Member Reviews

Thank you for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You Deserve Each Other is a Love to Hate to Love again book. Naomi and Nicholas has a quick courtship and found themselves engaged to be married in very little time. Nicholas has a mother that is the WORST possible version of what a mother in law could be. This book takes them through their engagement- lots of will they/ won’t they.
Naomi annoyed the shit out of me though if I’m being real.

Anyways. It was cool.

Was this review helpful?

There is such a fine line to consider when writing an enemies to lovers story. Too far on one side and there isn't really tension. Too far on the other side and the characters are so mean that you can't root for them. Two characters who are already engaged, as in this book, raised the stakes and made the line even finer for me. Man do Naomi and Nicholas know the buttons to push for maximum impact with each other. Hogle could be a tight rope walker with how well she traversed that line. Right at the moment where if they had gone any farther I would have hated both Naomi and Nicholas beyond repair, she shows a glimpse of the tenderness that has been trampled under hurt feelings and dashed expectations. It was just enough of a tease to get my heart racing and make me settle deeper into my chair to see what the next few pages held. I loved watching them find each other again and in doing. So the best versions of themselves. There was a lot of humor in this book to temper the sadness. Some of their antics are laugh out loud funny but what I remember more is the way my heart hurt for Naomi with all of her self-doubt. It is a rare book that creates such a range of emotions seamlessly. This book is definitely one for the keeper shelves and Hogle is an author I'll be paying attention to going forward.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I'm so glad I gave this book a chance. It was funny and smart, with witty banter that kept me turning the pages. It dragged a little in the beginning but I was glad that I stuck with it. I think we will all see some of ourselves on the pages of this fantastic debut. You deserve Each Other deserves your attention.

Was this review helpful?

The premise of this book sounded amazing and I was positive I’d love it. The first chapter? Sweet, romantic start. But then.... The first 62% of the book (yes, that percentage is correct) is full of hateful, awful, vindictive, gross behavior. It’s simply unbelievable that two people could stay together - for any reason - with so much blatant animosity toward one another. The back 38% was far better but, in the end, it was not enough to redeem the book for me.

Was this review helpful?

Naomi and Nicholas were the perfect couple.... until they weren't.

Naomi has been so complacent that she forgets who she is and how they got to this point in her relationship. She deems that she only loves Nicholas 18%. Naomi slowly starts to realize that Nicholas wants out of their relationship just as badly, or so it seems. But neither will take the hit for ending it and now it's a battle of who can break the other one and get them to call off the wedding.

The things they do and say to top the other is viciously hilarious. But then it starts to feel real. Naomi's stubbornness is heartbreaking. She doesn't know how to stop or believe when things seem genuine. Their lack of communication and honesty was their downfall.

But slowly they start to open up and you watch as they recapture what they once had and perhaps even surpassing it.

Definitely one click this now!

Was this review helpful?

OMG. Gobbled this up in a matter of hours. It's just simply fantastic. You're going to want to pre-order this now!

Was this review helpful?

I've been reading like crazy lately, romances mainly which is so odd for me, but I've been flying through them, rating them, and not writing reviews. As entertaining as I find them, I can discern between a 5-star rating and a romance that is still like the rest of them in so many ways. A book can be more of the same and still be great to me.

But I'm stopping in here to say that this one is NOT like the rest of them, and it absolutely deserves more than just the praise of a high rating. I say this for the thing that makes this one stand out from most of the rest is the voice.

I haven't fallen in love with quirky characters like this in SO long, and that's across every genre (and I read them all). I haven't laughed this hard at a book in forever, and I went red in the face more than a few times trying to suppress that laughter while trying to sneak in a page here and there while at work. The main character was delightfully dramatic in the driest, most endearing way that can be imagined. Her theatrics and her overall inner-monologues were tiny books in themselves for how entertaining and clever they were.

I rarely read ARCs before a decent number of others have. Sue me, I need reviews and ratings to bolster my motivation. But there was something about this one, even in the short NetGalley blurb that grabbed me, and I can honestly say that I'm so excited to see what else comes from this author. Her knack for making a single paragraph funny, poetic, dramatic, entertaining, and endearing all at the same time simply cannot be passed up. I can't remember loyalty to an author building up this fast in me.

This was one of the most memorable books of 2019 for me, and I can't recommend it enough.

Happy Reading!

Was this review helpful?

Words cannot express how FANTASTIC this book is. I read a lot - and I mean a LOT - of romance novels, and I’m having difficulty thinking of a book I enjoyed more than this one. If this is the author’s debut novel, I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. The writing style is absolutely unique and dynamic, flowing easily and drawing you into the story. It took me a little bit to get in the right headspace for it, but once I got deeper into Nicholas and Naomi’s story, I could not put it down. This is like The Hating Game on steroids, with a couple who have lost sight of what they once loved about each other, with so much humor that I found myself bursting out in shocked laughter more than once.

The story follows Naomi, a woman whose engagement marked the beginning of the end for her relationship. Nicholas and Naomi both shared the best sides of themselves while they were dating, and it wasn’t until they moved in together immediately following their engagement that things started to shift. You can’t be your best self 24/7, and when you add in the stress of planning a wedding and a completely overbearing future mother-in-law, things can spiral out of control quickly. Now Naomi has to force her smiles and go over the list of why she should love her fiancé just to get through the day. When Nicholas shows signs of being unhappy too, Naomi realizes they might just be playing chicken to see who will get the other to break first and call the whole thing off.

Told completely from Naomi’s perspective, this definitely takes the reader through a rollercoaster of emotions. When you see a relationship through one person’s eyes - and that person hasn’t been happy in a long time - you can’t be 100% sure that you’re getting the whole picture. It certainly made things interesting, and made me wonder more than once if I was getting things right. Both Naomi and Nicholas have some unflattering moments, but underneath it all is undeniable love. While the first half leans into the comedy, with some truly hilarious moments, the second half is all about the love. Things get deep and so profound that it had me thinking about my own relationship. It’s not until later in the book that we see how perfect these two really are for each other, and it is quite a ride getting there. A big thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC. I am voluntarily leaving a review of this hysterical and heartwarming book.

Was this review helpful?

I enjoyed this one. The characters are well drawn and the dialog is very funny. It sheds some light on a real topic that doesn't get covered in romantic fiction, much. Although she may be suffering from some type of depression, I want to be best friends with the main character. She's a hoot and so relatable. The male lead is also well drawn and very dreamy. This isn't quite "Hating Game" good, but it's up there and much better than most of the other romances I read.

Was this review helpful?

Want a big, heavy dose of Characters Behaving Badly?  Sarah Hogel serves it on up in You Deserve Each Other, a highly flawed story about two highly flawed people who figure out that they’re better together when they act like normal human beings.

Store clerk Naomi Westfield and doctor Nicholas Rose have a perfect relationship.  Everyone envies their perfect, adorable, Instagram-ready lifestyle.  Nicholas is gentlemanly; Naomi is ambitious and classy.  They’re going to be getting married in a lavish, big-budget wedding.  Everything is perfect.

There’s only one problem. In the year since their first date, Nicholas and Naomi have come to loathe each other.

Naomi can’t stand Nicholas’ perfectionist family and Nicolas’ mamma’s boy attitude.  Naomi is no peach herself – nasty and selfish sometimes, she wants the city life while Nicholas thirsts for the country.  They both want out of their engagement, of their plastic, envied lives - but neither of them has the courage to admit that’s what they want. Worse, whoever admits they want out of the wedding will end up footing the cancellation bills.

So - mutually annoyed, mutually wanting out - they try to trick, pressure and subtly worm the other person into breaking the engagement first.  But dropping the layers of pretense puts a brand-new spark into the relationship.  Suddenly Nicholas and Naomi are feeling more than loathing for one another…maybe their wedding might (gulp!) take place after all!

You Deserve Each Other is one of those books that’s going to be a lot for certain readers to take.  Naomi and Nicholas are complicated creatures who absolutely are Out There, and their battles are not very mature at all – at least at first.  It’s War of the Roses wrung through a cheesecloth romcom filter.

We’re anchored in Naomi’s PoV, and it’s a funny, funny ride, even when she’s being incredibly annoying, but she’s relatable enough, her anxiety understandable.  Nicholas, too, is ridiculous in his rigid practicality, in his need to escape to the outdoors.  She’s a hashtag-heavy LMAO-er.  He smiles and grins during a pirate birthday party she ‘accidentally’ schedules for him.  If you’re looking for people who are easily defined as ‘lovable’ then you’re not going to have a good time reading this book.

But the humor works quite well, to be honest.  It’s easy to enjoy You Deserve Each Other at its most credulity-straining because of how breezy it is – at least for the first half.

But then it takes a wide left-turn into Serious Feelings and Actual Romance and Emotions, and doesn’t quite make the turn into seriousland.  After investing in Nicholas and Naomi’s ‘isn’t-our-mutual-war-kinda-charming?’ battle for the first half of the book, asking us to take them seriously is a tough sell.  I just watched these two argue over a canoe for pages; watching them cry and angst doesn’t feel fully earned by the lightweight nature of the narrative.  The generally smooth writing style tries to help, but doesn’t quite pass the test.

You Deserve Each Other will be fun for anyone who likes love-to-hate-you romances like The Hating Game or The Proposal, but taking it seriously is a little hard.  Oh well.  The first half is fun enough to earn a low-level recommendation.

Buy it at: Amazon/Apple Books/Barnes & Noble/Kobo
Visit our Amazon Storefront

Was this review helpful?

Looks to me that I will be one of the few dissenters on this book as I just didn’t care for it. It didn’t feel like the Hating Game (which I LOVED) and was excited that this book was said to be similar, oh how wronged I was. There are to many things that I just didn’t like about this book so I’m just going to say I know I’m outlier here as it seems others just think its fabulous but I was not one of them. 2 stars for me.

I was provided with an electronic ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

This book does not release in the US until April 2020 so I’m not going to write an in-depth review quite yet. But I devoured it in one day and I hope other reviewers give it a shot. It’s a relationship-in-trouble romance with two people who rush headfirst into a relationship and an engagement and then find themselves drifting further and further apart the closer they get to walking down the aisle.

Things get mean and petty but there were no lines crossed that I couldn’t believe they could walk back from. Just when I was worried they they wouldn’t be able to dig themselves out, they started to bond again and I loved every second of it. I also loved that the reconnecting doesn’t wait until the very last act to happen. It’s a slow burn of sorts but by the time they get their shit together, I was completely on board with team Naomi and Nicholas.

This is a debut book from an author that I really hope we see more of in the future. I highlighed so many passages that just utterly delighted me. So many.

Was this review helpful?

I loved this unconventional romance. It was both hysterical and heartwarming. The things these two do to each other had me laughing. They got pretty creative. It reminded me of War of the Roses and I loved when it was actually mentioned in the story. I had to feel sorry for both of them dealing with Deborah. This one will stick with you. The ending was perfect. I will definitely read this author again.

Was this review helpful?

Main characters have the typical cute life, cute names (Naomi and Nicholas, ugh), and cute future. Or maybe not? Hogle describes a fear we might all have - about feeling stuck in a relationship and not knowing what to do. So what do you do? Make your significant other hate you, of course! You'll heart will ache with sadness but laughter heals everything. And there's plenty of that in 'You Deserve Each Other'. Funny, cute, and uniquely romantic.

Was this review helpful?

DNF. Whoever wrote the book description on Amazon should edit this book. I hate the whole "basic bitch" description too. Just watch Friends, drink your pumpkin spice, etc. and be ok with it already.

Was this review helpful?

I really enjoyed this book. Naomi and Nicholas were both so crazy and emotional I felt like I was right there in their minds. Reading about them trying to destroy each other made me kind of sad, because it was so obvious how much they cared about each other, but the end was so satisfying. Quite a page turner and really funny!

Was this review helpful?

This was a great read! I was pleasantly surprised by the twits in the story. I would never have guessed they'd be so perfect for each other. But it was cute. I liked the ending a lot!

Was this review helpful?

I finished this book almost in one sitting. This book had me in all the enemies to lovers / hate to love feels.

But it’s really love to hate to love isn’t it? Ughhh this book.

TO START. THE PETTINESS OF NAOMI AND NICHOLAS GAVE ME LIFE.
Oh my god. I burst out laughing multiple times because it was just so ridiculous and real.
I connect so much with Naomi and she was a fabulously flawed and wonderful human being. I get her feels and seeing them in her made me feel validated.
And Nicholas. Ahh. I loved him soo.

10/10 would recommend!!!!

Was this review helpful?

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book gave me all the hallmark vibes, it was such a cute book! You are going to want to add this to your TBR list when it releases!

The book is from Naomi’s point of view. From the outside it may seem like Naomi and Nicholas have the perfect relationship, but that is all a front. In reality, their relationship is suffering and they may have to call off their wedding. Naomi and Nicholas are hilarious, as they battle to see who will call of the wedding first.

Naomi and Nicholas are both relatable characters, and so is their relationship. Naomi is such a fun and hilarious character, you will end up loving her. It also goes to show how important it is to be honest with one another about your feelings.

I can’t say enough how much I enjoyed this book. I only wish the ending had a little more to it, or that there was an epilogue. I would highly recommend this book, it’s a quick and easy read!!

Was this review helpful?

This book was odd for me. I was originally intrigued because it was compared to The Hating Game but I think that advertising is misleading. The hating aspect was similar but the rest not so much. I just didnt connect with the characters and the story fell flat for me. I also really struggled to like Naomi at all. 2.5 stars.

Was this review helpful?