This opening of this book really grabbed my attention. This was a great story especially with the characters being writers. I love stories like that. this book was the first of its kind that ive ever read and it was great.!!! definitely giving it a try.

I tried reading this one but I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood or maybe the book didn’t capture me. I just know that I couldn’t continue.

Give me a workplace romance and every time I eat it up! Now give me a spicy, rivals to lovers , with Shakespearean vibes. I devoured this!!! Needy and dirty ….and I was obsessed.

I will be recommending this to any customers looking for a good spicy time. Can’t wait to stock this in my shop.

Are you ready for an engaging read? Check out Much Ado About Hating You by Sarah Echavarre Smith. It was so much fun and it's available now.

The premise of this book sounded good but it left me wanting. The antics and behaviors of the two leads felt childish. I guess they had chemistry but I wasn’t convinced. When the two of them were connecting over their mutual writing, anonymously, their conversation felt more like two friends than anything. Also, both of them would’ve been fired or written up for their actions before they decided they liked each other.

There’ was potential for this book, but it just fell flat.

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Thanks to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thankfully I didn’t have much expectations for this book so I wasn’t able to be disappointed. Overall the writing style struck me as very juvenile which coupled with what I am now dubbing “soft core erotica” is an odd combo. There is a certain irony of there being fanfic as a central theme since this book… reads like fanfic. The steamy scenes were enjoyable enough and it was a quick read but overall doesn’t do much to leave an impression. Not my cup of tea but maybe a good intro to someone who wants to dip their toe in the spicy salsa pool before cannonballing.

Thank you Harlequin Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I didn't feel very connected to the first third of the book, including the initial chemistry. I absolutely enjoyed the other part of the book, though. The fanfic sections were cute and the text-based flirting was surprisingly less cringe-y than expected. It was fun, flirty, and felt emotionally connected. Solid three stars--- wish that the resolution would have felt slightly less cheap.

2 work rivals. Both alike in their love of spicy fanfiction. In fair X, where we lay our scene. From ancient grudge over auditors and everything they stand for, and the love of English literature break to new workplace conflict. Where pranks such as switching coffee to decaf in the breakroom, and intentionally not adding someone to a department-wide email makes professorial hands unclean. From forth the fiery romance author loins of these two foes, a pair of snowed-in-at-college lovers confess their secrets and fall in love.

A sweet story with an inventive premise and sped up romance/ending. I mean, Micah and Y even say so in the book, that this is a bit of a whirlwind romance within 6 weeks time. But I loved the idea that they had connected online before even meeting each other in person, that essentially they fell in love with each other's writing and voice before even laying eyes on one another. The hate-to-lust trope was crazy and funny, but it was the actual realization that they already had a meaningful connection that made me swoon. Also, the epilogue was super cute!

I read this book in a matter of hours - it was such a fun, spicy read! The plot was different from your typical workplace enemies to lovers, and I liked the uniqueness of the storyline! I also really loved that the fanfic that Aidan and Micah write is woven into the story and plays a big part in the book - I thought that was really creative and perfect for this story!

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin - Romance, and Afterglow Books by Harlequin for an advanced copy of this book.

This book was a quick, sizzling read, but overall, it left me feeling like something was lacking. I found it difficult to connect to the characters, and other than the spicy scenes, they felt two-dimensional.

One of the things that bothered me the most was the idea that she could "fix" things by just not turning in her report? In the real world, they're going to have someone else do it - probably with less consideration and compassion than she had developed.

I'd be interested to see if there is another book in the works for Liam and Kendall, but other than that, I don't know that I'd go out of my way to read another book in this series.

This one had so much potential on paper with academic rivals, enemies-to-lovers, secret fanfic identities, and a Shakespearean twist. But unfortunately, it didn’t quite land for me. While I love this trope, I didn’t feel much chemistry between Micah and Aiden, and the banter felt more like ongoing workplace tension than romantic build-up. The twist about the fanfiction connection should’ve been a fun reveal, but instead, it didn’t add much depth or tension to the story and led to some frustrating decisions from the characters.

That said, the audiobook was the saving grace. The narration by Cindy Kay and JF Harding was excellent. They brought out the characters’ personalities and made the dialogue feel more engaging. Their performances added a layer of charm that made the story more enjoyable to listen to than it might have been to read. If you’re curious about this one, I’d definitely recommend going the audiobook route.

The premise sounded soooo cool and interesting! I typically love a good workplace romance and enemies to lovers, but this missed the mark.

I really couldn’t connect with the bickering and revenge-I felt like it was all unwarranted and suuuper childish. My eyes literally widened when they started to hook up, and widened further during the “I love you” proclamation. It felt waaay too underdeveloped to have hit those points when they did.

Also, I love reading a book that has fanfiction in it, but I didn’t like the way this was structured, and their DMs made me cringe. The big reveal of their fanfiction profiles was a letdown to me; I wanted a bigger reveal with more than just the water bottle being the reason they connected the dots.

Honestly, I’m really only rating this 3 stars because the spice scenes were super hot. Without those, it would likely be 2 stars.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to ARC read in exchange for an honest review!

First I would like to thank Harlequin Romance and Harlequin Audio for providing me an ARC/audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.5/5 Starts
What I Loved:
- Audiobook Narrators, I am such a huge fan of Cindy Kay and with J.F. Harding I couldn't stop listening to this audiobook they did an amazing job emulating Micah and Aidan
- Spicy shorts, Aidan is a popular author of spicy short stories on a fanfic site and I love how they are scattered throughout the story
- Auditor & Professor, Micah is an auditor and as a former auditor it was fun to see my job reflected in a story and Aidan is a professor which is still my dream job for when I 'grow up'
- Enemies to Lovers, Aidan and Micah had the opposite of a meet cute and really sets up a fiery enemies to lovers story
- Pranks, I got a lot of giggles out of the pranks these two play on each other and how Micah is coached by her twin sister
- Siblings, both Aidan and Micah are close to their siblings and I enjoy how they both torment and help in all the situations
- Spicy, just HOT

If you are looking for a spicy enemies to lovers romance with a lot of chemistry, great side characters, stories within the story and unique occupations then I would absolutely recommend this book. Audiobook readers the dual narration in this audiobook elevates the story even more and you can feel the chemistry from the narrators....RUN to get this audiobook!

This was the first time I have ever been able to 👁️ read and 👂read a book at the same time. I really enjoyed this book and was taken back to my teenage years where every movie was a retelling of classic literature but this was much spicier and much more in tune to my taste as an adult romance reader! I was also pleasantly surprised when I read that the FMC is Filipina like me! This made it much easier for me to picture JF Harding whispering sweet nothings/dirty talk directly into my 👂 😍 His “good girl” is always a good time! 🥵 I can’t forget about my girl Cindy Kay because DAMN her dirty talk also had my temperature rising!

I personally love a good enemies to lovers storyline and this book delivered on the all that pent-up sexual tension between the main characters, Micah and Aidan! Who doesn’t love a dirty talking hot nerd willing to fog up his glasses by burying himself in between the black cat female’s legs!?!? 😮‍💨

This was a pretty quick read/listen and only took me a little longer to go through since I was doing both 👁️ & 👂 read and didn’t listen on my commute like I normally do. Overall, I would definitely recommend a listen over a read because JF Harding and Cindy Kay always deliver with their narration!

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, Harlequin Audio, and Harlequin-romance for the ALC & eARC!

Workplace enemies form a connection over an online fanfic romance/erotica site and has the two bonding over their shared appreciation for spicy Shakespeare love stories and the joy that can be found through romance books. I thought that this was fun, unique premise for a contemporary romance. It was great on audio and highly recommended for fans of authors like Jackie Lau or Carley Fortune. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

A hot cover for an okay story.

I think the premise behind this was great, the execution was just off. I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t a fan of reading the “book” scenes in the story. It felt like an unneeded addition to the story. And the writing wasn’t my favorite. The story just kind of seemed thrown together. There were moments when I felt like it could be redeemable but then wasn’t.

This book was an entertaining, spicy and sweet read. There is banter, enemies to lovers, sweet golden retriever MMC and black cat FMC. Such sweet moments and quite a few spicy ones 😅 English Professor who is also a spicy author, swoon….. Micah and Aiden were hot 🥵 So many great moments, I always love the point where it changes for the characters. Where they go from enemies to lovers, all the different ways authors can do this and I really enjoyed the way Sarah did it here. I give this book 3.5 stars. The only reason it isn’t a 4 or 5 star read was because, both MCs had points where if they just communicated there would have been less negative back and forth/hurt feelings. I really am not a huge fan of miscommunication/no communication tropes. But if you want a fun book set in a university with a hot golden retriever, Shakespeare loving turned spicy author English professor who meets a literature loving, spicy reader incased in a no nonsense auditor package, then I would suggest that you pick up this book.

I received an ARC through NetGalley, with the knowledge that I do not need to leave a review. I do so on my own and stand by my honest thoughts.

Love, war, and fandom collide in this amazing and funny romance! I adored Micah and Aiden's story, I love a Shakespearean drama/love story. I binged this in a few hours, and it was just so fast paced and fun. I can't wait to put it on my shelf at work!

This was such a cute read full of hilarious banter, an amazing romance, and interesting characters! I really enjoyed the writing and the fast pacing of the book, def read it super fast. The chemistry between the characters was so good and entertaining, that it kept me reading till the end!

There's no denying the heat in Much Ado About Hating You. Regarding steam, this book does not hold back—those spicy scenes were easily the highlight. Smith knows how to turn up the temperature, and when Micah and Aidan finally stopped arguing and started… well, not arguing, it was everything I hoped it would be: hot, intense, and unapologetically fanfic-level filthy. I have no complaints there.
The rest of the book, though? Meh. The setup was cute—hot professor, prickly auditor, secret fanfic identities—but the execution felt like checking off tropes without much depth. The enemies-to-lovers tension never really earned its payoff emotionally, and their constant bickering got old fast. I wanted more nuance, growth, and something to balance all that steam.
You might be disappointed if you're here for plot or clever Shakespearean nods. But if you're in it for the dirty talk and fanfic fantasy? There are some scenes worth bookmarking.