The set up of the book felt contrived and forced. As someone from a desi culture, I didn't connect with this. I did feel like it was very stereotypical in that the relationship between the parents was heightened to negativity. (Unless it is a personal experience of author then ignore.) Jay was someone I didn't care for at all.

I enjoyed this romantic read. I loved how it featured a strong independent woman and how she stood for what she believed in. The romance was adorable and I loved learning more about the Indian culture.
Liya was a tough character to love, she went through a lot in her past and she puts a wall around her heart because of that which is understandable but sometimes she was abrasive for no reason which I didn’t love,
I do like how she opened her heart by the end and spoke her truth and Jay stood by her.
Overall glad I read this book!

Really enjoyable romance with some Hating Game vibes! Patel is able to deftly handle tougher issues in the heroine’s background while balancing them with levity of the love story. I liked the writing style and would recommend this strongly to fans of the enemies-to-lovers trope!

The Trouble with Hating You is a deep dive into a strange cross-culture of Indian religion in the American South. Liya is a strong, stubborn feminist and she doesn't need or want to adhere to her family's plan to find the perfect husband for her. Jay is a little bit tortured and wants to do the right thing, and let his mom find him a wife, but he's not really interested in marriage until Liya literally runs away from him.

Because of her father and her church leadership, Liya has been told all her life that the role of a wife and woman is an antiquated idea of a meek, subservient woman. In an effort to push against this idea and deal with trauma from her past, Liya is brutally honest and her and Jay's interaction through the first half of the book are arguments more than conversations until they reach and easy peace. It would incredibly easy to compare this book to Pride and Prejudice, and there are a lot of examples that support that idea, but in a big way, I think this story is unique and deserves to stand on its own.

Jay is definitely a new standard of book boyfriend who respects women, but fights for a chance at what he wants and to be happy. He is arrogant and stubborn, but he is also kind and believes Liya when she lays her past at his feet.

This book has a difficult family dynamic. It is steeped in history and tradition not only of religion but in the history of pushing women aside and trying to quiet them. I loved watching Liya and their friends, who are so different and unique, find out what they want and fight for their chances to get it.

This debut novel by Sajni Patel was absolutely fantastic! It was so relaxing. It was very quirky and witty. I felt that the plot was super original and executed very well. I will definitely be reading more from this author. The only constructive criticism I have was the amount of supporting characters in this book. I had a really hard time keeping them all straight and remembering who was who. Is this person single or married, related or not, etc. That was difficult for me. But all in all, really great book!

Sajni Patel's The Trouble with Hating You balances deep topics with a love story, which is the type of combination I am looking for these days. It reminds me of The Friend Zone in that I was thinking I was going to be reading a typical rom-com, and I found a book with a strong emotional core. It's an enemies-to-lovers tale with a strong female lead that many readers will find compelling. I know I'll look forward to reading more by Patel.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Trouble with Hating You is a hate-to-love romance about two very different characters. Liya is a very independent, outspoken, successful biochemical engineer and Jay is a charming, sweet, family-oriented lawyer.

Liya's parents want her to stop this independence nonsense and settle down with a nice indian boy and since she won't listen to their pleas, they try to ambush her into having dinner with Jay and his mother. Things OBVIOUSLY don't do as planned and Liya is pissed at her parents (mainly her piece of trash father) and even less interested in Jay

Up until the first 10% of the book, I was not sold, I found the characters to be interesting and funny on paper but the dialogue felt cliche and juvenile. They seemed like caricatures, having only one outstanding personality trait. And I was on the fence about continuing, BUT I AM SO GLAD I DID!!!

After that, it was almost an instant change for me, I felt the writing, characters, and the romantic plot accelerated into something so much more entertaining and realistic. We got some seriously cute scenes between Liya and Jay (he would bring her coffee and breakfast and they'd eat together in her office 🥺🥺 and then he'd stay in late with her 🥺🥺 and that's basically the cutest thing I've ever read in my whole life 🥺🥺)

We got to see deeper in Liya's character, find out why she's so standoffish, snarky, and untrusting of most people. We got to see Jay's backstory, a dark memory staining his childhood, learn more about his family and love them too.

I really appreciated that deeper look into their characters because it made them relatable and realistic rather than just reading about a regular run-of-the-mill romance.

I really liked Liya's friend group, it's always so awesome to see books that give the female lead a group of friends she loves and trusts with her life i AM A SUCKER FOR PURE FRIENDSHIPS OKAY

I loved the unapologetic Indian representation. The inclusion of the culture was done in such a great, seamless way and I'm really glad it added that extra dimension to the story.

While I did enjoy reading it and found myself wanting to just sit for hours and read, I will admit, the dialogue isn't always the most profound. It is cheesy at times, there are some really cliche lines used here and there but overall, it was a really sweet, fun, fast-paced read


trigger warnings for physical and emotional abuse, parental abuse, molestation/sexual assault, death of a loved one

I read this story in one sitting, because I was enjoying the angsty back and forth between our two protagonists, Jay and Liya.
The plot was centred around a trope I enjoy in romance, that is enemies to lovers. The characters were fun and relatable, even though both had trauma from their past that they were still dealing with, it did not take over their storyline.
Ultimately this story is one about following your heart, and not letting what other people think of you affect what makes you happy in life.

Wow!! Such a great read. I loved everything about this book. The characters were so relatable and the storyline was not like your usual romance stories. Looking forward to getting a print copy of this book 💕

Really appreciated that author mentioned some of the triggers at the beginning of this book so readers could better prepare before they started reading this.
I've been on a Indian romance binge lately and this one was pretty. Were dealing with really hurt characters, both the H and h have had horrible things happen to them in the past. Liya does come off as a standoffish and mean character so some readers are not going to find her likable. But what she's gone through, she has had build up her walls so she can protect herself. Same with Jay. He has PTSD and you read in this book how he deals with.
Was this best enemies to lovers book I read? Nope. But I think it is an important book to read though, especially reading about a culture and it's norms how they differentiate from your own.

As a reader, it took me a while to engage with Liya. I understood her feelings about being blindsided when she realizes the quiet dinner with her parents is really a set up to an arranged marriage. Her defensive emotional walls were high and her initial abrasiveness made me wonder why Jay was even trying to defend her. But then you see her with her besties and when you read deeper into the book, you learn what she has endured. These revelations were worth the investment of continuing reading this complex romance between Liya and Jay.

I liked the friendship and support network that Liya had. I hope Preeti gets her HEA with her one and only lost love.
I absolutely adored Jay’s family. His mother, brother and sister-in-law were the opposite of most of the judgmental elders in their mandir.

Both Liya and Jay were damaged and went through life navigating as best as they could. He denies himself happiness because of survivor’s guilt. She has a take no shit attitude because of the misogyny and sexism within her mandir community.

This is a good debut novel and that has many engaging characters with potential for a series.

Liya, who has been estranged from her father since an unspecified bad event in her youth, is horrified to discover that her parents were trying to arrange her marriage to Jay, an up-and-coming lawyer. Jay is handsome, yes, but cocky, and exactly what Liya doesn't want -- a traditional man with marriage in mind. Jay is appalled by Liya's rude manners, and determined not to speak to her anymore. But when they're thrown together at work, as well as in temple preparations for the wedding of mutual friends, Liya and Jay find themselves drawn to each other.

Nuanced and interesting, I really enjoyed THE TROUBLE WITH HATING YOU. Both Liya and Jay had believable developmental arcs, and their relationship is really sweet. I also really enjoyed the setting. I've read a few other books set in Indian culture -- but most of them were in London, California, or India itself. The intriguing mix of Hindu + Houston culture made for a fascinating blend.

I loved this book! It was a wonderful enemies to lovers with sassy and smart scientist Liya, and a tall and handsome Jay. They meet when her parents arrange a dinner for them to meet, but without asking Liya first. This leads to a wonderful meet-cute with her literally running into him as she escapes the house!

One of my favorite parts of this book is that Jay realizes Liya is strong enough to rescue herself, but stands by to make sure she feels safe as she does so. Their banter and chemistry are incredible and the relationship builds over time in a believable way.

The writing is sharp and tight with excellent dialogue, and a wonderful set of supporting characters. I already messaged the author to ask her to write her next book about one of them!

I read this book in one sitting and it was a total delight. I highly recommend it!

Be warned - it has detailed descriptions of yummy food that will make you hungry.

The Trouble with Hating you is a adorable spring read! I loved the feisty of the main character and the subtle kindness of the others. Great read I really enjoyed it.

This book tackles sexual assault, particularly assault by a prominent respected leader in one's own community, with a deft and serious hand. It's heartbreaking to see how much the strong Liya is ostracized from her community, with all the slut-shaming and gossip.
This said, Patel does a fabulous job of treating these hard-hitting topics with the seriousness they deserve, with simultaneously allowing the romance between Liya and Jay to develop and flourish. I loved Liya as a badass South Asian feminist, and Jay's acute sense of her boundaries and needs from the very very beginning of the book!
Also, the supporting characters were wonderfully strong! I loved how nuanced and different all the parents were (so often, parents are flattened to have one type of personality), and Liya's group of girlfriends were the BEST!!!

We need more explicit conversations about consent in the Romance genre, which is only one of the many reasons I am so so excited to be among the chorus of voices welcoming this fantastic debut into the Romance Book world!!!

This is absolutely one of my new favorite rom-com books! It was so much fun to read, and I could not put it down. The chemistry between the leads is sizzling. I love that it brings forth the issues of culture and patriarchy as well as that of assault, trauma and women's role in society. Because of the characters and their backgrounds, these elements are important and are important to painting the reality of people. The book is witty, flirty yet makes the important point to focus on those serious points. This is a book that anyone fan enjoy, and the love story is such a perfect and fun journey.

2 / 5 because it felt like too much hating, not enough loving

I’ve been enjoying a lot of Indian-inspired romcoms lately, but none so far really stuck out to me despite their tantalizing blurbs. Unfortunately, THE TROUBLE WITH HATING YOU is another miss, as I found myself disliking the book more and more until the very anticlimactic ending that wrapped the story up with a tidy bow, through randomly slapped-on dialogue. This story follows Liya’s love story with Jay, a lawyer that she sees at both her work (where her company is about to close) and the Indian community that their families are in. There are descriptions of yummy dishes, gossiping aunties and uncles, as well as going against the status quo of a community like the one Liya and Jay are in.

LIKES
- Liya and her friends have a wonderful, supportive dynamic that I really enjoyed. It was so cute to see them support one another with their milestones in life. Wish there were more scenes with just girls, because that’s when I felt the most love in this book.
- The book is really family-focused, especially on Jay’s side of the family. I enjoyed seeing the interactions with his loving family and how supportive they were.

DISLIKES
- I think it’s okay to have a sarcastic and snarky heroine who has a lot of walls as defenses, but I truly think Liya crossed the line multiple times in this story. And at some points, she was just. Plain. Mean. And cruel with her words and dialogue. It was like the author wanted to make her strong, but passed the “strong” mark and into “rude” territory. Liya likes to be in control of her situation, and she’s a very domineering woman. But that doesn’t give her an excuse to ALWAYS jump to conclusions and put her own words into everything. When she was talking to her girl friends, she pretty much berated someone who was getting an arranged marriage instead of saying congratulations because SHE was against that concept. That was the first thing that didn’t sit well with me. The next was treating the male lead, Jay, like absolute crap in the first 60% of the book. If I were Jay, I would have walked out. I have no clue why he kept chasing after her, except for his inner thoughts that were like “ooh she so feisty.” NO. She said a lot of hurtful things, and jumped to a lot of conclusions without apologizing AT. ALL. And everyone, including Jay and his family, let it all go. I genuinely think her dialogue was hurtful, and every time she sneered, spat, or yelled at him, I was getting ready to drop the book.

“He ran a feather-light touch down my jaw. Did he expect me to quiver with need? Manipulate me into agreeing to his terms?
Liya Thakkar was not that weak.
I pressed against him, our eyes still locked. Gripping his jacket, I raised myself onto my tiptoes and whispered, “If you want to screw me, just say so.”
His jaw hardened into a clench so tight, his teeth might’ve broken. “Why would you say that?”
I had him figured out, and the truth definitely hurt, but what other reason was there? “Because you’re a man.“”

Honestly, Liya kind of stepped into the realm of misandry multiple times in the book. She was kind to ONE male character in the first half of the book, not including Jay. And while her experiences with men have not been all great, it doesn’t give her a right to treat almost all of them like crap. Her behavior was immature, rude, and downright unprofessional in the workplace. Her past experience with men leads me to my next dislike.

- THE TROUBLE WITH HATING YOU delves into sensitive topics, such as the death of a family member (and the guilt that comes with it) as well as sexual assault (and silencing of the victim). I think there was a lot of potential to explore either of them, but I don’t think it was executed well, and that is tied to the rushed ending. Although there were hints, there is no on-page justice done to the perpetrator given the role he had in the community. Liya’s situation in being forced to talk about the subject didn’t sit well with me, and there wasn’t a follow-up on her well-being after that ordeal. Instead, she focuses on Jay and what he thought of her and how he didn’t stand up for her (another poor assumption). We never see her go through a stage of healing and acceptance. And THAT for an ending made me regret picking up the book. (Also the picture perfect bow-tie to Jay and Liya’s relationship that ends up with him making all the sacrifices rather than it being a two-way street). There were so many avenues to explore with Liya’s past (such as talking to a therapist or her girl friends) to help her heal, and we never see it. I feel like despite everything, Liya never grew in this story except to open her heart to a romance with Jay. But other than going into a relationship, her beliefs are never challenged and she remains as obstinate and conclusion-jumping as ever.

- At this point, my frustration with Liya made Jay a moot point. His character was there to open Liya into a relationship and other than him being a caring and supportive partner, offered nothing to the plot. His own experience over guilt of a family member’s death also had a poor resolution (or, lack of??) that I breezed through.

Overall, I was excited for THE TROUBLE WITH HATING YOU, hoping for a progressive hate-to-love romance. Instead, I get an incredibly mean heroine with a cardboard hero, and sensitive issues that aren’t written with the care they should have been. I don’t think I would recommend this book, unless you are okay with a heroine that literally yells at and demeans her prospective partner for the majority of the book.

**ARC from NetGalley**
A sweet enemies to lovers story between a feisty yet broken woman and a confident yet damaged man. The two have a rough start, for good reasons. She went through sexual assault as a teen (which the author did an excellent job of informing the reader of without it becoming triggering) while his trauma involves his dad whose last moments were saving him from a fire so he blames himself for the death and thinks he's unworthy of love. The woman is smart and can handle herself in the business world while he is a lawyer and holding his own as well. Even from the beginning, before he knew of her trauma, he was careful to ask for her consent for every touch outside a handshake. It was BEAUTIFUL and quite endearing. Life throws them together and they slowly learn that maybe it's okay to love someone. The slow build was wonderful and felt true to life and the characters. The chapters flitted between the two main characters so it was nice to be able to see what each of them were thinking.

It’s so incredibly satisfying to go into a read with high expectations and have them completed exceeded. This is everything I was hoping it would be, but it took me about halfway through to really latch on. But once I hit the half way point? It was game on! Overall, The Trouble With Hating You is funny and smart, and it tackles very serious issues of sexual assault and trauma. Liya is a self-assured, brilliant woman who faces relentless judgement and ridicule from her community and family for distancing herself from the Indian community and her troubled (re: traumatic) past. But Liya is such a fierce character, and the support from her friends and the women in her life is really what carries the story through its dark, difficult moments. That, and her ridiculously charming love interest. In true enemies-to-lovers fashion, Jay and Liya’s relationship started off super rocky. Not surprising considering this is an enemies-to-lovers romance, but the chemistry started off a bit flat, making it hard for me to become invested in their relationship. By the end of it though? I was absolutely swooning and cheering them on. I enjoyed the book overall, but it was the last half that absolutely sold me on this read. I am so, SO impressed with this debut, and I cannot wait to see what Sajni Patel does next!

Liya has been burned by the sexism in her Indian community. She has a few select friends and ignores the rest of her toxic community. Her parents con her into having dinner with Jay, a single man only coming to the dinner to appease his mother. After making a horrible impression by running away from the dinner, she finds out that he's a lawyer who is going to save her job. Of course, their rough start doesn't stop them from developing feelings for each other.

I have no problem with this book. The main and side characters are well developed and interesting. The conflicts are realistic. Not once did the characters have stupid misunderstandings. Yet, Liya's and Jay's romance didn't make me feel anything. I had no problems with them getting together. They're likable characters who I wanted to find happiness. I just didn't jump for joy when they got together.