I am a sucker for a good love/hate romance but I loathe a contrived storyline. The One I Love to Hate is all of the former and none of the latter. The story is seamless and effective with my very favourite type of love/hate interaction - banter. The use of twitter in this storyline had me goofy smiling many times. I would actually have loved to see more of it. Having said that, one of the true issues with some stories is the need to drag out an arc that was working and making the reader think "get on with it". I loved the fact that there was little drama with the big reveal and most definitely that there was no "I knew it was you but didn't want to spoil this" trope.
Whilst hoping for the protagonists to get their happy ending was my main focus, there are also important underlying themes in this book about the importance of ethics, both personal and professional. About being true to yourself and being honest, even when it isn't what people want to hear.
The One I Love to Hate is a quick, happy read and although I have been reading Amanda Weaver's work for around ten years, I'm so happy to see her published work is equally as excellent as her previous work.

I found it difficult to settle on a rating because even though the premise/tropes really appealed to me, there were some plot decisions in the latter half of the book that made it really difficult for me to suspend my disbelief.

First, the premise: I picked up this ARC because the blurb sounded right up my alley. Journalism enemies-to-lovers + You've Got Mail retelling? Sign me up. Jess Romano and Alex Drake have had an antagonistic relationship since college, which ended... two years ago. I kinda had to suspend my disbelief that so many 23/24-year olds were running around NYC in high-demand journalistic positions (I *maybe* bought that Jess and Lina could get jobs at a downtrodden newspaper right after college - though really, that would most likely be an internship in real life - but I found it hard to swallow that Chase became the "head of journalism" at ClickNews, even with Alex's connections.). Jess's family business is a bar at Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn, but she's escaped the family legacy by pursuing a journalism degree and becoming a reporter at the Brooklyn Daily Post, a local investigative outlet headed by Jess's mentor Mariel Kemper.

Alex Drake is the son of Dan Drake, billionaire and owner of Drake Media. They've recently acquired ClickNews (envision a fictional version of BuzzFeed but without a large journalistic division) and Alex has temporarily been put in charge of the ClickNews HQ in Williamsburg. It just so happens that the ClickNews HQ is across the street from the Brooklyn Daily Post, so Alex and Jess conveniently bump into each other at every coffee run. Unbeknownst to both of them, they also regularly message each other on a social media-esque site for anonymous journalists. Even though "PaperGirl" and "Peabody" don't reveal their identities to each other, they are able to confide about their workplace struggles and secret insecurities.

I really, really dug the premise. I'm a sucker for college rivals, and in this case both of them had secret crushes on each other during college (and one make-out session that didn't go any further due to an eavesdropping misunderstanding). I liked the insecurity Alex faced re: the weight of his dad's expectations and the understanding that he'd eventually lead Drake Media. I also liked Jess's idealistic nature about what journalism can accomplish, and felt sympathetic to her workplace struggles (from battling the "dragon" Lauren to trying to write a more important story about local corruption). Alex and Jess also had great banter and chemistry with each other.

Unfortunately, the things I didn't like outweighed the things I liked.

1) There was an incident where Alex's longtime friend Chase makes a racist remark to Jess's friends, Lina and Hassan, who are respectively Puerto Rican and Pakistani. Chase is Lina's ex and an egotistical asshole. Generally speaking, I'm not of fan of characterizing an asshole by making him casually racist. It seems like lazy characterization, especially when before that incident, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to ship him with Lina or not. I was also *extremely* annoyed by this incident because Alex apologizes to Lina and Hassan, but doesn't actually do anything to hold Chase accountable. He doesn't follow Chase and make him apologize (at least not that I saw in the text). He doesn't end his friendship because his longtime friend is an asshole. What am I supposed to learn from this incident? That Alex is a passive bystander who is willing tolerate racist bullshit? That it's not a friend-ending offense? This is especially infuriating because Alex and Chase come into conflict later on over a separate reason - apparently *that* conflict (which is admittedly very important) is enough to make Alex mad at Chase. Honestly, this throwaway racist remark seemed to have zero purpose except to lazily characterize Chase as an antagonist. I could have gleaned that from Chase's other actions, especially when the incident caused me to have a lower opinion of Alex.

2) Alex and Jess handle their organizations' respective social media accounts and get into a twitter feud. I guess this is supposed to be funny? They basically insult each other under the guise of humor. Well, I didn't find it funny and thought it was hugely unprofessional (who cares if it gained Jess's newspaper more followers? It still doesn't justify the unprofessional behavior).

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@ClickNews @Brooklyn_Daily_Post Yeah, the geriatric crowd loves using twenty words when five will suffice. Explains so much.

@Brooklyn_Daily_Post @ClickNews If you’re implying it’s quality over quantity, first that requires some level of quality.

@ClickNews @Brooklyn_Daily_Post Quality? You’re a paper that covers recycling schedules on the front page

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I was cringing the entire time (and there's so much more). I really, really could have done without this plotline.

The last two reasons are extremely spoilery and spoil a significant plot point in the latter half of the book. I will use spoiler tags to describe the rage-inducing character actions. Don't click if you don't want to know. You have been warned.
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SPOILER BEGINS
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3) At one point, Jess is accused of something with little-to-no hard evidence. No one in the organization believes in Jess's innocence, including her friend Lina and boss/longtime-mentor Mariel. And she gets fired on the spot.

Okay. Let's rewind. Where's freaking HR? Where are the lawyers? The thing Jess is accused of has serious consequences and there should be follow-ups from higher authorities in the company (like: there is obviously a co-conspirator at another rival organization and they never bother questioning Jess about the details of her crime). How can they just fire her when 1) there's laughably no evidence proving that it was her and 2) HR doesn't launch an investigation to make sure that it's really her? I was so angry by how this organization was run. Real companies (whether it's a small newspaper or not) don't run like this. They were laughably incompetent at every step of the way.

I should add that what they do is perfectly legal. At-will employment is a real thing, and employers can fire employees without cause or justification. That doesn't make the newspaper's actions intelligent or rational. In this case, having lawyers and HR present would be rational. They're open to liability - if Jess can later prove that she's innocent, she can sue them for harming her reputation and future employment opportunities. And even putting aside the fact that this is legal (if dumb), my suspension-of-disbelief was stretched because Mariel has literally known Jess since she was a child. The company boss isn't some faceless entity who wants to punish without evidence.

Even if I bought that Lina and Mariel were initially mad at her because the circumstantial evidence seemed damning (FYI, I didn't think hanging out with the "enemy" at coffee shops is damning, but whatever), I fully expected that they would see the light and question the thin evidence. Lina is supposedly Jess's best friend and Mariel is her mentor from childhood! Shouldn't they have more trust in Jess, especially when the evidence is so paper-thin? Nope. Shouldn't they have lawyers contact the rival organization (who is also involved in Jess's supposed crime) and threaten to sue for civil damages? Nope. Shouldn't they at least attempt to question Jess to get the details of her crime and ask her why she did it? Nope. They just accuse her, say mean things, fire her, and refuse to ever talk with her again. Because that course of action is somehow conducive to finding the truth.

What made me furious is that *days* pass by, and Lina and Mariel don't ever come to Jess. They only admit that they're wrong when they're given evidence of her innocence. Okay. Am I supposed to trust their friendship ever again? If I were Jess, this would be a relationship-ending breach of trust and I would refuse to ever work at that newspaper ever again. What does Jess do? Immediately forgive them? Yep. Gah.

4) This was the thing that made me the angriest. Alex is trying to find the truth over Jess's supposed crime. He suspects someone in ClickNews is responsible. Does he call the company's lawyers and HR department to get to the bottom of this? Nope. Does he question the suspect? Nope. Does he casually bump into the suspect's phone so that it falls into the trash and then fish the phone out when the suspect is at lunch? Yes! In case you're wondering about passwords or finger-print tech: don't worry, Alex isn't an idiot! He knows this person and knows *exactly* what password the phone would have.

This is so enraging. Going through someone's phone is childish and a huge invasion of privacy. I don't think it's a criminal offense, but who cares? Alex is trying to solve a huge conspiracy by *going through his employee's phone* and invading that person's privacy. This isn't high school. They're at a freaking legitimate media organization with an able HR department and an army of lawyers trained to investigate these matters. Alex is the company head and the son of the billionaire owner - he definitely has power to enable an investigation. The suspect is a head of a major department, and is in a position where he is most likely to be involved in said conspiracy. If Alex wasn't acting like an immature 24 year old, it might have occurred to him that he is engaging in unethical behavior and that he has *many* other options to suss out the suspect. But no. He has to play the savior and bring down this conspiracy all by himself.
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SPOILER ENDS
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I really wanted to enjoy this because the premise was my catnip, but it didn't work out because I just couldn't get over some plot/character decisions made in the latter half of the book.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review and will cross-post this review on Amazon on release day.

Great read, the story of Jess and Alex. enemies when they were at college, they meet up again when she finds out he is working across the street from ther. She is working for a newspaper, and he works for an online news company owned by his father. There is a spark between them but both are trying to ignore this, especially when they are caught up in a twitter spat. An enemies to lovers story.

Looking forward to the rest of this series!

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!

I would describe it as The Bold Type meets You've Got Mail - and then sprinkle in a little Gilmore Girls (Rory & Logan at the newspaper). If these are references that resonate with you - don't even read the rest of this review, just GET THIS BOOK!!

Jess is working her dream job at a small paper in Brooklyn - but unfortunately an online media company just moved in across the street, being led by none other than Alex Drake who she's known and hated since college. Jess has an online flirtation with someone she met through a journalism site so she doesn't want to waste time being bothered by Alex...but somehow she still is.

I pictured Jane from The Bold Type as Jess and her boss Jacqueline as Mariel in the book. I loved every minute of reading this book and can't wait until the next book is out in the Romano Sisters series this fall!

Thank you to Netgalley and Carina Press for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

The One I Love to Hate is the first book in Amanda Weaver’s new trilogy - The Romano Sisters. Jess Romano is a twenty-three-year-old reporter who has recently landed her dream job with the Brooklyn Daily Post - a legendary, classic neighborhood paper headed by her long-time idol. Jess lives at home in Brooklyn with her dad, two sisters and a huge network of relatives, and life is going great until she runs into the one man who gets under her skin, in all the worst ways - Alex Drake, son to a media tycoon and, in Jess’s opinion, a spoiled, privileged brat. Jess and Alex attended journalism school together and from day one of their acquaintance, Jess has hated Alex  - “the biggest smart-ass alive”.

Alex informs Jess that he’ll be working right next store at the online ‘news’ giant ClickNews (owned by Alex’s father). After some biting exchanges about what ‘real’ journalism is, Jess storms back to work and puts Alex out of her mind. She has just struck up an interesting text exchange with a fellow writer on a journalist message board, and as PaperGirl, Jess enjoys a witty, flirtatious exchange with Peabody - a writer she is crushing on. Forget Alex and his “gold-plated charm...perfectly tousled hair...and bright green eyes”.  She’s got Peabody - anonymously of course -  but it’s something.

As fate would have it, Jess begins to run into Alex everywhere - coffee shops, restaurants, parties.

She thought she’d finally left him behind at graduation, but here he was, popping up in her life again. How could it be so hard to avoid one arrogant rich boy in a city of eight million people?

And each time, the verbal sparks fly. And some physical sparks too - not that Jess would ever admit to that. She’s just been assigned to handle Brooklyn Daily Post’s online media accounts, and she is out to flay ClickNews (hence Alex Drake) via social media.

@Brooklyn_Daily_Post: @ClickNews encapsulating everything wrong with the modern world in 140 characters. Well done.

@ClickNews: @Brooklyn_Daily_Post Yeah, the geriatric crowd loves using twenty words when five will suffice.

@Brooklyn_Daily_Post: @ClickNews If you’re implying it’s quality over quantity, first that requires some level of quality.

Between her job, her relationship with Peabody and the fun she’s having exchanging Twitter insults with the social media contact at ClickNews, Jess is happy - if only she could stop running into Alex and if only ClickNews would stop scooping all of her stories. And then she runs into Alex late one night at her family’s bar and they actually start talking. Is there more to Alex than Jess thinks? Making out commences until PaperGirl remembers her feelings for Peabody and Peabody remembers his feelings for PaperGirl and the night abrubtly ends. But the fire has been lit.

I know what you’re thinking - this sounds a little like You’ve Got Mail - and it is, just a little. But the similarities are few and forgivable. This is an enemies-to-lovers story but it’s also a lesson in first impressions and how they are not always accurate and are rarely complete. Jess has to let go of her impressions of Alex when she starts to realize that the man she keeps running into doesn’t line up with the Alex she’s constructed in her head. Alex’s first impression of Jess was a whole different story - you’ll have to read the book to find out. But I’ll tell you this - it’s  swoon-worthy!

One of the things I liked most about this story was that when Jess decided to give Alex a chance she really listened to him. Many enemies-to-lovers plots have the couple going back and forth between being enemies and lovers until the end, but that’s not the case here. Once the pair gets past all the misunderstandings, they open up quickly and Jess digs deep to get to know the real Alex. And Alex’s interest in Jess is deep on all levels - yes, he’s attracted to her physically, but he also loves the fact that she knows who she is and what she stands for. Another thing I liked was that although the sexual chemistry was great, the intellectual chemistry was just as fun. Their biting comments to each other are clever and well-delivered and never cross the line into cruel. And their rapport as PaperGirl and Peabody is charming.

PaperGirl: Do you ever feel like everybody else became an adult while you weren't looking?

Peabody: Every day.

PaperGirl: I’m so glad it’s not just me.

Peabody: What brought on this bout of existential angst?

PaperGirl: I thought being twenty-three with a full-time reporting job would feel different. Adultier.

Peabody: Adultier is not a word.

PaperGirl: I know that, genius. I do have a journalism degree.

Peabody: I was teasing. Adultier is a great word. Everybody should be using it. I predict Merriam-Webster adds it next year.

The path to true love is rarely smooth and that is true in The One I Love To Hate but the obstacles thrown at these two are not contrived and their resolutions are mature and well thought out. The slow-dawning of awareness of each other as more than they imagined is beautifully written, and I loved that the final obstacle to their happiness was overcome by Jess convincing Alex to want more for himself - an interesting 180 for these two. My only quibble is that the author adds some romantic adventures for the secondary characters at the end that I thought unnecessary to the story and a little too cutesy.

On a side note, Ms. Weaver also writes Historical Romance; A Duchess in Name is excellent. Ms. Weaver began her literary career writing contemporary romances, successfully shifted to historical romance, and now is back to contemps. I am impressed!

The One I Love to Hate is a romantic, satisfying read that I am happy to recommend. It’s the first in the Romano Sisters trilogy and from what I’ve read of Jess’s sisters so far, I’m looking forward to the next book!

~ Evelyn North

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I quite liked this book! I rate it at 3.5 stars.

Jessica works at a newspaper in Brooklyn, fresh from college. She works for her idol, Mariel, who has taken over the paper about a year ago and once helped Jessica's family by publishing an article. One day Jessica bumps into Alex, whom she has met in college and shared a moment with. He works for a rival news outlet (owned by his father), internet based, and so the rivalry starts (again). In the meantime, they both talk to each other (without knowing) on a journalist platform.

So far all the ingredients of the romcom 'You've got mail'. I love the 'enemies-to-lovers' trope so I enjoyed the pseudo-hate and insults. As it was obvious they both have been crushing on each other for quite a while and misunderstandings got in their way.

The reason it did not get full rating for me is the fact I just don't really like journalism-stories so I could not really get into the total dedication of both MC's. I focused on the relationship parts and the banter.

If you’re a fan of books like The Hating Game, you’ll enjoy The One I Love To Hate by Amanda Weaver! It’s a cute little romance set during winter in New York about two journalists working at competing companies, who can’t seem to stand one another but keep running into each other. It’s full of witty banter that anyone who loves hate to love/enemies to lovers tropes will swoon over 💕
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Thank you HARLEQUIN - Carina Press & Netgalley for the copy of this ebook for review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Carina Press for the digital ARC.

The One I Love to Hate by Amanda Weaver is an enemies-to-lovers romance between DeWitt journalism grads Jessica (Jess) Romano and Alex Drake. Having sparred throughout their entire journalism program and competed for internships, Jess and Alex can't believe their unfortunate luck when they discover they're not only working in the same neighbourhood but that they're working for competing news outlets. The sudden close proximity reignites their fiery fights from school and brings them dangerously close to crossing that fine line between hate and love.

Highly entertaining verbal sparring and sizzling sex scenes make The One I Love to Hate a delicious read.

Super sweet bonus: Carina Press gives readers a two-chapter excerpt from the second book in the Romano Sisters series, Love and Other Disasters, featuring Jess's second oldest sister Livie Romano. Introverted and inexperienced with the opposite sex, Livie is in for one heck of a ride when she hires brilliant, and ridiculously attractive, computer programmer Nick DeSantis to help her create a computer program to finish her dissertation.

Thank you Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review of review.
This felt a lot like a young adult novel. Alex and Jessica meet in college and both are pursuing journalism. They have a sizzling connection but misunderstandings and jealousy get in the way of their relationship. They meet later on when they both work for different publications and they develop a secret online friendship that is both combative and sweet. Both reaching for the same dreams but somehow missing each other. I liked it well enough but felt it missed the depth of a real adult relationship.