember that post-college phase of my life when I was working jobs that weren’t my passion while trying to figure out what I actually wanted to do. But Emily’s character fell flat for me. Her constant inner monologues started to grate on my nerves, and her decision-making often felt immature for someone her age.
3. Then we have John Smith, our male lead who’s about as bland as his name suggests. He’s the grumpy mechanic who does Wordle (surprise!), but beyond that and his apparent love of cars, there wasn’t much depth to his character. Their romance felt rushed and lacked the chemistry I look for in my romance reads. When they hooked up in his truck on their second date, I actually rolled my eyes – and not in a good way!
4. The Wordle aspect started cute but quickly became overwhelming. Look, I love the game as much as the next person (my current streak is 156 days!), but there’s only so many times you can read about someone’s Wordle strategy before it gets repetitive. It felt like the author was trying too hard to incorporate the game into every possible moment.
5. The pacing was all over the place. Plot points would pop up and resolve so quickly that I barely had time to invest in them. Emily’s various side ventures – from caregiving to museum volunteering – felt more like a checklist of cute small-town romance activities rather than meaningful character development.
6. The small-town setting of Waldon on Prince Edward Island had potential, but it wasn’t utilized as well as it could have been. I love when settings become characters themselves (like in some of my favorite small-town romances), but this one just served as a generic backdrop.
7. The supporting characters actually interested me more than our main couple. Emily’s elderly neighbor and the folks at the Barrel Museum had quirky personalities that made me wish we’d spent more time with them instead of watching Emily and John’s lackluster romance unfold.
8. The writing style, particularly Emily’s constant asides to the reader and parenthetical comments, started cute but quickly became tiresome. It reminded me of when I first started my book blog and thought being quirky in my writing was the way to go – spoiler alert: less is more!
9. The ending felt rushed and unsatisfying, which is a shame because I really wanted to root for these characters. But their growth felt forced and their happy ending didn’t feel earned.
10. While the grumpy-sunshine trope usually works for me (I mean, who doesn’t love seeing the grump soften for their sunshine?), here it felt more like cardboard-meets-slightly-less-bland-cardboard. The “grumpy” felt more like “rude” and the “sunshine” felt more like “trying too hard.”

Here’s the thing – I really appreciate what the author was trying to do here. Taking something as current and beloved as Wordle and weaving it into a romance is a clever idea. And I can tell this was written by someone who genuinely loves and understands the game. But sometimes a good concept isn’t enough to carry an entire novel.

I will say that if you’re looking for a very light, quick read and you’re obsessed with Wordle, you might find some enjoyment here. The romance is clean, the setting is pleasant enough, and some of the Wordle strategies mentioned are actually pretty good (I might have picked up a tip or two!).

But if you’re looking for a romance with depth, strong character development, and meaningful relationships, you might want to look elsewhere. I wanted to love this book as much as I love my morning Wordle ritual, but sadly, it just wasn’t a winning combination for me.