Trouble with Hating You
Ratings6
Average rating3.9
A fiercely independent engineer walks out on the man her parents have set her up with -- only to start working side-by-side with him at her job in this laugh-out-loud debut with "delicious banter, deep wounds, heartwarming friendships, and a path to love that often feels impossibly hard, and [a payoff] satisfying enough to give you a book hangover the size of Texas" (Sonali Dev, USA Today bestselling author of Recipe for Persuasion). Liya Thakkar is a successful biochemical engineer, takeout enthusiast, and happily single woman. The moment she realizes her parents' latest dinner party is a setup with the man they want her to marry, she's out the back door in a flash. Imagine her surprise when the same guy shows up at her office a week later -- the new lawyer hired to save her struggling company. What's not surprising: he's not too thrilled to see her either after that humiliating fiasco. Jay Shah looks good on paper...and off. Especially if you like that whole gorgeous, charming lawyer-in-a-good-suit thing. He's also infuriating. As their witty office banter turns into late-night chats, Liya starts to think he might be the one man who truly accepts her. But falling for each other means exposing their painful pasts. Will Liya keep running, or will she finally give love a real chance?
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2 primary booksThe Trouble with Hating You
The Trouble with Hating You is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2020 with contributions by Sajni Patel.
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Content warnings right up front: death of parent (on-page via flashback, fairly detailed description), death by fire, sexual abuse in a character's past (vague flashbacks), abusive parent (emotional/verbal, physical once), abusive spouse (emotional/verbal), gaslighting/manipulating/threatening abuser, victim not being believed about sexual abuse If you want details about any of those, message me and I'll do the best I can to provide more info.
So despite all the content warnings above, this was actually an extremely fun read! I loved Liya and all her friends, and I'm so glad that there's going to be another book in this series (about Preeti, and I hope there's a third for Sana). I really liked the enemies-to-friends-to-love slow burn and how Liya and Jay both had their own issues to work through trusting each other. It got a little repetitive in the middle, with Liya pushing Jay away over and over, but it was definitely understandable considering her history. Jay was a little less developed as a character for me and definitely less complex, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Basically, I just liked both of these characters a lot, I loved the setting (I haven't read a lot of books set in Texas) and their friends/family members (except Liya's dad, who is the second most reprehensible person in this book), and even though I knew how things were going to end, I was still rooting for them and anxious to see how everything would work out in the end, which I think is the mark of a good romance. I could nitpick about a couple of things, like Jay's lawyer stuff and travel time between Houston and Dallas, but why? This was delightful and I can't wait for more from this author!
(2020 summer romance bingo: meddling matchmakers, would also work for ice cream or debut novel.)
