I could not put this book down. I loved the characters, and I loved the character development. While I am Canadian, I lean very left on the political spectrum, so I really identified with the conflict of Kate, because I have always thought I could not be with someone on the right. What I liked is that Ben was a more traditional republican, not whatever the right is now. It was a great example of how bipartisan politics can work, and that love is greater than politics.

This book sounds like just another romcom--we know how it begins and we know how it ends and knowing the professions and setting of the two main characters we can even guess the middle. But, the dialog between Ben and Kate is brilliant. It is sharp and crisp and always caused a smile or a tear depending on where it was in the book. I only wish I that I could think of retorts to what people say to me as easily and as profound as they do to each other. Yes, it was a quick read, but a pleasurable one.

In this enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn contemporary romance, we meet political rivals Kate Adams and Ben Mackenzie, who sit across the aisle on Capitol Hill yet have a heck of a time bantering, debating back and forth and boy do the sparks fly. The language is authentic and relatable, so engaging that you just want to keep reading, as from the get-go they have quick-witted, feisty, and playful banter and so many sparks. This banter is so endearing and I love it! So much. It doesn't feel like a chore to keep reading, I *want* to because I'm desperate to see where the story goes. I'm super into this enemies-to-lovers story; it's very cute and fun with all this banter. I can't put it down and end up finishing it in a single setting. I already cannot wait to reread again and again, because I definitely need to just to relive this romance book magic. It's so captivating with such descriptive language that you get into Kate's head. Beneath all the descriptive language and steamy emotions, this book has a tremendous amount of heart and is quite endearing of a story. So, while nothing steamy or romantic happened for most of the book, their slow-burn romance has so much passion and heat I just craved more. If it's a book that I cannot physically put down until I finish, even if it's way past midnight, and I just need to keep reading -- that's a huge winner from me. It's a charming opposites-attract romance set in the head-to-head world of politics and I just don't want it to end! Then, things their relationship gets all-consuming and passionate and I'm hooked, obsessed. Seeing Ben fight for her nearly makes me cry and I feel so many emotions, as a good book should. It's such a sweeping ending and it all feels right, earned, justified, and authentic. I don't know, this book has something about it: I've never read a romance quite like this one and that's perhaps why I liked it so much. The whole book is from Kate's perspective, so it's only fair for the epilogue to capture Ben's side of things. This book's slow burn was timed exactly perfect and I was hooked from the start. The only thing that disappointed me was the lack of diversity and representation: the two main characters were conventionally beautiful people as well as matching intellectually and sharing similar values. But other than that, wow, I loved it. It's one of my favorite new romances I've read this year, and I can't get the story out of my head; I just need to reread over and over again.

Special thanks to Berkley for providing our copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

Lots of reviews coming in for this book. While I certainly don't make a habit of writing reviews for books I don't enjoy, I'm making an exception.

I started by reading the author's note. While this could (and likely is) a divisive book, I wanted to get a feel for the author's intentions. Based on the 2016 election, she was inspired to write a romance starring a couple from each side of the political aisle. My opinion is a romance set within the current discord of our political climate has little chance of working as an escape as a love story across the aisle. Still, I'm hopeful Daniels can make it work.

My thoughts

1. I don't like either character. The hero & the heroine are thinly veiled caricatures of the "typical" Liberal & Conservative. What really irks me here is we only get her (the liberal's) viewpoint for the vast majority of the story. She comes across as whiny, weak & clueless. Good thing she as this big caveman of a character to help set her straight. How dare she walk home without a gun? Doesn't she know how she comes across when trying to deliver legislation to a representative's office? Good thing she has this big strong conservative Texas man to help her see the error of her ways. (cue the eye roll)

2. This book is not based in reality. Now, hear me out. That usually doesn't bother me. Yet, when you're using our current political climate as your setting, we have to be real about things. If this was based in 2000 or 2008 or 2015, fine. The hero (as well as the author) makes the assumption that political parties are simply a "difference of opinion". For me, this does not reign true. Many political differences stem from differing morals, ideals & values. Now, had the author opened up the dialogue between the characters to truly discuss some of the long, hard & difficult discussions that people of differing ideals have, we may have a totally different story here. Yet, she skims the surface. She treats each party's decision as flippant. This just doesn't sit well with me. It's not believable, authentic & a real missed opportunity.

3. The love story doesn't work. Take out the politics & let's dissect the love story. It's a no from me. Our heroine has all the makings & descriptions of a strong, ideological feminist, but she sure throws it all out the window for a man who loves to argue and wants to have hate sex. She's not comfortable around guns, but they have an outing/date at a gun range. Guess what? He gets an erection & she is just fawning all over him. Then they have their first kiss - at a gun range. (eye roll again)

4. This story feels like it's definitely geared towards a more conservative-leaning audience. I head back to the author's note again. She wanted to write a story that "both sides" could enjoy. I'm sad to say I don't really think she achieved that. We see this through the heroine's actions & verbiage. As she argues or attempts to defend her ideals to the hero, his rebuttal is condescending & rooted in a sense that she is the one who should cross the aisle not him. She's the one not making great decisions & acting on emotion while he is stable, rooted & able to sweep in & rescue her. For me, it definitely has a feel of, these crazy liberals just need to see things from our side.

5. Bottom line - decide for yourself. If you enjoy it, that's great. It does have some open door romance towards the end. Overall, the story didn't work for me.

The second I saw Meet You in the Middle on Goodreads a few months ago, I knew it was going to be polarizing. Romances that have any political bend to them are hard to pull off no matter what, and I was afraid that this novel was going to turn into a big ball of "Why can't we just sing Kumbaya and get along?" messiness.

First, the good news: Devon Daniels is an incredibly talented and funny writer. She's got a real knack for the pacing of a romance, and she interpreted the enemies-to-lovers trope so well; there was some real sizzle on that front. I'm interested to see what she comes out with next, because from that perspective, this is one of the stronger romance debuts I've seen. And to her credit, she did a solid job trying to unpack the intricacies of loving someone you know you shouldn't.

Now, the bad news: I don't know if the superficiality of how good the romance was can undo the larger implications of this book. To say that core values and politics are somehow separate entities (when politics are just the governmental embodiment of what your core values are) is questionable. Anything that dives into this notion of both sides-ism is going to get an eye roll from me.

I'd say on the writing front, including Ben's POV throughout the book would've been useful, because all we got was a Democratic woman deciding to change her standards for a Republican guy. Those optics are just hard to overcome, no matter how magical that guy is supposed to seem, and the lack of real unpacking on political issues also didn't help.

It's obvious that the play here was to have this book come out before the 2020 election. But the pandemic has further complicated many things about our world, and I think the ire towards Meet You in the Middle is understandable considering what we're seeing happen both in our government and on streets across America.

Most people would agree that romances are supposed to make us feel warm and fuzzy. This book just left me feeling guilty and weird. No amount of pithy banter can overcome that.

This book felt completely tone-deaf in today's political climate. I can't in good conscience leave positive feedback for this one. MAGA republicans, etc. Not a fan.

I love a hate-to-love trope. I love politics. And I love it when the chemistry is so electric it sparks right off the page (err, Kindle).
I LOVED this book.
There's more than meets the eye with Kate and Ben, and I loved how they began to cool off in each other's company after an explosive first meeting, and how quickly the temperatures turned right back up. I couldn't get enough of the scenes between the two and often went back to re-read them.
The steamy scenes were FANTASTIC - fresh, electric, and restrained for being so hot.
This was such a satisfying book, and I can't wait to read what Devon Daniels writes next.

This book is such a fun premise. I love a good enemies to lovers story, and a great one set in the world of politics.

I really liked this book and I am annoyed at the controversy. This is an opposites attract who at the end of the day have the same values just a different point of view. The hero was swoony. He had the heroines back despite her tendency to push him away. Love the story as to when they met. LOVED THE PRANKS and the Kate File. I hope more people read it and love it as much as I do.

Requested this one as soon as I saw a friend compare it to The Hating Game (a romance I looooved)— it definitely had similar vibes but didn’t win me over quite as much. It took me a while to get into it and it relied heavily on political party/affiliation cliches and stereotypes for a while, but it did take a turn for me halfway through! A fun romance with lots of tension and liberal vs conservative sparring and a totally predictable plot.

I’m not sure how to review this book, and I hate saying that, but I’m shooting for honest reviews here!

This story tells us all about how two people firmly planted on opposite sides of the aisle fall in love through thinly veiled hatred. (As I recently read somewhere else, it’s a fine line between love and hate.) After a botched meeting, Kate and Ben decide they can’t stand each other, and begin a petty game of oneupmanship. She thinks he’s an arrogant prick, the definition of all that’s wrong with the Republican Party. He thinks she’s insanely judgmental, but can’t resist the pull of being near her. As the story progresses, Kate begins to wonder if her perfect match could also be her worst enemy.

As a politically moderate white woman, I did not love this book like some others did. Some of the scathing reviews seem a bit extreme in my opinion, but the character flaws called out about our heroines love interest make sense. Along with the issues I’ve seen noted with our feminist narrator, who comes across as misogynistic, while constantly reiterating her beliefs to everyone around her. I get all this, and yet...

When I read this, I did not get the impression that Ben is the kind of republican we all love to hate. If I were to place him on the political spectrum, I’d consider him a more moderate republican. 🤷🏻‍♀️ To be candid, I didn’t love either of them, but I didn’t hate seeing their love story unfold. For the reviews absolutely blasting this book, I’d have to ask, what did you expect? We end on a note of two people in a relationship who have differing political views.

I found the authors notes at the the end really interesting, and would encourage any future reader to take the time to read them.

I have a whole lotta things to say about this title. I think this was a HUGE missed opportunity that falls extremely, exceedingly, flat. It not only missed the mark, the mark wasn't even aimed at. This is getting two stars from me because there were fun aspects - the banter, notes back and forth, etc...but besides that, there's not much positive I'm going to say. If you don't want to read a negative, spoilery review, move forth.

There was no meeting in the middle in this book. There was only the self-proclaimed "liberal feminist" (who didn't actually act like a liberated woman, and constantly judged other female characters for being forward and strong) completely setting aside her beliefs for the God Among Men that is Ben. Ben did no improving. His character did not change. He was always portrayed as perfect. There were no actual discussions about their political beliefs - even though Ben seemed more fiscally conservative than anything, there were still pivotal morality issues THAT WERE NEVER ADDRESSED. Ben's stance on abortion? LGBTQ marriage? Any social issue? Nothing. Nada. If there had been actual scenes where each of the leads actually sat down with each other and talked about their differences like actual humans, this might have been better. But no, Ben's beliefs were always portrayed as perfectly fine and he had no "growing" to do, whereas Kate is portrayed as being a deeply flawed and close-minded Democrat that has to get with the program to be with Ben. Let me reiterate: Ben, the conservative, never has his flaws called into sharp relief. Kate, the liberal, is harangued at every opportunity. Even Kate's liberal friends are annoying. Ben's friend? Genial and kind. Also, the fact that Ben 'pops one' at the GUN RANGE after seeing Kate fire a gun is one of the more ridiculous things I've ever read.

If this had been a rom-com where it actually addressed real political differences and had the leads work through them, that would've been a different story. Instead, Ben's weird stalker behavior of watching Kate through the office windows is deemed "romantic" and Kate, at the end, instead of having her fear of her relationship going public justified AT ALL (c'mon, y'all...it would be a legit concern. The fact that Ben didn't see that or really make an effort to understand where Kate was coming from and just dismissing her for the hesitancy was #rude) Kate throws caution to the wind, belittles her Democrat friends - they were being annoying, guys, like all Democrats! - and makes out with Ben at a fancy ball. The longer I type this the more I want to give it one star. I wish that this had been executed better. Alas.

No. Absolutely not, This concept is terrible and I am disappointed in a story that is trying to get liberals to see the conservative viewpoint

DNF at 50%. I really tried, but this book is not for me. The writing is cringeworthy. I hate the main character. I am bored to tears. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I decided not to finish this book as there were many concerns that the novel is tone-deaf to real issues currently happening in the world of politics. I will not continue with this book.

I do not, do not, compare to The Hating Game lightly. It is my favorite romance.

This, compares.

The believability of the conflict, the feelings, the tension, SO GOOD. Kate and Ben come from two different sides politically, but something keeps bringing them together. I didn't want to leave this world or these characters, yet I read it in a single morning because I couldn't put it down.

Can't wait to see what else Daniels writes!

This book checked all the boxes of the modern rom-com genre, but I wasn't mad about it. It's a quick, fun read and despite the political backdrop of the book it stays away from having any political opinion.

What a great read! I loved every minute of this fremenies to lovers romances. The political angle was just right - not preachy or overly condescending, but a nice salve to read during a crazy time in our country. Highly recommended!

Kate works for a Senator Elizabeth Warren-like politician. Ben works for a Republican politician in the office across the hall. Can Kate overcome her political prejudices and realize that Ben is the perfect guy for her?

Boiled down like that, Meet You in the Middle sounds like drivel. But it does have an important bipartisan message, which Daniels states in the author's note as purposeful: look at the whole person rather than their party affiliation to determine if you can be friends-- or more-than-friends. The delightful banter of haters-to-lovers makes this steamy romance an easy read. However, it's not perfect.

Do I love the reinforcement of no-means-no and stop-means-stop: yes.
Do I love the reinforcement of the archetypal body types of the male and female protagonists: no.
Do I love the slow-burn: yes.
Do I love that there are no characters of color and the only LGBTQIA+ character is the GBF: no.
Do I love that the initial break-up is not just miscommunication: yes.
Do I love that it's just Kate (the Democrat) who has to overcome her political prejudices: no.
Do I love how gentle Ben is with Kate: yes.
Do I love how Ben is overly protective of Kate and that that reinforces that men must be the guardian of women: no.
Do I love that Kate's civil disobedience is her cool shoes: yes.
Do I love the emphasis on lingerie and its importance ~in the bedroom~: no.
Do I love what's actually in the Kate file: yes.
Do I love the author's note: yes.

As the daughter of a liberal mom and conservative dad-- who, herself, is the most liberal person in the family, including extended family, I need more modeling of how to practice bipartisan understanding and patience when so much of what's happening in DC makes me want to spit. Maybe, then, that understanding and patience will trickle up to Washington, too. (A girl can dream, right?)

I thought this was really cute. I’m really kinda over Rs right now (which is not what this review is about) so I think I glossed over their political differences and enjoyed it as a enemy co-worker thing. I’ve seen some comparisons to The Hating Game which I think is a good equivalent. I really loved the mail the characters sent to each other. I would read more by this author.