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

This book didn't hold my attention very well. And there was too much slut shaming.

Love At First Fight is a modern day retelling of Much Ado About Nothing. Now I'll admit that I'm not completely familiar with the original but, I was drawn to the enemies to lovers storyline. The title just screamed banter and tension to me which this book did have. Unfortunately, I didn't think it fully reached the potential that I thought it would.

The premise behind Love at Fight Fight is relatively simple. Ben broke Bridie's heart 10 years ago when they were casually dating in high school. Ever since this she has felt that her love life was cursed and now as she finds everyone else around her finding the perfect man, she gives herself 20 dates in 20 days to find true love. Of course, in the middle of all this, her best friend gets engaged to the heartbreaker's brother, and the two of them are assigned the duties of Maid of Honour and Best Man. This results in the two of them spending more time together than Bridie would like. Everyone else around them can see that the two have been hiding their feelings for each other for a long time and thus, the plot begins to get them together.

Like I said the premise was simple but, it was cute. I really felt like it had so much potential. Especially when it was compared to one of my favorite movies from the 90's 10 Things I Hate About You. It just didn't fully live up to that. There were plenty of great moments of banter between Bridie and Ben but, I never bought that the two of them were enemies. It really felt like they were two characters with unresolved feelings for each other which I guess was the basis for the story but, I felt kind of cheated that I didn't get the full fledged enemies to lovers plot that I was hoping for. There were some definite laugh out loud moments (i.e., the camping trip) and there was a good cast of characters to support them but, I still felt like something was missing.

I think my biggest issue with Love at First Fight is that I was really looking forward to following the story of two individuals who were enemies to friends and eventually to lovers. I wanted to going on the journey with them and their journey felt incredibly rushed. There was almost no build up and for me that was disappointing. It was even more disappointing that I felt like this was being done so that they could be involved with the side plot of some random wedding drama. A kind of turn the tables on helping the ones who set them up get their own stuff straightened out. This really didn't feel necessary and did nothing to add to the story except for making me shake my head.

Love at First Fight is filled with British humor which does lead to several laugh out loud moments. Unfortunately with this humor there is also some underlying sexism that I could have down without as the reader. I do wish that this story had been more balanced and had not fallen so flat for me. It had so much potential to get it right with its fun group of characters.

Bridie and Ben have known each other since they were kids and have hated each other for most of that time... or maybe they just pretend to hate each other because of that one incident back when they were teens that both of them refuse to acknowledge. Hattie and Cal are newly engaged and planning their wedding... when an ex appears out of nowhere and threatens to ruin everything. This book has a lot going for it - enemies to lovers, a second chance romance, funny banter, meddling friends and a lot of miscommunication that almost ruins both relationships. Overall I enjoyed this contemporary romance, especially the epilogue - it was adorable and I will definitely be picking up the sequel when it comes out.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital ARC of this book. All opinions remain my own as always.

DNF after 3 chapters

The misogyny, sex shaming, objectification, and girl hate contained within even just the first three chapters was awful. I was hopeful that it would be discussed and challenged, but it was from all characters involved so far - so I went to read other reviews to determine if I should keep going and the answer was a firm no. I had 5 pages bookmarked as examples of "oh no" and that was just the tip of the iceberg. (One of which was the claim that everyone wants to "meet someone" and it nearly made me scream - I settled for sighing in exasperation.) It's really too bad that the contents weren't better in this one, as the synopsis and tropes were so promising.

Birdie is a teacher. She lives with her best friend Hattie. Hattie is dating Birdie's childhood friend Cal. Cal's brother is Ben. Ben and Birdie had a "thing" in high school but he stands her up for an important dance and now they "hate" each other.

When we meet Birdie, she has basically given up on men. She's currently on a string of 20 dates and not one of them have gone well. She's out to prove that she will never meet a good man and after her 20th bad date she is giving her permission to never date again. At the same time, Ben is returning from South America, where he's been for a year. And Hattie and Cal get engaged.

So many things happening at once but they all converge together to bring Birdie and Ben's friends who know that their banter and insults are really covering their feelings for each other. They scheme to get these two together and the results are fun and funny.

I really like the enemies to lovers trope and a good romantic comedy. I enjoyed their banter a lot. I think that Birdie and Ben have great chemistry. I wish they hadn't made it so predictable. I felt like the journey that Birdie and Ben took was very quick and they suddenly loved each other.

They throw in a twist that also became more and more predictable as the story went on and felt unnecessary. I think the story has a lot of promise and the writing was good. I think the plot just needed to be fleshed out a little more to work that twist in a better place and to help us to fall in love with these two as a couple more.

A modern take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, this one was such a cute and light read. This rom-com is just the perfect kind of a book to cuddle up with and let it comfort you. It made me feel so much better and happier, and after finishing I had a smile on my face because gosh that ending! Bridie was such a funny character, I loved reading about her and her life. It's a classic enemies to lovers (although the enemies portion is a bit one-sided). The frustrated tension between Ben and Bridie is delivered with just the right amount of spice and happiness. I found myself rooting for these two idiots so hard!

Also, I go bonkers for this 'trope?' but it is a bridesmaid/maid of honor with the groomsman/best man pairing. Gah! So adorable.

Definitely check this one out if you're in the mood for something light, funny, and happy. A feel good rom-com in all aspects!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for an honest review!

DNF @ 24%.

Love at First Fight follows Bridie, a woman who is going on 20 dates in 20 days before deciding to call off men. However, when her high school crush-turned-enemy Ben comes into the picture, her friends attempt to get the two together.

I wanted to finish this book, but I really can’t as Bridie is absolutely insufferable. It’s a shame as I really enjoy Ben and his inner thought process, but I cannot root for a romance where one character refuses to even communicate with the love interest. Yes, it’s hate to love; however, I really hate that the main character hates the love interest due to a misunderstanding and has held a grudge for over 10 years.

Beyond Bridie, the writing was good and the storyline intrigued me. I liked the idea of Bridie going on 20 dates in 20 days, and I also liked the found family aspect.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eArc to review.

3.5 STARS
I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Bridie Morgan has had a bad outlook on love ever since Ben Kemp stood her up in high school. Every man since has let her down— which should not be a surprise to her. Bridie has decided to give dating one last chance. She is going on 20 dates in 20 days— surely one of them will turn out well if all hope is not lost.

Right before her best friends wedding, Ben returns to town. Bridie and Ben never get along; they constantly bicker with each other. They’re then forced to spend time together— after all Ben is named the Best Man and Bridie the Maid of Honor.

Although, do they really hate each other? Everyone around them seems to think otherwise…


This book started off really great. There was a perfect mix of fighting, back story, and getting to know each other all over again. I initially loved reading from the other characters POV’s, but towards the end I really didn’t care for it. I think the book could’ve done without the Hattie/Cal subplot at the end. It felt very long and unnecessary to me. I also didn’t really care for any of the characters besides Bridie and Ben. Even then, I kept forgetting Ben’s name. Ben was kinda forgettable in my opinion. I also feel like his feelings flipped a switch out of no where. I get where the author was trying to go — he knew her for YEARS— but he went from hating her to realizing he’s in love with her in mere pages. Then he was a total simp for her for the rest of the book. It just didn’t feel very realistic to me.

Overall, the writing was great and the story entertaining. It just got long at the end and felt a little bit basic. If you want to read a quick, former lovers turned enemies to lovers story, definitely try this out!

This book is fantastically adorable and has a bit of everything.

From enemies to lovers, wonderful banter, people who don’t believe in love helping those in love with a wedding, a perfect villain, and plenty of personal baggage, this book had me turning pages until I was done far sooner than I wanted to be. I couldn’t put this book down and was secretly wishing I could be verbally sparring with either of the two main characters in every scene.

Bridie’s best friend is getting married and that leaves her as the maid of honor – directly opposite her biggest enemy, Ben, the groom’s brother and Bridie’s childhood best friend and almost-more-than. But Bridie and Ben’s hatred of each other seems to be a bit of a mask for their true feelings, not that either of them discover this until their friends decide to play match maker, but do these things ever go smoothly? Ha. Plus, little did they expect to have to return the favor…

Definitely add this one to your list. You’ll smile, you’ll laugh, and you will want to scream at how manipulative some people are capable of being.

Love at First Fight was an adorable and very quick read. After being fed up with the dating scene, Bridie runs into her old nemesis and sparks (maybe flames) fly. A great book for those that love romantic comedies and need a pick-me-up.

4/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Aria & Aries, Aria for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Bridie and Ben have actually been fighting on and off for the last ten years. And frankly, it was all Ben’s fault. He did Bridie very dirty when they were both just teenagers, and has spent a long time not apologising for it. Now his brother Cal is marrying Bridie’s best friend Hattie, and Ben and Bridie are thrust back into each other’s company… and Ben has finally grown up enough to start examining exactly why he’s never been able to get his focus off Bridie.

Hattie and Cal are an adorable couple who just want the best for Ben and Bridie, and get up to all sorts of hijinks with friends trying to get Ben and Bridie to see past their respective blind spots. Ben does, finally, understand just how wrong he was and does a massive grovel, and he and Bridie get together.

Up until that point I was loving the book because Ben and Bridie are so real and so funny with the way they sass and bicker, but the bizarre thing is that they get together shortly after the halfway mark. And then we get into a really strange plot - I can’t even call it a subplot, because it totally takes over the book - where Cal’s ex-girlfriend comes back on the scene and tries to break him and Hattie up, and Ben and Bridie have to team up to outwit her and keep the wedding on track.

Honestly, this just didn’t make any sense. It would have been so much more logical for Jojo to have been BEN’s ex, who found out he was seriously dating Bridie and tried to muscle back in. The way it was, the focus was off Ben and Bridie for probably a good quarter of the book, and it’s just way too much for a subplot.

There’s a lot to like about this book. The characters are so very realistic, down to earth Yorkshire lads and lasses with very ordinary lives - Hattie and Bridie are high school teachers, Cal is a mechanic, Ben leads adventure tours on the muddy moors - and they’re funny, with strong connections and relationships between them. The banter’s genuinely amusing. A couple of things struck me as odd, like Bridie having grown up in the town but having literally no friends apart from Ben and Cal who she’d known since her schooldays. That’s really not how small towns work.

The thing is that the plot is a hot mess once Ben and Bridie resolve their past issues. And no matter how much I enjoyed the writing and the characters, I just can’t ignore that. I’d like to see what this author could produce with an editor who could help them nail down a proper romance plot arc, but I cannot give this more than three stars.

First of all, I wanna thank NetGalley, Mary Jayne Baker and Aria & Aries for allowing me to read this!

This book made me smile SO much! For starters Bridie is a great character (she's funny, sarcastic, witty, a great friend) and I gotta say I imagined Ben as dreamy as he is described and gosh, I LOVE Ben and Bridie's banter! That constant back and forth insults and denial of their feelings made me cry laughing. They are such a sweet and fun OTP, they are real which made me root for them badly!
The other characters were all great and unique as real. What a great cast of characters you got here. The group togetherness to help Ben and Bridie was so good and well thought out and, when them returned the favor to Hattie and Cal definitely well done as well!
It was such a fun time!

I'm sitting here feeling so sick and trying to take my mind off the misery caused by my 2nd dose of Covid vaccine and decided this book looked fun and lighthearted. I loved the first half of the book with its snarky banter. Bridie is at the end of a disastrous plan to go on 20 dates in 20 days, determined to give up on men altogether. Then the man who caused her train wreck of a dating life returns to town. Ben Kemp was her best friend turned boyfriend in high school, so when he stood her up for their Leaver's ball 10 years ago, she was heartbroken. It's going to take a miracle (or a group of meddling friends) to make them realize they're still meant for each other.
I thought the first half of the book was fun and hilarious, but I got a little bored by the end with wedding details, misunderstandings, and drama between secondary characters Cal and Hattie. Overall just an OK read for me.
I received an advance reader copy of this book through NetGalley. This review is given voluntarily.

When I read the synopsis of this book I expected a booklike Hating game, but this really was it for me. I just didn't like it. It has not the wow factor. 2.5 stars.

The thing with this book it had a very strong start. I instantly took a strong liking to the female main character, and I thought it was going great, but unfortunately, I ended up not too impressed with this book. It had a lot of strong moments and was very humorous, but it still did not really hit home for me. I think that the fact that the friends around got their own point of view made the book a bit worse. Do not get me wrong, I really liked the side character cast, but in a romance, I do prefer it to be focused on the main couple. Especially the end 30% felt like it was solely focused on side characters, and I was not a big fan of it. I also thought the male main character was a bit boring(?). The sudden change of character felt funky and not believable, and I just did not really feel it. Like am I supposed to cheer for this guy? He had not really much personality while I really liked the heroine. So, I had a hard time cheering for them to end up together.

I now tropes and stereotypes can be very common and strong in romance books, but I do think it became a bit too stereotypical at times. Both the male hero felt too much of a stereotype at times and can we all agree that a woman can wear makeup and not being an awful person? Can we get past this at some point? Because it is getting very tiresome.

Like this book did have some great moments, but at the end of the day I felt it was not for me. I do think that some people could like this book, if you can stand that it uses a bit too many stereotypes sometimes. Maybe if you think that a romance with a very involved friend group sounds like a good time, why not give this a go.

Thank you to Netgalley & The Aria Team for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Bridie had enough of unsuccessful dates and decides to live alone forever if her 20 dates in 20 days challenge won't work out. Meanwhile Bridie's flatmate and close friend Hattie, is deeply in love with her boyfriend Cal, and they get engaged. Then Cal's brother, Ben, who is also Bridie's nemesis (and high school crush) shows up to help with the wedding planning and things get interesting immediately.

Love at First Fight is a funny romantic story, with the first half focusing more on Bridie and Ben, while the second half is more focused on Hattie and Cal. I liked the first couple more and found their parts more entertaining, with their witty banter and frenemies to lovers relationship.

#LoveatFirstFight #NetGalley

Book received for free through NetGalley

This book was written well enough that I stuck through and finished reading it. That said it was only meh and I almost put it down two hours and again at one hour from the end of it.

Birdie believes she has hit her love life end date: 20 dates consecutively with 20 men and not one prince in the mix. Ever since Ben didn't show up for the formal dance her dating life has been on a downward spiral. Ben is back in town and Birdie still sees him as her number one enemy. But, her friends (including Ben's brother) are set to change the records for the two "enemies to lovers." Will true love persist and the flames show themselves? Or will memories always lead to being left on the dance floor?

Love at First Fight had an outstanding premise. The blurb promises to be a funny romantic comedy perfect for fans of The Hating Game. However; this story had too much dialogue and not enough plot. The chapters could have been shorter and the dialogue cut to half the length it was. The banter between Bridie and Ben was funny but Birdie hating on Ben got tiresome a third of the way into the story.

I wanted to love this book, Enemies-to-lovers, childhood friends, small-town... This is my jam, but I just could not get into it.

Firstly, The name Bridie drove me nuts. II read it as Birdie the whole time. It's an awful name.
Secondly, too much Cal and Hattie. The book could have been 25% shorter and ended after the reconciliation at the Sten Do. We did not need a third-act plot conflict about secondary characters and their wedding. It was very bizarre and dull.
Finally, the evil ex trope with her psycho behaviour felt cruel and tacky. Quite frankly, there was no need for this bloated plotline, and this trope needs to be retired.

I wanted to love this book, but honestly, it's a miracle I finished it.

Love at First Fight is a remarkably faithful retelling of Much Ado Nothing, sometimes to great effect, and other times to its own detriment.

In the plus column is the inclusion of a second romantic plot -- Hattie and Cal's story is given weight and space to develop, something that is rare in modern romcoms, where most romance novels focus on one couple alone.

Unfortunately, some of the other holdouts from the original text don't hold up as well. The gender essentialism that main characters Ben and Bridie, as well as their friends, all engage in feels outdated and cringe-worthy, and while I enjoyed that the aha moments Shakespeare expressed through monologues weren't removed, they would have been better suited to a format other than just the characters thinking to themselves for long periods of time.

Add to this the fact that the characters were overwhelmingly white, straight, cis, and able bodied, and overall this book doesn't feel like a particularly modern adaptation of the Bard's work. It also doesn't seem to be saying much -- it's close to a blow for blow retelling, but without bothering to examine any of the themes in Much Ado. Not a terrible way to spend a few hours, but one might be better off simply rewatching the Emma Thompson classic instead.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aria & Aries for the ARC!