This contemporary romance/rom-com debut started out a bit rough for me, but I hung in there and the second half totally payed off.  Naomi and Nicholas are engaged- but they can't stand each other.  Whoever breaks the engagement is stuck with the bill. Instead of communicating, they are petty and cruel to each other. Albeit it entertaining to a point, I  wanted more backstory of how they got to that level of mistrust. But, SURPRISE, once they actually start communicating it's so much better. ⠀⠀⠀
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WHAT I LOVED:
COUPLE: An already established/engaged couple. Lovers to Enemies to Lovers.  PLACE: Wisconsin. It takes place (fictionally) in my part of the state. I specifically loved the shout out to Eau Claire, my alma matter. SUPPORTING CAST: The soon to be MIL is something else. 
PACING: Issues aren't solved in a day and I appreciated how they worked their way back to each other.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
TONE: It was really, really funny. There are a couple scenes that made me laugh hard enough to get the "You're crazy Mom" look from my kids. 
EGGPLANT SCALE: It has one slightly steamy scene (Ch 19) so  I’d rate it 1 1/2 

If you're looking for a solid, sarcastic yet sweet satisfying rom-com, pick this up. 3.5 stars

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle was fantastic. The plot was so different from your typical romance novel and I could not put it down. Naomi and Nick were perfect. Perfectly frustrating and absolutely perfect together. I can't wait to read more from this author!

The second half of the book was charming, but I thought the relationship in the first half was too toxic.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for an ARC of this book! (Even though they sent it to me after it was released. Not exactly an ARC anymore, but still thank you!)


I read book this as part of the "Friends Who Read" reading challenge: APRIL - Humor


This was such a cute and funny love story. I seriously loved it, it had me laughing out loud so often! It definitely fit my humor theme this month, I highly recommend if you’re in the mood for laughs. It was such a unique love story, I have literally never read another book where the characters start off engaged but hating each other, and do everything they can to sabotage the relationship without actually being the one to break it off. This made for some really hilarious moments!

BUT, don’t be fooled by the funny moments and the cutesy cover. It’s actually got some serious and emotional moments too. Because in mutually conspiring to break it off and truly being themselves, Naomi and Nicholas actually start to have fun in their relationship. This dynamic was SO GOOD. It was nowhere near instalove or lust or all of those things you find in a lot of romance books. It was so natural and realistic and I just came to love these characters.

I got some vibes of The Bromance Book Club, because that was also a funny book about salvaging a broken relationship. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a book that is funny, sweet, and just a great story. 4.5 stars

Ugh this book! I loved it. I laughed, I cried, I rolled my eyes. Such a simple, familiar premise, but the relatable voices, humor, and heart had me from the very start.

This book is hilarious and I immensely enjoyed the writing style. The thoughts and wording are so relatable and quirky and far out. It captures the craziness that everyone's brains go through. This reads like a classic rom-com. I could totally see it as a movie. Major "Monster-in-Law" or "Bride Wars" vibes.

Both main characters, Naomi and Nicholas, start out sounding like some really crappy people. I was only 5% in and already rolling my eyes left and right. And I mean that in the best way possible. I mean they are really hard to love and I think thats the point. It is written so well and I'm sure we are supposed to feel the annoyance. At first you really side with Naomi and then at some point you start understanding Nicholas and then side with him. As you read, you begin to see both their frustration and needs and it really captures how important communication and understanding is in a relationship and that both parties are responsible for the failure or success of it.

I couldn't put this book down once they move into the new house and my eyes are definitely worse for wear because of it, but it was so good. Ugh, I couldn't help but tear up when Nicholas walks to the dumpster and deliberately throws away the last wedding invitation. Such a poignant, meaningful moment.

Congratulations to Sarah Hogle on a wonderful debut. I would love to see this book written for a movie. Absolutely LOVE it! Highly recommend this book to all rom-com lovers and readers.

I really enjoyed this book, even though I wanted to smack both the characters (several times) throughout reading it. (Why is communicating so hard!?!) I loved the idea of falling in love, then out of love, and then back in love with the same person. Overall, this book was well written, funny, and most importantly it had my attention from the very beginning (which sometimes you have to sludge through a few chapters before getting hooked, so being hooked from the first chapter was awesome).

The one thing that is missing from this book that I desperately need is to know is what Deborah's reaction was to how things ended! I need a sequel or at the very least an epilogue!

Happy ever after becomes tricky when your fiancé has become your nemesis. In Sarah Hogle’s hilariously tender debut, You Deserve Each Other, see if love can be found again amidst some seriously underhanded pranks.

Oooooh this one was spicy! Sarah Hogle, bravo! There is so much spiteful tension and a slew of really childish antics, and I was cracking up. Hogle brings the tension and bitterness almost to the point of overwhelm. And THEN – right when you’re thinking that this book is just being too much of a jerk and you might break up with it – Hogle reels in Naomi and Nick. Then she gives you such a tender and open relationship. It’s a slow burn back to being in love, and the journey to find out if they really make it in the end is SO worth it!

I feel like the extreme build up to almost quitting the book perfectly mirrors the relationship between Nick and Naomi. I really felt pulled into their annoyance and desperation and wanted it to JUST. END. And then, while Nick and Naomi start being honest and real with each other and feel this immense tease of hope and relief, you’re right there with them.

I love this one. I really do. You Deserve Each Other is in the enemies-to-lovers category of romantic comedies, sure, but it’s so much better than others I’ve read. It’s equal parts wickedly hilarious and desperately vulnerable. It’s got snark and sass and sauciness and all other spectacular S-words that make it shine.

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I try not to give out 5 star ratings to every book that makes me laugh and/or cry. I like to preserve them for the books that really yank my emotions around.

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle is a 5-star book.

I read it mostly in one sitting, and I binged it late into the night. I could hear my mother snoring in her room down the hall, and I was desperately trying not to laugh too hard and wake her up. That is how hilarious this book is.

Naomi and Nicholas are engaged and their wedding is fast approaching. The problem: they don't love each other anymore. Nicholas has stopped any sort of romantic gestures, and Naomi is deeply unhappy with their relationship and with Nicholas's overbearing mother. Naomi doesn't want to be the one to end it all - she's not one to rock the boat - so the best thing is to convince Nicholas to end it.

By starting a prank war.

The first part of this book is deeply unsettling. The state of Naomi and Nicholas's relationship has gotten pretty bleak, and Naomi is very obviously stuck in a horrible situation. Once she decides to start the prank war, the tone lightens up a lot. The situations these two get into are some of the funniest scenes I have ever read and had me laughing until I had tears running down my face.

The eventual emotional connection that brings them back together was really well-written and believable. I was worried in the beginning because the relationship written from Naomi's perspective in the earliest chapters was so bleak and hopeless, but Hogle really brought it back around in the end. I loved to see these two characters work on themselves and each other, and I loved seeing them support one another by the end.

Such an amazing book.

Naomi Westfield is engaged to the perfect guy and planning the perfect wedding. She should be blissfully happy, right? Wrong.

She’s miserable. She’s tired of being utterly invisible to her fiancé. It seems that he would rather spend the day shoveling his parent’s driveway than spending time with her. It would be better for both of them if they called everything off and went their sperate ways. But she’s not going to be the one that ends it.

If everything goes as she plans, he’ll throw in the towel and she’ll be the wronged party. Maybe someday soon she’ll find love again. And maybe she won’t even have to look very far.

“This is what happens when you date a guy for eleven months, then get engaged six hours before finally moving in together and learning who the other person truly is on a day-to-day basis. Signing up for Boyfriend Nicholas and inheriting Fiancé Nicholas later on was some legitimate bait-and-switch business, let me tell you. I thought I’d won big-time when I landed him, but after sliding a ring onto my finger he relegated me to Eternal Second Place.”

Not only is Nicholas Rose a successful dentist from a well to do family but he’s also unfairly easy on the eyes. His greatest flaw is that he can’t seem to ever say no to his overbearing mother.

She’s taken it upon herself to plan every aspect of the upcoming wedding while gleefully ignoring any input from the bride to be. But if he and Naomi can’t find a way to salvage their tattered relationship, there won’t be any nuptials to celebrate.

He’s going to pull out all the stops to show Naomi that they belong together including ditching his beloved khakis for jeans and their city rental for a house in the woods. Because when you finally find your one true love, you never let them go.

“Nicholas absorbs my attention so fully that I know I’ll never forget how this feels. It’s a peace and a comfort I haven’t been able to find anywhere. It’s how my heart pounds so loud I’m certain he can hear it. It’s how his closeness makes my knees weak, and his skin brushing mine jolts me like a spray of hot sparks. It’s how he knows me better than anyone else, and I never meant for him to.
I tried to keep him at a safe distance where he could only see the decent parts of me and it made us both miserable. I inadvertently let him in to see the ugly parts but instead of running away like I’d counted on him to do, he wrapped his arms around all of that ugliness and didn’t let go.”

On the surface, You Deserve Each Other appears to be the wittiest kind of Rom Com. But hidden within the pages is a deeply satisfying love story. Sarah Hogle wraps sharp wit with tender passion and the result is a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience.

The push and pull between Nicholas and Naomi is pitch perfect and holds readers enraptured to the very end. Just be prepared to swoon for days…

4.5 Stars

“You’re a demon,” I tell him
“And you’ve been a ghost,” he breathes

When asked to review You Deserve Each Other, the debut from Sarah Hogle, we read the synopsis and immediately said yes. Now, after finishing we can’t believe this is a debut novel! What a fantastic read with an interesting twist on the enemies to lovers’ trope! With Naomi and Nicholas hellbent on antagonising one another at every opportunity, it’s more a lovers to enemies to lovers’ theme and we lapped up all the funny, crazy, heartbreaking and beautifully emotional moments!

‘When you build a life with someone, so many of your building blocks prop up your partner, and you’re propped up by theirs until your foundations merge and walking away risks destabilisation for you both.’

Twenty-eight-year-old Naomi Westfield and thirty-two-year-old Nicholas Rose are engaged, and only three months away from tying the knot when they find themselves questioning their relationship, irritating one another, playing pranks on each and wondering if their wedding will, in fact, proceed.

Told through Naomi’s inner monologue we learn how utterly frustrated Naomi is with her relationship, her career and her family. Her insecurities intensify her antagonism towards Nicholas who has a stable career and is a doted-upon son. Naomi feels as though she’s been relegated to second place in Nicholas’ life, her feelings manifesting into her wanting to possibly call off their wedding.

‘There are hurts. I feel them all over, like stab wounds: the distance that we both allowed to settle in, ruining what should have been the happiest year of our lives.’

Nicholas’s overbearing mother, Deborah wears on every one of Naomi’s last nerve as she dictates every part of their upcoming nuptials, and her constant demands on Nicholas leave Naomi frustrated. But how does Nicholas feel? Can he see a point where their relationship can be saved?

“You stopped seeing me, Naomi. You stopped wanting me. “

Sarah Hogle delivered a debut filled with witty banter and some laugh out loud moments as Naomi and Nicholas try every trick in the book to ‘one-up’ each other in the revenge stakes! Some of their exploits were ingenious! The emotion certainly pulled at our heartstrings in a story that, beneath the wit and antics, is a beautiful romance/love story between two people who have lost their way.

“I don’t know where you’ve been all year, Naomi. Your body’s here, but your head’s somewhere else. You’ve gone and left me all alone.”

We did take a little while to warm to the story as we couldn’t get a read on Naomi and Nicholas, with Naomi coming across as the aggressor, however, once we became invested and the emotion of the characters came to fruition, we were held spellbound as Naomi and Nicholas navigated their troublesome relationship, through all the pent up hurt and miscommunication.

“Relearning you has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

A little reminiscent War of the Roses/Mr and Mrs Smith (though without the violence!), we were completely dazzled by, and invested in the characters, the romance and the eventual outcome of Naomi and Nicholas’s story. Not to mention swooning crazily over Nicholas. This guy… we loved him! If you love the enemies to lover’s trope, you need to grab this book!

‘I wish I could see inside his head to know how he feels about me. ‘

I'm rounding up because this was essentially a very cute book, but more like 3.5 stars.

Like some other reviewers have said, it was kind of a challenge to get into this at the beginning. I didn't totally connect with the main characters and I was worried this would make me feel bad about marriage. (Not totally, but it was a struggle to finally get to the cute bulk of the story)

I felt obligated to finish it because I was lucky enough to get an ARC. But I didn't LOVE it. I don't know if I would recommend it to friends. If I did, I'd give a warning about powering through it because it is a CUTE, easy book.

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle
I have been lately dabbling in the genre of rom-com. Initially I had no expectations of these books and found myself highly amused. As time went on, I started to read more in the genre, and realized there is most definitely expectations to set. I learned there are great rom coms and plain crappy ones. You Deserve Each Other is everything that is great with the genre. There is rom com and then there is You Deserve Each Other.
You deserve each other is about an engaged couple that are so over each other it’s become a toxic relationship. He doesn’t get her flowers and her friends hate him. She has to carry the burden of always being second to his nagging mother and things are just not fair. In an attempt to call off the marriage without actually calling it off Naomi attempts to drive her fiancée mad with a series of sabotage and pranks and an all-out emotional warfare.
You Deserve Each Other is the epitome of what most relationships lack. It’s not love, but communication and understanding. Naomi and Nicholas Rose have fallen so far apart that neither can understand why they are together. Through a series of truths and turmoil and restarting, do the layers of their relationship start to unfold. Naomi was expecting from Nick what she herself wasn’t providing and he was not communicating with Naomi in a way that kept her feeling safe. It’s a tale of enemies-to-lovers in the most relatable of ways. In a way, many of us in long term relationships have been Naomi and Nick. We have contemplated whether we ended up with the right person, only to sit and analyze are we behaving in a way that corresponds with what we expect our partner to behave? Once we sit down and analyze we realize that love can conquer all and we need to check ourselves before we point the fingers to the other partner. You deserve each other was more a psychological lesson for a couple than rom-com although there are some pretty ridiculous scenes and funny moments.

I give this one 5/5 starts. This book was given to me by G.P Putnam’s Son through #netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

So, so good! I'm so happy to find a new favorite book.

While the trope of enemies to lovers is done (a lot), I've never read anything like You Deserve Each Other. Because... in this book, we follow Naomi. She is engaged to Nicholas for a little while now BUT she is very unhappy in her day-to-day life with her fiancé who doesn't seem to see how she struggles mentally and slowly falls out of love. However, Naomi is going to be surprised when she finds out that he wasn't as clueless as she thought he was and he too is very unsatisfied with their relationship.

I have a hard time describing books but basically, Naomi and Nicholas are going to find themselves in a battle of will to see who will crack first and who will break off their wedding organized by Nicholas' mother (who was unbearable). Everything that they did was so funny to read about and the banter and fight made this book incredibly entertaining.

This book made me laugh out loud, made me tear up, made me swoon. Overall, reading it made me happy and I freaking adore this love story. I can't wait for Sarah Hogle to publish another book. You can be sure I'll read it immediately if she does. (fingers crossed)

I can't recommend it enough. If you like romance and you also want to laugh, this book should definitely be on your radar! It was published a week ago so you don't even have to wait to read it.


(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

This story is best described as lovers, to enemies, to friends, to lovers. Naomi and Nicholas are arleady engaged, they met, felt in love and now they are getting married. The problem is that they hate each other, but none of them wants to be the one that calls of the wedding. So they try to force the other to break up. This leads up to some of the most hilarious and awkward situations I’ve ever seen.

Naomi is sick to pretend, she pretends to be happy, to be the woman Nicholas felt in love with and the perfect daughter in law. She doesn’t recognize herself anymore.

Nicholas is tired to see Naomi forcing her life with him. He always puts his mother before his fiancè and doesn’t understand Naomi anymore. He is not happy either, but she doesn’t know how he really feels.

Their love seems helpless, the are lying to each other and to themselves and none of them is really trying to make it work anymore. Or so it seems.

When they finally tell each other how they really feel things start to get messy, they do everything in their power to make the other go crazy and give up. But then Nicholas takes a very risky move and maybe it’s what they really need to save their relationship and be happy together again.

This story is funny, sad and heartwarming. Reading the synopsis I knew it had the potential to be a great romance and I’m so glad it lived up to expectations. The book is well-written, there is a lot of humor even in the “darkest” parts of the story and it leaves you with a big smile on your face. I highly, highly recommend it. This is one of the best romance I’ve read this year and from now on I will read everything by this author. If you are looking for a fun, quick, uplifting novel check this out.

this took me a bit to get into because i couldn't really wrap my head around how they got to where they were. it was like a marriage in trouble trope but without the marriage and i just didn't find it terribly realistic that they'd come to this point of hating each other after getting engaged and only being together for such a short time... but somewhere along the line it starts to get cute and you start to see behind all that, really feel all the feelings. i really felt like i fell in love with those characters, and except for the beginning where i felt like i wanted more background of them as a couple, i feel like this was a super realistic view on how relationships can fall apart so easily... not speaking up when something bothers you, not appreciating the other person, not sticking up for them when your friends or family say mean things... etc etc. i really liked watching them fall back in love and heal their relationship, and of course i loved the house and how that helped them. i do wish we'd gotten an epilogue, but i guess we can't have everything.

Dear Sarah Hogle,

Months ago, my friend Elyssa Patrick recommended your debut contemporary romance, You Deserve Each Other, to me. I was intrigued by the blurb and the concept, so I request the ARC from Netgalley. Here is the description that caught my attention:


When your nemesis also happens to be your fiancé, happily ever after becomes a lot more complicated in this wickedly funny, lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy debut.

Naomi Westfield has the perfect fiancé: Nicholas Rose holds doors open for her, remembers her restaurant orders, and comes from the kind of upstanding society family any bride would love to be a part of. They never fight. They’re preparing for their lavish wedding that’s three months away. And she is miserably and utterly sick of him.

Naomi wants out, but there’s a catch: whoever ends the engagement will have to foot the nonrefundable wedding bill. When Naomi discovers that Nicholas, too, has been feigning contentment, the two of them go head-to-head in a battle of pranks, sabotage, and all-out emotional warfare.

But with the countdown looming to the wedding that may or may not come to pass, Naomi finds her resolve slipping. Because now that they have nothing to lose, they’re finally being themselves—and having fun with the last person they expect: each other.

The book has a rough start but that’s absolutely necessary—for Nicholas and Naomi to find their way back to each other they have to start in an awful place. Still, for the first couple of the chapters, Naomi’s character was alienating. Nicholas, a dentist to whom she was engaged, irritated and annoyed her in multiple ways, but canceling their wedding would have cost her an arm and a leg (his parents were paying for the wedding and they would have charged her) so she just put up with it.

Worse, she pretended she was still wholeheartedly in love with him on Instagram and to their friends. In reality she had mentally checked out of their relationship to such a degree that she couldn’t even remember how they met. And she didn’t think that Nicholas could tell the difference.

This is a partial review. The complete review can be found at Dear Author, here:

https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-b-reviews/b-plus-reviews/review-you-deserve-each-other-by-sarah-hogle-2/

“You’re a demon,” I tell him
“And you’ve been a ghost,” he breathes

When asked to review You Deserve Each Other, the debut from Sarah Hogle, we read the synopsis and immediately said yes. Now, after finishing we can’t believe this is a debut novel! What a fantastic read with an interesting twist on the enemies to lovers’ trope! With Naomi and Nicholas hellbent on antagonising one another at every opportunity, it’s more a lovers to enemies to lovers’ theme and we lapped up all the funny, crazy, heartbreaking and beautifully emotional moments!

‘When you build a life with someone, so many of your building blocks prop up your partner, and you’re propped up by theirs until your foundations merge and walking away risks destabilisation for you both.’

Twenty-eight-year-old Naomi Westfield and thirty-two-year-old Nicholas Rose are engaged, and only three months away from tying the knot when they find themselves questioning their relationship, irritating one another, playing pranks on each and wondering if their wedding will, in fact, proceed.

Told through Naomi’s inner monologue we learn how utterly frustrated Naomi is with her relationship, her career and her family. Her insecurities intensify her antagonism towards Nicholas who has a stable career and is a doted-upon son. Naomi feels as though she’s been relegated to second place in Nicholas’ life, her feelings manifesting into her wanting to possibly call off their wedding.

‘There are hurts. I feel them all over, like stab wounds: the distance that we both allowed to settle in, ruing what should have been the happiest year of our lives.’

Nicholas’s overbearing mother, Deborah wears on every one of Naomi’s last nerve as she dictates every part of their upcoming nuptials, and her constant demands on Nicholas leave Naomi frustrated. But how does Nicholas feel? Can he see a point where their relationship can be saved?

“You stopped seeing me, Naomi. You stopped wanting me. “

Sarah Hogle delivered a debut filled with witty banter and some laugh out loud moments as Naomi and Nicholas try every trick in the book to ‘one-up’ each other in the revenge stakes! Some of their exploits were ingenious! The emotion certainly pulled at our heartstrings in a story that, beneath the wit and antics, is a beautiful romance/love story between two people who have lost their way.

“I don’t know where you’ve been all year, Naomi. Your body’s here, but your head’s somewhere else. You’ve gone and left me all alone.”

We did take a little while to warm to the story as we couldn’t get a read on Naomi and Nicholas, with Naomi coming across as the aggressor, however, once we became invested and the emotion of the characters came to fruition, we were held spellbound as Naomi and Nicholas navigated their troublesome relationship, through all the pent up hurt and miscommunication.

“Relearning you has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

A little reminiscent War of the Roses/Mr and Mrs Smith (though without the violence!), we were completely dazzled by, and invested in the characters, the romance and the eventual outcome of Naomi and Nicholas’s story. Not to mention swooning crazily over Nicholas. This guy… we loved him! If you love the enemies to lover’s trope, you need to grab this book!

‘I wish I could see inside his head to know how he feels about me. ‘

You may know by now that enemies to lovers is one of my least favorite tropes. Two characters antagonizing and sniping at each other can often veer into meanness and that never works for me. The blurb for this also alluded to it being a relationship in trouble. I knew I had to give it a try and hoped for the best.

BLURB:

When your nemesis also happens to be your fiancé, happily ever after becomes a lot more complicated in this wickedly funny, lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy debut.

Naomi Westfield has the perfect fiancé: Nicholas Rose holds doors open for her, remembers her restaurant orders, and comes from the kind of upstanding society family any bride would love to be a part of. They never fight. They’re preparing for their lavish wedding that’s three months away. And she is miserably and utterly sick of him.

Naomi wants out, but there’s a catch: whoever ends the engagement will have to foot the nonrefundable wedding bill. When Naomi discovers that Nicholas, too, has been feigning contentment, the two of them go head-to-head in a battle of pranks, sabotage, and all-out emotional warfare.

But with the countdown looming to the wedding that may or may not come to pass, Naomi finds her resolve slipping. Because now that they have nothing to lose, they’re finally being themselves—and having fun with the last person they expect: each other.

I was not disappointed. This will be one of my favorite reads from 2020. This book kept me up until 2 am reading it. It had me laughing out loud with laughter and also had me crying at the very tender moments.

Naomi and Nicholas have been engaged for about a year and their wedding is three months away. The problem is that over their time together, they have held onto their problems and issues instead of talking them out. They are in that period of a relationship where the shine has worn off and now they have to figure it out.

Naomi decides the only way out of the wedding is to get Nicholas to break up with her. She resorts to petty pranks and he responds in kind. There were some tense moments that felt very real. It was at times uncomfortable. When people are hurting, sometimes they hurt other people. Especially ones they love. But also there was a lot of love between the two main characters. There is a scene where they are mad at each other but they decide to go out to dinner. They are frosty to each other but he orders her favorite drink while she’s in the bathroom and he stacks up the dirty dishes for the busperson because she knows that is how Nicholas likes to do it. This scene made me love them both.

I don’t want to rehash the whole plot, but I thought this book was fantastic. The pacing was great. The dialogue was sharp and witty. It is single POV, Naomi only. There are glimpses of Nick’s thoughts but they are obviously clouded by Naomi’s anger. But for me as the reader, I could see past that.

Here are a few quotes that I really enjoyed and I think you might too.

I tried to keep him at a safe distance where he could only see the decent parts of me and it made us both miserable. I inadvertently let him in to see the ugly parts but instead of running away like I’d counted on him to do, he wrapped his arms around all of that ugliness and didn’t let go.

I hold my ring finger above me and watch the diamond sparkle. It’s too forward for me to lay my head on my fiancé’s chest. How absurd is that? I don’t touch him, but I think about it. I think his shirt would feel soft, fragrant with subtle notes of cologne you only catch when he moves. He’d feel like reassurance. Quiet strength. Security. The bright coals of a fire. He’d feel like warm arms on a cold starry night, breaths puffing up white. He would feel like a sturdy old house in the woods and a plaid winter cap. Nicholas Benjamin Rose is a good man right down to his bones, and that is true even if he and I have been impossible.

If you like flawed characters who sometimes behave badly and say petty things, I think you will really enjoy this. I know the price is high ($12 on kindle) but I think it is worth it.

Sarah Hogle’s You Deserve Each Other kept me on my toes. Part grenade explosion, part tender re-connection, this book had me wondering what bad things happened to a once-in-love couple and if they’d make it back to each other even as my insides danced with laughter.

At the beginning of the book Naomi decides that she’ll do whatever it takes to get her fiancé Nicholas to break off their engagement. She’s started measuring her love for him in percentages and they’re not favorable.

To her shock, Nicholas has the same intentions and it turns into an all-out war to infuriate/annoy the other into saying I don’t and never will.

Sarah Hogle’s writing style is a dream and THIS IS A ROM COM which means it’s funny as hell. Once Naomi and Nick start letting their walls down, things turn from a shrapnel-flying battlefield to sweet, meaningful gestures and the sexual explosion we’ve all been waiting for. Kaboom.

But in general the whole lovers to enemies to lovers trope is a somewhat difficult one for me. Think about it: the author has to show so many different dynamics and make you feel each one. In this case, Hogle skillfully transforms them from enemies back to lovers but I had a harder time understanding and accepting the transition from lovers to enemies in the first place (& why Nicholas would make a decision he makes on the way back). Hogle gives some explanations but ultimately I wasn’t 100 percent convinced by their journey.

You Deserve Each Other is a madcap romance and I could have grabbed some popcorn, I enjoyed the show so much. Though there are some things about Naomi and Nicholas’s story that didn’t entirely convince me, the humor of it is a joy and so are their moments of vulnerability. After all, we probably don’t identify with butchering our own bangs out of spite but we *might* identify with not always being our best self; the frustrations of interfering relatives; and the butterflies that come with finding the person who sees you and loves you.

4.25 ⭐️.

You Deserve Each Other is available now. Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for my complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

While I'm usually a big fan of the enemies to lovers trope, this one went lovers to enemies to lovers ... and I'm just not sure how that made me feel. I did enjoy the end result of the book, and thought that their story was very sweet, but I was really bothered by the lack of communication. So many things could've easily been solved by talking or clarifying, instead of assuming the worst. They were a cute couple, and there were parts that made me giggle (especially Naomi's antics of trying to battle her fiancé), but it lacked a little bit for me. I did love the ending, though. The last part of the book was really good, and I loved what was resolved as well events that occurred & things that were said. I did get a lot of feels towards the end, so overall, it was a good read, but I did have a few issues with it.