OKAY FIRST OF ALL THE SPICE IN THIS IS *EVERYTHING* I AM OBSESSED.
Both the fanfic spice and the actual spice between the MCs is very, very good.
I liked the other aspects of the book, but wanted maybe a little more from the romance—considering how much they hated each other, and the ethical dilemma of Micah making recommendations that might end with Aidan getting fired, I wanted just a little more tension behind the yearning and a little more worry about what could happen if they were caught. I also thought that once things happened between them, the feelings developed a little too quickly. That being said, the spice was SO GOOD I didn't really mind that much. I also really loved the narrators, especially Cindy Kay. Will definitely be reading more from Sarah Echavarre Smith!

The premise was really fun, but the execution left a bit to be desired. Simply put, the chemistry between the two leads just wasn't there for me. The friction between them felt genuinely abrasive, which I wouldn't necessarily mind if the payoff at the end made the journey worth it, but alas. It's clear that the author can write as the prose was easy to read, but the characters needed a bit more oomph for me. Their siblings though were a bright spot for me. I especially enjoyed Aidan's brother.

I loved this premise and thought the the story line had a lot of opportunity to progress. Setting and descriptors were used well and I felt like I was right there with the characters

The narration was absolutely well done, and I would 100% look for these narrator’s other books to enjoys.

Unfortunately the characters fell a bit flat for me. I don’t feel as though the enemies to lovers wasn’t realistic, as the added stress of potentially looking your job during an audit would most likely have left Aiden avoiding Micah at all cost, or sucking up in hopes of saving his job.

The intimacy between them felt rushed and a bit out of place, and the third act breakup really was the nail in the coffin for me. Specifically, because I don’t feel like they were close enough for the love proclamation to be earned.

I just finished Much Ado About Hating You by Sarah Echavarre Smith and here are my thoughts.

Micah is just doing her job. She is there to financially audit the University's English department.. Aidan is pushing back against her presence. Micah likes to unwind by reading steamy fanfiction… Little does she know that the man she can't stand at work… Is the one writing her into a hot frenzy…

I am always a sucker for a Shakespeare retelling and this one was quite brilliant.. Taking Shakespeare and making it smutty…. Clever…

I really liked the dynamic between Micah and Aidan in person and the one they had online not knowing who each other were. It was a clever way to do an enemies to love and I am here all day for that. They did both have their annoying moments though but it was easy enough to move past that.

I liked the audiobook but it was one of those books that would have been a great read as well. I loved the writing and the streamy scenes were amazing!

Read this if you like

Forced proximity
Enemies to lovers
Spicy banter
Online romance
Shakespeare retelling
Secret identity
Workplace romance

All in all a solid little audio!

4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for this ALC.

I went into Much Ado About Hating You with zero expectation and ended up completely hooked! This audiobook was such a fun, fast-paced, and super spicy ride that I binged it in just a few hours.

The story follows Micah, an auditor trying to get her life back on track after a tough breakup. She's assigned to audit the English Department at a local university, where she has a disastrous first run-in with Professor Adian. After overhearing him talk smack about the "auditor" (spoiler: it's her!), Micah is not impressed. Naturally, the two immediately butt heads and can’t stand each other.

What neither of them realizes? Outside the office, they already know and adore each other. Micah is a fanfic junkie, and her fave writer “ShakespeareInLove” just so happens to be… Adian. Meanwhile, she's his favorite reader. Once the truth is out, their mutual dislike quickly gives way to lusty sparks. Its enemies to lovers with a fanfic twist!

Now, I’ll be honest this book was adorable but not without its quirks. Both Micah and Adian were a bit annoying at times. Micah definitely crossed a line when she swapped his lunch order and nearly sent him to the ER, and Adian’s hostility toward her doing her job felt over the top. The insta-love also gave me a bit of whiplash, one minute they hate each other, the next… boom, they're obsessed.

That said, I still liked it. If you’re into workplace tension, spicy banter, and enemies-to-lovers with a twist, you’ll want to add this to your TBR.

Bonus points for the narration! Cindy Kay (Micah) and J.F. Harding (Adian) were both fantastic. Their dual narration brought the story to life and kept me fully engaged, even at 2x speed. Highly recommend the audio experience!

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Audio, and Sarah Echavarre Smith for this e ARC.

I was really excited about this book and it started out so strong. It was cute and the banter was fun and spicy. However, about halfway through the book started just adding more spice without adding more plot or character development. I started struggling with Aiden about halfway through. He feels strongly about how her ex treated her but I felt that his actions were no better. I was still trying to enjoy the book but I couldn’t get past the ending.

When a financial auditor who dreams of being a writer and a former hockey player turned English professor make assumptions about each other and sparks fly immediately. Micah and Aidan absolutely hate each other from the moment they meet.
My favorite part of this book is that neither of them changes - they just become more confident in themselves. They fit so well together and the fighting is just unrealized chemistry and easily shifts into passion.
I love that both of them have people that they can lean on and that fully support them no matter what that looks like. The fanfiction aspect is a fun bit that I wish was included in more books!
If you love audiobooks, this is a super fun listen that I highly recommend!

I'm such a big Shakespeare fan, love fanfiction, and believe MFA programs don't appreciate genre fiction and push Literary Fiction. I personally jump into romances just for fun and this book sounded like it would have all my favorite things! That being said, I found the characters immature and the scenario a little unbelievable.

I enjoyed the spicy scenes and liked the creativity with what they did together. I also enjoyed the fanfiction sub-plot and how sweet they were to each other over messages. Overall, it was a fine romance. I think my expectations were a little too high for it since it's all my favorite things. Jump into this one just to have some fun!

Yes yes yes yes. If you want smut then yes yes yes. This was a good story. I liked the banter a lot. So good. The added fanfics were just chefs kiss amazing. I really enjoyed it.

I received a copy of this audiobook for a honest review.

Boy this book starts with a bang and keeps it going throughout the story! A wonderful, spicy romance were they have every reason to hate each other but they find common ground and end up happy. I will look for more books by this author!

Love the Shakespeare. Love the fan fic. Love the enemies to lovers and all the messy dynamics in the middle. It was a great read and I look forward to more by this author!

4.5 stars rounded up

Much Ado About Hating You by Sarah Echavarre Smith is so much fun. Micah is an auditor looking for places the university that Aidan works at can make cuts. Aidan is a professor whose job is in jeopardy due to Micah's job. It is dislike on site for these two. They are so immature, it is absolutely hilarious. The funniest part is that they are actually online friends without realizing it as they both enjoy fanfics and Aidan is a fanfic author while Micah is an aficionado. They eventually realize that they are talking to each other and the decision is, will they put their differences aside and continue their friendship or will they let their jobs keep them apart?

I had a fabulous time listening to this book. The narrators did a great job! I can see why some people wouldn't like the book because it is so immature and unprofessional that I'm sure that's why some people don't like it. I thought it was an absolute hoot. They are SO RUDE that I was laughing really hard when reading their fight scenes. I really enjoyed watching the rivals eventually become lovers because they have a lot of chemistry. The book is what it is, a smutty rivals to lovers and it isn't trying to do anything else. I think it accomplished the goal so I'm rating it quite high.

I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys drama and teenager-like antics from adults. You also must love spice as it is VERY spicy. I would not recommend this book to anyone who doesn't like spice in their books or that wants people to always act rational.

Tropes: Rivals to lovers, coworkers, online romance

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Audio, and Sarah Echavarre Smith for giving me the opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed the tension between Micah and Aidan and the fact that they were colleagues, not student and professor. They definitely had a lot of chemistry and brought on the spice. I also liked the tender moments as they grew closer and started to have real feelings for each other. The audiobook is a fun way to enjoy this workplace romance.

I received an ALC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Narration: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Story: ⭐⭐

This is a dual style narrated audiobook. The narrators are JF Harding and Cindy Kay were amazing. JF Harding is always a narrator I'm excited to listen to so it's no surprise he was awesome in this as well.

This story is about Aiden and and Micah. Aiden is a professor and Micah is an auditor who is auditing the English department Aiden is working at. Its an enemies to lovers story where the two are at instant odds with each other. However both are on scribble share which is like Wattsapp and Aiden is a popular writer, one that happens to be Micah's favorite. She also secretly wants to be a writer. But Aiden and Micah have no idea its each other when they connect on the app.

I normally love a good enemies to lovers but this book was not for me. I didn't have so much of an issue for Micah but I hated Aiden and he couldn't be redeemed for me. In a dark romance, some of the things might have worked or I would have understood it better but in this, Aiden is a horrible person. He can't take accountability for anything! He gawks at her breasts more than once and instead of owning up to it and apologizing he blames her! Classic boys will be boys bullshit. Also, it isn't Micah's fault she has to audit the department but Aiden takes it as a personal plight. If there isn't enough money you'll lose your job in the end anyway, which he doesn't seem to understand. Also, she is constantly trying to remain professional and hand out olive branches but he is always attacking her. There's so much more wrong with Aiden but I'll leave it there.

This story had potential but it just didn't hit the mark. The only part of this story I did like was Aiden's brother.

An ennemies to lovers but also two people falling in love online without knowing their real identity. Very spicy, good enough storyline, I had to roll my eyes couple times but overall enjoyed it. An english prof & an auditor writing fanfic? But also writing it about wach other unknowingly? Count me in.

Also, her shitty ex. Really? Was that necessary? Why couldn't she just leave a relationship because it wasn't working? I think I just read too many romances where she leaves a shitty ex recently.

I wanted to love this. Secret identity shakespeare nerdy
And I loved elements of it. And I also really enjoyed the narrators.

What I didn't love was the chemistry between the 2. I feel like they went from cold to hot so fast, I had whip lash. And it was pretty much a tame switch over, not a lot of tension.There

Mica is a financial auditor, who gets called in to figure out if the University will keep the literacy department that Aiden works in. She is convinced she is just doing her job, but he believes she is trying to ruin his. But unbeknownst to them, they both share a love for spicy Shakespeare fanfiction.

He writes it and she reads his post almost religiously. They even begin to fall for each other under the guise of their usernames on Scribble Share. And as much as they try to deny their chemistry, they can't. Between scandalous rendezvous during work hours and flirting online as Hot4Hermia and ShakespeareinLust, these two develop more than a budding romance with one another. They see each other in a way no one else does.

Except Mila is his auditor and coming for his job and Aiden is supposed to hate her for that... right?

This was such a fun read! I practically devoured this audiobook and I honestly wish I could re-experience this again for the first time. Cindy Kay and J. F. Harding did a phenomenal job bringing these characters to life. I can't stop gushing about this book to anyone and everyone who will listen to me. This is definitely going down as one of my favorite books I've listened to all year!

Micah is an auditor assigned to evaluate the English department at a university. Aiden is a Shakespeare professor who is worried Micah's audit threatens his job. The two butt heads, but little do they know they are acquaintances online in a Shakespeare fanfiction forum.

This was a fairly fun read with lots of spice, I just didn't feel the characters were well developed. I think this book could've used being a little longer to dive more into the characters and draw out the enemies to lovers arc. Also I felt the unprofessionalness of the beginning was a bit much and made that characters seem very immature.

The audiobook was well done and I felt both narrators did an excellent job bringing the characters to life.

Tropes
* Enemies to Lovers
* Workplace Romance
* Fanfiction writers
* Story within a story
* Banter and snark
* Hidden Identity

3 stars

I really did try to like this book, but I DNF with 2 hours of audio left. It wasn't due to the narrators, just the book itself. I couldn't stand the characters. Normally I love a good enemies to lovers, however in this case it just wasn't doing it for me. Both MCs are annoying and so self absorbed that listening to them whine and complain was to much. Sure the spicey scenes were well written, however the rest was not.

Much Ado About Hating You is a fun, flirty enemies-to-lovers rom-com with great banter and undeniable chemistry. Sarah Echavarre Smith nails the slow-burn tension, and the narration by Cindy Kay and J.F. Harding adds an extra layer of charm—both voices really bring the characters to life. There were a few moments that felt a little predictable, but the emotional payoff and witty dialogue made it such an enjoyable listen. Perfect for fans of workplace drama with heart!