I read this one following a pretty dark mystery…this was such a breath of fresh air! It’s a light and breezy storyline with fun characters that are easy to like and get invested in. It’s a great rom com!

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by Harlequin Trade Publishing, Graydon House and #NetGalley for my honest opinion. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Cute but cliché.

This was cuuuuute. I liked both Dani and Wyatt (I could totally have taken more scenes of them doing their jobs- especially Dani- since they both sounded great at what they do!), and loved as the understanding and chemistry between them grew. I loved Dani's landlady, Iris, and her cousin/bff Mia, and their willingness to go all in with Dani on her Spite House project. There were some fun shenanigans and lots of house building details that I really enjoyed. This is a great debut and I can't wait to read more from the author.

Hmmmm…more like 2.5 stars, rounded up. I loved the start with the paintball game in Dani’s wedding dress on what would’ve been her wedding day. I could see myself as being the type to buy property next to an ex’s house to f$%& with his head (even if he gets to continue to live rent-free in mine). But then getting a crush involved? A crush that things progress real quick with, so I didn’t feel it? And I know his Ménière’s disease is supposed to give him his own baggage issues with an ex, but… everybody’s trapped in their own heads and not communicating? And that ending? Really??? Although I guess Dani was right about the money involved. I just felt deflated reading this.

Did you know that spite / revenge houses are actually a thing? Lol, well LOVE AT FIRST SPITE is all about that! This fun, enemies-to-lovers rom-com is the perfect light romance you didn't know you needed!

Just a few months prior to her wedding, interior designer Dani Porter, catches her ex-fiancé, Sam, cheating on her with their realtor! Now, instead of her and him living in that house, Sam is living there with the realtor. To add insult to injury, Sam didn't end up buying the lot next door like he promised for Dani's studio. Dani is livid and plans to exact revenge on Sam. Her grand plan is to buy the lot next door to build a spite house in the guise of an AirBnB - she wants to make his life a living hell. What she didn't expect out of this whole experience is to fall in love.

Wyatt Montego is the handsome, stern architect at her firm, and he ends up being the only person that's available to design her house - in fact, he offered to do it! Dani is incredulous, but as they spend time on- and off-site, Dani realizes that Wyatt isn't what he seems - he's actually kind and she finds herself attracted to him. What's more, she catches Wyatt in a moment of vulnerability one night and at that moment, they connect on a deeper level. But is getting revenge on Sam worth losing her chance at real love?

I don't know why I'm attracted to grumpy H's but I am. It seems to be a common theme / trope in the romance books I like! I thought the writing was great in this book and I found the plot interesting, despite there being some small plot holes. I have to admit that the chemistry between Dani and Wyatt was kind of lacking in the beginning but you could definitely feel the attraction once you get more into the book. Overall, this was a fun, quick read and there were definitely some funny and steamy bits! Fans of THE HATING GAME will enjoy this book!

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (rounded up to 4).

Thanks to NetGalley, Graydon House / Harlequin and Anna Collins for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review!

On paper Love at First Spite by Anna E. Collins should have worked for me but the execution was just okay. I think there could have been a little more focus on the romance and a little less focus on the business side of things. I think some people will enjoy the details, because I don't think it was done poorly- it was just something I wasn't looking for in a romance. I think a LOT of people will ADORE this, as there were definitely sweet and steamy parts. but overall, nothing memorable.

Well this is an adorable rom com full of steam, flirting and revenge.

I loved the author's note describing how she got the idea for this novel.

Dani is an interior designed at a large firm where architect Wyatt Montego also works. She is newly single after cutting ties with her cheating fiance and realizing that her fiance didn't really ever respect her the way that he should have. She hatches a plan to buy the lot next to his new house and build a revenge house. A house of spite that blocks his amazing views and she can rent out as an Airbnb. With her friends backing her financially and her co-worker Wyatt offering his architect skills, Dani's plan comes to life. What she didn't include in her original plans for revenge was engaging in a "friends with benefits" relationship with Wyatt and possibly falling for him.

Dani's focus on revenge ends up getting in the way of her work, relationship with Wyatt and her friendships. Miscommunications between Dani and Wyatt abound and it's unclear if either of them can move forward from their past hurts in relationships.

A cute story and a fast read with all the hallmarks of a fun rom com - flirting, best friend drama, revenge on her ex and lots of steam.

Love at First Spite is like the perfect revenge of the ex that a girl could ask for. The perfect companion is the angry girl music of my youth like Alanis or Avril. The beginning through middle is such a fun read and gave me The Hating Game vibes without feeling like a copycat. The ending fell off for me - thus the rating - and felt rushed with a disaster that was unnecessary.
Dani's fiancé is a lying liar cheater pants and she needs revenge, swift and sure. With the help of her best friend and new landlady, she has the perfect plan. The Spite House will be vastly appealing as a vacation rental and everything her ex could possibly hate. Dani's need for an architect has her striking a bargain with her coworker, Wyatt, the company grump.
I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of the book and cast of characters. Wyatt and Dani are the couple I love to read about and the supporting cast was really fun.
Thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.

This adorable story was an easy breezy, enjoyable read with a will they / won't they mystery between coworkers, which added in with an extra layer of complexity in an office romance made the build up that more fun!

I loved the strong, independent circle of women rallying around to support one of their own, even during some of her more questionable plans that toed the line between legal and highly illegal.

Overall, a fun, relatable revenge, love story that allowed me to live vicariously through a character's decisions that i would be too scared to follow through!

I normally love a revenge storyline but typically I find them in a thriller so I was definitely curious about a revenge plot in a rom com. It was definitely a unique angle but I think it just went a little too far for me, I mean building a whole ass house seems extreme to me. But still, I went with it and I mostly enjoyed this one in the end. I liked Dani’s friendship with her cousin and her landlady, but I also thought it was kinda weird that they would support her efforts for revenge at such lengths. I mean don’t we all need friends to stop us from going too far? But their dynamic was still funny and cute. Wyatt and Dani had decent chemistry as well, he’s a total grump but he has his reasons and of course he’s a softie deep down. So there was definitely things I liked but overall I was just left wanting more, I think it lacked maturity in the end just making this ok for me.

I really wanted to like this book. My favorite author recommended it on her Instagram story and when I tell you I RAN to netgalley for an arc… anyway. I’m going through a breakup right now and I thought this would help but it turns out it made me feel worse.. may need to come back and read it when I’m in a better place.

I love a good rom/com! Take the com away leaving a romance novel just isn't my thing. I love a funny story with some quirky characters, a plot that branches off making the story authentic and an ending that is believable.

Love at First Spite started off great, paint balling in a wedding dress was a great setting and had me anticipating some laughs. Can you feel the 'but' coming? Yup here it is.

But, I was glad for a quick read. I loved Mia and Iris along with a couple large dogs but I couldn't connect with Dani. For someone so smart her level of spite just didn't match, it came off as immature and rather expensive. After a while the story just flattened out and kinda lacked the com in rom/com.

That being said, I did like the ending (somewhat) in the sense it wasn't what I expected. This would appeal to those that like a good quick beach read.

My thanks to Graydon House (via Netgalley) for this digital ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I thought I would enjoy the pettiness of the premise, and in the beginning I did. But as the book went on, the additional things done to add to the “Spite House” ultimately just felt childish, and it was made worse by the miscommunication that leads to the conflict. I would have to qualify it as aggressively fine.

Love at First Spite, the debut novel from Anna E. Collins, opens with our leading lady Dani paintballing in her wedding dress on the day she was supposed to getting married. From there it is a wild ride filled with female friendship, revenge, romance, and garden gnomes. This was an enjoyable easy read that was hard to put down at times. It features the quintessential rom com cast of the almost too good to be true love interest, a headstrong female lead, and quirky best friend. Overall it doesn't add anything new to the genre, but was an incredibly fun read. Fans of Emily Henry, Sally Thorne, and the like will be pleased.

I just couldn’t enjoy this book. The heroine is too caught up with her bitterness and so over-the-top that she can’t see how crazed she is and misses that there is a perfectly nice guy right in front of her. I got tired of her quite early in the book and she never won me back.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

This debut novel is a fun romcom about an interior designer, Dani Porter, who teams up with a handsome architect, Wyatt Montego, from her firm to exact revenge on her ex the best way she knows how: by building a spite house right next door blocking his beautiful view. Fortunately for Dani she has two friends willing to invest in the project with her and make it into a an Airbnb. Things gets complicated when Dani and Wyatt start to have feelings for each other but have to keep it a secret from the office because of a policy against coworkers dating. Soon Dani realized that revenge isn't the most important thing to her now. Living well may be the best revenge for some but for Dani falling in love is sweeter and much more satisfying.

I loved this story and the characters. It was a good theme with sizzling romance and humor.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this advanced readers copy in exchange for a fair and honest review

Who hasn't wanted to get some form of revenge on an ex at some point in their life? In Love at First Spite, interior designer Dani does just that by buying the lot adjacent to her ex-fiancé's house and building a house she knows he'll hate. When her co-worker Wyatt offers to be the architect on the house, even though Dani doesn't like him, she can't pass up the offer he is making.

Not only is this book enemies to lovers, it is also the grump and sunshine trope which I'm quickly realizing is becoming a favorite of mine. Wyatt does have valid reasons for being grumpy at the start and I like how you get to watch his walls get broken down as him and Dani spend more time together. One of my favorite things about Dani was how she was able to stand up for herself and not allow the men in her life to push her around and second guess her decisions.

Was she a little extreme in the things she did to get revenge? Yes, but it also made for some very laughable moments throughout the book. I liked the slow build of the friendship turned something more between Dani and Wyatt, but I also wish there was a little more. They were a really great pairing and worked really well together and the scenes when they were either fighting or falling for each other were my favorites. This was an excellent debut by Anna E. Collins, and I'm looking forward to reading more from her in the future.

Love at First Spite by Anna E Collins is a new standalone romantic comedy where one woman’s attempt at revenge may turn into so much more. Danielle ‘Dani’ Porter has been wronged in a dramatic fashion, this leaves her homeless and without a plan in the city she relocated to. Luckily she has her cousin Mia and her new landlord Iris to help her when she devises a plan to get back at her ex. One part of the plan has her working alongside the coldest architect at her entire firm, Wyatt Montego. She doesn’t expect to like Wyatt so much and finds herself being drawn to the complicated man. They agree to their physical arrangement for as long as the project goes on but as time starts to fly by neither party is willing to admit the truth, that there’s more to their attraction than convenience.

Dani Porter is a woman scorned and decides to take out her frustration towards her ex in the most unusual way, building a spite house. I appreciate her creativity when it comes to her payback being layered and complex but I found it to be kind of exhausting as well. I completely understood where Wyatt was coming from. Dani is a smart, creative and adventurous person who was wasting all her energy on a dud of an ex. I was cheering for her at the start but by the middle it started to feel tedious. Both Dani and Wyatt needed to put on their grown up professional pants and talk to each other instead of the strange halted way they communicated when things got hard. I did like Wyatt a lot though and felt like his perspective would have been nice since so much of Dani’s seemed all over the place.


3 stars for a fun romantic comedy that mixed payback with romance.

Dani is a heroine that is easy to root for. That's not the easiest thing when writing revenge. Her ex-fiance is just bad enough to be hated forever and her hesitancy to rejoin the dating world makes perfect sense. In the first half of the book her chemistry with co-worker, Wyatt, pops off the page. There was a slow down past the mid point where it felt like the story re-treaded the same ground that was previously covered. The climactic ending helped to pull me back into the story. All in all this book was a fun read with a catchy premise and is a good execution of lighthearted revenge.

I started off really enjoying this book and thought the idea of the Spite House was unique and had potential to be fun. I then became frustrated with the way that the main character (Dani) continued focusing on negative aspects of it (how it impacted her ex-fiance) instead of moving on and enjoying the property for the opportunities it would provide for her and the other investors. I liked the character of Wyatt well enough but he felt almost one-dimensional instead of being a fully-fleshed character. Letting your ex go is one thing but allowing that ending to happen really chafed me.
It was a cute quick read but I was overall left feeling disappointed with how it ended. I will give it 3 stars because it helped to pass a cold and rainy Saturday morning.