Nick and Naomi are engaged but the closer the wedding draws the less Naomi wants the marriage. She also can't afford to pay the wedding fees if things get called off - so she goes on a campaign to get Nick to break things off. But then hilarity (and honesty) ensues. This is a romance so there's a happy ever after but it is so fun getting there. ( )

Recommended: sure!
For a romance that's a bit different than most but has familiar tropes worked in, for a book that made me cackle and cackle and really just laugh a ton, for a lovers who are enemies back to lovers kind of storyline that strays a bit from the usual in all the best ways

Thoughts:
I read Angelica's review and that reminded me of how I had wanted to read this book when it came out, before it fell off my radar. Well, she successfully brought it back to my mind, and it was available at the library right away so the fates were aligned! And, oh my, was this exactly what I needed at the moment!

So many romance novels or romcoms are of a couple who are first meeting and starting to fall in love. This one is well after that, when they're sort of falling out of love. As for me, well, I loved that! It's a refreshing change to the usual formula. Having felt that fizzle in a relationship when it starts feeling more like an annoying roommate than the love of your life, Naomi's fears mirrored my own from the past. They delivered poignant moments that made it so easy to sympathize with her.

And, of course, Nick. The evildoer in this case, the man we have to hate. Hogle successfully played a few tricks and avoided the trap of a flat character to take all the blame. We quickly move into a more dynamic relationship between Nick and Naomi... even if it is mostly characterized by the increasingly terrible things they do to each other. Honestly, some of them had me cringing so hard; I hate people being deliberately cruel to each other. But luckily, the story progresses, and I was able to start laughing again.

I've already mentioned two out of my top three fav things: how manically funny the book is, and the familiar pain of realtionship on its last legs. My third favorite? Nick's emotional honesty and depth. Usually in romances, men are not really into their feelings (unless it's lust). Those have their place, but damn was it amazing to have an MC in this book who not only understood what he needed from the relationship, but was able to clearly state it to his partner. To talk about their issues (albeit sometimes with thrown shoes and the like). Ugh, it was amazing. Who wouldn't want someone so self-aware as that??

So in conclusion: Angelica had it right when she read this three times in one week. It's worth it. And it's definitely one to buy. ( )

This is like, a 4.5 for me. I try to be really careful about what 5 stars looks like, but I love love this book, and I want it to have a higher average, so I marked it as a 5 star

I genuinely love this book so much. Like the MCs are sorta petty (mostly the FMC). But I love second-chance romance. Love at first sight is so overdone and bleh. But fiances that can't stand each other
Also she thinks she's so good at hiding her emotions and opinions but she's so so bad at it (at least to her fiance) also, I love how he talks about her trying to hide everything. Like, everyone has had times when they knew the person they were talking to wasn't interested or engaging, and that sucks so bad, and the way he talks about that realization that she pays less and less attention to him hurts so bad.

And I loved how it's kind of an unreliable narrator, like I always assume the narrator is reliable, but as you get further in you can see how she's lying to herself and the reader. She thinks she hides her feelings and that he's so horrible and boring and is trying to bother her, but he knows and is so so much kinder to her. She lies to herself about his motives and tries to convince herself that he hates her and is unlikeable, but genuinely by the end of the book, you can see how all of his actions are motivated out of doing good to her. Love this book sm.

So at one point, she says something along the lines of "ugh you never buy me flowers but you buy ur mom flowers" and he's like "?? you said you didn't want flowers" and she's like "yeah well- well-" *slams door* So the next day, he sends like, 10 bouquets to her work (a failing junk shop) and her coworkers and her are both like omg it's oleander!! he's trying to kill you ahhhh!!! so they burn all of the flowers. and so when he texts her to ask if she got the flowers she's like "haha i burned them, you can't kill me with oleander!" and he's like "?? ma'am that was jasmine what the heck is wrong with you??" So anyway my point with this is that she's kinda petty and stupid, but also the "why don't you?" "you said not to" "okay i didn't totally mean it" conversation is real. And it's an example of he does something for her (and also in this case as kind of a take that statement) and she refuses to believe it's for her and instead believes he has some kind of ulterior motive.

Anyway, I started the book assuming she was The character to root for, but by the end I was like nah he was in the right the whole time and she was mostly self-sabotaging and overthinking and assuming. And also I genuinely wanted them to work out and be happy.

Also, I hate when authors assume the reader is stupid and point out everything, make sure you can't miss what this means and why that detail is significant. An example is when there's a mention of a trench coat that Naomi bought for Nicholas and how he wears it fall-spring and it's the most expensive thing she ever bought for him, and then a while later a puppy she loves pees on the coat and he's rlly upset about the coat getting ruined and she's like who cares and moves on. And all of that is said in like, 2 sentences.

Anyway anyway, I love this book. ( )

I really enjoyed this read. I loved that the book started out with a bitter couple and ended on a sweet note. The characters were funny, relatable, and had good development.
( )

I have some trouble buying the resolution of the core conflict but I am not surprised as the premise is pretty bonkers in the first place.
The resolution felt like it came too soon to me and it just ends up being a normal angsty romance after a clunky start for at least a third of the book because of it.
It's cutesy and somewhat corny in places but most of the book is comedy.
I was amused by a lot of it but it becomes too boringly stereotypical sometimes. (which is part of the humor to a degree but it still was too much for me sometimes.)

I enjoyed reading this but it wasn't quite enough for 4 stars. ( )