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The Launch Date

  • Author Annabelle Slator
  • Narrator Sara Novak
  • Publisher Transworld
  • Run Time 10 hours and 24 minutes
  • Format Audio
  • Genre Contemporary romance.
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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

To get her dream job, she’ll have to date her worst nightmare . . .

Grace Hastings is in a rut. Her career is stagnating, her boss is a leech, and she feels like a fraud working for Fate, a dating app whose ethos she no longer believes in. And don’t even get her started on the state of her love life.

So when the company’s CEO offers her an opportunity for a big promotion and the chance to work on the launch of a dating app that she actually cares about, Grace can’t believe her luck.

That is, until she discovers that she must test drive a series of ‘first dates’ with her competition for the job: notorious socialite playboy and Grace’s biggest work rival, Eric Bancroft.

But Grace refuses to give up her dream job because of a man. And besides, how romantic can a handful of fake dates with your biggest rival really be?

There’s absolutely no way it’s an office romance waiting to happen.

'A witty, sparkly, and hilarious book for fans of The Hating Game' Lizzy Dent, author of The Summer Job

© Annabelle Slator 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critics Review

A gorgeous, rivals to lovers workplace romcom…the perfect blend of sweet and sexy

Cressida McLaughlin

Flirty and full of heart, Annabelle Slator’s debut is a dream date in book form

Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, authors of The Roughest Draft

Enemies-to-lovers fans, this one’s for you

Cosmopolitan

A witty, sparkly, and hilarious book for fans of The Hating Game. Prepare to put Annabelle Slator on auto-buy

Lizzy Dent, author of THE SUMMER JOB

The Launch Date is a witty, banter-filled romance with palpable tension and heaps of charm, a workplace romance perfect for weekend bingeing!

Nadia El-Fassi, author of Best Hex Ever

The Launch Date is what rom-com dreams are made of! With a swoony hero and relatable heroine, the chemistry between the two is magical and sexy. I adored this phenomenal debut!

Katie Holt, author of Not in My Book

The Launch Date was hilarious and I couldn’t put it down . . . I was swooning for Eric and rooting for him and Grace to reconcile their friendship and end up together

Donna Marchetti, author of Hate Mail

A loveable page-turner

Chat

A sweet story

That's Life!

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