I'm someone who adored Much Ado About Nothing back when I read it in high school. At least, I adored Beatrice and Benedick.

So this book, being a modern retelling? That sounded like it was just about them? Perfect!

Only, it's not. You're getting Hattie and Cal's story too.

And it bored me as much as Hero and Claudio did in the play. Everytime one of their sections popped up in this I was bored to tears. I wasn't invested enough in Bridie and Ben for putting up with the other stuff to be worth it.

Sigh.

4.5⭐
I absolutely loved this one, the banter and humour between the main characters had me laughing out loud, I loved that we got to follow the side characters too, it's two stories in one but the balance is really well done.
I could of done with a little bit more angst, I think a few things were cleared up a little bit too quickly but that is just personal preference.

The romance went frome hate to love in an instant, I prefer more of a slower burn and realisation.

Overall I loved this though and would definitely read more from this author in the future.

There's nothing wrong with a cheesey romantic book where you know you're going to get a HEA, and this book delivers exactly that. It is a fun & lighthearted read, and it did make me laugh at times. However, I did feel that this was two stories in one - if this had focused on Bridie & Ben, and a separate book focused on Hattie & Cal, I would have enjoyed it more.

Enemies to lovers is 100% my go-to trope. Sometimes it falls short, and that’s what happened for me here. The book fell flat as the enemies part wasnt strong enough. It was still a fun light hearted read but not anything life altering. I still enjoyed but it wouldnt be something i would read again.

So, this was cute, but not life-altering. Honestly, the story felt very juvenile. Like, with a few changes, you could easily set this story among the high school set. And then there was a secondary subplot that completely over took the end of the book, and that all felt unnecessary. But it was quick and cute, so three stars.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The story follows Bridie and Ben, lovers turned enemies. Both of them hate each other but they are stuck together since Bridie's best friend, Harriet, and Ben's brother, Calvin, are getting married.

This story was a typical enemies to lovers story. Even though I enjoyed reading the book I didn't find anything new in it. The characters were annoying at first but there was character growth and they grew on me, I ended up rooting for them.

It felt like I was reading two stories parallelly one of Bridie and Ben and other of Harriet and Calvin. By the end of the book, the story concentrated more on Harriet and Calvin and I felt like there were some unnecessary twists. I would have liked it if the focus was more on the main characters and the side characters were just that, side characters.

The language is very hard on British slang, even though I understood what the characters wanted to say, it was quite difficult to get through.

I think I would have had more fun reading this book if the characters and their backgrounds were more fleshed out and the main characters were the main focus of the book.

This was almost a two-for-one romcom as it really centered around two separate couple’s relationships. I really wasn’t expecting it but the last third surrounded the couple that was pretty established at the beginning of the story. The idea of centering it around two couples wasn’t bad but I found myself wanting more of the main first two.

I liked the real characters—no one was perfect. There wasn’t a whole lot of depth to the story though. It felt weird that the whole friend group was so invested in their friends love lives that they orchestrated some interactions. Usually these books add more to the characters by focusing on their work or other aspirations, but this one solely focused on the relationship. It made it fall a little flat for me.

The ending was a good resolve, but the epilogue was a little too buttoned up to its how quickly they moved in the relationship.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was such a fun and light-hearted read!
It's an enemies-to-lovers story, however I would not say that the enemies part was particularly strong. The couple had a great angst as well as a lot of cute moments that made the book enjoyable. I liked the characters, they seemed relatable and not overly fake.
I'd say that some parts were confusing as there were a lot of British references that I did not understand but for me this isn't a turn off. Another thing that I did not particularly like was the pacing of the story, to me personally it seemed like the romance aspect was rushed but maybe it's just me.
Overall, this was 3,5 stars read.

Enemies to lovers is a near instant way for me to read a book, but this one just fell flat. It had such an interesting premise and I truly loved the premise and starting of the book. But the shifting perspectives for brief moments to carry on the story threw me out of the story. There were references I didn't understand which also took me out of the book (which, I don't want to penalize the book for this, because had I understood them, I probably would have loved it).

Thank you to Net Galley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Enemies to lovers is 100% my go-to trope. Sometimes it falls short, and that’s what happened for me here. Bridie’s conflict just didn’t work for me. Being hung up on one guy for ten years would make sense if it wasn’t over what came across to me as a childish issue. I have no doubt a leaver’s prom is a big deal to a teen, but to still be holding a grudge ten years later and blaming that for all the complications that come with finding love? It just didn’t work for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Aria & Aries for the opportunity to read and review this story.

Bridie and her best friend Hattie (Harriet) are high school teachers in their late twenties. Bridie has introduced Hattie to the love of her life Cal and all signs are pointing to this being their happily ever after moment.

Bridie hasn’t had a decent relationship in years and is tackling a mission to have 20 dates in 20 days. At the end of this, it pretty seems that her hypothesis is true- there just really aren’t any decent guys out there.

But Hattie and Cal have some plans up their sleeve to remind Bridie that when the lady “doth protest too much” there is probably a reason why!

This is a really cute and easy read, filled with “star crossed lover” moments, a la Shakespeare and with plenty of updated for 2021 Much Ado About Nothing-vibes.

Right at the very end of the story, look out for the super cute but not cheesy marriage proposal! ❤️

This book was hard for me to read. I’ve read a lot
Of Brit Lit, but this one was hard for me to fully understand . A lot
Of references I’m not familiar with .

The book started out solidly introducing the characters and the angst between the hero and heroine. I think once they got
Together , the story became stagnant and I think that’s where I just got bored. The problems became dumb and the solutions even more unrealistic . I almost DNF but as an ARC, I wanted to give it the respect it needed .

I can’t say whether I’d recommend this book or not. The love was soo soo good , . Once the plot
Shifted focus to other characters, I’d say call it done. That ending really dragged it down.

Love at First Fight follows Bridie, seemingly cursed with bad luck as her streak of horrible dates continue. Her closest friend, Hattie, disapproves of the 20 Dates gauntlet that Bridie is putting herself through in an attempt to either find The One or give up on love entirely. As Bridie finds her herself coming to the end of her self imposed challenge, she is thrust headfirst into close proximity of the one that started her bad luck spell with love: Ben. The two become best man and maid of honor to Hattie and Cal, but it’s not just the words between them that are heated.

Love at First Fight was a fun summer read. I have always loved the rivals to lovers trope and found the chemistry and banter between them hilarious and organic. My only issue is that I wish there was more focus on the main character and couple as opposed to the issues in the impending marriage of the secondary characters.

Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this in exchange for my honest review. I usually like the trope of enemies to lovers, which is what the description of the book makes it seem like is the story. However, the two main characters love each other from the beginning and the enemies part seems pretty superficial. Their story wrapped up about 75% through and switched gears to drama about secondary characters. I found this sort of annoying and wanting the book to wrap up faster. This was not my favorite and I hard time trying to finish it.

This was a cute, light hearted, frienemies to lovers romance. It was a little slow for me, and there seemed to be two stories in this novel. The Bridie & Ben love story and the Hattie & Cal story. I think it would have done better having only one of the stories as the plotline. I really liked both couples in this book, but really wish we could have seen more of Bridie and Ben's story, a bit more about the chase and of them being together. It seemed like, once they got together, we didn't really have much more romance thrown in.

Unfortunately, this was just a middle of the road book for me. It was a quick and easy read, that I'm sure some people will love and enjoy. I received a copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher for an open and honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.

I enjoyed this book! It's a great enemies-to-lovers read, and an interesting and light-hearted summer read. I did find this book slightly hard to get in to, and it struggled to hold my focus a lot of the time, but it was a great and fairly easy read once I got into it.

Bridie doesn't believe in love anymore. She's gone on twenty dates in twenty days and each was worst than the last. But now her best friend is getting married and she has to put aside her cynicism to be the perfect maid of honor. But then Bridie's lifelong enemy, Ben, returns to be the best man in the wedding. Bridie can't forgive Ben for what he did to her at their prom ten years ago, but when she's forced to plan the bachelor and bachelorette party with him, she has to try. It's been ten years, but have their feelings changed that much? Or, have they just been really good at hiding it all along?

This was such a unique, adorable rom com! One thing that can ruin an enemies to lovers for me is if the two main characters in question hate each other for no reason, but this was not the case at all. There was an internal struggle for me to be angry with Ben for what he did, but also want to forgive him because it was ten years ago! It was interesting to watch Bridie go through all of that, too. I loved watching the two interact as well, they had great banter and chemistry as enemies and as lovers. Another unique aspect of this book was the fact that there were differing point of views and the story also focused on the side characters. I was so invested in everyone's love life that by the end of the novel, I was hooked to the pages. This is a delightful rom com that's so easy to escape into it!

If you're looking for a fun, light hearted read, I definitely recommend this one!

Thank you to Netgalley for a free arc in exchange for an honest review!

I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. I especially liked that there were 2 different love stories happening, and I found the conflict somewhat unexpexted. I also liked how each couple had a turn playing matchmaker. I'll be looking for more titles by Mary Jayne Baker for sure!

Well, this was a really cute and lighthearted romance story that was a fun light read. It just ran a little slow for me and I wish there was more emphasis on Bridie's back story. Bridie's sworn off men, but makes a game out of it by dating twenty guys in twenty days just to prove to herself she's really done after the twenty days. She had it in her head that after the twenty dates, she will see that all men are the same and she can live her life comfortably as a single lady.. Of course, she crosses paths with Ben.... the ultimate playboy who returned home after being abroad. This is an enemy to lovers twist but it just doesn't explore the plotline more. It had a lot of potentials to be an amazing five-star read for me, but it just lacked a lot of detail and drive for the story to progress.

Thank you NetGalley!

Buckle up folks, because it’s time for a little discussion on just what makes a good retelling. Perhaps you can already tell that this book is not that, based on my rating and how I’ve started this review, and in that, you would be right! I didn’t hate this book, but I found it alright as a romance, and flat out bad as a retelling.

Harsh, you may think, but honestly, there’s more to retellings than simply jotting down the main events of a story, roughly converting them into a modern (or otherwise different) setting, and calling it a day. And that’s what this book fails to recognise. Books are like onions, in that respect: you peel away one layer, you find the next. What happens in books also says something about the time the author is writing in. As such, Claudio accusing Hero of being unfaithful is not merely about the accusation alone, so turning it around so the Claudio character is the one being accused does not work. Turning Don John into a jealous ex does not work because Don John’s jealousy is not simply about the relationship between Hero and Claudio.

I do get that finding equivalents between the original and modern day is hard! I think the only retelling I’ve read that I’ve felt truly does this well is Ibi Zoboi’s Pride, because it manages to translate the commentary alongside the plot to the modern day. I haven’t read another since.

Perhaps it’s a little harsh to be expecting a full retelling out of a book that’s very much not aiming to be that! But even setting my issues with that aside (insofar as I could), I found myself getting bored by this book. Benedict and Beatrice are supposed to be cleverly bickering at each other most of the time, but here, it never really felt that clever for one. There was never really any tension between them either, no reason for me as a reader to be rooting for them. The blurb says “sparks fly”, but I never felt them.

On top of this, I just didn’t care about Hattie and Cal’s relationship. Because this book isn’t just about Bridie and Ben, but also those two. This, of course, could be the curse of the established relationship hitting me, but I think it might just be an overall feeling about the book. For vast swathes of it, I was just bored.

So when I finally finished, all I really felt was relief that it was over.