Have you ever had that experience where you <i>really</i> enjoyed a book, you’d sing praises from the rooftops, but when you actually settle in to explain to everyone precisely <i>why</i> you loved that book, suddenly it feels like your mind has gone blank of words and all that’s left are feelings?

That’s basically me with Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka’s <i>What’s Not to Love</i>.

Funnily enough, I almost didn’t read this book. I think there was a time when I’d put it on my ‘lost-interest’ shelf, partially as a way to parse down my want-to-reads to a more manageable size—reader, it didn’t work (cue me cringing at the 10,000+ books I’ve added over the years)—but then the world had different plans for me and I got approved for it on NetGalley. Is it bad that I don’t recall requesting?

Suffice to say, I cannot be more grateful that the world had other plans for me. Picking up <i>What’s Not to Love</i> reminded me so much why I just <i>adore</i> the enemies to lovers trope. In fact, can I just say: THIS is how you write enemies to lovers. If you’re looking for some insight into how best to write a story with those features, I’d highly recommend reading this book. And I’m not saying this because the plot was brilliant or the interactions that the characters had with the world and environment was some variation of exceptional. I’m saying this because I truly <i>felt</i> these characters though the entire book.

The emotional journey they took from rivals, the sort of students who can’t stand each other and somehow always end up fighting despite everyone’s best intentions, to kids unable to keep their hands off of each other was one of the most realistic I’ve ever read. Of course, I’ll caveat this with the fact that I’m very quickly realizing that I always seem to fall absolutely head over heels for these enemies (rivals?) to lovers stories whenever they’re involved in some sort of newspaper setting. I might have a soft spot for it?

Either way, <i>What’s Not to Love</i> is on a list. Right up there with Rebecca Ross’ <i>Divine Rivals</i>—though, truly this is the peak for those two tropes, so do with that what you will—and Samantha Markum’s <i>Love, Off the Record</i>.

I also just adored every aspect of this book’s narration. The characters were really brought to life by the voices provided and I genuinely felt like it was the leads telling their own story.

I don't know when I'm gonna learn my lesson with this author duo. I ALWAYS think their books sound great, and I NEVER like them. It's me, okay? It's time to admit defeat.

This enemies to lovers book in a high school academia setting was fun, cute and a typical young adult book. I enjoyed Alison and Ethan and their perfect scenario of hating each other and tough competition to be in advanced placement courses. I did not have a typical high school experience as I went to the community college for part of it and this book was fun to see what high school could have been like.

The narration of this audiobook book was fine, but the enemies part of this enemies to lovers book was so played up in the beginning that I just wasn't going to be able to believe it turned to love. This one ended up as a DNF at 10%.

I couldn't get into this story or connect to the characters. The narration was not engaging and didn't hold my interest.

I loved this romance and the story! It was so engaging and hooked me from the start. You just have to love these characters and root for them both!

It was a cute story, maybe too young-written for me to really enjoy it though, I couldn’t really connect with the characters or story so it wasn’t a fave.

This enemies to lovers story was just perfect. Most expect them to dark and bully’s but not with this book. Alison and Ethan’s was great. This is probably one of the best young adult stories I’ve read in a long time. The only thing I could even possibly think to compare this to would be Gilmore Girls, it would have been Rory and Tristan’s relationship if it actually got to bloom. So, if you enjoy YA and enemies to lovers this is the story for you.

I ended up being able to read this through a friend after I couldn't download the original file, but honestly, I kind of wish I had just kept it unread. I ended up DNFing it about halfway through.

For me, I think the biggest disappointment was the fact that the narrators accent broke through continually, which really did Take Me Out of the story that I already was having a hard time connecting with.

I was really looking forward to this story but I felt really let down.
You start off learning about these high school rivals but it really just feels like an immature petty rivalry. Yes, it’s a high school themed novel and there is a lot of drama and angst at that age but this one was just too much of the same dragging on and on. I eventually had to DNF it. The plot and dynamics weren’t doing it for me. I think it will be a better novel for mid teens since its more relatable to that age group. I didn’t really find a lot of good about this novel. I can’t say much about the writing style as this was an audiobook review but I think the author has potential.
Narration review:
The narrators voice suited the character well, however the narrators accent broke through multiple times with certain word pronunciation which kind of took away from the story a bit and how I was picturing the character.  I think I would recommend this novel as book over the audiobook.

really liked this book, it was fun and easy to get through. the mc is a great character she isn’t the usually annoying i liked the side characters even more the main relationship was the best thing. the pacing and the setting of this novel was so good and just made the book even better.

This was a fun story that actually felt like the wcharacters were real high school students. I loved the back and forth between the H/h; it was always witty. I’m definitely checking out this author’s other books.

My apologies in advance for this very late review. I finished it a few months ago, wanted to process for a day, and that day turned into several months. So, this review will not be the most detailed of reviews.

What’s Not to Love by Emily Wibbrley and Austin Siegemund-Broka was a quite enjoyable listen and read.

I found the tension of the enemies to lovers’ trope very intense. For the most part I enjoyed it. There were a few parts they seemed extra mean and little out of hand. In some ways I wondered if two people could really see through some of the meanness.

I enjoyed the overall story. I thought the story was well paced and was never dull. The only thing I did not particularly enjoy was how much it seemed to glorify high school.

As people, I did not care for either of these characters in particular. However, for the story, I felt they worked really well.

Lastly, I went between an eARC and an advanced audiobook. I far preferred the audiobook. I thought Elizabeth Cottle did a fantastic job with her narration. Each of the voices was extremely distinct, and I always knew who was talking. Once I really got going with the audiobook I zippd right through.

I would easily recommend this to people who love romantic comedies and enemies to lovers. I feel if you are knew to audiobooks, Cottle’s narration of this is a clear place to start.

I received an eARC (Penguin) and advanced audiobook (Dreamscape Media) copy through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

For the most part, I usually enjoy enemies to lovers trope. But this one left me bored. Zero chemistry between the two characters. Usually in this trope, the characters have some flirtatious dislike, at least one direction. There are hints along the way and flirtatious moments that leave not only the reader wanting more but also the characters. But in this they just didn’t have that. At. All.
But the audio narrator did a great job. She was probably the best part of the book.

Thanks NetGalley for the preview!!

Gosh I really struggled with this one! I know the main idea was enemies to lovers but they REALLY hated each other and were very unkind. I felt like some of the build-up plots and conversations would make it very difficult to ever trust the other person as a romantic partner. Once the light ignited they still had some really ruthless competitive moments. Also I felt like Alison was an increasingly bad friend to Dylan. From being willing to go out on a Sunday to third wheel on a date to not even speaking. I think that storyline could have been a little more planned out. The ending, Ethan's choice, seemed totally out of character after the build-up.

Rating 3

I want to start off by saying I love enemies to lovers stories! I think they are so cute and I love the tension between the characters. I really enjoyed the narrator of this story I thought they brought life to the main characters, Unfortunately, the two main characters were not my favorite. It seemed like they hated each other a little too much. They lacked the chemistry I was hoping they would have. Overall, I think this book was okay.

Alison Sanger and Ethan Molloy are overachieving high school rivals, with both competing for the title of class valedictorian and a coveted spot in Harvard’s incoming freshman class. In exchange for a letter of recommendation, their principal assigns them the task of co-planning an older class’ ten year reunion. As Allison and Ethan spend more time together, their rivalry starts to shift into something more.

I requested the ARC for this title because the synopsis reminded me a great deal of my high school experience - high school class valedictorian and I went on to graduate from my dream college. I didn’t experience the love story component that Alison did, but I did have a rival who drove me insane. Unfortunately, I found this book to be lacking for me - what I disliked, far surpassed the things I did like.

What I Liked:
✨The idea of high school enemies to lovers.
✨Alison’s family

What I Didn’t Like:
⚡️The Leads - Alison and Ethan were both extremely hard to like - while the two were both very ambitious and driven, they were also extremely immature, toxic and cutthroat. I only warmed up to them in the last 10% of the book.

⚡️The Lack of Romance - This book was billed as a enemies to lovers tale, but you really don’t get any romance until 55% in and even then, it really isn’t much.

⚡️The Idealization of High School - This book puts high school on a pedestal and repeatedly calls it the best years of your life. I whole heartedly disagree with this sentiment, because that’s just not always the case.

⚡️Only One Point of View - You only get Alison’s point of view for the entire book. I think the book might have been more enjoyable for me, if I had gotten to hear Ethan’s perspective on things too.

I listened to this on audiobook and enjoyed Elizabeth Cottle’s narration. I quite frankly think that listening to this as an audiobook was the only reason why I finished reading it. If I had picked up a physical copy of the book, it probably would have ended up as a DNF for me.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ARC!

DNF

The audiobook narrator did an excellent job with this story! Everyone had a unique voice and it was super easy to follow along.

Unfortunately, I just seem to be growing out of YA Contemporary so I kept finding myself zoning out or growing bored or just completely uninterested in what was going on.

The story seems great and I’m sure a YA Contemporary fan will adore this book! It’s just not one for me.

This was a fun love story of 2 rivals that learned that there was more to each other than hate. When Alison and Ethan learned that they had to work together to put on a class reunion with a little budget because the one who was running it decided to put a deposit down for a location and then didn't follow through and they lost the money. Alison and Ethan have been competing for most of their life and neither really know why that is. Once Ethan realizes that he does it just so he has an identity he starts looking at his life to find out what he is really passionate about. Overall I liked this story even though it was predictable and you knew at some point they were going to get together.

This was a decent read but I found myself annoyed with Allison often, and she put so much pressure on herself that it stressed me out. I didn't like that this was enemies to lovers but they didn't even start to be nice to each other until 60% in. This kind of put a damper on it for me, considering how long the book is. I wasn't really invested and didn't connect with any of the characters, but I did like Allisons sister. Too bad Allison was kind of mean to her throughout the story. Thank you to NetGalley and the authors for a complimentary copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion. I will check some other books out by the authors, maybe they'll sit better with me!