I Hate You More. By Lucy Gilmore. 2021. Sourcebooks Casablanca. (ARC eBook).

Nursing assistant Ruby and veterinary Spencer meet when Ruby tries to enter Wheezy, a lazy dog of questionable Golden Retriever heritage belonging to one of her elderly patients, into the Canine Classic; a show Spencer is a judge for every year. When Spencer advises against it, Ruby takes on the challenge to get Wheezy in shape and prove the stern, rule-following Spencer wrong. Helping her is Spencer’s twin brother, Caleb, Spencer’s opposite. Caleb however, is currently living with Spencer and Wheezy’s training will take place at their house. When it becomes clear that Caleb’s training is going nowhere, but that Wheezy responds favorably to Spencer’s voice and commands, the animosity between Ruby and Spencer begins to evaporate and a romantic relationship forms. I loved Gilmore’s Forever Home series, so she’s an author I now follow. Ruby and Spencer’s romance, the animals, and the secondary characters did not disappoint. I Hate You More is a fun read with wonderful characters and a cute happy ever after.

This was a quick cute read and I enjoyed it (who doesn’t love romance and dogs?!) and I think the story started off really strong, but I felt that the romance between the MCs went from 0 to 100 and just felt too rushed. I’d still definitely recommend it though!

This is the perfect rom-com!

It’s quick, light, funny, and steamy. I swooned a couple of times …

And it has DOGS!

I loved the use of the minor characters in this book. It was different than a lot rom-coms which focus on one or maybe two supporting characters. It really made I Hate You More stand out.

I´ve already sold a few copies!

I Hate You More by Lucy Gilmore
Contemporary romantic comedy. Enemies to lovers troupe with dogs but lost it way towards the middle of the story.

What a wild ride this was. I am a sucker for books that have dogs and I am so glad that I picked it up because it did not disappoint at all. I saw some negative reviews on GoodReads but I don't know how that's possible? Maybe we didn't read the same book!!

I Hate You More is fun and flrity.

There's a whole lot of minor characters but they all are well written and nuanced, something that I feel is not everyone's cup of tea.

I enjoyed the romance the most. The leads along with the golden retriever had me rooting for them from the start until the end. The fact that the male lead had a twin, just complicated the whole situation and added another layer of banter that I enjoyed so much.

I am going with a solid 4 stars for this one! Go read it , NOW!!

If you’re looking for a light-hearted, quick, yet steamy rom-com read, then I Hate You More is the book for you. This book has witty banter between the heroine and hero. Fun, entertaining side characters that will steal your heart immediately. Plus, it even has an adorable yet sassy dog. Need I say more?

I couldn’t believe how fast I finished this book! Trust me, you’ll breeze through the pages too. As I said earlier, this book is cute–how could it not be with a cover like that? However, I wasn’t able to rate this cute rom-com higher than 3 stars. I wanted to love this book. I expected to love this book, but I ended up only liking it. 3 stars for me means it was a good, solid book, but it’s not a new favorite. Now, you’re probably wondering what prevented me from rating this book higher. My first issue with the book was the romance and the pacing. Lucy and Spencer fell for each other too quickly, in my opinion. I needed more scenes between them showing their relationship as their feelings were developing and growing. It felt like the author told me about their growing feelings rather than showing me how they grew to care about each other. My second and final issue is that the conflict between Lucy and Spencer at the end of the book fell flat. I think the author could have come up with a better issue for Lucy and Spencer to resolve.

That being said, I did enjoy this book. It made me smile and laugh on nearly every page. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for the author’s next book–maybe a book for Caleb? A girl can hope, right?

This was a cute little enemies to lovers book that lost its way towards the middle for me. At first, it reminded me a lot of Well Met, with the grumpy guy in charge of an event that could be “ruined” by this woman, and so they clash sometimes but also there’s banter. Overall it was ok-ish for me

I ended up audio booking this book through my library after receiving an arc and I am so so happy I did. I was incrediblly nervous about this book being based on doggies since if a dog dies in a book, I might just burn it and cry my heart out. lucky for me, that did not occur and this has become one of my favorite romances of 2021 by far. it is so lighthearted and made my day 20x better because yes, I read it in a day.

I enjoyed this book but it didn't keep my attention like I thought it would. I was easily distracted. Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This is a surprisingly steamy read. I wasn't sure what to expect getting into this one, but it definitely had some spice.

This is a mix of enemies to lovers and rom com. Ruby and Spencer were a perfect match. The dog in the story was amazing. I think that was one of my favorite characters.

Ruby is considered to be one type of person based on her looks and she's out to prove that she's not just the pretty girl. Sebastian is an alpha male who has a hard time balancing everything in his life. They come together and sparks fly.

I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read more from this author , I was hooked from the very start

3.5 Stars

This sounded like the perfect romane novel complete with dogs and enemies to lovers but I just felt like it fell a little flat.
Ruby works in a nursing home helping to take care of a variety or eclectic characters. One of her favourite patients wants to enter her Golden Retriever into a local dog show. Ruby decides to help out as she has years of nightmarish pageant experience from her childhood and dog shows can't be that different can they.
Except its a disaster for her from the get go, the dog is untrainable and uncontrollable. She is late for registering for the show but ends up sweet talking one of the judges, Spencer (with the help of his twin brother, Caleb) to let her enter. She has two months to get this dog in shape to win the show with the help of Caleb. She can't help running into Spencer all the time though and their chemistry is sizzling depiste their dislike of each other.
I didn't love the main characters in this book, I almost like the side characters more. And the first intimate scene was just so strange that it didn't make any sense. I was confused with how it became that situation.
I just wanted more out of this story. Still enjoyable enough for me to finish it quickly but not my favourite of the year.
Thanks to Netgalley.com and Source Casablanca Books for my complimentary eARC copy.

This contemporary romance has my favourite troupes which are enemies to lovers, happy and cranky personalities and a dog. I’m also a big fan of predictable, light hearted, easy to read romance. This is exactly what this was. It was a steamy and cute. I think this book would be perfect to read around a time you need a little pick me up or after a heavy book. Overall I liked this and would definitely recommend.

This book was sooooo cute. Who doesn’t love a good enemies to lovers trope????? Thank you to @sourcebooks for sending me an e-ARC of this!!
•
This book was both hilarious, heartwarming & cute. I felt a lot of emotions while reading it and that’s one things i loved the most!! Sometimes I don’t enjoy all the characters. sometimes it’s the main character but most of the time it’s the other ones who just float around, they’re important but not necessary. But with this one, i loved ALL of the characters. All the secondary characters fit right in and made you fall in love with them…
•
Ruby also works in a nursing home which i recently started at a long term care home in August, so i think I really loved that aspect of the book. Her relationships with the other workers but also her relationships with the residents as well. This was just a favourite of mine. It made my favourites of November, stay tuned to see if it makes to my favourites of 2021

The book needed at least 50 more pages. The insta love was really fast and there are too many characters for the page length. I really liked all of the characters and the plot but it felt like an awkwardly long novella. There was so much potential and good bones here but the length and pacing really ruined it.

This was a cute read — I enjoyed following Spencer and Ruby’s grumpy/sunshine antics and Wheezy the dog was a pure delight to read.

Aside from the very lighthearted and low stakes dog show plot, the themes of self-acceptance and determination pervaded throughout and made for an interestingly insightful read.

3.5 stars (rounded up to 4) from me.

This was such a cute read, also great for if you wan to read a book in one sitting. I loved the determination Ruby had the entire book while trying to train a very lazy and sassy golden retriever for a dog show and trying to prove Spencer -one of the judges- wrong. Not to mention the chemistry between Ruby and Spenser was wonderful. You could tell it was there right from the beginning even when they didn't want to give into their feelings and continued their "I don't really like you facade." I loved getting to see Ruby and Spencer slowly open up to each other throughout the book, there were some really treasurable moments between them, as well as a few sensual ones. Overall it was a very adorable book and I had a great time reading it. Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for the arc.

Dogs? Check. Enemies to lovers romance? Check. Witty banter? Check. I Hate You More by Lucy Gilmore checks all the boxes for a light, romantic read.

A former beauty Queen heroine filled with ambition and sass and a seemingly haughty and uptight veternarian matched together - what a combination!

Ruby and Spencer's relationship is competitive and argumentative from the start, but they seem to fall in love rather quickly. While the romance is sweet and sexy, it was a bit fast-paced for me. Gilmore makes up for this by diving deeper into familial relationships, exploring troubles between Ruby and her mother and Spencer and his twin brother.

Overall, it’s an entertaining and sweet story with loveable characters. It's also a quick read, so I definitely recommend it to readers who are looking for a feel good, palate-cleansing romance!

Special thanks to NetGalley for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

I am so thankful for this copy; however, I did not enjoy this book.

While it was short, the chapters were long. Honestly, I really struggled because I found myself not caring about any of the characters. If anything, I disliked them all.

The first "intimate" scene was so cringey to me that I almost stopped reading entirely. I didn't feel the chemistry with Ruby and Spencer at all, and I truly could not understand why Ruby wanted to stay in the dog show---pride? I just was not cheering for her.

Loved this book! Filled with so many great tropes, so what's not to love? Enemies to lovers - check! Slow burn with solid chemistry - check! Tension - oh yes. Strong heroine character - check! Fun banter between our main lovers - yes please! Grumpy guy who loves dogs? Say no more. I've seen this book compared/similar to The Hating Game and I think that's pretty spot on. Overall, it's an enjoyable read!