Before starting If You Hate Me by Helena Hunting, I had no clue what I was getting into. I was intrigued by the forced proximety, enemies to lovers, forbidden love, and brother’s best friend trope. I had never heard of the author, and I was going in completely blind. It’s safe to say I was stunned through the entirety of the book.
Beatrix (Bea) is an accountant, has a good steady job, and lives in an apartment relatively close to her work. However, an over bearing boss and sexually harrassing roommates cause her to quit, and move out.
When moving in with her brother Flip and his insufferable best friend Tristan, Bea has her work cut out for her. Tristan and Bea fall into a web of lies when they start to fall for each other. They avoid admitting it to each other, and they definitely won’t admit it to Trip. They have gone their entire lives despising each other, but it all changes when Bea moves in.
Throughout this extremely fast-paced book with absolutely no plot, the banter between Tristan and Bea declines. It felt as if the author added the enemies to lovers trope just for the sake of adding it, and it did not work.The cringy dialogue from all characters and overly-sexual comments and encounters every chapter, gave me secondhand embarrassment.
The book is below par when it comes to the plot and character personalities. It felt like I was reading some type of dirty fanfic the entire time as its explicit content is not suitable for younger audiences. Bea often victimizes herself and blames her freakouts over the tiniest things – like someone stealing her food during her childhood. The entire book Bea goes back and forth complaining about how her brother is a rich hockey player who is offering to give her money and how she hates Tristan so much but continues to go back to him.
I had a hard time comprehending some of the storylines because it bounced back and forth. But, something I did enjoy was the dual point of view and how the relationship between Tristan and Bea goes back into their childhoods. I would not have continued reading this book if I had not committed to reviewing it. As someone who normally enjoys a good hockey romance with a brother’s best friend trope, this book completely put me off.
