When Maddie's brother dies he leaves a scavenger hunt in his will. Maddie must embark on this scavenger hunt with his best friend, Dom. The Dom who broke her heart when they were younger. Enemies to lovers, shared bed, and a push from the dead... so much fun!

I wasn't sure what to expect with PS I Hate you, but really ended up loving this brothers best friend x second chance romance. Why am I even surprised? I love a good romance that has elements of grief woven throughout and Lauren Connolly did this beautifully in PS: I Hate You.

“Give me one day. Tomorrow. To love you. And at the end of the day, you can decide if you want to give me one more.” ✈️🧳

PS: I HATE YOU by Lauren Connolly was everything. {Thank you to @berkleyromance for the #gifted copy - and I am sorry I was delinquent in reading it!} While it started off a bit slow and took me a minute to get into…once I did, I could not put it down. It is such a beautiful and realistic depiction of grief, and healing, and love…and it was everything.

In her brother’s will, Maddie learns her brother’s last wish was for her to finish his 50 states bucket list with his best friend, Dominic, and to spread his ashes while doing it. You get a bit of an adventure - with their various adventures - a slow burn, a second chance, angst and tension, and a delicious, but emotional, payoff. It felt healing and heavy, but light and lovely all at the same time.

The romance was well-paced, the characters felt real and whole, and I got a little teary-eyed reading the conclusion of this sweet, sweet novel. After all - we love a little forced proximity and brother’s best friend moment.

I put off reading this one and I have no idea why, because I loved every second of it!

I’m not usually into emotional books that revolve around grief and cancer, but Lauren Connolly just knows how to make you laugh while you cry. Maddie and Dom’s witty banter kept me going throughout the whole book, and. just like Maddie, I found myself wishing that their adventures would never end.

Well, this one was a mix of hating it and liking it.

Maddie is in her twenties, a workaholic who hates nothing more than feeling abandoned. It seems this keeps happening to her. The latest person to leave her is her brother, who died of cancer when the book begins.

Maddie tries to avoid everyone and hides in a closet. She doesn't recognize anyone at the funeral. Also, she doesn’t have a good relationship with her mother or grandmother; both seem to despise her.

Josh, her brother, was the one person she could count on. What she wasn’t prepared for was him asking a favor from beyond the grave. He wants her and his best friend, Dominic Perry, to spread his ashes across eight different states he never got to visit. Maddie wishes she could say no because Dominic is the man who broke her heart, and she still harbors a lot of anger toward him.

What could go wrong?

Things I didn’t like:
Maddie was so immature at times (or most of the time), and it drove me insane! She was extremely rude and obnoxious for half the book—or more.
I didn’t like the way she treated her friends.
I hated how she behaved in state number seven.
The reason behind Dominic’s behavior when they were younger.

Things I liked:
The twins.
The descriptions of the views at the places they traveled to.
Maddie’s best friends.

In the end, I won’t say I loved the resolution of their troubles, but I liked it well enough.

Cliffhanger: No

3.5/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Berkley via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sweet and emotional romance about two people who used to hate each other but slowly fall back in love while going on a road trip. It’s funny, sad, and heartwarming all at once. A good read if you like love stories with real feelings.

PS I Hate You was an interesting story with a main premise that was both fun and sentimental! I enjoyed the main characters a lot, and I really felt like I empathized with the main female character. The story contained beautiful imagery and lots of scenic trips, and I really enjoyed the imagery this created as a backdrop for the story. I also love a second chance romance, and this story had that in spades! The angst and the longing also really did me in between the main characters! That being said, the sentimental aspect of the story left a lot to be desired…it didn’t hook me the way I expected, and that ultimately led me to being a bit underwhelmed with what should have been the star of the story - the main characters’ journey towards saying goodbye to Josh. This part of the story left me wanting a lot more, and while it should have been a true tearjerker, it didn’t even come close to pulling out a strong emotion from me. Overall, this was a good book with a good story, but I felt like it could have been great…it was just missing something!

Wow! An easy 5 stars! I loved this book. Brother's best friend/second chance romance and enemies to lovers all rolled into one? Yes please! I loved the movement of this story and truly felt all emotions. This book made me cry multiple times, if a book makes me cry it gets 5 stars. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

Sometimes grief related books are comforting and just what I need and sometimes...they're not. Unfortunately this one didn't work for me. I didn't like Maddie as a character.

2.75
I was excited to read this one because I love books that center around grief. While second chance romance isn't my favorite, I was intrigued by the premise of the plot and thought it sounded cute. This one just didn't work for me mainly because of the main character. She was extremely immature and self centered. She didn't think about anyone but herself. The 'jokes' she tried to make would ruin what could have been good scenes. I have no issue with inserting jokes when the main character is uncomfortable but these jokes came off as cringeworthy. Overall, this was a miss for me but maybe if you are able to get over the main character and focus on the other aspects of the story you might enjoy it. Warning, the book is also way too long and could have been edited down. 

Thank you so much @prhaudio for my gifted copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The narrator is one I'm familiar with and even though my rating is low it has nothing to do with her performance. I thought she did the best she could with the story and character she was given.

This was fun and cute and emotional. I don’t think I like Laurens contemporary books quite as much as her paranormal ones, so please be aware of that with this review. I found it a bit hard to get into, mostly because the premise of the story made me mad at her dead brother. Basically, Josh (dead brother) set up a road trip kind of thing for his sister and his best friend — who are also ex’s — to spread his ashes in all the states he never made it to. To me it felt like an overstepping of boundaries and that is one of my biggest icks in books. I think all that made it really hard for me to enjoy the book even when it got cute. I do love her writing style and I did enjoy reading this but it just wasn’t for me.

I think fans of Emily Henry or her style of contemporary romance would probably really enjoy this, because they do feel similar to me.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️🌶️.5
428 pages

EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!!!

this book wrecked me okay? the last few chapters had me absolutely sobbing. it was so good to see our main girly maddie finally come into herself and open up to her grief. she was such a complex character handling so many things outside of her brother's death, and while that is a huge component of the book, this really comes down to maddie's fear of abandonment. and that is so goddamn relatable.

i was genuinely surprised at the depth this book went to while still giving us some spicy romance scenes. and dom definitely worships maddie, which we looooove 😍

i would look for the triggers warnings with this one and make sure you keep some tissues with you because lauren connolly will make you cry. 💞

This is such a beautiful story! The harrowing feelings of grief that both Maddie and Dom go through separately and together are tangible. The storyline is fantastic and the characters leap off the page. A great read.

I have seen all the high ratings on this one!! I was excited to read it as well.

Why oh Why does this always happen to me?! I am definitely an outlier on this. Ugh I really wanted to like this one but come on second chance romance after they only hooked up once?! Give me a break haha.

It just felt a tad forced and not a natural second chance romance to me. . Also... he married his ex gf the next day because she was pregnant. I mean come on really?!

Also... she said she knew him? After a day? She didn't know shit about him haha. She didn't know anything about his brothers and the responsibility piece for him. She didn't ask him hardly anything about himself..... and the loss. How self centered can she be? Ugh.. no def wasn't a fan of her.

The friendship between Dom and Josh was the best part.

Nope nope nope

2/5 stars

4.25⭐️
This book is captivating and emotional that it will definitely get you in your feels. I really do enjoy romances that have more depth to them and aren’t just about the love story. We have Maddie and Dom, who are brought together by the death of Josh, Maddie’s brother/Dom’s best friend. The enemies to lovers is very strong in this one, particularly on Maddie’s side. At times, I even began to wonder how the enemies would eventually turn to lovers. The grief that Maddie experiences losing her brother felt very real. Grief comes in different forms and I think it was handled well with how the author wrote Maddie’s grief. Back to wondering how Maddie and Dom would get back together. I can totally understand why Maddie hated Dom, and it seemed like it would be hard for them to overcome that hurdle. However, I think that the explanation for what happened and how Maddie moved past it was reasonable. I would recommend this if you want a wonderful balance of sadness and hopefulness; something that can make you cry and laugh out loud in the same sitting.

💩 rough family dynamics
🪦 family death
💌 postmortem travel bucket list
👯 brother’s best friend

This novel was every bit of sad and humor mixed together perfectly. In an attempt to not sound morbid, I absolutely loved the travel bucket list that Maddie’s brother, Josh, left her and his best friend to do together. The romance with deep emotional moments weaved in was absolutely perfect. I truly loved this book.

This book was so good. I came into this book with no expectation and I was pleasantly surprised. This was like a cute little take on P.S. I love you and almost everything I could have wanted in a book.

This book was an easy read.
Dealing with heavy topics but also trying to be light hearted so it doesn't completely destroy you.
Having lost a brother, this one was a bit close to home for me.

The romance went from 0 to smut quick. But I'm not mad about it.

Thank you NetGally and Berkeley Pub for a copy of this eARC!

I gave this one 4 stars, and wow, it really packed an emotional punch. It had me feeling all sorts of things, and if you’ve ever lost someone close to you, I think it will hit you right in the heart. But what makes this story so special is that it’s not just about grief, it’s also a beautiful journey of healing and finding a way to move forward, even when it feels impossible. This is definitely a contender for one of my favorite listens this year. It’s so good, and the narration is done by one of the absolute best. Highly recommend!

You know a book is good if it makes you cry a little bit. I loved the journey Maggie and Dom went on together even if their characters did get a little tedious. Does dom do anything but growl? Just curious. Overall an enjoyable read.