At first, I thought this was a hate-to-love story, but upon reading the summary more in-depth, I was still intrigued by the premise. I was hooked by the first page. Love at First Spite was a fun, office-place romance with a lot of chemistry.

A month before their wedding, Dani‘s fiancé Sam cheated on her with their realtor. Now, she finally moves out of her cousin Mia‘s apartment to a room in Iris‘s house and begins nursing an idea: building a Spite House AirBnB on a small lot next to Sam’s house to block the gorgeous view. Mia and Iris love the idea and help fund the project, and Dani ends up working with Wyatt, a seemingly stuck-up architect who works at her firm. Although she dislikes him at first, the more time she spends with him, she realizes that he isn’t as unkind as he seems, and the two of them grow closer.

I liked the writing! It was so easy to fall into Dani’s head, and I couldn’t put this book down. The premise was also fun, with Dani and Mia and Iris decorating the would-be house with everything that would anger Sam.

I also liked the characters. Over the story, Dani gradually realizes that she doesn’t want to hurt Sam anymore although the Spite House was just too good to pass up at first. Wyatt was a great love interest and had his own worries. Both Mia and Iris prove to be good support systems for Dani, and I liked reading all their scenes together.

The romance was great! Dani and Wyatt had a lot of chemistry; while he came off as cold at first, at least to Dani, it was obvious that he was just quiet. As they get to know each other, she learns that his work persona is different than out of the office, primarily because he likes to hold his work colleagues at an arm’s length. I liked reading about them growing closer and learning more about the other person.

Love at First Spite had a great romance and a fun plot. I also really liked the characters and their dynamics. If you’re a fan of Sarah Hogle’s or Emily Henry’s books, I think you’d like Love at First Spite!

.Dani is having a rough go of things. When she finds out her fiance is cheating on her with the woman who sold them their house, she has no choice but to leave. She never really loved the house, and she honestly didn't really love him much to be honest.
When she gets the idea to build a "spite house" next door to him though, things start to get interesting. Dani needs an architect to help her, and oddly enough, the broody man in her office agrees to help her out. Wyatt has always been the office grump, and gets near no one, but when Dani starts to see the real him will she be able to let go of her spite and just be happy?
I did enjoy this book even if the premise was really uncomfortable. Wyatt was super sweet and his feelings were valid when he questioned why Dani was doing the things she was. I understand wanting revenge, but how can you let go if you are holding onto all that spite? I would have liked to have seen a little more push and pull between Wyatt and Dani but I did love them together. 3.5 stars for this fun romance.
Thank you to Graydon House, Netgalley and Anna E. Collins for an early copy.

Best opening scene ever! It completely caught my attention (to the extent that I don't want to give it away).

Dani has canceled her wedding after learning her fiancee cheated on her. She decides to get back at him. And she ends up recruiting her colleague, Wyatt, in her schemes.

I really wanted Wyatt's point of view while reading. He was a great character. He had Ménière's disease (which I was incorrectly diagnosed with in college). I have never seen it included in a book before and was grateful for its accurate coverage.

The story begins as a funny rom-com. Over time, the tone changes considerably to highlight the baggage we carry from previous relationships. The tone change made it feel a bit disjointed. But overall, I felt it worked for the book's premise.

Thank you to Graydon House and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. These opinions are my own.

3.5 stars rounded up

This was such a sweet and quick read. I felt for Dani. After her fiancé cheated on her I was on board with her wanting to build a spite house! The relationship between her and Wyatt was sweet and I loved how it progressed. I could tell early on that Wyatt had feelings for her and loved how he found a way to work with her. The side characters were great. Mia was my favorite and loved how she was Dani’s partner in crime. It reminded me of me and my friend. Such relatable characters! If you need a quick sweet romance this is the book for you.

I liked the concept of this one, and it is a fast paced read but I didn't really like how Dani stays stuck so on revenge and the past that she can't seem to move forward.
The opening is hilarious. I did like this book just wanted a bit more from the characters.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

Love at First Spite has an interesting open. Dani is in her wedding dress playing paint ball. In a season admonishing people to be nice, sometimes I prefer to read about not being nice. Dani intends to exact her revenge against her ex by building to block his view. Of course, the best load plans go awry. I liked Wyatt and how he interacted with Dani. The banter was refreshing as was the ending.

Sweet, workplace romance & sunshine meets the grump troupe with well planned cold served revenge dish vibes!

Can you imagine to catch your fiancée cheating on you with the realtor of the house you’ve planned to spend your entire life! And when you stop by for getting your belongings from the house, finding the same woman already replaces you, barking orders how to carry your boxes: what would you do? Screaming, crying or having a cat fight with mistress are the several options. But those actions may not redeem the pain they created. Maybe planning a revenge might be better option. Yes, that’s exactly what Dani Porter will do!

As an ambitious interior designer, she already dreamed her own studio space but douchebag she was so close to get married already ruined her dreams without discussing with her.

Now she has an opportunity to buy the vacant lot next to her ex-douchebag’s house. The very same lot which will be turned into vacation house ( thanks to silent business partners: bestie and her new landlord )

When the construction process starts, the life of her ex douche will be insurmountably challenging. ( ugly construction view and so much noise could be great elements to ruin your entire peace. I know from the experience: thanks to my neighbors from hell)

But she has to find an architect who may help to conduct this entire plan. Thankfully the perfectionist architect Wyatt Montego accepts to be on her team: actually he gets volunteered in expanse getting her help to redesign his grandmother’s place!

But the cold, arrogant man who gives hell of a time to his coworkers, who eats sandwiches with fork and knife, wears impeccable suits Dani accidentally pours on something, looks like extra friendly, caring guy.

Since he saw Dani in her wedding dress ruined by paintball attack, too drunk to put one foot in front of the other, he acts like he truly cares about her.

Dani keeps her revenge plan as a secret but one thing she doesn’t plan is falling for her coworker and risk everything in her life to give a chance to their relationship.

Well, this was entertaining, feel good, sweet work friends to lovers story I devoured in one sit! Definitely recommended to true lovers of well written romcoms!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for sharing this lovely digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

I liked the sound of the blurb and so I decided to request this one. It did have a strong beginning but it kind of fell short after that in some areas. It was pretty fast paced though so I got through it rather quickly. It’s not a bad book as I did like it overall, but I just needed a bit more substance.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Dani Porter. She has sworn off men after she called off her wedding for good reasons and one of those reasons involving cheating. She has decided to build a house next to said cheating ex. It will be an Airbnb called “The Spite House”. It’s pretty clever. It’s also a pretty unique plot compared to other romcoms that deal with an unfaithful ex.

Dani is a very easy going character. She seems to have a level head, except for maybe when it comes to revenge, ha. I don’t think there was anything I didn’t like about her. Wyatt, the love interest, deals with Meniere’s and uses a hearing aid because of it. I haven’t read a book that mentions either of those so I thought that was cool. He is very much the grump to her sunshine. He plays by the rules, especially when it comes to work.

I didn’t hate them together but I also didn’t find myself feeling a huge connection between them either. They have very minimal interaction between one and another and then all of a sudden they were kissing. I had to go back and read just to make sure I was reading it right. Their romance just felt very flat and needed more substance.

My favorite relationship in the book was actually the friends that Dani had around, Iris and Mia. One was an unexpected friendship and the other was a cousin who she had recently reconnected with. They had her back and always had a listening ear available.

As I said above, the beginning was the book’s strong point. The ending was pretty open ended and in the epilogue I thought we would get more about Dani and Wyatt but Mia stole the show. It’s not that I didn’t like her character but I just wanted more information about how Dani and Wyatt were doing.

Overall, this was a good book even if I didn’t like all aspects of it.

When Dani's fiancée cheats on her with their realtor, she decides to get revenge in a big way. She buys the lot next door, planning to build an Airbnb to block his view, with decor so annoying he'll regret his mistakes every time he looks at it. The problem is finding an architect for a project that small. The only one willing to work with her is grumpy and stern Wyatt Montego. But the longer they work together, the more she sees the sweet and sensitive man behind the gruff exterior.
I really loved the opening scene where she wears her wedding dress to play paintball. The crazy ideas she had for the spite house became more wacky as time went on. I was a little frustrated that she spent so much time on revenge for the past when she could have focused on a wonderful future. Overall I thought it was a fun and hilarious read.
I received an advance reader copy of this book through NetGalley. The views and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.

Look, I’m always here for a good revenge, spite book so when I saw Love at First Spite offered up for review I jumped at the chance to read.

There were things about this book I really loved and a few things that I didn’t. Dani is our heroine and she realizes just a few weeks before her wedding that her fiance is cheating on her. After a spectacular time paintballing in her wedding dress with her cousin, she realizes that she needs some other form of revenge, which leads to her, her cousin, and Iris, her landlady pooling their money to buy the lot next door to her ex and building a spite house. The only architect she can find to work with on this project is Wyatt, her cold, standoffish co-worker.

This is a very easy-to-read romance. I flew right through it. But after being all in with Dani at the beginning of her revenge plans, they started to feel a little childish with all the flags and gnomes and role-playing photo shoots. I kind of wanted her to just see what was in front of her face and the new relationship with Wyatt. They had some good chemistry in the bedroom, but other than that I just couldn’t see them as making it long term. I think if this would have been a dual POV it would have been a bit more satisfying. I would have liked to get into Wyatt’s head. Especially since he seemed so hot and cold, even after he and Dani got all hot and heavy.

The climax and resolution come about after something bad happens and the culprit is Dani’s ex and the whole thing just felt so contrived. I just… don’t know. Not that he gets a lot of page time for readers to get to know him. I might have rolled my eyes just a bit.

All in all, an okay romance with some heat and a few laughs.

Sometimes the best revenge is to spread misery! And right now it seems very satisfying!

Our Characters:
Dani, a spiteful interior designer. Who just bought the vacant property right next to her lying cheating ex-fiancé. It's actually the house they were supposed to live in... Well before he went and cheated on her with their Realtor.
And she plans on making them miserable buy doing so! Genius really.

Wyatt , the handsome, haughty architect at her firm, and the only person available to draw up blueprints. He is sort and sharp.

But as the two spend alot of more time together, Dani sees something deeper under that hard shell of his. Something remarkable, exposed and true.
The closer ahe gets to her goal, the more she starts to think if this revenge could cost her losing something more valuable.....

My Thoughts:
This phenomenal debut was knocked out of the damn park!
I absolutely adored this book!!
I enjoyed this book so much that I simply could not put it down and was up till 3am the first night reading.
The pace was pitched perfectly. I honestly wanted this book to last forever!
I could read anything but Anna. She is that good at making me want more of what she has.
The writing is warm and sweet. The characterization is spot on with a delightful cast of characters that are endearing, genuine, and kind.
And the plot is a charming tale full of hope, heart, and humour.
This is a story about love, loss, life, trust, self-discovery, happiness, and fate.
It is a absorbing, compelling novel by Collins who does an exceptional job of showing us the tender, touching, supportive moments.
I absolutely adored this novel and look forward to reading more of her work in the future. She needs to get on the ball with another romance novel.... 😉

Sometimes fate can deal us a hand when we aren’t even paying attention and I feel like this book does a brilliant job of showing that.

Harlequin|Graydon House,
Thank You for the opportunity to read and review this new upcoming eARC!
I will post and tag to my platforms closer to pub day!

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately I could not get into this romance. While I liked I liked the main character there wasn't much to really keep me interested. Her love interest was very bland and uninspiring. The storyline slow and stagnant.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin and Ms. Collins for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

It was a fun book, certainly an easy and quick read, and the writing style flowed naturally and was very engaging.

Unfortunately, Dani was a rather off-putting character and I just couldn't get fully onboard with her.

I loved the opening paintball scene and her relationship with her cousin Mia, at least initially. I loved her ladies club friendship with Iris and her two giant dogs (yay, giant dogs!). And frankly I loved Wyatt, alleged curmudgeon (although frankly I saw little evidence of Wyatt being anything other than a person who was rather reserved in social situations and opinionated & assertive in workplace ones). I tried SO HARD to like Dani. But frankly, she was prickly, quick to make assumptions, easily bothered, defensive, and way too wrapped up in her revenge plot. I didn't like how she was rude to her cousin, who GAVE HER HER LIFE SAVINGS, because she was bitter that her cousin had found love and Dani was having romantic difficulties. Which, may I add, she was only having because she was being an idiot.

I actually thought the Spite house was a cool, funny idea but I wished Dani had ACTUALLY been going to make it in to a profitable Air BNB, or better yet, been aiming to develop a property there and then sell it for a profit (the ladies make money and move on! Win-Win!). Everyone is petty now and then but full-time petty just isn't a good look. And the subplot about Dani having to be in control at all times and have no one ever answer for her, EVER, because her dad was controlling, got wearisome. I get where she was coming from, to a point, but a partnership is just that. And Wyatt, frankly, will have to get used to being a backseat driver who gives in on everything if he intends to move forward with Dani.

The side characters here are pretty great (better than Dani deserves) and Wyatt himself is a tasty snack. I just wish Dani would.... Idk. Grow up a little. (Or a lot.)

I'm a little on the fence with this one. The premise is fun. Dani Porter catches her fiancé cheating on her a few weeks before their wedding. The wedding is called off. Then Dani convinces two of her friends to pool their money and build a spite house. They buy a sliver of land next to the ex where they can build a house and block his views. It makes sense because they plan to make a return on their investmen as an AirBnb rental property. Wyatt is an architect and works at the same company where Dani is a designer. He agrees to draw up the house and gets the builder on board. (Not knowing the spite plan.)

Wyatt comes off as aloof and grumpy but of course there is more to him that meets the eye. The book turns a little into a complicated office romance. My rating fell a little because Dani becomes less likable. She makes decisions that hurt her friends/partners and has a whole lot of miscommunication with Wyatt. Also with everything told from Dani's POV I never entirely got Wyatt's motivations beyond basics. There are some light hearted fun moments. Paint-balling in your wedding dress is classic. They is a nice amount of steam and side characters are very likable. A good read but I wish I cared more about the MC's by the end. Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. (3.5 stars)

What an entertaining and adorable story! I smiled, I laughed, and I enjoyed the entire book. It has a little steam, but not too much, and I thoroughly loved getting to know the characters and was rooting for them!

My review of Love at First Spite will be publicly available at giareadsbooks.com on December 28th. You will be able to find it with this link:
www.giareadsbooks.com/book-reviews/love-at-first-spite

Genre: Romance/Women’s Fiction
Rating: 5 Stars
Spice Rating: 2 Stars*

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing (Graydon House), Anna E. Collins, and NetGalley for sending me an advanced review copy of Love at First Spite in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my honest opinions. I received no compensation for this review.

They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but what if it was served with concrete foundations, 8-feet tall privacy fences, and garden gnomes? This is exactly what interior designer Danielle Porter is thinking when she buys the plot of land directly next to her cheating ex-fiancé's house. Dani plans on building a rental house that will ultimately annoy the hell out of Sam, but what she doesn’t expect is her sexy and brooding architect co-worker, Wyatt Montego, to help with the build. Can Dani separate her need for vengeance from her feelings for Wyatt, or will her plot for revenge ruin any chance she ever had to be happy?

Love at First Spite is a fantastic debut novel from Collins. Not only does Collins explore loss and the grieving of a relationship in a unique way – she also makes it downright hysterical. Danielle is so wholly refreshing as the main character of a romance novel. She’s flawed, stubborn, and in desperate need of a reality check for a large portion of the book, but that’s what makes her so interesting to read! Wyatt isn’t unrealistically God-like either, which made this book so much more enjoyable. Danielle and Wyatt’s chemistry is unmatched and so fun to read.

I typically try to be as unbiased as possible when writing my reviews. I like to point out the good and the bad about each novel to give readers as much information as possible without spoiling anything, but for the life of me, I can’t think of anything I didn’t like about this book. Collins does a fantastic job with the pacing of the novel. Her characters, even the secondary ones, are fully fleshed out. The dialogue never drags out longer than it should be and there wasn’t a single point in the entire novel that I grew bored or started “skim-reading”. Collins’ heart and soul are present in every aspect of the story, and I am highly impressed that this is only her first novel. I think it goes without saying that I’m looking forward to any future publications under Collins’ name.

Here’s to revenge houses, self-love, Great Danes, and garden gnomes!

Rating 5

Woah, this story was fantastic! These characters were filled with so much emotion, personality and depth. I read this book in two days and I wish I could have read it in one! I just...Ahhhh...words cannot truly express how happy this book made me. Honestly, I don’t have one bad thing to say about this book. The author did an amazing job with the characters, overall storyline, the pacing was great, and the writing had a nice flow.

One thing I really loved about this story was how emotionally honest it felt. The main character Dani struggles with being strong and allowing others to help her. Her character felt very realistic and open. She was definitely someone I could relate to and honestly inspire to be one day. After having her heart broken she goes through all of the stages of grief and learns to be okay for herself rather than doing it for someone else. I absolutely adored the love interest Wyatt! He was so grumpy, charming, and full of confidence. I could tell he deeply cared about Dani even when he was extremely upset. No matter what happened, I could feel the love he had for her. This book made me swoon so many times!

Not only did this book have a cute and steamy romance but it had a lot of laughable moments. I loved how much the side characters Mia and Iris added to the story. They each had their own personality and character growth throughout the story. I could go on and on and usually I do. However, I want to keep this review shorter so you can experience everything for yourself.

Perfect for fans of enemies to lovers as well as grumpy to sunshine love interests.

**Received a copy from Netgalley in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **


**Review will be posted on my Instagram/Blog/Goodreads on Publication day, links https://linktr.ee/bearyintobooks

I was really looking forward to "Love at First Spite," but it just fell flat for me. I had the impression it would include some of my favorite tropes - hate to love, grumpy and sunshine, workplace romance - but none of these were really fleshed out. The main focus was Dani's ridiculous revenge plot, which was petty and unrealistic. Friends that immediately drain their savings to put up the money for a spite house project planned on a whim??

I do wish I has seen more of Wyatt's perspective. I didn't have a good understanding of why he was perceived as unlikeable at work. It seems like his only fault is that he isn't great at communicating off the cuff? I think Wyatt deserved better.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.


I’ve never felt more let down reading a book. Especially one that had all the promises of being a really really good freaking story. However, Love at First Spite was an entire book of miscommunication. I’m shocked I didn’t throw my iPad across the room a few times. Dani was self-sabotaging so much that I was ready to yank out my hair.



Read more for some possible spoilers on the plot. Nothing too specific though.


This book had such a cool plot, I really thought it was going to be cool. Honestly, if the whole revenge plot of the house was better instead of just being this dumb petty high school drama nonsense, I probably would have given this a much better rating. Because to be honest the idea of buying a house next to your ex to spite him does sound interesting. I really thought the idea of turning this Spite house into an Airbnb was going to be cool. But every decision Dani made for this house was to be petty and it made the character come off as juvenile. There's no reason for the dumb little things they knew would piss the dude off, it was a little too much on the nose. And in doing all those little things, I feel like the author kinda lost the reins on the story.


The reader wasn’t seeing any character development with Dani because she has none. She truly didn’t progress in any way as a character. When she was told off, all of her miscommunication problems were blamed on her dad and the ex. She also had absolutely no personality and she's the main character. You don't hear about anything she does for fun until almost halfway through the book. AND she herself laments how she doesn't think she has any hobbies or things she does for fun. WTF?????????????? And we the readers are supposed to care about her???? The author gave more personality to every side character INCLUDING THE EX than she did her own Main character. The girl I'm supposed to root for.



There were some serious flaws in the execution of the characters. The cousin and her boyfriend seemed to have a healthy and good relationship but she doesn’t offer any advice to Dani. Wyatt the love interest was okay, but you could tell immediately that the author was going for the “workplace romance” angle. It was very clear he liked her but was a dick and she's dumb and oblivious. Which if done well, makes for a great trope. However, I’ve never been so bored with a couple. I seriously don’t think they ever had a complete conversation without either one just giving up with whatever they wanted to say. I didn’t even really like them together.


Overall, I would say this book needs some serious editing. It’s too petty and reads like a weird high school drama story instead of characters in their 20s-30s. The miscommunication trope will always be a thorn in the romance genre’s side, it's common knowledge at this point. But Love at First Spite s an entire book about miscommunication and petty revenge and there's no real payoff to read it. There are better books out there. There's probably more I'm ready to rant on but, oh well.

Read this if you:
*hold grudges
*have ever thought about getting revenge
*ever had a work place romance
*love enemies to lovers, with a little grump on the side

The chemistry was spot on and so was the steam. Yes, it bangs. I LOVE me a good grumpy leading man too. Dani builds a house right next to her ex fiances house for revenge and it just gets better from there 😂. The ex was a real tool. Wyatt was fun and I loved that he was vulnerable at times.

Thank you NetGalley & Harlequin for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: Jan 4