For lovers of cheesy nineties rom-coms comes a new take on You've Got Mail !

Love to Hate You follows Summer, who owns a three-generation-owned bookshop, and Wes, a CEO intent on ruining her indie bookshop with his own corporate bookstore. But as luck would have it, the man Summer loves to hate shows up to her annual family vacation. Their proximity tests the thin boundary between love and hate, and perhaps they're more similar than they realize.

I loved both Summer and Wes so much more than the usual enemies-to-lovers couples I've read! First off, their communication was so refreshing! Both Summer and Wes always shared their true feelings with each other, whether it was their growing attraction or disagreeing sentiments towards love. While the two are complete opposites, they supported each other's growth and helped each other understand their issues. Summer wears her heart on her sleeve and allows people to take advantage of her, while Wes worries about the facts and takes control of the situation. It was satisfying to see them learn and grow from one another. I originally thought this was a 3.5-star read, but that epilogue had me swooning and kicking my feet.

I'm not a big third-person POV romance reader, but I found this one to be palatable. This was my first novel by Marina Adair, and I'll now keep an eye out for more of her books! Generally speaking, it was a cozy rom-com that would be a perfect beach read or even a vacation read.

It took me quite some time to get through this book. To sum up my thoughts—the best part was the MMC Wes Kingston. If only the FMC had been a more likable character! I always feel a little let down when I can’t connect with the main character, and unfortunately, Summer Russo was the biggest drawback for me. She came across as immature and selfish, making it hard to root for her.

Even the spicy scenes, which should have been a highlight, felt more cringy than enjoyable. The enemies-to-lovers dynamic also fell flat—we barely got to see any real animosity between Wes and Summer since most of their conflicts happened off the page. Their banter and tension could have made the story much more engaging, and a stronger slow burn would have only deepened their chemistry. On top of that, the third-act breakup felt unnecessary and disappointing.

The writing style could use some improvement as well. Despite all this, I pushed through and ended up giving it 2.5 stars.

I made it 60% of the way through this book so i’m deciding to still leave a review. I do not think that this was a bad book. I just have a hard time reading romance novels that are written in third person and I really tried to give it my best shot but the FMC and her sister and the rest of her family was really what added to my urge to DNF this. Basically every single character in this book sucked except for Wes our MMC.

Thank you netgalley and 8th note press for this arc!

💙 Thank you to NetGalley and 8th Note Press for the early copy!

What happens when a hopeless romantic and a cutthroat CEO are forced into close quarters? Sparks. Lots of them. Love to Hate You is the perfect blend of enemies-to-lovers banter, forced proximity tension, and small-town charm, all wrapped in Marina Adair’s signature humor and heart.

📚 THE STORY:
Summer Russo believes in destiny, love, and happily-ever-afters—so much so that she risked everything to revive a struggling indie bookstore. But just as she’s starting to find her footing, a corporate bookstore chain moves in next door, threatening everything she’s built. The man behind the takeover? Wes Kingston, a ruthless businessman who sees love as a distraction and failure as not an option.

Determined to protect her store, Summer gears up for battle—only to get the shock of her life when she arrives at her family's annual vacation and finds Wes is also on the guest list. Turns out, their siblings are dating, forcing Summer and Wes into a week of very close proximity. Beach days, board games, and one shared cabin later, their rivalry takes an unexpected turn.

Neither Summer nor Wes is willing to go down without a fight, but when fighting turns to foreplay, their battle for the block turns into a battle for their hearts.

🔥 TROPES:
✔ Enemies to Lovers – The bookstore rivalry is on, and the tension is electric.
✔ Forced Proximity – Sharing a vacation home? The ultimate recipe for unexpected romance.
✔ Grumpy x Sunshine – Summer is all heart; Wes is all logic. Opposites attract in the best way.
✔ Family Shenanigans – A meddling sister, chaotic family moments, and a summer vacation that changes everything.

✨ WHAT I LOVED:
📖 Bookish Vibes – A romance centered around bookstores? Say no more.
🔥 Banter for Days – The verbal sparring between Summer and Wes is sharp, witty, and packed with chemistry.
🏖 Beachy Escape – The cozy small-town setting and vacation backdrop make this the perfect summer read.
💖 Emotional Depth – Beneath the playful tension, both characters grapple with personal growth, making their romance even more rewarding.

💙 FINAL THOUGHTS:
Marina Adair delivers a swoon-worthy romance filled with laughter, heart, and just the right amount of steam. If you love a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers story with bookstore battles, grumpy/sunshine dynamics, and forced proximity tension, this is a must-read!

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I do love enemies to lovers as a trope. And a British man as the MMC who can resist that? The twin sister I personally didn't like but it was needed for the FMC storyline to show that she's a people pleasing person. I live how you saw development in the characters and how they eventually fell in love. I was absolutely not a fan of the third act breakup at the very end of the book. That was unnecessary and it just made me annoyed and that's why it wasn't a 4,5 or 5 star read.

What happens when Summer, who’s been running a bookstore kept in her family for generations: meets Wes, who’s opening the big box book store?

He’s edgy, aggressive and all about the bottom line. Money and profits over everything.

She’s light, fun, loving and believes in love conquering all.

This book took me a bit to get into, but then around the 20% mark it really got going! I could not put it down, even at 230am when my eyes were fighting to stay open.

I love the: forced proximity, one bed, grumpy vs sunshine love story!

Thank you to NetGalley, Marina Adair and 8th Note Press for this ARC!

This is my first book by this author and I was drawn by the enemies-to-lovers premise.
Now, I have to admit it was a pretty rough start, I almost gave up at 10%. It had everything I hate in romance - cliches upon cliches, caricature of characters rather than lifelike ones, terrible writing full catch-up, pop phrases. I was certain that this would not work for me. I was curious still to see if it's salvageable, so I persisted and I finished the book. I am not sure if it actually got better or I just got used to it, but I found the whole middle section rather more enjoyable.
I was still not sold of the family vacation of grown ups being all silly games and traditions but I did like the slow burn, and the main characters gradually opening up to each other. They had their own demons and traumas to deal with but found the support and understanding they needed in each other and I loved that.
The very late third-act break up was so unnecessary and contrived that it made me angry all over. I was just thinking it was not so bad and boom, we were back to silliness and total lack of logic.
The ending was not bad, it was rather fitting the characters, so overall the story ended on a positive note for me.

That all said, this was not too bad but not great either. With the right expectations - some silliness, some melodarama and lots of cliches, it might be good reading experience for other readers.

Love to Hate You by Marina Adair
4 stars
Spice: 🔥🔥🔥/5

I forgot how much I love a good Marina Adair book. It’s been too long since I’ve been immersed in one of her books.

This was a true enemy to lovers’ plotline, which sometimes, can be not my favorite tropes. But I absolutely loved this one. Marina did a fabulous job with creating the banter between Weston and Summer. I think that is what makes or breaks an enemy to lovers’ is that the banter must be up to par. She brought her A game.

Summer felt a little annoying at times with how much of a pushover and hopeless romantic she was, but she redeemed herself throughout the book. I hated how she let her twin push her around, and I just wanted to scream on her behalf. But I know all too well what being a people pleaser is like. Unfortunately, I have a very similar trait.

I loved Weston’s history and plotline. His character was funny, edgy, smart, swoon-worthy, good-looking, and had a dirty mouth. What more could you want? Oh wait, an accent. YES. A British accent at that. Sign me right up.

Love to Hate You was the perfect feel-good read that you need. The perfect blend of sweet and spicy.

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This book took me awhile to finish because the characters kept making me so mad that I had to put it down and walk away.

The story is about Summer, a small romance book store owner who dreams of her own perfect meet-cute. She is trying to turn her struggling family shop into a success when a new mega bookstore chain location pops up next door. She butts heads with the new CEO Wes until getting to know him more and they find ways to support one another.

This story spent a lot of time on Summer’s twin sister Autumn and her love interest Randy who also happens to be Wes’ brother & all to the family relations seemed odd to me. I also couldn’t really get over the twins named Summer & Autumn just feeling too cheesy.

I found Summer’s character hard to like in this book as she seemed to be constantly upset about something that should not have been a whole big thing, but then not upset when her sister was seriously the most selfish and annoying character out there. As someone who is super close to their sister, their relationship made me cringe. I liked the premise, but did not fall in love with the characters the way I wanted to.

Thank you NetGalley & 8th Note Press for the ARC :)

A little chaos, a little spice, a little romance and everything nice…

Summer feels A LOT, and she struggles with people pleasing and standing her ground, I think a lot of readers will relate to her. Wes? That man is walking red flag, but somehow still had me invested. Their slow burn romance had some really sweet moments, even with all the back and forth tension and ooooof moments.

If you love pop culture references, spice, enemies to lovers, miscommunication, and a relationship that keeps you on your toes, you should add this to your TBR.

Thank you 8th Note, Marina Adair, and NetGalley for the ARC!

Read this if you like:
🛎Enemies to Lovers
🛎Romcom
🛎Close proximity
🛎One bed

Summary:
Summer risks everything to save a failing romance bookstore—until grumpy CEO Wes opens a rival shop next door. He’s all business, no love, and definitely not backing down.

Hoping for a break, Summer heads to her family’s beach vacation… only to find Wes there too. Turns out, her sister’s boyfriend is his brother. Now, their bookstore war and the tension between them are far from over.

Review:

🛎 This was a cute and spicy(not a fan) romcom. The enemies-to-lovers trope was done so well—the tension, the drama, chef’s kiss! And their banter? absolutely swoon-worthy 🤤 I loved wes -liike, so much!! 🤌😍 The way he talked to Summer and comforted her was just the cutest. He always had her back and stood by her through all the chaos with her family.

🛎The side characters seriously tested my patience, especially Autumn. She was so manipulative, and Summer just let things slide way too easily. It was frustrating to watch her get walked all over.

🛎 Another thing that bothered me was how quickly everything got resolved in the end. It felt rushed, and there was barely any groveling.

🛎 Overall, it was a fun, cute romcom—perfect for a vacation read if you're looking for something light and entertaining! Huge thanks to @author and netgalley for the ARC!

This was a cute read. It was not the best romance I have ever read but I still enjoyed it. The romance was cute.

Summer Russo has put everything she has into her new bookstore. She believes so wholeheartedly in love and happily ever after's that she specialized her business around it. She wants everyone to see how special love can be when it's found, even if she hasn't experienced it yet herself. She is hoping her books can bring joy to those who purchase them and in turn her business will grow... but that plan hits a little snag when she gains a new neighbor.

Love to Hate You is an entertaining enemies to lovers story that is destined to bring a few smiles and many laughs. The tension between Summer and her new neighbor Wes can easily be felt throughout, they are constantly battling at every turn all the while secretly eye-balling one another. Neither one wants to give in and admit defeat... which makes for some fun banter and serious heat!

I loved watching this delightfully penned love story unfold, it was the perfect blend of spice, humor, and emotion and it's charming characters had my heart and attention at first meet! Highly recommend!

I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, via NetGalley request, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest and unbiased opinion.

i found this book a nice read for a vacation when you want something easy but also spicy and with some plot.

i enjoyed summer as a character. she was nice, soft and romantic while also had a strong opinions and personality. she was very defensive of herself which i actually appreciated.

wes sounded british to me and i don’t remember if he is. he called summer - love - almost every time and sometimes it was too much. i read love 3 times on one page and i wish he used that less for a bigger effect. overall, he is a basic romance book boyfriend who would do anything for his girl. the end was very sweet because of his actions and i loved his softness toward summer.

i’m starting this argument again. this book is heavily marketed as enemies to lovers… but they were never enemies. from the very beginning wes liked summer and would call her love. he was kind of cold toward her in first chapters but he was never mean, rude or aggressive towards her.

why not 4 stars? it lacked chemistry and normal dialogues even though the tension was crazy good!!

This book was cute, the enemies to lovers tension snapped really early and turned to cute moments pretty quickly, but I was here for that as well. I felt for both of them because they both had a lot of baggage with family issues, but I thought it was cute how they kept showing up for one another and they had an ally in the other. Wes was a businessman and only thought of himself, and by the end he was a new man. Summer brought out something in him that he had hidden deep down and it was adorable the way he fell so hard.
Thanks to 8th Note, Netgalley and Marina Adair for an early copy.

3.5 stars
I enjoyed this book a lot actually the pace that was going at and the characters specially Wes was so fun and supportive.
101 husband material.
Summer however, needed a lot of confrontation to do, she sounded like she pathologically people pleaser and she needed to do something about it specially with her family but the girl did nothing she just took that out on Wes in the first sign of trouble.
Regardless, I loved and enjoyed the story so much.
thank you netgalley for allowing me the chance to be one of the readers of this book and thank you Mariana for this cute book

I totally love the movie ‘You’ve Got Mail’ and have seen it numerous times so I was really looking forward to a book inspired by this movie.
‘Love to hate you’ is about Summer, who owns her granny’s bookshop and is suddenly confronted with an big-box bookshop across the street and it’s obnoxious CEO Wes. They bicker, they fight, and Summer is worried her bookstore is going under. So she’s happy to get away from it all and spend some time with her family. You can imagine her surprise when her twin sister Autumn shows up with a boyfriend and his brother: Wes! So what happens next?

I liked the plot, but I had some issues with a few things.
Being a twin myself, I feel Summer and Autumn being fraternal twins would have made more sense, instead of mirror twins. Wes and Summer hated each other so it’s unrealistic to expect that Wes accepted his brother’s invitation to join him and Autumn on a family holiday after meeting Autumn, who is so much alike his competition, Summer.

Summer’s character was variable. She often let people walk all over her, like the dog owner in chapter one (I would have demanded him to pay for my ruined dress!) and most of the times her sister, but she was verbally very aggressive towards Wes. I felt uncomfortable with her harsh words.
Wes, in turn, wasn’t nice towards her either. For example he rescues her when she falls into the river but ends up tossing her back in. And I felt he was a bit overly sensitive. He had mommy issues, okay, but he was hurt that Summer wanted him gone from their family holiday - of course she did, he’s the competition and they’re not friends! I understand his feelings but I’d expect a grown man to feel that way with friends or relatives, not complete strangers.
The speed in which Wes and Summer get physical was off putting to me. One moment there’s hate, the next there’s flirting and moaning. I would have liked more relationship building and less cheesy attempts at flirting, which often felt totally off the mark. And her relatives basically pushing her towards Wes and making all kinds of suggestions like using a condom or her father urging Wes to sleep in Summer’s room was very weird, to say the least. Autumn, I just wanted to strangle her, she’s so incredibly selfish and both she and Randy were immature.

I did love the Italian roots this family has, the bickering about who makes the best pasta sauce. I loved the old movie references, like Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief. I love love love these old movies.
I also liked that Wes needed to rescue his big bookstore, too, albeit from the stockholders and the mismanagement of his stupid brother.

To summarize, this book has good parts and parts that didn’t really work for me, but it is a nice and light read with a happily ever after. I am sure many people will enjoy it, for me it was sometimes difficult to remain engaged in the story.
Content 411: In addition to a moderate amount of secular and religious swearing, there are also a few descriptive sexually intimate scenes.
Thank you Netgalley, Dragonblade Publishing and Marina Adair author for providing an advanced copy of this book. I voluntarily read and reviewed it; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Strong plot that didn't follow through very well. The story had whiplash moments where their relationship went from enemies to lovers in just a few pages. Summer kind of sucked. She never truly grew a backbone while her family walked all over her, and one apology supposedly fixed everything? On top of that, the miscommunication trope was present throughout the entire book, which I did not enjoy. Just one adult conversation could have fixed a lot.

This was a wonderful, quick read! Summer and Wes both have similar goals but different ways of going about them. Can they get over their distrust and animosity to fins a common bond? Can they learn to stand up for themselves when it really matters? I love books about bookstores and I am a sucker for a HVE!

Thank you to NetGalley, 8th Note Press, and Marina Adair for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so cute! I rate it a strong 4.5. It was enjoyable, light, and funny.

A modern retelling of You've Got Mail, this book is about two rival booksellers who are dealing with logistics of opening up a large bookshop next to a small town romance only bookshop. Summer is fighting to keep her bookstore alive with the behemoth bookstore opening, and while she's fighting, she's fighting head to head with Weston Kingston, the man working for the rival bookshop next door. They had amazing banter and witty repartee that made the book so much fun to read. I loved seeing Wes and Summer together as they fought and as they faced forced proximity.

The book was sincerely fun and will be one I remember for quite a while.