Unfortunately I just truly couldn’t get in to this one which really stinks because the premise sounded so good! DNF at 47%

Aiden Scott is an English professor at East Nashville University, and moonlights as a writer of Shakespearean fan fiction. Micah Mika is a fan. Micah is assigned to audit the English department at ENU and then a spark ignites between them.

The cover and blurb of this book really caught my attention. I started reading very hopefully that it would be a quick steam fun read. It was very steam and had some fun parts but for the content of the book, the characters felt very juvenile. In the book they are 32 years old and in a professional setting, but they didn’t act like it. I didn’t feel any tension between them and really there wasn’t much growth or progress made as characters besides Aiden’s relationship with his dad.

I did enjoy the book, but didn’t find my self reaching to pick it up at every opportunity.

I love this shakespear adjacent book couldn't get enough, All of her books are my favorite and this one is no disappointment. thanks so much for letting me read this book

I was really drawn to the cover and description of this book, but sadly, it didn’t live up to expectations. The characters were awful, abhorrent and insufferable. Honestly, the biggest shock in the opening chapters was that either of them managed to keep their jobs after their outrageous behavior during WORK meetings. It felt like something from a middle schooler's Wattpad story honestly.

The character development and dialogue were nowhere to be seen. There was no banter, flirting, tension, or slow burn. Just a lot of repetitive, immature lines (if I read "that’s so hot" one more time, I might scream). The writing was so bad and mechanical, I imagine it’s how AI would try to write what it thinks romance should look like without understanding real human emotions/interactions.

I also agree with others that “the big twist” was underwhelming since it seemed to exist solely to push the characters into bed together after they’d spent most of the book loudly despising each other (and still do after the hookup). The entire story, particularly the ending, felt problematic, with the woman facing most of the consequences while the man seemed to come out on top. during women’s history month no less?

That said, I’m someone who doesn’t really vibe with the whole hate-sex trope, so maybe I’m not the target audience here. If you enjoy that as well as a novel filled with misunderstandings and drama, this might still be your thing - it just wasn’t mine. Thank you netgalley for the ARC!

Thank you to Harlequin and Sarah Echavarre Smith for this advanced copy of Much Ado About Hating You.

If you go into this book expecting a quick, spicy, slightly cheesy romance, you’ll have a fun time. It’s not amazing quality writing but it’s funny, and the spice is decent. I knew what I was getting into, and I enjoyed it. Like watching reality television.

Overall: 3.25 Stars out of 5

Thank you to NetGalley and Afterglow for the opportunity to give my candid feedback!

I originally requested this book because it seemed to have everything I typically look for: dual POV, academic rivals, office romance, and the Shakespearean fan fic aspect got me. Also, the spicy cover is perfect!

Now, I did enjoy that the MCs were more mature and open with one another, especially about their previous relationships and family trauma. The use of dual POV here was also great! It was almost 50/50 which I loved because it meant we got a lot of the spicy scenes from Aidan’s perspective as well.

But, overall, I was personally turned off by how repetitive the prose was and I just wished the characters' maturity translated into how they treated each other in the professional setting. Also, the way the narrative took a turn at the end was a bit of an ick for me.

With that said, if you are looking for a short, sweet, and very spicy workplace romance I think you would enjoy Much Ado About Hating You!

I wanted to love this story, but the characters kind of fell flat for me. I usually love the enemies to lovers trope, but this felt more childish and petty. The "banter" and pranks felt very immature. Overall, the story was okay. It did have some redeeming moments in the end.

Much Ado About Hating You was a very short and quick read. Based the description, I really thought that I was going to like this book. Unfortunately this book just wasn't my cup of tea. The book felt very bland and the relationship between both main characters was just ehhhh. This book has the potential to be better, it just needs a little bit of reworking, especially with the characters.

This book was so fun!! Great enemies to lovers. Such good banter. Loved the Shakespeare meets modern romance throughout the story. The fanfic writing was really fun. The steam and the chemistry was perfect. This felt like a longer novella, not quite a novel. So the plot moves fast along with the emotions. But for the length, it was a blast and did not bother me at all. I seriously had so much fun.

2.75 stars

I had high hopes for this book after reading the summary a professional setting where two adults would get hot and heavy after some aggressive interactions. But why did it read like a Wattpad story, nothing was flowing, the sex scenes were not hot. I can see the effort it the author did with the characters giving their personalities more depth. But they didn’t hit for me they sounded like they were in college with their dramatic reactions and behaviors I felt cringe. Even when they actually started to talk to each other like real people it felt forced, a bit overdone with the romance. I see promise in the author but they definitely need more time to work out characters and story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Afterglow by Harlequin I received a ARC for an honest review !

this book opens really strong and can hook a reader really fast! there’s a lot of fun allusions to shakespeare, which adds to the uniqueness of the book! the writing style is also really captivating- the voice of each narrator is great!

University settings. College professors. Relationships that are forbidden. These are a few of my favorite things. I adored this book by Smith and thought she did a great job building suspense among the two main characters. I needed to keep reading because I was so enthralled with this story. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

So grateful to get this as an ARC on Netgally!! I was really excited about the premise of this book! The mmc being an English professor and her being a financial auditor tasked to cut waste in his department. It was a true enemies moment at the beginning which I enjoyed. This book was also SPICY!! I enjoyed that he was the secret erotica writer, it made a little different. As much as I did like the book, there were some things that got me. The writing at times felt flat to me and the mmc annoyed me. He got a lot more growth out of their relationship than she did. He got to repair his relationship with his dad and meet his person. She got a man who did not understand or accept that she HAD to do her job even if it hurt his. Yes he supported her in her writing but it felt like he pressured her to leave her very STABLE job to pursue a career HE DOESN’T PROFESSIONALLY DO!! Also the epilogue felt like it went back on all her personal progress (moving in with him after 3 months?? Like girl weren’t you traumatized by the last guy??) Overall it was an enjoyable read.

I want to preface that I usually love her books. So with that said,  this wasn’t a favorite of mine. Micah was the auditor for the university’s English department. Aidan wasn't impressed that his job may be on the line as an English professor.  They disliked each other early on. The first half there was a lot of immaturity between the two thirty year olds. Which was awful. Hiding a hot sauce in a sandwich was petty. Especially if you don't know what allergies the person has. Another issue was I didn’t like Micah in the beginning either.  At all. So it was hard to cheer for her. The second half was much better. I felt they finally had the right chemistry. The sex scenes were very hot and steamy. Yeah for that. The ending was cute. Overall, it was a good enemies to lovers romance that I’m sure people would appreciate. Thank to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC.

This was fun & steamy!

I was drawn in by the spicy fanfic writing professor and the enemies to lovers romance. I found this to be a fun read. The characters have witty banter and great chemistry which made the steamy scenes great. I liked the secret identity plot and how it played out.

A quick, entertaining and steamy read!

i wanted to love this book. the premise had everything I adore—academic rivals, secret identities, spicy fanfic, and Shakespearean drama. but somewhere along the way, this story went from Much Ado About Nothing to A Comedy of Errors, and not in the good way.

first off Micah and Aidan have the chemistry of two wet socks stuck together in the dryer—full of friction but not the fun kind. their “banter” felt less like sizzling tension and more like an HR violation waiting to happen. i love a good enemies-to-lovers arc, but these two spent so much time bickering that by the time they got together, I felt like I had been third-wheeling an office argument for 300 pagealso, Aidan dude, your entire career is on the line, maybe don’t spend so much time thirst-posting in the fanfic trenches. i respect the dedication to the craft, but priorities, my guy. the Shakespearean nods were fun at first, but after the fifth dramatic monologue about love and fate, i started feeling like I was trapped in a high school English class where the teacher insists on reading Romeo and Juliet in an accent. by the end, I was less interested in whether Micah and Aidan would end up together and more interested in seeing if the university would just fire them both and put us all out of our misery.

im afraid im gonna have to dnf :( i dont think this is the book for me- it had an amazing set up and an intriguing premise, but the mmc right off the bat is too cruel to the fmc for no reason and their antics read less like enemies to lovers than immature adults. i wanted to love it and im so sad it didn’t work out. i will leave my review here instead of a public one, thank you!

I requested this book because of the gorgeous cover and the blurb seemed very intriguing, but sadly I just couldn't connect to the sorry. My main issue was that I just couldn't understand the character's motivations or the reasons behind their actions... it all just seemed very silly? Which I get is the premise, but I guess I just couldn't get behind that given that the characters are said to be in their 30s. They acted very immature and I don't think they had good chemistry together. However, I did enjoy the writing style! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I’m a fan of Sarah and so excited about this book. It has her usual wit and charm, it was funny and steamy.

We meet Micha, a financial advisor who has been brought in to university to reassess their English department, which is where we meet Aidan. These two get off on the wrong foot and go to war.
Aidan writes Shakespeare fanfic and is a popular writer on the site. A big fan of his starts commenting on his work and the two of them start chatting and flirting for weeks. Of course, this turns out to be Micah. Micah has a love of writing but stops when her crappy ex-boyfriend told her her work was too lowbrow, and she should forget about it.

Micah and Aidan discover who each other is after before getting stuck together because of a snow storm and work out their differences. These relationships move too fast. In a matter of weeks. Micah quits her job (she’s struggling with money and quits her job with no back). The end kind of lost me a little. It just feels like too much in the last 20% of the book.

Overall, I did really enjoy the book; I just didn’t love it.

Micah is a financial auditor whose latest assignment takes her to the english dept of the local university and professor Aidan. She loves reading spicy shakespearean fanfic after work- not realizing that Aidan is the writer....

Love the fun in the book. Totally romantic and swoony. Really enjoy Micah and Aidan...

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.