The E.M.M.A. Effect

By Lia Riley

Jane Austen meets Ali Hazelwood in this steamy, friends-to-lovers, STEM rom-com He's her best friend's little brother and NHL forward. She's a computer scientist used to being in control. The E.M.M.A., her elite AI training program, claims optimizing his performance requires one thing: the perfect match. According to its calculations, that's her... Will Harriet discover that The E.M.M.A. knows best?

Harriet Smythe's AI was supposed to create sports legends--not encourage her crush on her best friend's totally off-limits, hot younger brother. But when funding runs dry, she has no choice but to enlist Gale Knight as her test subject. The same Gale she's been secretly crushing on for years. The player who follows her every instruction with a knowing smirk that threatens to short-circuit her carefully maintained system.

Everything changes when The E.M.M.A. determines that finding Gale's perfect match is essential to his peak performance. Even worse? According to its data, that match is Harriet.

Determined to keep things professional, Harriet makes it search for new candidates. But as Gale dutifully endures awkward outings with pop stars and athletes, the chemistry between them only intensifies. And his willing cooperation during their sessions definitely isn't helping her stay focused.

With her deadline approaching and The E.M.M.A. still playing cupid, Harriet must choose: trust in pure logic, or admit that sometimes taking control means letting go.

Maybe The E.M.M.A. knows something they don't--even if they're not ready to compute it yet.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0063412365
• ISBN13: 9780063412361
• Release Date: December 2025
• Publisher: Avon Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

it was okay

E.M.M.A. the AI sports training program that Harriet and her team created, needs test subjects. With her best friend's younger brother being a hockey player who needs to improve his game, Gale is the perfect candidate. The premise of this story really got me. I thought it was interesting and intriguing. As a STEM girl myself, this got me excited. But honestly, it fell short for me. The science in this is not realistic in my eyes. Additionally, there was barely any hockey in this at all. This definitely focused on the romance, and the characters' obstacles. Don't get me wrong, I thought the characters were good, and the flow of the story was fine . But for something that was selling a STEM-sports Romcom, it was lacking. All in all, it was okay. * I received an eARC of this book