If you love The Hating Game - Read this!

I love you, I hate you, is an enemies-to-lovers retelling of the classic You've Got Mail, with all the swoony steam you could want.

Victoria and Owen are lawyers on opposite sides. They cannot stand each other. But their chemistry is on fire!
Unknown to them, they also know each other online... under different names, and that relationship is very different. Hence the book's title!
There's romance, humor, tension, and a cat named after Luke Skywalker. All good!

-
Writing-wise, I'm not a fan of 3rd person narrative. I found it to be quite distant, and at times hard to differentiate between the two characters as there wasn't any distinctive character 'voice' as such. However, the dialog was snappy and realistic and both MC's had satisfying character growth and endings.

Owen was by far my favorite character, he had me on the first page ;-) I challenge anyone not to love this secretly sweet (and slightly nerdy) Alpha.

Overall an enjoyable read and fantasic debut!

This book ticks all the boxes for an entertaining rom-com novel.

The plot is a bit predictable but there's not a single page that you would skip. The characters are not too complex but you still love them. If you are looking for something to elevate your mood, this is a perfect summer read to binge read.

Thanks for NetGalley and Headline for this Advance Reading Copy.

✨ REVIEW ✨ I Love You, I Hate You by Elizabeth Davis.

Wow! Just Wow!
You know when you find a book you love so much you accidentally stay up until we’ll after 2am to finish it in one sitting? When you know that the kids will be up at 6 but just don’t care because you’re so engrossed in the story and sleep is for the weak anyway? That’s this book! I was hooked from the prologue!

✨ I loved the relationship between Victoria and Owen. Their chemistry from the very start was palpable and I loved how professionally they challenge each other.

✨ I loved the social media aspect of the story. In this day and age social media is a huge part of our lives (even if we don’t want it to be) and I love how Victoria found her voice online and how it taught her to open up.

✨ I love a good rom-com and not only was the story itself a rom-com but it was packed full of references from my favourites, like 10 Things I Hate About You and Sleepless In Seattle!

This was such a fun, fast paced debut romance that I could read again and again and I can’t wait to see what’s next from Elizabeth!

I absolutely adored this book! It’s steamy, has great characters and brilliant arcs and isn’t overly predictable. I could not put this book down from the moment I started it!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Great read! My favourite enemies to lovers with both strong H and h.
Loved the story line and authors writing style.Clever and witty banter. Had me hooked from the first page. Also,loved how the story felt real and the character development.Would definitely recommend!

It's been a while since I have read anything set in the legal world. I loved all the lawyer-speak and legal tidbits!
Also, this story started out with a bang (lol, I'm funny). And kept delivering. Not one dull moment.
Owen was an absolute sweetheart. I loved how caring he was, with his family and Victoria/Nora. And his relationship with his stepmom was refreshing.
Victoria was a complete go-getter. She knew where she stood, how focused she had to be and was completely clear in her circumstances and her reasons for her choices.
The whole story was very easy to picture and felt real. The back-and-forth between the main characters was fantastic.
The only thing bugging me was <spoiler> Victoria's (BTW I love this name) hang-up with Owen's wealth. Though I understand, but I wish she didn't hold it against him, it's not like he could help it? But also, one of the most important aspects of their conflicts, so yeah.</spoiler>
Overall, a very good read.
Arc provided by Netgalley and Headline Eternal in exchange of a honest review.

This book made my heart sing. And I knew it would. Elizabeth Davis has long been a favorite of mine.

So let me start this off with a confession. Anyone who knows me well, is aware that 'contemporary' isn't my thing. Like, at all. The closest I tend to come is urban fantasy. But there are some authors (very, very few) who can pull me into a contemporary setting. Elizabeth is one of them.

Owen and Victoria are amazing. They're exceedingly human and relatable and fallible. Victoria is very close to my heart--her anxieties and fears and need to prove herself while also hiding herself. I feel that. Deeply. Her twitter friends made me feel seen in a way I've only felt in one other book (Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade). I literally laughed out loud at their banter. And not just the ladies' banter, but then boys' group chat as well. I love them all and want nothing but happiness and snuggles for each of them.

Here's what you can count on, going into any Elizabeth Davis book: you will feel things. Many things. Deeply. The relationships are perfection--that's not to say they happen easily and without trial. What I mean is, they are flawed and disastrous and heartfelt and raw. There's such tenderness and passion and LIFE. And they are written well enough that you will believe every second of it. You can't go wrong with her work. You will get a romance that makes you laugh and cry and grin like an idiot. And if you want to know, the sex is always hot and always consensual.

And on top of it all? Elizabeth tackles some pretty big things in this book. Inequality, class, poverty, white privilege, corporate corruption, politics. And she does it with courage, humor, and grace. It never felt preachy or contrived.

So. I tell you from the most honest part of my soul: go buy this book immediately. Pre-order. Borrow it from your library. It's worth it. It's more than worth it. Whether contemporary romance is your thing or not, I *highly* recommend this book.

I really wanted to love this book. I LOVE rom coms and there was so many cute references to them in this story, but the characters feel flat to me. I never really liked Victoria and Owen seemed nice enough. The conflict towards the end was so silly that I didn’t understand why there was a problem or a situation. The ending was cute though so I liked that. . Overall, if you love rom come you will like this book.

I received this ARC from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

<b>What a great rom-com debut! Once I started this book I couldn't put it down and had to finish it asap.</b>

You jump right into the story and know right away that Victoria & Owen are Nora & Luke: archenemies IRL, (anonymous) best friends online - that anonymity is what allows them to be honest and vulnerable, and what makes them so essential in each other's lives. It's the only place where they don't feel like they have to put on a facade.

The characters felt very real and I could see where they were coming from - which made it easy to sympathise with both sides. I enjoyed the banter between Victoria and Owen a lot and loved seeing them getting closer, their relationship develop. Victoria's reaction towards the end felt a tad bit too much for me ... but maybe that's just me being too forgiving ^^ Anyway, I couldn't wait for them to find their happily-ever-after, 'cause they both deserved it so much!!

<i>"I Love You, I Hate You"</i> was such a fun and quick read that had me hoping and rooting for both MC's from the very beginning. This has definitely put Elizabeth Davis on my radar and I'll be keeping an eye out for future releases!

<i>Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!</i>

Three and a half stars.

Victoria Clemenceaux is a brilliant young in-house lawyer working for a soulless big corporation called Smorgasbord, based in . It's her job to quash any hints of law suits against the company and she's very good at it. She loathes her employer but it pays mega-bucks and as the daughter of a teen single-mother who has battled poverty her entire life, money is important. She has huge college debts and she would dearly love to buy her mother a house so working anywhere else for a lower salary is out of the question. Her arch-nemesis is Owen Pohl, the original Trust Fund kid, son of one of the richest families in the Upper Midwest, who has set up his own law firm who now likes to take on big business, and Victoria's employer is one of the largest in Minnesota, which is handy when it comes to depositioning senior management. They may hate each other in the Courtroom but its the sort of fiery hatred that leads to hate-sex.

What Victoria and Owen don't know is that while they may be arch-enemies in real life, they are close friends on Twitter. Neither uses their real names and Victoria has always been deliberately vague about her job and her physical location because her liberal, feminist views often attract trolls. Victoria has always been so focused on her career she doesn't really have any physical friends, only groups of like-minded individuals on Twitter. Even then, it is only 'Luke' to whom she opens up and spills all her hopes, fears, and insecurities.

IDK, is it a significant anniversary of the release of You've Got Mail? This is the second or third retelling of the film I have read this year, which itself was of course a remake of the film The Shop Around the Corner, which in itself was (according to Wiki) based on a Hungarian play. The trouble with reboots is how to keep the story interesting without totally departing from the original (by which I mean the Tom Hanks version because that's my era).

Well, the answer is, in this case, really well! I have issues with the Tom Hanks film, namely why he deliberately manipulates the situation, acting as his own Cyrano de Bergerac if you like. Elizabeth Davis does this brilliantly. She totally explains why Own doesn't admit he is Victoria's Twitter friend Luke (as in Skywalker) when he finds out - and it makes sense! And it doesn't make him a douche.

The only reason this isn't four stars is because I found the sex scenes both too frequent and not very sexy. I get that they are f*ckbuddies, but it wasn't very erotic. Conversely, I found the inevitable break-up scenes really moving and they brought me to tears.

Finally, a retelling of the Tom Hanks film which addresses my issues with the film in a way that makes sense. I will certainly look out for other books by Elizabeth Davis in future.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Quite a lot of back and forth messaging in this one which I started to find tedious but when characters met and developed I was hooked. A good angle with online v offline personas.

I received I Love You, I Hate You as an advanced copy from NetGalley and I am so glad because this was SUCH a fun read that left me with a lot to say!

I read I Love You, I Hate You off the back of speed-reading The Spanish Love Deception and directly before inhaling The Hating Game. I'm sure you can tell I'm slap bang in the middle of discovering workplace romance novels and absolutely loving them.

This review will probably contain spoilers because I can't hold my tongue to save myself.

Victoria is stuck in a corporate law job that kills her soul and Owen is her frequent opposition. They both think they have the other sussed and obviously don't. They both also have anonymous internet friends who are conveniently the opposite of their nemeses. Internet friends who they complain about each other to. Coincidences, eh?

I don't understand law or the majority of 9-5 jobs so I'll just assume the author covered that all correctly lol. I liked the conflict of opposing counsel as much as I love a classic fantasy enemies-to-lovers. The opening chapter being so ~intense~ was new to me and kind of set the pace from the start. This story moved fast but felt real.

First of all, I LOVE dual POVs. I think it adds to the tension and angst I feel reading a romance novel when I know exactly what both characters are feeling. Knowing so early on how Owen felt, in particular, had me STRESSING. I was begging for them to figure it all out and work through the miscommunications at every opportunity.

What stands out as so different about I Love You, I Hate You is how believable and real these characters' lives felt. The involvement of twitter DMs, group chat messages and the mention of social debates with strangers online just felt right. At some points, Victoria did come across as preachy but equally sometimes Owen came across as a little ignorant and that's what made them feel like real people. For being such different characters, they both seemed very relatable.

The money issues, the hangovers, the the family histories, the job frustrations - it all felt real.

The majority of what I have to say is positive because this book was truly successful. It was progressive, well-paced, feminist, realistic and jam-packed with tension (both sexual and plain ol' angsty tension).

I think most of my worries were with formatting and such but I was reading an advanced copy so I imagine that will all be tidied up before release.

A 3.5 star book. A sexy workplace romance. A heartfelt love letter to internet friends. A cheeky dig at capitalism and the patriarchy. My favourite things!

You've got mail for the modern era. As someone who liked the film you've got mail, I was intrigued how you could retell it and get the same vibe across, but the author has done such a good job. The main characters came across each other on Twitter but both use usernames instead of their own names, so whilst there building a friendship on Twitter, they don't realise they're also rivals in the courtroom. There are a lot of sex scenes in this book; so think of it an 18 rated you've got mail, but the story otherwise is excellent. The characters came across as very human yet lovable, and overall it's a very good retelling; so good that I devoured the whole book in one sitting

I wished for this book a while ago and was so happy that my request was approved!

I loved this a lot! I love reading rom coms anyway but this was so much fun to read. I think it really depends on my mood sometimes but this was perfect.

First of all I think Elizabeth Davis’s way of writing romance is perfect. I got heavily attached to all the characters in this book and didn’t hesitate once when laughing. My enjoyment was based on many things and Davis for sure ticked off all the boxes for me. So I’ll definitely be checking out he works in the future.

Overall perfect summer read and perfect rom com. Amazing characters and writing 5/5 stars!

A great read.
Victoria and Owen are rivals, but know each other more than they think through their online alter-egos. What will happen when they work out who the other person really is?

‘I Love You, I Hate You’ was a quick and fun read for the weekend. It’s a rom-com with ‘enemies-to-lovers’ trope with the added ‘while-being-Twitter-friends’ element.

Victoria and Owen are lawyers often finding themselves on the other side of their cases. They’re not fond of each other, but they both want to win. They are also attracted to each other, and yet they’re both scared of letting it mean anything. At the same time, the unlikely pair develops a more meaningful relationship via conversations on Twitter under their pseudonyms, not knowing who they’re speaking with.

‘I Love You, I Hate You’ is ‘You’ve Got Mail’ but with a modern twist, and I enjoyed a modern reedition of the story. It’s one of these easy books you’ll read in bed almost in one seating. I needed it this weekend.

I was thrilled to be granted my first Netgalley Wish with this gorgeous story the other day. And wow - this is a super cute story! 🤩

Victoria is a corporate lawyer who comes up against opposing lawyer Owen and generally wins. After a few drinks one night, things hot up and they get together.

Victoria’s past has caused her to keep her life very private. Her best friends are those in her Twitter DM’s, where she is called Nora (after Nora Ephron) and she has an online crush with a guy called Luke (after his cat, Luke Skywalker).

Right upfront, the reader knows that secretly Victoria is Nora and Owen is Luke, and when they get close to each other I couldn’t help rooting for them to figure things out.

Of course, things go pear-shaped for the couple more than once, but this is a story of enemies-to-lovers and second-and-third-chance romance.

There are a few 90’s music and romcom references (Victoria is the daughter of a single teen mom that isn’t much older than she is) and the cute references just make the story all the more adorable ❤️