I was really excited for this story, it had all the ingredients I usually love: enemies-to-lovers, secret online identities, an academic setting, and romance. Unfortunately, the execution didn’t live up to the premise for me.
The biggest issue was the characters' immaturity, particularly for university professors. Their behavior often felt more like high school drama than anything you'd expect from professional adults. Micah, in particular, was frustrating and came off as vindictive rather than flawed-but-likable.
There were several moments where I nearly DNF'd, especially during scenes that felt over-the-top or inappropriate. One instance: Micah’s blouse is unbuttoned and gets angry at Aiden for pointing it out. Then later, she intentionally adds hot sauce to his food order as a petty form of revenge. Tampering with someone’s food, when you don’t know their allergies or sensitivities, is not just immature, it’s reckless.
The overall tone felt less like an adult romance and more like a teenager’s idea of how adults interact at work. I finished the audiobook because I rarely DNF, but I honestly wish I hadn’t been approved for this ALC.
That said, the narrators, Cindy Kay and J. F. Harding, were fantastic. They brought so much emotion and nuance to the performance that it really elevated the listening experience. You could truly hear the tension, humor, and vulnerability in their voices.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the advance listening copy.

Classic enemies to lovers in the workplace meets “You’ve Got Mail”. Fun side stories that are spicy reimaginings of Shakespearean stories. Somewhat stereotypical, Hallmark storyline of a highly educated, serious woman with a less than fun job, who learns to let go and live her dream after falling in love. Although the story is somewhat predictable, it is very enjoyable.

Bonus takeaway: The MMC is one of the most realistic men I’ve ever found in a book. I despised him at first. He needs therapy. He’s a bit of a dick. He’s immature in a way. But there’s growth. And lord he needed it!

Dual narrators. Both were excellent.

A solid 3. This was definitely entertaining enough to hold my attention, but the spice was carrying most of the weight here.

I think the characters' personalities would have made more sense if they were in their early 20s... They felt extremely petty and childish for two adults with established careers interacting in a professional setting.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️
Writing: ⭐️⭐️
Plot: ⭐️⭐️
Characters: ⭐️
Narrator(s): ⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes, etc: Enemies to Lovers, Workplace Romance, Secret Identities, Online Penpals, Snowed In
POV: Dual, 1st Person
3rd Act Breakup?: Yes

Brief Summary: Micah is assigned to audit a college English department and immediately clashes with one of the professors. While they’re at each other’s throat during the workday, they’re unknowingly bonding online over erotic Shakespeare fanfiction.

Vibe Check: Immature, Porn with a Plot, Frustrating

FMC Is: Annoying, dickmatized
MMC Is: A dick, a hypocrite
Chemistry: 🧪

While Reading I: Rolled my eyes, checked to see if a 14-year-old me had somehow had my poorly written fanfiction published.

What Kept Me Hooked: Nothing. I only finished it because it was short.

📚Room For Improvement: The writing was not good. A lot of telling rather than showing, repetition, and stilted dialogue. The main characters both spoke like teenagers despite being in their 30s. There was also no real relationship development. They briefly discussed their respective traumas but otherwise didn’t seem to actually learn anything substantial about each other. They also both had crushes on their online personas despite their interactions being like “Super hot story. Helped me cope with my bad day at work.” and “thanks :) I also had a bad day at work.”

🎧Room For Improvement: The narrator for Aiden was fine. I didn’t care for Micah’s narrator. In one of Aiden’s fanfiction scenes (a mafia romance spin on Romeo and Juliet), the characters’ names appear to be Rome and Jia (though I can’t confirm the spelling of Jia as I don’t have a print copy, I’m operating on the assumption that it would be similar to Juliet and because Aiden’s narrator pronounced it like “Gia”). Micah’s narrator continuously pronounced this name as “Jaw” and it was very weird, especially since it’s said so many times in one section that she’s just saying Jaw over and over and over. The narrators should align with the author about pronunciation to ensure they’re both saying it correctly and the same way.

Final Thoughts: While the premise was interesting and had potential, this one just fell flat for me.

In Much Ado About Hating You, we follow Aiden a college English professor who writes erotic Shakespeare fanfiction on the side, and Micah, a job auditor who reads erotic Shakespeare fanfiction for fun. Micah is hired to audit the English department where Aiden works, and their first meeting does not go well. At all. The animosity and hate between the two runs deep, and it leads to some pranks that I almost felt were too mean to come back from. It also leads to some great sexual tension. Of course, at the same time, the two are anonymously connecting on the fanfiction app.

HOLY MOLY was this story STEAMY!!!! The author writes great spicy scenes, both between the characters and in the fanfiction world. I liked the relationship, and how it progressed from enemies to lovers felt believable to me. So did the third act conflict, which I normally don't love. But it felt necessary for their relationship to become an HEA.

The audiobook was also great! Both narrators really brought the characters to life and kept the story engaging!

I loved this audiobook more than I expected to! I’m not a huge fan fic girlie and I adored it. The writing and story was good. Similar to the original. I also really enjoyed the narration, the female is new to me but I love JF. Would highly recommend this one

This book had my all-time favorite trope, but I still couldn’t bring myself to love it. I listened to the audiobook, and honestly, the narrators were great, that’s what helped me get through it. The story itself just didn’t click with me. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters, and the writing style didn’t work for me. Everything also happened way too fast for my taste. If you’re planning to read this, I definitely recommend going for the audiobook, it’s the best part.

This was such a cute book! This enemies to lovers book was steamy and the main characters had great chemistry. I loved the spin on writing fanfic for Shakespeare. This book was a fun time and I recommend it!

3.5 Stars Much Ado About Hating You is a fun hate to love, office romance!

Micah Mila is used to not being liked. As an auditor, she's often the bearer of bad news and her latest assignment at a local university's English department is especially difficult due to Professor Aidan Scott. Despite Micah catching his eye, Aidan immediately dislikes Micah and what she's set out to do. He doesn't trust her and the two constantly butt heads. What neither one realizes is that Aidan writes the spicy fanfic that Micah loves to read and the two have become flirty online pen pals. But when secrets come out, Micah and Aidan may be seeing each other in a whole new light.

This was a fast paced read and I couldn't believe that I flew through it as fast as I did! Sarah Echavarre Smith does a great job building up the hate and tension between Micah and Aidan before everything bursts into flames. Their chemistry is undeniable and the spicy scenes are 🔥 Once Aidan and Micah started hooking up, they decided to keep it casual and definitely not make it a relationship, but that's pretty quickly abandoned and Aidan is quick with the "I love you." This part felt a bit rushed, though there was good build up for a potential relationship through their messaging on the fanfic app.

Thanks Sarah Echavarre Smith for the ARC!

🌶️🌶️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A quick spicy workplace romance listen. I particularly liked the fanfic short stories from each character. 🔥
The interactions between the two MCs in person was full of conflict, a bit more than I typically like.
But their interactions in the fanfic app was the best! 💜

The narrators were amazing! Their voices fit both main characters and i could differentiate the MCs from the side characters well. My first listen with Cindy Kay, and it was great!

— Workplace Romance
— Enemies to lovers
— Forced Proximity

🎧ALC Review🎧 -NetGalley Harlequin Audio
Narrated By: Cindy Kay & J. F. Harding

📚🔥 BOOK REVIEW TIME 🔥📚
Much Ado About Hating You by Sarah Echavarre Smith

Enemies by day 😠
Fanfic soulmates by night 🔥📖

This book? STRAIGHT. UP. DELICIOUS. 🤌

Micah is a no-nonsense auditor with a love for spicy Shakespeare fanfic 👩🏽‍💻💋. Aidan is a grumpy hot professor 👨🏼‍🏫😤 who just happens to write that exact fanfic she’s obsessed with 😳✍️. Enemies-to-lovers? Check. Forced proximity? Check. Secret identities? DOUBLE CHECK. And the smut?? OH, the smut 😮‍💨🍑💦.

Let’s talk narrators 🎧 — WOW. They were AMAZING. Brought the tension, the spice, the banter — 10/10 perfection 🥵🎭. If you're into audiobooks, do not miss this one!

If you're a fan of:
✨ Shakespeare references
✨ Secret spicy identities
✨ Praise kink & “I hate you but I love f&*$ing you” energy
✨ Nerdy hot heroes
✨ Female leads who take ZERO crap

…then this one needs to be on your TBR yesterday. 📝🔥

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Smut level: 🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵
Enemies-to-lovers: chef's kiss 👩‍❤️‍👨
Narration: 10/10 would listen again 🎧💯

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC

Love it!!!
forbidden romance ✅
Enemies to lovers ✅
steamy Fan fiction ✅
Hella Spicy scene ✅
He falls first ✅

I need a real-life Aidan!!! Ex hockey player turned nerd, Brody literature god. Yum yum yum!!! Can not get over the conference room scene it was top tier goodness.

Aidan was such a fun character, along with his brother, secretly hoping we get a book for his brother 🫣.

Micha going for what she wants was the best freaking plot twist!!!!

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for this ALC.

Cindy Kay and J. F. Harding were awesome as Micah and Aidan (if names are spelled wrong, apologies. I went in blind and did not read synopsis for character names.).

If you read this while driving, be mindful and set your cruise control. Seriously. I’m not kidding. The spice definitely spices and you might find your gas pedal foot, pressing down harder and harder…

Anyway, I don’t think I need to say that I enjoyed this listen… I’ll say it anyway: I had a great time listening to this book and look forward to it’s release.

This book started so strong and ended so meh. I honestly dnf'd at the 90% mark and that's wild. I was literally so bored in the last section of the book that I couldn't power through it. The premise of workplace enemies to lovers with Shakespearean fanfic intertwined really sold me and like I said, I was IN IT during the first half.

I feel like the actual romantic build up was so lame and not interesting at all. The weird little pranks and being rude to each other for no reason just felt really strange for two adults. The spice scenes were great but the rest was just blah.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Harlequin Audio for this audiobook arc!

I blazed through this audiobook. I really enjoyed the story and I thought the narration was really good. I liked the enemies to lovers story and the characters were quite interesting . I was surprised to see a man as a spicy story writer but I thought it was a neat part of the story.. I do however think the couple got together quite fast I had to keep checking to see if I missed something because it seemed that they were just fighting 5 seconds ago. I wish there was a bit more of the story that revolved around them being enemies just a little bit more. I thought the ending was cute and I would recommend this to people who want a quick fun read !

A workplace romance that fizzled before the very first sizzle for me.

Disclaimer: I read this as an audiobook from Harlequin Audio via NetGalley. This all opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.

This was marketed as a Shakespearean retelling made into a rivals-to-lovers workplace romance. Unfortunately, this had too many downsides for me to really fall in love with.

The audiobook was really well done and I enjoyed the narration. Dual narration is some of my favorite because it feel very cinematic and immersive, and I had no issues with that either. It was clear, concise and well produced. I didn't have to adjust the speed between narrators it was all done very well.

There were a few things that I did enjoy about this book. I did enjoy the aspect of meeting as strangers with a common interest online. I also really liked the literary aspect between the two main characters. I felt like the spicy scenes were written very well and very detailed. Some of the best written non-cringe spicy I've read in a while. I did also like how honest the characters were with each other. Both being honest about their complicated family and past relationships. While also being very forward and how they feel overall.

However, the entire story felt very rushed. I felt like we went from acquaintances, to rivals, to lovers at an extremely quick pace. It didn't allow for any buildup or chemistry to happen between the two main characters. The most buildup we had were extremely juvenile pranks that didn't even really lead to any tension. They were discovered right away and not even really dealt with. The pranks didn't lend any comic relief or build up any sexual tension for me between the two main characters. They felt very odd and out of place.

Which leads me to my next issue. I didn't really have any warm feelings towards either of the main character characters. While they did dive very surface level into some problematic issues in their personal lives, they weren't really explored or given any kind of depth or layering. The side characters that were placed in order to give our main characters development were super artificial, and the relationships between them were never developed. Which just led me to having an overall blasé feeling about both characters. I didn't care about their personal issues or the romantic lives in any kind of way. So when they got together, I didn't feel anything about that either.

I wish there had been more representation involved surrounding the Filipino main female character. It would've been nice to have some inclusion of culture and history tied to the character rather than just being told once that she's Filipino.

This book was very short. Only 288 pages and I really feel like it could've benefited from being drawn out another hundred pages or so. Adding some more interactions with side characters, developing those sub plot issues in their personal lives and giving them more time to get to know each other and build up that tension would've really benefited this book. I feel like it was a very interesting premise that just really lacked on the execution.

Audiobook Stats:
⏰: 7 hours and 38 minutes
📖: Harlequin Audio
🎤: Cindy Kay and J.F. Harding
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Workplace romance
Enemies to lovers
Spicy

Dual narration - J.F. Harding & Cindy Kay
Great narration. Loved the voices.
Wish it was duet but these two did a great job.

Aiden is a former hockey player turned English teacher who writes spicy romance stories and posts them online. Talk about a sexy MMC!

Micah is an auditor who has been hired by the university to evaluate the English department for potential changes to save costs. She also dreams of being a writer but after a past boyfriend trashed her writing she refuses to write anymore.

These two hate each other in the beginning but through forced proximity end up admitting they are attracted to to the other. Things gets steamy and interesting.

Such a fun listen. I really enjoyed this one. Steamy, funny, and emotional. The author has done a great job with this story.

Much Ado About Hating You
by Sarah Echavarre Smith

Much Ado About Hating You is a spicy romantic comedy that leans hard into the "hate-to-love" trope, with a little "hate-to-lust-to-love" thrown in for good measure. Micah, a no-nonsense financial auditor, is tasked with evaluating a university’s budget, while Aidan, a passionate English professor, finds himself in her crosshairs. Their first meeting is rocky, Aidan puts his foot firmly in his mouth with a tone-deaf comment about job cuts, and the tension only builds from there.

What adds a delightful twist is their shared love of Shakespearean fanfiction,Micah loves reading it, and Aidan secretly writes it. Their connection deepens through this unexpected overlap, adding a layer of charm to their fiery banter and growing attraction. The story plays with several beloved tropes like forced proximity and workplace romance, making it a fun and steamy read.

I gave Much Ado About Hating You 3 out of 5 stars. While the premise was clever and the chemistry sizzled, the pacing felt a bit uneven, and Micah’s character arc, especially her recovery from a recent breakup, seemed rushed. A few more chapters could’ve helped flesh out her emotional journey and made the resolution more satisfying.

The Narrators, Cindy Kay and J. F. Harding, did an amazing job, I give the narration 5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this entertaining and trope-filled rom-com.

we love a workplace enemies to lovers!!!

the audio was really fun, I really liked the MMC narrator!!

also this is obvi a retelling of much ado about nothing and i literally am a hoe for a shakespeare retelling ever since 10 things I hate about you LOL

This book was incredibly fast paced and fun! I definitely think it could have used one more edit to make trim down some of the explanation and add to the characters actions. But over all it was a really cute and fun read. The spice is full of dirty talk which is very fun if you like that 😉

Aiden is an ass, he’s grumpy and just so ready to hate Micah from the jump. (Can’t blame him) Micah is detached from her emotions to do with her job and can’t understand why people don’t want to be her friend. Their banter is fun but definitely an HR violation from the jump. 😆

The duel writing was my favorite part of the book. Their adorable banter of complaining about each other to each other unknowingly was really funny. And then teaming up together after to write for their fans was perfect. The ending is absolutely precious, I truly enjoyed this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts are my own and are in no way influenced by early access to this title.