I really enjoyed this book! I alternated between the audiobook and e book, and it tugged at my heartstrings. The story follows the main character as she navigates grief over the loss of her brother, alongside his best friend—the same man who broke her heart years ago. Together, they embark on a journey to visit the places her brother had hoped they’d see. While the pain of their past lingers, their connection and undeniable attraction grow stronger. The book has some surprisingly spicy moments, but at its core, it’s a heartfelt story of healing and love that will stay with you.

Thank you for the free book @penguinrandomhouse and @berkleyromance #penguinrandomhousepartner #berkleyIG #BerkleyBookstagram.

Okay friends. So much to unpack with this one. I’m going to try and make this as organized as I can 😅

THE PLOT. This is probably my fave part of the book. Basically our female lead’s (Maddie) brother died from cancer. His dying wish is to have Maddie scatter his ashes over eight destinations. But she has to do it with the guy he’s been avoiding for almost a decade, her brother’s bestfriend- Josh.

With a plot like this, it sure is heavy with emotional moments and dealing with grief. So please proceed accordingly.

THE ROMANCE TROPES. This book is like a buffet of romance tropes. First, we have the bestfriend’s brother. Then we have the one night stand/ second chance romance. That lead to enemies to lovers then to friends with benefits that eventually lead to friends to lovers. So yes, spice wise - I was surprised that this book contained some heat. I would give it a 3 on the 🌶️ scale. 😅

THE LEADS. Let’s get Josh out of the way, he was a solid book boyfriend. I just hope he communicates more 😂 But Maddie- I wasn’t a big fan of her initially. I find her petty at times but omg the emotional growth and character development for her was written really well! From the insecure and abandonment issues to being brave enough to take the leap of faith with love. I also love that she puzzles 😂

THE TRAVEL. So this book will take you everywhere! Night hiking, ocean swimming, visiting a ghost town, getting tattoos, and so much more! This book is definitely for those who love exploring the outdoors!

LIFE THINGS. One of my favorite parts of this book is all the life therapy moments in it. That you have to live everyday as if it’s your last. That work/ life balance is important. That establishing boundaries and cutting people off (even if they’re family) is okay if it gives you mental peace in return.

Overall, this book was a solid read. Definitely recommend for those who love an emotional book with some hints of travel.

💭 Will you ever go night hiking?
☕️ No for me. Ive read too many thrillers to know that it’s never a good idea 😂

This was definitely bittersweet and I really enjoyed it. I love an enemies to lovers that has little destination adventures with surprise letters. It was all orchestrated by her recently deceased brother and she had to go with her childhood crush/unrequited love/mess.
Maddie has always loved her brother’s best friend but an event that happened when they were in their teenish years caused her to go missing from his life and that of his little brothers who adored her.
I loved the little mini trips to the national parks to spread her brother’s ashes and the forced proximity of the trips. I will tell you when we finally got to the last letter and last location and that surprise. It made me cry. That was a twist I wasn’t expecting but it was what made the story bittersweet. Such a lovely romance and sweet found family.

PS: I HATE YOU by Lauren Connolly is a beautiful, emotional rollercoaster that had me crying, laughing, and cheering for Maddie and Dom every step of the way. This book captured my heart in ways I didn’t expect.

The tension between Maddie and Dom is palpable from the very beginning.The way Maddie navigates her brother’s death while coming face-to-face with old wounds was so beautifully written, The wounds from her past—her sense of being overlooked, abandoned, and emotionally neglected—are just as raw as the grief she’s grappling with after Josh’s death. The author does an incredible job exploring how these unresolved issues shape Maddie’s interactions with the people around her, especially Dom. Their journey is not just one of healing from the loss of Josh, but also of Maddie confronting the ways her past has impacted her ability to trust, love, and let go.

Let me tell you, I cried so much reading this book. The emotional depth of Maddie and Dom’s journey, both separately and together, is raw and real. Their shared grief, their fractured history, and their slow but steady reconnection left me with a tear-streaked face and a heart full of feelings. Their story is a testament to the messy, beautiful, complicated nature of love, forgiveness, and second chances.

The romance is slow-burn, but it’s beautifully earned, and the emotional payoff is so. worth. it.

An absolute must-read for anyone who loves a story about overcoming past trauma, finding love in unexpected places, and healing from grief in all its messy, complicated forms. It’s a heartfelt exploration of family—both the one you’re born into and the one you create along the way—and it will absolutely break your heart, in the best way possible.

I’m a little late in posting - to be a little vulnerable, as a person who’s older brother passed away from cancer, reading a book about a character who’s older brother passes away from cancer was just hitting a liiiiitle too close to home to read at the time I received it, but I was finally able to get into it.

I’m not going to compare Maddie’s journey to mine. What I will say is this was an emotional and heartfelt journey between Maddie and brother’s best friend Dom to spread her brother’s ashes at eight specific locations across the US as designated by her brother in his will. Dom is her nemesis (in her head) so this is extra hard for her, but the two start to form a begrudging friendship which turns to more as they go about carrying out these tasks.

Maddie was a bit immature, but to be fair, she had no good role models growing up and she is actually quite young still. So, it was reasonable she would be a bit bratty at times but it still got on my nerves to be fully honest even when I understood it.

However, I loved taciturn Dom, the caretaker, the big brother, the serious accountant who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was so worried about Maddie’s health and safety, even when she was rebuking him at every step.

This is a single POV, so we only see what Maddie thinks of things but I thought the author did a good job letting us know what Dom was thinking, even Maddie couldn’t understand it. Though it is quite emotional and grief heavy at times, there was also laughter amongst the tears.

Overall though I thought it was a well written exploration of grief, one I definitely recommend to those who like emotional borderline women’s fiction stories!

PS: I Hate You is a heart-wrenching, second-chance romance with a heavy focus on grief. It’s full of love, loss and healing.

Maddie Sanderson lost her brother to cancer and his dying wish is that she scatter his ashes in eight destinations that he never got to visit. The catch? She must do this with his best friend, Dominic Perry. The man who broke her heart when she was 19.

Grief is never easy and I appreciate how it was portrayed here. Lauren Connolly did an amazing job showing the highs and lows of the grieving process.
My heart broke for Maddie as she struggled to adjust to life without her brother. Her remaining family is awful so aside from her two best friends, he was really all she had.

She’s definitely not happy about having to spend time with Dom but the promise of a new letter from Josh at each destination makes his presence tolerable. Despite their complicated past, they start to grow closer during their trips. I enjoyed the letters and tasks Josh left for Dom and Maddie at each stop. Being able to share their grief and memories allows both of them to slowly begin to heal.

I loved Maddie’s snark. Part of her grieving process includes sarcasm and some of her interactions with Dom were incredibly entertaining. I really loved them together. Their chemistry was palpable from the very beginning. I have to admit I was a bit impatient for Maddie to let go of the past but at the same time, I can’t blame her for guarding her heart.

I LOVED the Perry family, especially Adam and Carter!

I definitely recommend this if you're looking for a sweet romance that will tug at your heartstrings.

I love a romance that elicits a range of emotions. PS: I Hate You is a perfect example. I laughed (a lot), I cried, I got angry and frustrated, I swooned, and I felt relief. This beautiful, steamy, multi-trope romance includes enemies to lovers, second chance, brother’s best friend, forced proximity, and road trip. It’s definitely a wild ride and one you’ll probably want to read all in one sitting.

At its core, it’s a hard-fought romance, an exploration of grief, and a range of loving relationships (mf, sibling, and friendship). It begins at the funeral of Maddie’s brother Josh who died of cancer just shy of 30. She hasn’t been home for seven years, since her youthful crush and brother’s best friend Dom broke her heart. So, the last thing that she wants is for him to discover her in a coat closet where’s she’s fallen into a box half-full of toilet paper rolls. Unfortunately, he’s as handsome as ever and her heart clearly hasn’t gotten the message that she hates him. When Dom, as executor, passes out letters from Josh to those closest to him, Maddie is devastated to find that Josh has not only written one letter jointly to Dom and her, but that his dying wish is that they visit eight states together that he, as a world-traveling photographer, never got the chance to see. His instructions are to find the geographical coordinates in a certain order, read a new letter at each location, fulfill location-specific tasks, scatter some of his ashes, and take a joint selfie. It’s pretty obvious that he has ulterior motives, but it’ll take nearly two years, a lot of snarky comments from Maddie, requests from Josh that pull both of them out of their comfort zones, and some forced proximity before the walls Maddie has built start to crumble and they finally begin to discuss the past.

This would have been a 5* read for me, but Maddie’s immaturity and rude behavior were really off-putting. Yes, she has scars from her neglectful, cruel and abusive parents and grandmother and deep-seated abandonment issues, but Dom is so thoughtful and protective, that you can’t help rooting for him (even if you don’t know his reasons for breaking her heart years before). Author Connolly puts some trigger warnings at the beginning, and it’s important to read them because there are some heavy issues. Overall, however, there’s so much to love about this book that I highly recommend it.

This book was incredible. It portrays grief and loss in such a raw, emotional, and absolutely devastating way, that I was immediately invested in Maddie’s story. Her heartbreak was realistic and relatable, and I just wanted to put on a sweatshirt and give her a hug. The loss of her brother, Josh, is a huge focal point of the book, but it also doesn’t detract from one of the most achingly beautiful love stories I’ve ever read. Dom’s love for Maddie was so tender. He just wants to take care of her and love her, and she won’t let him. Their relationship is fraught with a complicated past, angst, pining, miscommunication, and bad timing. Dom and Maddie are forced to spend time together to spread Josh’s ashes, and as his best friend and sister, they are the only people who truly understand what it’s like to miss him. Watching them fall in love was so rewarding because they had to work so hard for their happily ever after. This book will make you cry, laugh, and fall in love. Go read it!
✉️
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice level: 🌶️🌶️
✉️
Read if you like:
▫️brother’s best friend
▫️childhood crush and first love
▫️she hates him
▫️grumpy x sunshine
▫️found family
▫️forced proximity
▫️second chance
▫️dual timeline
✉️
Thank you to Berkley Romance, Berkley Publishing, Lauren Connolly, and NetGalley for the ARC. I received an advanced copy for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily.

5 Made Me Cry Stars

When I tell you the premise of this book, you will understand why it made me cry, but whenever authors touch my emotions enough to make tears happen, they almost always end up as 5 stars. I had all the tears in this one! It did end on a positive note, though.

I connected immediately with Maddie Sanderson; somehow, despite a father who abandoned the family and a truly awful mother, she’s a good friend, sister, and employee. She’s also complicated, with tendencies to push everyone away and big fears of people leaving her. She has severe asthma, which I thought was realistically portrayed in the book.

The book opens with the funeral of her way-too-young brother, 29-year-old Josh, who died from cancer. He loved to travel the world, photographing amazing places and people. He often created puzzles from his photos for his sister, Maddie.

Josh’s best friend was Dominic Perry, a tall, handsome man who captured Maddie’s heart one summer when she cared for his younger twin brothers. However, Dom breaks her heart and marries the beautiful and sweet Rosaline. Now Dom just infuriates Maddie, and she can’t trust him.

Josh has left a big task -- and he wants his ashes scattered in eight states that he didn’t have a chance to visit. He’s left a letter to read with each state. And he’s left the task to …..drumroll here …. Maddie and Dom!

The journey to each state is as wrenching as you might imagine, scattering ashes and saying goodbye eight times. Josh also has tasks for the two to perform at each place.

The timeline hops around, and it takes the pair quite a while to get to all the locations. Along the way, they are forced to spend time together but never really talk about the past. They begin to re-establish a friendship, and each trip becomes a bit less torturous for Maddie. The grieving process was realistic in this one, too; it was never a linear path, and they did not get over it in a magic amount of time.

I’m excited to discover a new writer that works for me, and I’ll eagerly read what Lauren Connolly writes next!

This is one of those times where I’m mad at myself for putting it off. I still got this read before the pub date, but I put it off a bit past when I’d originally planned to read it because of a readathon and some blog tour review books. But once I picked this up, I was hooked! I wanted nothing more than to just sit and read until the very end. I’m so glad I was reading this over Thanksgiving break so that I was able to do that.

I’m the type of person who always liked any kind of personal connection I can feel to a character or a story, it really does help me get invested in the story. Unfortunately I’m finding that up until now I never quite got the total heartbreak of seeing someone very close to you pass away, but with my stepfather’s passing earlier this year, any death like this, especially from cancer, hits me really hard. But I still loved this story, and it probably made me understand so much more of the hard task on their last location they went to.

This book had so many tropes, but all of them felt like they were done so well. The older brother’s best friend crush. Enemies to lovers. A misunderstanding that kept them apart. The only one bed/close proximity bit, as well as the falling in love along a journey, not quite a road trip exactly though. It was so easily understandable for me why Maddie couldn’t trust things were going to go well, and all the reasons she fought things, even the end, the almost third act break up, I didn’t mind at all. Because it fit. Especially when you took into consideration how horrible a person her mother, grandmother, and even her father had been. But oh my gosh was Dom just perfect in how he handled it in the end. How he was patient. He was so perfect. Especially when we learned about the misunderstanding, it only made me love him more.

But it wasn’t all sad. There was some great banter, hilarious situations to get into. Oh my gosh, the tattoo scene, both hilarious and sad/touching at the same time. Maddie’s friends were wonderful, and I loved Dom’s younger twin brothers. I think this might end up being one of my favorite books of the year. So I’m going to highly recommend this to all my romance reading friends.

P.S. I Hate You by Lauren Connolly was a really great, special read. I grew to love these characters and was totally invested in their outcomes. I was surprised that the book got smutty but not upset by it. This had the best elements of a romance book.

📣 oh boy—amazing second chance romance alert!!

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

📖 what’s the last book a friend recommended that you loved? This was mine—thanks to @bookbruin for the rec!

I’m going to give myself a shout-out for tackling an emotional second chance romance like a boss this week 🏆 😝.

But it’s easy-ish when the book is as good as this one. I freaking adored how PS I Hate You by Lauren Connolly is written & the weight of it all: the pain but also the yearning, attraction, & love.

Maddie & Dom, the man who ravaged her heart years ago, are experiencing the terrible loss of Maddie’s brother & Dom’s best friend, Josh. Josh has requested that they spread his ashes at a series of locations & at each, they read a letter he’s written them & face the wreckage of their imploded relationship.

This is one of those books that feels so emotionally rich, similar to Jessica Joyce’s You, With a View, & the gesture that Dom makes at the end had me feeling Woah. The steam, the feelings, the support…so good!

5 ⭐️. Out 12/03.

CWs: toxic mother, loss, grief, moments of low self-esteem.

[ID: Jess holds the ebook in front of orange flowers.]

🧭🧳🚗
📖Review📖
4.5🌟
📖Book 73/100
📚 PS I Hate You
💫Genre:
Fiction/Romance
✍️Author:
Lauren Connolly

📝Synopsis 📝
Maddie returns home but only because it’s her brother’s funeral. Forced into the proximity of an abusive grandmother, narcissistic mother, no father in the picture, so her plan was to say goodbye to Josh and leave. The only thing is that Josh left his best friend Dom as the executive of his will and requested that he and Maddie spread his remains in eight different states. Only problem is that Dom and Maddie have a rough past which makes this task even more difficult.

💭My Thoughts 💭
This bittersweet story had me crying, laughing, and even wanting to sucker punch people 😆 Maddie was not an easy character to adore, but her layers and journey still managed to captivate me. Dom was very well written, and I’m a sucker for forced proximity, second chance, enemies to lovers, and reflective stories 🥰
I loved their literal and metaphorical journey, and I do believe in my heart Josh was behind it all❤️‍🩹
We know traveling is therapeutic 🧭🧳🚗

Thank you at NetGalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read this wonderful eARC in exchange for an honest review.
✨✨✨✨
#bookstagrammer #bookstagrammersunite #bookstacommunity
#bookreview #romancebooks #bookreviewer #bookrecommendations #booklovers #bookworms #bibliophile #netgalley #netgalleyreview #psihateyou

A cute and spicy rom-com that covers loss, grief, abandonment, and mental health.

Josh passed away from cancer. Before he passed, he wrote letters to his close friends and family to read after he passed. His sister Maddie and best friend Dom didn't get individual letters, but a joint letter. This letter tells them they they're tasked in spreading Josh's ashes in places he wanted to travel to. The pair must travel to these places, go where Josh tells them, and spread his ashes and take a selfie together. The catch? Maddie can't stand Dom. Once upon a time, she was in love with him. They hooked up, and the next day he proposed to his wife. How will Maddie share her grief with her brother's best friend while simultaneously hating him?

Connolly wrote a story about growth of her characters while they deal with the loss of a loved on. An adventure with lessons filled throughout. I really enjoyed this!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

This was a really wonderful and layered story that definitely had lots of surprises that I didn’t see coming. I thought Maddie was such an interesting character because in one moment my heart was breaking for her about her childhood and now having to manage life without the only family member who loved her and then in other moments I just wanted to shake some sense into her.

Dom was so witty and grumbly, which I always adore in a love interest, and feels so much older than the 29 year old we meet at the beginning of the story because of everything he’s had to deal with in his life. I think you get a really full picture of him as a character and his thoughts and I really enjoyed that , since it feels like sometimes you miss out on that in a 1st person single POV romance.

This was snarky, steamy, and sad at moments but overall I really enjoyed reading this and definitely want to check out more of Lauren’s books. Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for an ARC of this book!

The absolute emotional rollercoaster this took me on! I laughed, I cried, I got angry. It truly forces you to embrace every single part of the grief process. But this is as much of a beautiful romance as it is heartbreaking. When second chance is done right (LIKE THIS), boy is it incredible to read about. The longing, the yearning, the forced proximity of it all. Maddie and Dominic's stories are both so relatable. What a wonderful read!

Normally second chance romance books are not my style, but this one. Chef's kiss.

Maddie and Dom. Man, these two have been through the ringer.

Be prepared to use tissues, there is a lot of grief, a lot of individual growth of these characters (even the friends in the story and family members, not just Maddie and Dom).

This was really a wonderful read, and seriously a tear jerker.

In the end, this is more than just a romance read, it's a story about how even in death, people can bring us back together.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for my ARC.

In this heartbreaking story about grief, first loves, and found family, Maddie Sanderson learns how to live.

Engrossed in this travel adventure her brother sets her on, she has to contend with having so much love to give and having no place for that love to go. In this final farewell tour, she has to learn to let her guard down and trust that she's worth sticking around for because even one more day can be more than enough.

I loved how everyone met Maddie exactly where she was—supporting her without telling her how to feel. She was met with so much love and understanding at a time when she needed it the most, trusting herself to finally let go of the people who didn't deserve her.

While yes, at the core, this is a sweet slow-burn, second-chance romance—that starts a little bit like enemies-to-lovers—the love we find here goes beyond that. These characters are dynamic and gentle and always just show up for each other. I am obsessed with everyone here and I especially love the end of Rosaline's arc. I hope everyone loves this one just as much as I did.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Berkley and PRH audio for the arc and alc.

I can't recommend this book enough! Seriously, it was just SO GOOD. I can almost guarantee you will laugh and cry throughout this novel. This is the kind of novel that makes you pause and appreciate life.

Furthermore, Karissa Vacker does the narration for this book and that very well may be the main reason to pick up this audiobook. She is FANTASTIC!!!

I think this book may very well be one of the best romances of 2024. Just utterly beautiful and lovely. Can't recommend this one enough!

4.5 stars

PS: I Hate You provides a poignant exploration of grief mixed with hardcore second chance energy.

When protagonist Maddie Sanderson loses her older brother, Josh, to cancer, the last thing she expects is to fulfill his dying wish with the man who shattered her heart. Dominic Perry was her brother’s best friend, and there was a moment when Maddie thought the two of them had a future, until Dom dashed her hopes and sent her fleeing across the country. Now tasked to spread Josh's ashes in eight different states with Dom in tow, Maddie is determined not to let the proximity get to her. But as old feelings reemerge, Maddie will have to decide if she can trust Dom again or if they’re destined to remain estranged.

One of the things that author Lauren Connolly does well in this book is exploring the many iterations of grief and loss. Josh’s death fundamentally changes Maddie, and her journey toward acceptance is fraught and emotionally-charged. Dom, too, is grappling with loss, not only of Josh, but of Maddie as well. I enjoyed the way that Connolly unravels what happened between Maddie and Dom in the past slowly, but without relying too heavily on flashback. Keeping the narrative in Maddie’s single POV was also a deft narrative choice.

I laughed out loud at the witty repartee and cried when the characters’ grief felt tangible, and overall really enjoyed this novel. I will definitely be checking out more of Connolly’s work after this read.