Birdie is a teacher. She lives with her best friend Hattie. Hattie is dating Birdie's childhood friend Cal. Cal's brother is Ben. Ben and Birdie had a "thing" in high school but he stands her up for an important dance and now they "hate" each other.

When we meet Birdie, she has basically given up on men. She's currently on a string of 20 dates and not one of them have gone well. She's out to prove that she will never meet a good man and after her 20th bad date she is giving her permission to never date again. At the same time, Ben is returning from South America, where he's been for a year. And Hattie and Cal get engaged.

So many things happening at once but they all converge together to bring Birdie and Ben's friends who know that their banter and insults are really covering their feelings for each other. They scheme to get these two together and the results are fun and funny.

I really like the enemies to lovers trope and a good romantic comedy. I enjoyed their banter a lot. I think that Birdie and Ben have great chemistry. I wish they hadn't made it so predictable. I felt like the journey that Birdie and Ben took was very quick and they suddenly loved each other.

This book was okay. I didn't like having the bride and grooms POV. I just wanted to hear from the two MC's. I cringed a lot through this book. It had a lot of potential but fell flat for me. A good thing is that it was a quick read.

Planning your best friend's wedding with your arch nemesis can get a little tricky.

In theory, this book had the potential to be excellent, but it fell short of the description and I had higher expectations for the story line. Bridie and Ben's chemistry wasn't as existent has I like in my romance books and there was really minimal fighting or tension for a enemies to lovers book.

Hattie and Cal were the secondary characters and love story. They were cute to an extent, but the unnecessary drama they brought in made me wish they had their own separate book prior to this one as we were saddled with their drama as well as Bridie and Ben's. Their miscommunication drove me absolutely nuts and made me question their entire relationship.

In my opinion, the book was a little lackluster, but my expectations could have been set a little high. If you want to read this, I encourage you, but keep an open mind about the story.

I received an ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

Such a cute romantic comedy. Lighthearted and heartwarming. I loved the storyline, the character development! Very well-written and looking forward to reading more from this author.

A retelling of a Shakespeare classic, but even without that knowledge, it's a great read. Funny, heartfelt with the zippy and clever dialogue that we know Baker produces each and every time. Romance is the driving force for these characters, and this book is one of her best yet. Devoured it in hours

What a fun little romp this book was! I am a sucker for books that take place during the lead up to a wedding, and this one absolutely delivered on the pre-wedding hijinks front. While I really enjoyed the romance between Bridie and Ben, the real stand out of this book for me was the friendship between Bridie and Hattie and I just had an absolutely blast tearing through this one. It was definitely my favorite yet from Mary Jayne Baker and I am looking forward to reading more from her in the future!!!

CW: cheating

I really tried to get into this one and I've previously loved Mary Jayne Baker'd books however I just could not get into this one.


I'm absolutely gutted but won't let one put me off her future books!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, there was so much unnecessary predictable drama and the characters lacked chemistry. Eventually Ben and Bridie weren't even the focus of the story. There were some enjoyable parts like the writing and banter between the MCs. It wasn't a terribly written book but I believe the characters weren't used to their full potential.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was a great lovers to enemies to lovers book. I really loved every page! I can't wait to read more Mary Jayne Baker books because her writing style is amazing.

Ben stood Bridie up for their big formal dance in high school. She’s hated him ever since. Now her best friend is marrying his brother and they’re forced together in the planning. Bridie and Ben are obnoxious. Their “love” story is anticlimactic. Their relationship and “banter” feel unhealthy and problematic. Their first sex scene was so uncomfortable, with not one ounce of sweetness. This book is a lot of hijinks with a lack of heart. I found myself caught off guard when the dual plotline started. Also, Cal’s an absolute idiot.

This book kept me cracking up the entire time! If you love the enemies to lovers trope, you don't want to miss this one !

I remember reading those YA books where the main character was a boring and plain brunette that had nothing going on for her but she was also fun and not plain and special and had everything going on for her and was most importantly (how can we forget) not like other girls. Thankfully, the YA genre recognised the issue with that trope, however, they do still write it in books such as this (apparently). When I tell you that the main character is the epitome of not like other girls in the YA genre only in her late 20s (which makes it so much worse to be acting like that). It was so horrible to read: the misogyny from male AND female characters, the latter also did a lot of shaming other women to make themselves feel better, and there is also cheating. The banter (and I am using that worth very loosely) was weird and did not make up for everything that was wrong with this book, so I decided that life was too short and I would rather suffer from my uni work than this.

I hope I read this book soon, but I couldn't download this ARC in time, so I can't really give a fair review, because it would be a lie. When I read it I will replace this with my honest opinion. This looks really good.

A fun and cute read! I really enjoyed this story. It was light and fresh, and I felt a connection to the characters. At times a bit predictable but overall well done!

Love at First Fight was—Enemies to lovers slash old Friends to lovers slash Second chance all working within a Retelling.

And yeah I liked all of these things because it meant they had a lot of history. Ben and Bridie had a thing at school, and maybe they were both too young to get it right. Fast forward ten years, Ben is back in town and the sparks are still flying. Their friends get invested in getting them together for real and decide to trick them into discovering/admitting the truth.

The writing of the leads was great, awesome banter the whole way through—I could have done with less of the other couple, but if it prevented extra drama (for the sake of drama) between the leads than I’m okay with it.

(ARC kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review)

DID NOT FINISH.

Based on the cover and blurb, this seemed like a fun romance between enemies to lovers, but to be succinct, the characters made it impossible for me to finish. Birdie and her "not like the other girls" personality is a narrative that hasn't been part of me since my teenage years, and Ben... he's apparently stuck in that teenage stage because everything that came out of his mouth made him sound like a frat himbo.

While I did I guess enjoy this book, one thing I'm starting to dislike strongly is unresolved issues while also apparently having a HEA. Unresolved issues make me have a hard time believing in any happy ever after the characters may have. Because the issues they had during the story are still not resolved. Also there was some toxic masculinity that made me roll my eyes so hard. Nothing like a cute little bait and switch in terms of a massage. Only women and girls can experience self care??

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book. The past between Birdie and Ben was real, the hurt was real, and the dismissive banter of love covered in hatred was real. However, when the story changed to them falling in love it was the flick of a switch. Just no time at all to go “you’re right, we’re in love” and together in a perfect relationship. It was unbelievable.

There is also the secondary story of Hattie and Cal which is much less secondary and much more just a. Second plot line throughout the story.

It got t8 be nauseatingly lovey, and the characters lacked true definition.

I DNF'd this one. I liked the premise and really wanted to like the book, but I didn't feel the chemistry between Ben and Birdie.

Hilariously, I was a third into this book when I realised it was based on the plot of Much Ado About Nothing. Clearly I had skipped over this in the blurb! It wasn’t exactly subtle in the actual text though - even the names were similar.
I thought this was an average read - the two leads got together too early (dictated by the master plot, I know, but it ruined the pacing just the same) and the fact that the sex scenes were behind the door irked. I really didn’t have any sense of tension or worry about the fate of the characters as I knew that it would all turn out in the end. Honestly I just don’t think that a Shakespeare comedy works as the template for a modern romcom.