I adored this book.

Maddie Sanderson is tasked with her brother’s dying wish in traveling to eight destinations to spread his ashes, with his best friend and the man who broke her heart, Dominic Perry.

Maddie is sharp witted and loves a good jab. She values her close friends and the trust it brings her. Eventually, Maddie will come to appreciate the gift her brother provides her in his will.

Dom is the most patient and understanding person as demonstrated in the latter half of this story. He is respectful in supporting Maddie while recognizing he needs to give it time.

The two and a half year journey was long but felt realistic for Maddie and Dom’s relationship arc. There is no direct way to navigate emotional trauma and that was captured beautifully in this story.

I loved the outdoorsy destinations, the exploration of grief, the romance, the family and friend dynamics and truly, the puzzle Josh left in his legacy.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an e-ARC of this via Netgalley.

What drew me to this book was the depth of the storyline. Exes Maddie and Dominic are forced to travel together after Maddie’s brother, who was Dominic’s best friend, dies of cancer. It was his dying wish that the two of them spread his ashes and complete his bucket list.

I’m going to be bold and say the story and the way it was told reminded me a lot of Emily Henry’s novels. I know! That is a lot to live up to. But that was the vibe!! I read this in less than a day between a hair appointment and the remainder of a lazy Saturday. It is over 400 pages but very binge-able.

Genre: Rom-Com
Tropes: Brother's best friend, second chance
TW; death of a loved one, cancer

I went into this book with little or no knowledge of the plot except that it's a Romantic Comedy featuring a grieving FMC and her brother's best friend. Needless to say, I wasn't quite sure what to expect but was ready for the ride and I'm so glad I buckled up and let this book take me on all the awesome adventures of our main characters.

From seeing real life glow worms to hiking a pro-level trail, Maddie and Dominic take their task of living the moments Maddie's brother wanted them to experience with courage, intentionality - and so much sexual tension. I loved the back drop of the relationships between Josh and Maddie and Josh and Dominic and I really appreciated how well Lauren Connolly represented how immense, long lasting, and fluid grief can be.

For the romance, there was just enough of a miscommunication trope for a plausible "enemies to lovers" (but not really enemies to lovers) relationship but without it seeming over the top or becoming too annoying. I liked that there was a subtle sexual pining from the jump but that there were serious life circumstances that were thrown in to make the relationship just out of reach until our happily ever after. I will gladly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a top notch romance with a lot of heart.

REVIEW💌

PS:I Hate You ~ Lauren Connolly
Pages: 432
Genre: Romance

Love, Last Wishes, and a Cross-Country Journey.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
So, I am a big fan of going into books blind - I’m big on hype, recommendations from people I trust, or just simply my own vibes when I look at a book. This was chosen off the latter and my vibes are not to be messed with. A major plus that this was a BOTM pick to cross off my list. I feel like I’m ordering every month but just stacking them on my nightstand. I truly truly loved this one, so much so that I’m debating whether it should be in my top 10 of 2024.

I think my strong love for this comes from my own experience with grief - although Maddie was a toughie, I understood her and I could appreciate her mix of raw sadness and snark. Mix in a hot romance and I was sold. A really great concept, super pacing, heart, soul, and some steam. Kinda sad it’s over, really happy I read it!

I went into this beautiful book completely blind with only the knowledge that many of my friends had cried their way through it.

And from the first few chapters, I could see why. This is an emotionally heavy, beautifully captivating, raw and genuine story on so many levels that I don’t think my review will even come close to doing it justice. But I’m going to try anyway.

Maddie’s older brother just recently died, and in order to help honor his memory, she has to go on eight separate adventures to spread his ashes in eight different states. But that’s not enough of a challenge for her. No. He also leaves a note for her stating that she has to do it with the one man she can’t stand. Her brother’s best friend. The very man who broke her heart by sleeping with her and then proposing to his ex-girlfriend the very next day.

LIKE WHAT‽‽‽‽ When I tell you that I was pissed at Dom for that for most of the book, I’m not even kidding. That said, I had a feeling something deeper had gone down and Maddie likely just didn’t get the full story—since, well, it’s a romance book too.

And I was right. But even still, what an awful thing to experience. The one man you’ve crushed on forever finally shows you he might feel the same thing for you? AND THEN HE PROPOSES TO SOMEONE ELSE THE VERY NEXT DAY?????

I’m clearly still not over it.

Beyond this part of the story though, I loved the depth that Lauren created between Maddie and Dom, their shared history, the scavenger hunt Maddie’s brother left for them both, and how even in his passing, he was trying to bring his two favorite people together.

All of this to say…this is a beautiful book. Both in print and in audio. And you need to read it. But please be prepared for the heaviness alongside some lighthearted moments.

Read this if you enjoy:
- Childhood crush
- Second chance
- Forced proximity
- One bed
- Found family
- Brother’s best friend
- Enemies to lovers
- Witty banter
- He falls hard and never stops

CW: loss, grief, negligent and emotionally abusive family

This. Book.

I loved this book. It made me laugh, gasp, say awwww, and boo-hoo like my heart was broken.

💔 "I'm not afraid of the days with you in them. I'm afraid of the ones I might have without you." 💔

The characters. The story. The devastation. The friendships. The young love-turn enemies (one sided)-turned love. The consistently showing up. The possessive "She's mine." The siblings. The found family. Josh. Adam and Carter. Jeremy. DOM.

This author did such a wonderful job building these characters and bringing them to life. I guessed one thing early on but nothing else. Josh. The loss of Maddie's brother was so real and the quest he sent his sister and best friend on was just a joy to read. Her snark. His stoic sarcasm. Ugh. I loved it all. I want their tattoo but with a different name obviously.

Read this book. Have some tissues handy. You will love everyone involved except for two older women that are evil.

My only drawback was the miscommunication on Maddie's part. For that reason alone...I give this book 4.8 stars out of 5, rounded up to 5.

What to expect:
▫️second chance romance
▫️travel adventures
▫️snowed in
▫️piggy back rides
▫️spicy content that isn’t skippable

I’ve enjoyed Lauren’s books that are part of the Green Valley Heroes series, but this was next level. I loved this different take on the movie PS I Love You, but with a way more happy & satisfying ending. I thought the angry depiction of grief was realistic, even if the FMC was rough to like at times because of it. The relationships were messy, and I thought some parts were predictable, but overall it was a heart warming and emotional read.

I can’t remember the last time I pulled an all-nighter reading a book, but this one pulled me in so much that I couldn’t put it down until these characters found their happily ever after 🥹 PS: I Hate You is a story of finding love in grief, but it’s also an adventure filled with little moments that show both the beauty and the pain of honoring a lost loved one.

Maddie’s older brother Josh was a wondrous spirit who loved to experience all the beauty the world had to give. When he loses his cancer battle, he leaves one final request for Maddie and his lifelong best friend, Dominic: scatter his ashes across the eight states he never got to visit. Maddie and Dom wholeheartedly want to honor Josh’s final request, but the problem is, they’re two people with their guards up, unwilling to readily face the falling out they had years before. Still, being the person who likes to follow rules to the letter, Dom insists they go on the journey. Crossing thousands of miles, following the puzzle pieces in the form of destination letters, Maddie and Dom revisit their past while taking Josh on one last trip.

Grief is such a difficult subject to navigate, but Lauren Connolly did an incredible job displaying the vulnerability in it. I loved how realistic these characters were as found themselves bound together by what seemed like an impossible task. It was very clear how much love Maddie and Dom had to give by the way they fiercely showed up throughout the story, despite the complications each had in their personal lives. Lauren wove humor, tension, and chemistry into the story so well, and it made me love the healing experience and comforting relationships Josh’s wishes brought them 🧡

If you’re a fan of second chances, found families, emotional stories that also feature lighthearted moments, and complex characters growing through trauma, I definitely recommend this for you 💙

Oh wow. There are not enough stars in the world for this book and the way it made me feel. As someone who has experienced the loss of a loved one that I was very close to, it hit home with every nuance of grief written in the pages. The love, the laughter, the inappropriate humor, the dark wit, the soul-deep emptiness, the need to hold on, and so much more. The beauty of this novel lies in the way it breaks you, but also puts you back together again. Life's gifts after death are there, you just need to look for them and be open to finding them when you're ready. The audiobook is narrated beautifully by Karissa Vacker and I'm not sure anyone else could have brought the depth to the story that she did.

Favorite Quotes:

When I’m next to her, I might as well be two inches tall and built of childish insecurities.

“She get tired of you refusing to let her peg you because you already have a stick up your ass?” Dom chokes on his swallow of beer and pounds a fist on the bar top as he struggles to get the liquid down his throat rather than his lungs. “Maddie!” He gasps finally. “What?” I hide an evil grin behind the rim of my gin and tonic. “I was just asking a question.”

Jeremy is so hot, I used to apply sunscreen before hanging out with him. If I could get sunburn from a person, it would be him. And worse than that? He has a great personality. Funny, smart, and kind.

A childhood that consisted of zero control over my life makes it almost impossible for me to allow someone else to dictate my choices now.

If I have one day left, or thousands, I want you to be in every one of them.


My Review:

This one had me feeling all the feels and produced a thousand pounds of heart-squeezing insights. The writing was cleverly parsed, highly perceptive, and so poignant it grabbed me by the throat and didn’t let go. I was turned inside out and upside down and I couldn’t have loved it more. I was totally enamored with Dominic, but Maddie broke my heart, several times. I may have experienced some ocular leakage and hot rocks in my throat in between giggle-snorts and outright laughing aloud. Maddie was concerned that she couldn’t cry, which is also something I rarely do, but oddly enough, I found I had no problem weeping for her.

I enjoyed Maddie and Dom as individual characters, but not so much as a couple. Their romance felt underdeveloped, and the constant miscommunications between them became frustrating. I found Maddie’s character tiny bit annoying.

While the book didn’t resonate with me as much as I’d hoped, I still think it’s a worthwhile read with some great moments.

Wow. This was such an intense and heartbreaking love story. I cried and laughed and cried again. But it was so worth it from beginning to end. Perfection. I hope this author gives us more from this world.
10* stars and a must read.

A beautiful blend of genuine emotion and grief mixed with a snappy second chance romance. The banter between the characters really kept the story from getting too heavy. Loved the twist at the end.

Short synopsis: After her brother dies, he leaves a letter for Maddie and his best friend Dom to scatter his ashes across to various locations.

My thoughts: I immediately loved this one once I got a taste of Maddie’s snark and sense of humor. The banter between Maddie and Dom was great, their chemistry was sizzling. Speaking of sizzling, this was a tad bit spicier than I was expecting.

There are definitely some heavier themes in this, grief, abandonment and childhood trauma to name a few. But I really liked how therapy was introduced to help the characters grow and thrive.

I loved visiting the various l actions along with Dom and Maddie, and finding all the secret adventures that Josh sent them on. I really liked how they were able to grieve such a big loss together. The ending was just so sweet and unexpected.

Read if you love:
- Brothers Best Friend
- Road trip/Travel
- Puzzles
- Heavier topics
- Growth
- Second chance romance

WOW I loved this book so much. What a great, emotional rom-com with depth!!! So swoon-y and cute but also did serious stuff really well. Super impressed by this one, will def be recommending.

DNF at 60%

P. S. I Hate You … maybe? A little bit?

OK, OK … I don’t really hate this book. Hate is such an extreme word, but hard as I’ve tried to keep going, I’m two-thirds of the way in waiting for any glimmer of love to show up in my heart for this story, and it just isn’t sparking!

Here’s what I did like:

The premise. Twenty-six-year-old Maddie’s older brother Josh’s dying wish is that she travel to eight states he never got to visit and have an adventure of his choosing before scattering his ashes with the help of his best friend Dominic: the guy who broke her heart at nineteen. It had loads of potential.

The themes. I appreciate any author who draws attention to serious themes and the complexity of being human, so props to her for that. This story examined the grief journey in all its messiness, since people usually aren’t their best selves when trying to process pain. No matter how difficult it was to like Maddie’s behavior, at least I could understand it. It also dealt with chronic illness in the form of her asthma and her mother’s toxic narcissism.

Here’s what I didn’t like:

The main character. Grieving or not, Maddie herself says at one point: “I never claimed to be mature. In fact, I am often extremely immature for my age.” It shows often and it’s pretty insufferable in the first half of the book to watch how she treats Dom in her pain. I’m sure if I kept reading, he’ll be the saint who forgives all her insults and she'll see the light about his past choices, but it feels too easy to just gloss over how utterly obnoxious she’s been by blaming all of it on her grief. Dom’s willingness to keep taking her verbal punches isn't admirable to me.

The spice. I can handle a decent amount of spice in my books, though I’ll always prefer the door slightly less open. What I can’t handle is sexuality that’s anatomically described in great detail or relies on more crass sexual terms to get me onboard with how much they want each other. Maybe I’m just getting too old for this stuff, but even my twenties self would cringe at some of the narrative and dialogue.

Anyways, the book is working well for many others, so I’ll accept that as me just being the wrong reader for it. It’s well-written - it’s just not my type, so to speak! I can only rate it based on what I've read, and at this point it's a 2.5 star.

A novel that made me smile, root for the characters, and moved me to tears.
It starts strong and the first part is poignant and very moving, the rest of the story is on a lighter tone even if the change was a bit abrupt.
I appreciated the path to healing of Maddie
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Firat I’d like to thank @berkleyromance for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝
Lauren! What did I do in my lifetime for you to hurt me like this?!?! I was crying at 7% in, and you kept me crying throughout the whole book.

P.S. I Hate You follows Maddie after the passing of her brother Josh. At his funeral, Josh leaves Maddie and his best friend Dom a joint letter. He instructed them to scatter his ashes across the U.S. in all the places he wished he had visited when he was alive.

Maddie and Dom’s relationship and love isn’t perfect by any means, but Lauren managed to make you feel SO much with these characters. I was swooning, and aching, and mourning right along side their journeys. It was seriously one of the most beautiful stories I’ve read. The character depth, and lack of “perfection” just elevated the story and made the characters far more relatable.

Maddie just deserved so much more from her immediate family (especially her bloody mother), but Dom’s brothers legit have my WHOLE heart.

You're going to want to shake Maddie many times. But then you'll want to hug her (if she lets you), and squeeze her and encourage her. But then more shaking.

I loved this grief-laden, adventure-filled story of growth and romance. I thought how the author brought things together at the end was clever and special and well considered.

This one's going to hurt a little, but I promise you'll like it because and in spite of that :)

I've heard amazing things about this book but it was not for me at all. I was really bored and almost rolling my eyes at the characters the entire time I was reading, so I'm DNFing at 14%. I have absolutely no interest in the MCs and their enemies/exes plotline is weird. Thanks anyway for the ARC.