Rating: 4 stars
Official book description:
Of all the decisions brilliant lawyer Victoria Clemenceaux has made in her life, an unforgettable one-night stand with her opposing counsel Owen Pohl is either the worst...or the best.
One thing is certain: these long-standing rivals aren't going to let their searing attraction stop them from winning the biggest case of their careers. Thankfully Victoria and Owen have someone to vent to about their nemeses. But they have no idea that their online 'friends', Nora and Luke, are the very people they hate in real life.
As Nora and Luke grow closer online, and Victoria and Owen find their undeniable attraction harder to resist, the lines between love and hate blur. When the truth comes out, will their online chemistry work in the real world, or will their constant rivalry sever their connection?
I seem to find myself drawn to enemies-to-lovers romances with a You've Got Mail influence, despite the fact that I don't particularly like the romantic comedy much. I've mentioned in reviews before that I find the emotional infidelity that Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks' characters commit while flirting and falling in love online, while both are still in committed relationships, icky. However, most contemporary romances (be they YA or not) take the communicating with someone online and developing a friendship/attraction with someone they loathe in real life (but secretly want to bang) aspect, and thankfully most have the protagonists be single while this happens.
In some enemies-to-lovers romances, there isn't all that much enmity. One party perhaps kind of dislikes the other, but the other actually always found the other one attractive. Or there's been some sort of misunderstanding that gets cleared up pretty quickly. In this book, the protagonists really do despise each other, stemming from a long-running professional rivalry (he's a prosecutor working for the public good, and she's the defense attorney for a large, soulless corporation) and constantly trying to one-up one another in court. Little do they know that they're each other's closest confidantes online.
The friendship on social media aspect of this book, reminded me a lot of the online friendship between Bee and Levi in Ali Hazelwood's Love on the Brain. The actual hate-f**king aspect of the book (because Victoria and Owen REALLY still hate each other the first few times they hook up) was very reminiscent of Kate Canterbary's The Worst Guy. Because the dislike between the characters is so genuine, the author has to do more work to convince the reader that all that hate is actually just sublimated lust and longing. It's not an easy feat, but I think Elizabeth Davis managed it well here. The fact that this seems to have been her debut novel (Goodreads tells me she's written short stories in the past) makes it even more impressive. Her next romance features a fake relationship between seeming opposites, and while I'm less fond of that trope, I'd be willing to give her a chance based on how well she pulled off enemies to lovers in this book.
Judging a book by its cover: Not exactly fond of either the pink and blue background here or the rest of the cover design. Also, the little cartoon that's supposed to be Owen should have had redder hair.
Crossposted on Cannonball Read.
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