Not subtle at all in its crusade against pretentiousness in the book world. This hits you right away with calling out literary communities for looking down upon and excluding romance and fanfiction writing as legitimate. It’s heavy handed in its approach… but it’s not wrong.

Glad I listened to this as an audiobook instead of reading physically, otherwise I’m not sure I’d have made it through. This book stands best as concepts, and while I liked the smutty Shakespeare enemy turned lovers idea, there were occasional moments where it felt unrealistic and a bit immature. The flow of the audiobook really helped keep it moving

A book mainly just filled with hate sex. Yes I said it! This book was an okay read with no high stakes or any filler really. Besides having the love for writing I don’t understand what either of these characters had in common or how they fell in love. Instead of communicating they had hate sex until it became “love”. I wish there was more depth to this story and that the characters had more to them than what was perceived. Overall was an okay audiobook as well.

3/5 ⭐️
3.5/5 🌶️
Audiobook 🎧

-ARC-

Thank you for the ARC!

Micah is a financial auditor who’s used to being known as the uptight bad guy.
Aidan is a literature professor who writes spicy Shakespeare fanfic in secret.
When Micah puts Aidan’s career on the line, and he fights her on every turn, her only escape is reading smutty fanfic…not knowing that it’s her enemy #1 who’s making her work days bearable with his stories.
But the more Micah and Aidan fight, the hotter it gets and soon they can’t resist each other.

This was your standard enemies to lovers and while the spice was good, the FMC was honestly pretty insufferable. I did like that it was Aidan writing spicy fanfic though 😅

Much Ado About Hating You by Sarah Echavarre Smith is an enemies-to-lovers, workplace/forbidden love romance. Micah is a financial auditor whose most recent assignment is the local university’s English department, and she is determined to remain professional and get her job done. Aiden is a literature professor at the university who secretly writes spicy fanfic in his free time. They hate each other from the beginning despite each noting a mutual physical attraction, while inadvertently forming an online friendship on a writing platform under anonymous names. The book got off to a little bit of a slow start for me and I struggled with the level of disrespect and hate that the characters had for each other (mainly Aiden towards Micah), however as I got further into the book and learned more about their background, I really became invested and enjoyed this book. Narration was performed by Cindy Kay and J.F. Harding and they did a fantastic job of bringing the story to life! I think my favorite parts of the story were the different fanfic pieces that were written by the characters, it was fun to view the story through that lens.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Audio, and the author for this ALC in exchange for an honest review

2.5 rounded up.

I hoped to enjoy this book more, but I had a very hard time liking the main characters, especially Aidan. Micah was initially portrayed as independent and confident, but as the story developed, I felt she lacked depth. Aidan is arrogant and dismissive. I was very disappointed with how Aidan treated Micah in regard to her simply wanting to do a good job with her work assignment. I love a good work enemies to lovers trope, but Aidan was more disrespectful than I would tolerate.

On to the spice - if you like descriptive sexual content, you’ll enjoy those portions of the book.

Although I didn’t find myself loving this particular story, it wouldn’t deter me from reading another work from this author. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a chance to listen to this ALC.

This was so cute! I loved that they were both fanfic authors, and laughed out loud during their pranks on each other. It def gave me”star crossed lovers” but they got the happily ever after. So fun!

Woah HR violations galore, Batman! This story has all the right elements but the execution is a bit off. The narrators did a lot of heavy lifting and that part paid off.

I received an arc from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Enemies to lovers in an academic setting! The cover and the description drew me to the book. Aiden is an English professor, and Micah is the auditor tasked with making cuts.

As great as it sounds, I was really disappointed with this book. There are blurbs from the fanfic that its author keeps saying is hot. The FMC says it’s so hot. All the comments say it. In reality, it is not. Beyond that, Aidan’s job is on the line and instead of focusing on his career, he’s writing short spicy blurbs on a website.

The characters aren’t likable. Their banter and rivalry are petty and childish. We are to believe these are professionals, but they act worse than teenagers. “Yeah it’s petty and unprofessional, but I don’t care” - Micah. Well, at least the author knows it.

All physical tension starts with a missed button. He tells her. She’s mad. Then it’s a main plot point. Who cares? It’s embarrassing, but it shouldn’t be some steamy catalyst. Micah tries to get revenge by messing with Aidan’s food. That’s not a petty revenge plot. It could have seriously harmed him. Let’s not do that.

As a lawyer, the FMC’s sister just irks me. I don’t like when authors just throw in a character who’s a lawyer for a career filler. Not only is some of the information she provides not accurate, but her dialogue is severely lacking. I must have missed using glitter bombs as a way to solve disagreements when I went to law school.

The final nail in the coffin is the narrator. This was my first book with Cindy Kay narrating. I found her voice annoying. Her voice did not change to differentiate between characters. Her attempt to narrate for Aidan’s dialogue was painful. I’ll be avoiding any books she narrates in the future.

Honestly, the cover for Much Ado About Hating You by Sarah Echavarre Smith is what sucked me into picking this up. Then, I saw JF Harding was a narrator and I was very excited to give the audiobook a listen. Unfortunately, this was a bit of good stuffed around immature and nonsensical plot/behavior and cringe fake fanfic.

While there was a spark between Aidan and Micah, and I think they would've made a really hot and great romance, too much noise got in the way. For the sake of creating over the top conflict, Aidan was turned from a fairly normal and smart guy, to someone that was an absolute idiot. Most of the professors were turned into buffoons actually. I just could not understand how they took out all their frustrations on Micah who is there at the behest of the university to do a cost analysis of their department. If it wasn't her, it'd be someone else. If it wasn't someone else, it'd be paycuts and pink slips. Like, why aren't they more upset at the university looking to quantify their worth? Why not organize and rally against the board in charge? It just didn't make sense and felt like it was thrown in to force conflict. It would've read smoother if the conflict was solely internal. Aidan freaking out over possibly losing his job and having his insecurities instill by an overbearing father reinforced. Micah having to decide between doing a good and thorough job that could potentially fire people she's grown fond of and a romantic partner she's grown to love. That would've been so much more effective, and in fact was the most effective part once we got there about midway through the book.

Then, we have the fanfic aspect. God, this was the worst and made me want to die. Reading fake fanfic within a romance story was just too much. It seemed like it was thrown in just to introduce spice and steam early on and it was just unnecessary. Then, we have the characters flirting and starting to almost fall for each other via fanfic website but it never seemed to address their ages. There are so many underage fanfic writers which made this just such a weird interaction. Neither Micah nor Aidan know how older the other's online alter-ego is. For all they know, they could've been chatting with a 14 year old. It doesn't seem like this was really well thought out.

Narration wise, JF Harding did a great job reading for our MMC Aidan. He really brought the tension and frustration to the forefront with that underlying yearning by the end. On the other hand, this was my first time listening to a book narrated by Cindy Kay and the direction she took Micah's voice was just not it. She did amazing portraying other characters during her sections (this was dual and not duet style narration.) When she read Micah, she really made her sound petulant and immature. It felt very valley girl, which didn't really feel like it fit with her character at all and was a bit of a turn off.

With all these negatives, you might be wondering how did this still manage to get three stars. Apart from the cringe fanfiction part and the childish antics of the characters, once they realized who they were, things got really good. It was great to see their relationship build up. I loved seeing Micah stand beside Aidan as he deal with his family issues. Plus, seeing Aidan support Micah's dreams and try to build her up was really tender to see. The romance, at it's core, was good and sweet. It did not need all of the extra stuff which only served to weigh it down.

Much Ado About Hating You by Sarah Echavarre Smith might be a book that I'd recommend checking out from the library rather than purchasing for yourself. It's got a solid romance but the fanfic and immaturity it gets wrapped in makes it difficult to get into at first and leaves a bit of distaste throughout.

review links to be updated. review to go live on website blog 05/26/2025

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book more. The cover and blurb were right up my alley but the book was just mine. The narration was great though. I really liked that. Overall, it was a fun rom com with banter and a lot of Shakespeare references thrown in. There are some times when the banter was kind of cringy unfortunately. I think a lot of people will love this book, it just wasn't a best fit for me in the end.

Cute story easy read story line and characters were super cute. Hockey player turns English professor falls in love with his the girl who’s supposed to be his enemy..

The way I SCREAMED when I got the email with my approval for this audio was unreal and the way I devoured this one?? That should tell you all you need to know about why you need this on your TBR.

Okay, I’ll dig more: the hate was HATING. The intimacy was 👩‍🍳 💋 and I could go on, but why spoil any of the bigger parts?? Read it for yourself!!

I was approved for the ARC, too, but audio is best for me when it comes to deadlines.

The narrators @cindykay_vo and @j.f.harding were incredible. They brought this book to life in the best way possible.

This book is out on May 27th so check it out!

Thank you to @harlequinbooks @netgalley and @authorsarahs for the early copies and for giving me everything I needed (and more!)

Enemies-to-lovers meets fandom in this spicy Shakespearean romcom, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite deliver the swoony payoff I was hoping for.

The premise? Utterly fun—Micah, a financial auditor with a secret obsession for spicy fanfic, and Aidan, a grumpy professor who just might be her favorite fic writer. The setup had so much promise, especially with the Much Ado About Nothing inspiration. I expected banter, tension, and emotional depth, but much of the execution fell flat.

Micah’s job as the “bad guy” in an academic audit is used as a wedge between the leads, but Aidan’s reaction to her professionalism left a bad taste. His lack of support and emotional manipulation felt frustrating rather than romantic. Just because she’s doing her job (and doing it well) doesn’t mean she deserves to be villainized.

Narration-wise, I struggled with Cindy Kay’s performance—monotone and lacking emotional nuance, which made it difficult to engage with Micah’s POV. J. F. Harding’s chapters were more compelling, but not enough to carry the whole story.

The romance? Decent chemistry, but the spicy scenes relied on repetitive language that veered into blunt rather than steamy. The emotional arcs felt like afterthoughts—backstories were told, not shown, and didn’t shape the characters in meaningful ways. Everything stayed surface-level and centered mostly around the audit conflict, which didn’t hold enough emotional weight for a satisfying romantic arc.

I wanted to love this—I'm a huge fan of Much Ado About Nothing and love a good fanfic twist—but this one just didn’t land for me.

This book was cute! I love the spin with the MMC being the erotica author. It was a quick and fun read, with lots of spice. It was definitely focused on the spice, so if that's your cup of tea, this is for you! I love a good spicy book, but I love when there's a bigger story to tell.
I wish we had gotten a little more into the family dynamics and the siblings, I loved them.
The ending was very cute and I loved how it all came full circle!
I was granted access to the Audiobook and LOVE the narrators! I'm a sucker for dual POV, especially with multiple narrators. I also appreciated that they didn't force the "voices", I always hate that. I thought this was very well done.
I give it 3.75 stars.
I'll be posting my review to Instagram 5/20

This book was a fun, quick read. I haven't read much about these topics so it felt very refreshing. The characters were the perfect type of quirky. A great introduction to this author for me.

I enjoyed this one so much!!! I was starting to doubt that there was any good books on NetGalley. Highly recommend I need everybody to pick this book up immediately! Well, next week when it comes out.

This book was so much fun!!!! The main characters energy was amazing their banter, they hated each other the right amount! I’m not normally a person that loves retelling of classic literature. This one was so well done. It made me want to go back and read Romeo and Juliet, which is not something that I would normally want to do. But it was so cute and so much fun!!!

I had high hopes for this book. Enemies to lovers who discover they're more alike than they thought thanks to steamy fanfic retellings of Shakespeare? Sold. Unfortunately, I didn't make it past 30%. The concept was what drew me to the book, but the narration and the lack of character chemistry in the beginning led me to DNF.

J.F. Harding's narration was great, but I wasn't thrilled by Cindy's performance, especially when it came to reading the fanfic portions. For some reason, she pronounced "Gia" as "Jah" the whole time and it was a huge distraction for me. When narrators pronounce character names wildly different, I can't help but be taken out of the story.

I attempted to push through the narration hiccups because I was curious how it would play out, but the animosity the characters had for each other and the constant complaining made it feel like there was no way they'd actually fall for each other in any true convincing manner.

Thank you Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for the ALC!

Much Ado About Hating You kicks off with a meet-cute that’s equal parts awkward and electric.

Micah is an auditor—aka the person everyone loves to hate at work. Her job? Show up, crunch numbers, and figure out where to make cuts. Not exactly a welcome presence, especially at the college where she’s just been assigned. Enter Aiden Scott, a literature professor with a sharp tongue and no patience for corporate meddling.

The two cross paths in an elevator, and Aiden, unaware of who Micah is, scoffs at the idea of an “auditor” stepping foot in his academic domain. What could a numbers person possibly know about the arts? Cue sparks—and not the romantic kind. At least, not yet.

What really turns things upside down is the juicy twist: Micah’s guilty pleasure is reading steamy Shakespeare-inspired fan fiction… written anonymously by none other than Aiden himself. Now we’ve got enemies-to-lovers tension, mistaken identities, and literary smut all rolled into one.

It’s a witty, banter-filled rom-com that brings the heat and a healthy dose of Shakespearean flair. Perfect for fans of slow burns, sharp dialogue, and a little academic drama.

Audio Notes: I listened to the audiobook version of this story, narrated by Cindy Kay and JF Harding—and honestly, they were fantastic. Both narrators brought the characters to life with just the right amount of emotion, wit, and personality. JF nailed Aiden’s dry sarcasm and charm, while Cindy perfectly captured Micah’s sharp edge and inner vulnerability. Their chemistry really elevated the story and made all the banter and tension that much more enjoyable. If you’re into audiobooks, this one is definitely worth a listen.

Thank you Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for the ALC!

As a Shakespeare reader, I looked forward to a fun modern take. Acknowledging the fanfiction community was great. However, there was not enough plot (for me) to enjoy. Readers who prefer spice over plot will enjoy this book.

Much Ado About Hating You by Sarah Echavarre Smith is the story of Micah Mila, a financial auditor brought in to evaluate the local university's English department, where Professor Aidan Scott works. This story is narrated by narrated by Cindy Kay and J. F. Harding, who are both good narrators.

From the start, Aidan is both chilly and rude toward Micah. Micah leaves in the evenings defeated. To relax, she reads online spicy Shakespearian fanfic. Unbeknownst to her, the author of said fanfic is no other than Aidan.

The beginning of the book was good. There was development of the character with much background information. But then, boom, these two people who despise each other get busy, and there is no further development of the story. It's basically smut and just a whole lot of spice. It was too much. It's like the story ended and now it's porn. I did not listen intently during several chapters. It was too much. After a whole bunch of spice, the story wrapped up with a decent ending. It was the 50% in the middle that had me cringing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the advance listen in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.