P.S. I Hate You by Lauren Connolly
Rating: 5 stars
Steam: 2 chilis
Pub date: 11/19

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Berkley for my advanced copy!

Maddie Sanderson’s world gets turned upside down when her only brother, Josh, dies. She agrees to fulfill his last wish: scattering his ashes at eight places he never got to visit. But Josh throws a curveball by making her travel with Dominic Perry—his best friend and the guy who once broke Maddie’s heart.

I loved everything about this book, and it has become one of my favorites of 2024! I went through all the emotions while reading it, and cried for the last 20%.

Maddie is super relatable, dealing with grief, abandonment, and the emotional scars left by her difficult family. She’s built walls and avoids opening up, which makes sense given how many times she’s been hurt.

Dom is both annoying and irresistible. His past with Maddie brings out a mix of old wounds and undeniable chemistry. As they move from place to place, there are moments that show their connection deepening, hinting at a second chance.

We learn what happened between Maddie and Dom as the story progresses, which makes their second chance even more satisfying. We see a lot of growth from Maddie throughout the story as she battles with her grief and her feelings for Dom at the same time.

What really stands out is the emotional heartbeat running through every chapter. Each envelope Maddie opens feels like a nudge from Josh, helping her and Dom face their pasts and find some closure. I love the way we get to know him through their memories.

There’s romance and some steamy scenes, but it’s the love, grief, and resilience that hit the hardest. Connolly’s story will stick with you long after you’ve turned the last page.

Read if you like:
*heavier themes
*disability rep (sevre asthma)
*open door spice
*single POV

This one is highly emotional - be forewarned. It’s also laugh out loud funny in parts. And so, so worth it.

After the death of her older brother Josh, Maddie and Dom, Josh’s best friend (who’s also the man that Maddie has always loved) have a letter from Josh, requesting that the two of them bring his ashes to the eight US states he’d never gotten around to visiting.

*grief
*road trip
*forced proximity
*banter
*second chance
*personal growth
*found family
*mental health rep
*all the emotions

I loved Josh, I loved Dom, and I (eventually) loved Maddie.

The author beautifully captures the continuous grief of loss and this really spoke to me. I don’t want to share too much about this but will write that this book made me both laugh and cry.

This was my first time reading Ms Connolly’s work and I’ll absolutely be reading more.

Recommended (and make sure to have tissues at the ready).



Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the DRC

A bittersweet tender story.
The only family Maddie truly had was her brother Josh and the Perry’s, especially Dom.
I liked how the traveling kept throwing Dom and Maddie together, even if it was for a sobering task.
I deduced part of the plot but still has surprises.
I thought Maddie wallowed too much and yes ran from her feelings.
Dom was a very patient man who owned up to his mistakes.
Maddie’s mother was absolutely brutal.
Sometimes the closest family has nothing to do with blood.

4.5 rounded to 5

I needed some fluff after last week's total trash fire, and I almost bailed when I realized Msddie was raw with grief after the loss of her brother. Having lost both my brothers, I emphatically didn't want a romance about losing brothers, and yet the snark in her style caught at me, and before I knew it, I'm going through those pages.

The thing about second-chance, grumpy/sunshine romances is, most of the time the plot is built around a devastation long ago that has been a gaping wound due to total lack of communication. Usually I really dislike this trope, especially when there is no reason for two supposed adults not to take the time to communicate. But Connolly builds in excellent reasons for that not happening--Maddie is deeply angry at having been abandoned by everyone she loved most, that she doesn't see it when she ghosts her beloveds in turn.

How Dom gets through those layers of anger--how Maddie does the work on her own--made the pages turn. I loved the friendships here. I loved the other woman's story. I loved Dom's family, and how Maddie and Dom finally broke the walls down. And how I cackled at Maddie's snark!

Pub Date is 12/3/24. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (4.25/5)

Ironically, one of my favorite books is P.S. I Love You by Cecilia Ahern. Thanks to discussions in one of my Instagram chat groups, I decided to try this book. I’m so glad I did!

There are 24 emotions and this book touches on all of them. Yes, it’s sad, there were tears…but not as much as I expected. There were also plenty of smiles. The characters were well written and relatable, as were the situations. These were characters you could see yourself being friends with, wanting to have in your life. Maddie and Josh had a difficult upbringing, although touched on briefly, showed the power of sibling love. Maddie, at times, did annoy me. This girl can hold a grudge which I can totally relate to, so maybe that’s why this bothered me. Unfortunately, I can relate to losing a sibling and the grief that goes with it, even how it manifests itself at different times throughout your life. I did enjoy seeing Maddie take control of her issues and her subsequent growth.

I am pretty selective with my romance reads, so I’m thankful I listened to my friends on this one and in the process found a new author to follow. Although not a fan of spice, there are a few scenes.

Thanks to Berkley Romance/Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC. This is my honest opinion.

This novel wrecked me in so many ways, but it also made me laugh and swoon along with the tears and the anger. Maddie and Dom have incredible chemistry together, but each are grieving the death of the same person in their own ways. Each has a past full of hurt and the resulting emotional scars felt real and made this novel so much more than a romance. This deeply layered plot gave realistic explanations why Maddie and Dom continued to find ways to be together and then not to be. I am blown away at the raw emotions and the dialogue that felt so real, as if I were experiencing their interactions. The travel aspect of this adventure was also fun to ride along with Maddie and Dom and when I typed in the coordinates into my phone, I got to see exactly where these two were at the time. Highly recommended that readers do this too. Thank you to NetGalley for an early digital copy to read.

✉️ Forced Proximity
✉️ Dark Humor
✉️ Found Family
✉️ Travel
✉️ Self Discovery

The cover of this books calls out exes, travel destinations, and angsty romance. While there is that here, it’s much more. Managing grief, the value of family & found family, self-discovery, and growth.

There were a lot of feelings for me. I cried, I laughed, cried again, laughed some more… I got incredibly irritated with our female MC at times, but ultimately it all made for a perfect recipe for a memorable read. 🥜 Peanut butter anyone? IYKYK. I’d love to see this adapted for the screen.

This is surprisingly fun for a book that is entirely centered around grief. I was absolutely sobbing by the end, but I enjoyed the emotional road trip getting there. Maddie was difficult to like sometimes but I think that’s a result of how she dealt with her grief. I gave her a pass, but still occasionally wanted to smack her.

I came in hoping for rom-traum but got rom-com instead. Which is totally fine, I love rom-coms centered around a MC’s grief. I just felt this was a bit lacking compared to similar romances I’ve read. And for the life of me, I could not stand the FMC. Not a requirement in most genres, but I definitely want to root for the heroine while reading a love story. I loved the concept of the story but felt it was as strong as some other similar reads.

Overall, recommend to fans of contemporary romance that handle heavy themes with levity.

Maddie and Dom...I had tears in my eyes almost throughout this book. The novel had everything, a good plot, a romance and spice, what more could you ask for. Definitely worth reading. Thank you Berkley Publishing for the advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Maddie Sanderson has moved herself across the country from her toxic family. At 26, she is successful with a great support system in Seattle. But, Maddie's one true north, her brother, just died from cancer. Josh, an accomplished wildlife photographer, is larger than life and insists that she visit the remaining eight states he never made it to and spread his ashes. The only kicker is--Maddie has to take his best friend Dominic. And, they have a history....

It's an enemies to lovers trope that strikes a much deeper chord with grief, parental abandonment, chronic illness, and depression. While this was predictable at times, seeing Maddie come into her own and move beyond avoidance was gratifying to see!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the advanced copy of this one! PS: I Hate You debuts December 3!

P.S. I Hate You is an emotional love story. The loss of a brother hit hard as my brother tragically passed away at a young age, and I could relate to the grief that ran through the story. I felt incredibly connected to these characters as they navigated their feelings. Maddie and Dom's raw pain was excellently portrayed with each adventure dictated by her brother's will.

Connelly masterfully balanced the heaviness and the romance. The last letter literally broke my heart as the brother saw what they couldn't and lead them on a journey toward love in the afterlife.

Thank you, Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley

I loved the premise of this book, and the set up was excellent. I feel like the depth was missing. I loved Dom and Maddie but I wanted more about Maddie’s disastrous upbringing, and her friendships, since they were so important to her. Everything was just a little surface for me—despite loving the ending and the little surprise with Rosaline. Would absolutely read what she writes next and will find a permanent home for this on our spicy reads shelf!!!

PS: I Hate You by Lauren Connolly is a great contemporary fiction that really hit home.

This is a romance/comedy contemporary fiction, but it is also a book about love,loss, grief, and finding a way to move on. This novel definitely that brought a lot of different emotions to the forefront. I chuckled, I teared up, and I smiled…a good novel is able to elicit all of those feelings. Sure I may not have loved every nuance of the FMC, Maddie, but she was likable, flawed, funny, and realistic.
The journeys that Maddie and Dom experienced after the loss of Josh, was heartwarming and also so sad at the same time. I guess that is what life is, a mixed bag.

Their individual losses in regards to Josh, aka Maddie’s brother and Dom’s bff, presented with different issues challenges to accept, adapt, and overcome, but it also gave both the ability to help one another out in the grieving process and also find hope and promise in the future, and with one another.

I glossed over the few isolated “romantic encounters” that were added within the book and I definitely don’t feel that I lost anything relevant to the narrative, just as an fyi.

4.5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Berkley Publishing Group for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 12/3/24.

So much was done well here, but I struggled with the writing. I was looking for prose that was a bit tidier and more considered. Interestingly, when the main character wasn't with the male lead, I sort of got that. However, Dom was always growling, glowering, and towering, and for me it got old.

Maddie Sanderson's brother has just died. Sitting at his funeral, she can't bring herself to cry even though she's equally sad and mad that her brother died of cancer way too young. Then her ex-crush and brother's best friend, Dominic, tells her that her brother tasked them with traveling to some of the places he never got to see. At each of those locations, her brother wants his ashes spread and has written letters for them to read. Anxious to fulfill her brother's dying wish, Maddie decides to put aside her differences with Dom and see what her brother wants her to find.

This book was a heart-wrenching story for anyone who's dealt with grief or losing a loved one too soon. Your heart breaks for both Maddie and Dom and I wanted them to find their happiness again and overcome their grief however they could. It's a powerful message about the longevity grief can have and the hold it can have on your life. I loved Maddie's growth from someone who's been abandoned by people her whole life causing her to build a cage around her heart, then becoming someone who creates a found family and can welcome love into her life. I also loved Dom's strength and determination. her brother Josh that we get to know through his letters, and all the side characters as well.

This book is a great read for fans of the movie "PS I Love You." That movie and this book have a similar outline, a dying loved one sending their loved one letters to go on adventures after they pass on. But otherwise, this story has a very different plot and is beautiful all on its own.

Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC. Due to be released December 3, 2024.

*** I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. ***

It’s so special to know from the first couple chapters that you’re reading a very special book that you’ll end up loving and sharing with others. This is that book. It was so poignant, and the characters felt so real. The conflict and resolution were very human, and neither felt rushed. PS I Hate You made me smile, swoon, laugh, and cry. I’d highly recommend for fans of Emily Henry, Jessica Joyce, and Abby Jimenez. (And I was delighted to see Lauren Connolly has an extensive backlist I can check out as well!)

OK I absolutely loved this book! I got it in my Book Of The Month box, but didn't have it available on my Kindle, so I came to NetGalley & requested it just so I could have the Kindle version so I could finish it! Loved loved loved! I felt all the emotions and Dom is a new book BF for me! 5 stars!!!

I really didn’t want this book to end. I have a book hangover and wish I was still reading this story. I found it to be a heartfelt and moving read. It was a second chance romance but so much more. I loved these characters. They were well crafted-vulnerable and flawed and just trying to do their best.. Not just the main characters but also the many supporting characters.
The story starts with the loss of Maddie’s brother Josh, and his funeral brings her back into contact with Dom, the one who broke her heart.
There is so much tension between the main characters, first frustration and anger and later some steamy chemistry.
The setting adds so much to the story, as Dom and Maddie fulfill Josh’s last wishes, they visit some intriguing locations. The reader also gets glimpses into the past.
By the end I was feeling all the feels and in tears. The author examines grief and coping with loss in such a tender way.
There is so much more I could say about this book! Definitely recommend!

Don't you love when you pick up a book on a whim, knowing nothing about it and having it totally work? Me too! I love a road trip story. I love a good romance tale. This was both of those things but also a book about deep grief, connection, healing, growth and second chances. It was bittersweet and meaningful. Disclaimer: I read this book over the course of a long travel day. Even though I was exhausted I stayed up late because I couldn’t sleep until I knew how it ended. Also- be prepared to reach for a comfort item, person, blanket, etc for the last 25%. My hotel pillow was crushed by the end.