I enjoyed this book SO MUCH! I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did!

Their chemistry was incredible and the emotional depth was EVERYTHING!!!

I will definitely be reading more by Emily!

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

This book was a great escape for me; an enemies to lover’s tale of a successful lawyer, Nathan and Bea, a third-year law student. Bea is such a hard shelled induvial who is so frustrating at times but then there are the times she is the biggest supporter of her friend group when they need something. You will fall for Nathan the handsome lawyer as he withstands Bea’s frequent temper tantrums.
It's a quick cute rom-com that’s sure to be on everyone’s TBR list.
Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for my ARC in exchange for my thoughts.

Wow! This was my first book to read by this author but definitely not my last! This book will leave you wanting for more and the characters and storyline stick with you long after you finish it. Do yourself a favor and pick up this page-turner!

HOW FREAKING ROMANTIC was an anticipated read for me, and it was cute at times, but I found Bea to be unlikable. Her initial meeting with Nathan seemed highly unprofessional, especially for a law student about to graduate, looking for a job. I also felt Bea was almost personally offended when her friends’ lives changed. An aspect of the book that I liked was the theme of friendship, specifically as friends age and stages of life change, yet it felt like Bea was unwilling to accept her friends moving ahead in their lives.

Emily Harding’s How Freaking Romantic is a quirky exploration of love: messy, sometimes unexpected but always beautiful. Ms. Harding captures the ups and downs of contemporary romance with humor and tenderness. The book is fun while being heartfelt and tender. There are also those friendships that become family in this book, adding to it's heartfelt moments. You will laugh, you will, cheer, you will feel hopeful.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

It’s what you want and what you expect - a classic enemies to lovers trope centered around two NYC lawyers. It’s funny, charming, with a lot of bite and grit and love of friends (looking at you Bea).

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Even though I could see where the plot was going throughout the book, when a book makes me tear up I have to give it the full 5 stars. I fell in love with these characters. Bea is relatable in how she wants to fix everything around her, but ignores her own needs. And Nate is the perfect character to balance everything out. I liked the book throughout, but the last 25% of it was amazing; I couldn't put it down. If you're a lover of an enemies to lovers romance, make sure to pick this one up.

I really wanted to like this enemies-to-lovers more because I thought the stakes of the premise looked promising, however this book suffers from the extreme unlikeable nature of the FMC. Bea is somehow both extremely angry and unpleasant yet also the “glue” and caretaker of her friend group, which we don’t see much of until the end. Mostly we see her lashing out, jumping to conclusions, and being generally rude, making me constantly question why the MMC ever gives her the time of day. There’s less banter and more barbs from Bea. I think we could have dug in even more into how her mom’s six marriages framed her view on relationships, marriage, and divorce. There is one good conversation about it but I wanted that part to be a little deeper. It made sense how her friend’s addiction made her interested in healthcare law, but I didn’t see the translation into hospital anxiety. Our prototypical hot, kind, and rich MMC Nathan is a punching bag for Bea until everyone exhausts themselves into a conclusion.

How freaking cute. Truly.

I adored this book. I wanted to turn the page, keep reading, not put it down. I wanted to devour it. Such good, engaging writing.

The FMC will irritate a lot of readers. A lot. "I can't relate to her" will be mentioned. She's a debby downer. Really, a Bitter Betty. The opening pages paint her accurately as mad all the time. A rebel without a cause, perhaps? And she doesn't really change throughout. That might be my biggest criticism is that the mad aspect to her personality didn't really seem to go anywhere. She didn't have to change, I lowkey kind of love that she didn't?! But it didn't feel like it made a full circle. It was just there.

And then again, maybe that's the point. Damn, because maybe that was the author's intent, to not change this aspect of an imperfect woman's personality.

Either way. I loved the book.

I loved the subtle pining of the MMC. I loved the character growth the FMC and MMC had together. I loved the back and forths they'd have. I loved the real struggles of worrying about getting a job post graduation. I loved that she didn't go straight to law school right after undergrad. I loved how she eventually opened up to her mom and her mom gave a little growth.

I did not love the Third Act Conflict because I thought FMC overreacted in a way that could've/should've been developed more. MMC's reaction made sense when you think about it. FMC's reaction made sense when you think about it. But I shouldn't really have to think about the POV character's reaction to something to have it make sense. I think I was waiting for it to go a little deeper to fully make sense as an action. Especially since the novel opens with how angry she always is, I guess I was waiting for her to get really good and angry on page.

Even then. I kept reading. Voraciously. I wanted to know how it wrapped up and ended.

It's a story that stuck with me past the last page. And one I can't wait to reread.

5 Stars. Easily.

Beatrice was SO unlikeable. I really struggled seeing the chemistry between the two main characters because I could not figure out how Nate would find any of Bea's antics endearing. There was some suggestion that they could talk forever, so they had that going for them, but she was mean & so closed off. I do think that was purposeful on the author's part, Bea had armor that had to be broke through, but it was just a little too thick for me. The writing was fun & Nate was a gem. Even though I didn't love this one, I'll still be interested in checking out Emily Harding's future books.

I’m giving this a solid three stars: it’s enjoyable and humorous, with moments that genuinely landed for me—but it didn’t quite come together as the emotionally satisfying full package I was hoping for.

I LOVED this book so much!!! Nate was such a green flag guy and I loved how Bea just assumes he’s an asshole and he never corrects her or takes offense, but slowly shows her that he’s far from an asshole. I loved Bea’s motivation to become a lawyer and how loyal her character was to her friends. Overall, this book was easily 5 stars and I loved everything about it!

Okay so... I have feelings. I have A LOT of feelings.

First off, this book was almost perfect for me. I really adored Bea and even though Nathan was painted as a jerk from the beginning, I was totally rooting for the book of them the whole book.

This book was funny, little bit spicy at times, and made you swoon in spots. All of that was amazing. Then we get to the 3rd act break up and them getting back together. I can't explain what it was that I didn't like about them getting back together, it just seemed... weird. I just didn't care for how it happened. I know I can't be the only one. That's the only reason I took one star off of my review.

Anyway, huge fan and I can't wait to read more from this author.

2/5 on spicy scale. There was spice but it wasn't a biology lesson.

Beatrice is exactly as the description suggests—feisty and combative. But she’s also loyal and does everything with her heart on her sleeve. She’s a tough woman, and I ended up loving her. It was a bit hard at the beginning of the story, but that’s the beauty of a well written book. Characters mold and change because of the obstacles they face in the story. And the hero sees through all the heroine’s crap and loves her anyway. Emily Harding did a fantastic job in this fun debut. Nathan was a great hero. He also didn’t put up with Beatrice’s crap. He challenged her and saw through to her core. He often knew why she was acting the way she was. Backstory, and the fact that Beatrice doesn’t like change, made her the way she is. I don’t like change either. I see you Beatrice! I adored this story. It was well written and plotted. It had lots of good character growth. It was just enjoyable to read. This author’s next book will definitely be on my TBR list! I received this book from Gallery books and Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

This was an enjoyable enemies to lovers romance, and was a quick read. The perfect book to read this summer while it is hot outside, the book being set in winter. I did wish that our main male character had had the plumbing fixed fixed at her apartment. (If you read it, you will know what mean). Thank you to Netgalley for this free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

thank you Gallery for this review copy! I know Emily Harding from her books with Audrey Bellezza and it was a treat to read her solo work. I loved this book, I have to say there are just some romcoms that get the charm, banter vibes that I love and the chemistry I want to dive into, How Freaking Romantic nails this!
I tore through How Freaking Romantic and had a blast—it’s funny, high-key tense (this author could teach a class on slow-burn!), and full of flawed, lovable people making questionable-but-relatable choices. Bea is far from perfect (exactly what I wanted in a FMC), and I loved that the MMC could challenge her without steamrolling her. The final stretch lost a little momentum for me—classic third-act romcom wobble—but overall this is a one-sitting, poolside, perfect summer read. I was 100% here for the messiness, even if I occasionally wanted to hand Bea a hug, a good therapist, or at least some emergency chocolate. Highly recommend if you like your romance smart, sharp, and just a little chaotic.

I'm a huge fan of the author's co-written Jane Austen inspired books so I jumped at the chance to read her solo book. I really enjoyed both the romance arc and the friendship arc of this book and loved watching fiercely protective "coconut shell" (iykyk) Bea let her guard down and also learn to take care of herself for a change. And aside from one mistake that he more than made up for, Nathan was pretty perfect. Utterly enjoyable!

3.5 stars, rounded up.

This is an entertaining book that is perfect for fans of Legally Blonde! After a disastrous first meeting, a law student finds herself TAing for a class taught by her best friend's ex's divorce lawyer.

While the premise of this book was interesting and the story was entertaining, I felt that the romance was not strong enough to support all the lies, sneaking around, and mistakes the characters make.

If you are a fan of Legally Blonde, workplace romance, forbidden romance, and meet-disasters, this might be a perfect book for you!

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review!

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤 is a solid rom-com
with great character chemistry and banter. Smart and independent Beatrice Nilsson, a teaching assistant in her final semester at NYU law school, is passionate about a lot of things—like healthcare rights law, the lack of hot water at her apartment building, and the happiness of her best friends, to name a few examples. That’s why she hates Nathan Asher on sight. He’s a handsome, self-possessed family law attorney whose success and wealth comes from the unhappiness of others… including Bea’s best friend, who is currently in the middle of a contentious divorce with one of Nate’s clients. But Bea’s determination to dislike Nate starts to crumble when he takes over for her boss’ class as an adjunct professor and they get to know each other better.

Though some lines and plot points get repetitive and it is a bit unbelievable that two intelligent, principled people would carry on with a will they-won’t they flirtation despite obvious conflicts of interest, overall this is an enjoyable and amusing book great for those interested in enemies-to-lovers stories and workplace romances. 3.75 stars rounded up! Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

“How Freaking Romantic” by Emily Harding was my first book by this author. Bea is a law student who is fiercely loyal to her friends. Problems arise as her two best friends end up getting a divorce. Bea goes head-to-head with her friend’s divorce lawyer who seems to be doing everything he can to make her friends life miserable. When this layer suddenly takes over teaching one of the classes she is a TA for, an unlikely friendship develops. I liked all the side characters and wish we would have had more interactions them with. Josh’s issues could have carried more throughout the book. The relationship building for Nate and Bea mostly took place off page. We were told how much fun they had together but I prefer to see it happen. The miscommunication troupe in act 3 felt forced when there was another glaring factor that would have been more believable to separate them. That said, this was a quick fluffy read that would make a great pallet cleanser between more heavier reads.
Thank you to NetGallery and Gallery Books for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.