DNF at 15%- The writing in this book was just not great. It was over the top and cheesy. Neither of the main characters were very likeable (it was even a turn off that the FMC smoked, especially as her father had died of cancer?). The scene where Charlie and Poppy kiss in front of her old house just gives me the ick….he’s in uniform, on duty, and manipulates her into making out. Just, no thanks.
Also, although I definitely prefer cartoony covers for rom-coms, the cover of this book looks pretty tacky.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me access to this eARC.

A Fair Warning is an easy, enemies to lovers read. Kept apart by common hatred and insecurities throughout their childhood, Chuck and Poppy grow up with misconceptions about each other but when they are brought together later in life they realize their ideas about each other may have been wrong. This book had a mix of fun, comedy, romance and drama. It was a bit slow at times but overall was very entertaining.

A Fair Warning was a cute, quick read! I became invested in the story between Chuck and Poppy. If you are looking for an enemies-to-lovers book that will make you laugh out loud, make sure to pick this one up! Thank you for the opportunity to read this advanced copy prior to publication!

I wanted to love this story. I tried to love it, but frankly it just isn’t that good. The love story in this is way too rushed.
That aside, the premise is actually interesting. It is very spice heavy, but, personally for me does not cross into smut or pwp.
I didn’t hate the enemies to lovers portion and there were times I did laugh out loud at some of the antics between Poppy and Charlie, but They’re both incredibly juvenile and immature until the epilogue.
Lastly the whole reason for them being enemies was really juvenile and could’ve been easily shoved by a simple conversation when they were teenagers.
Thanks for the arc from Netgalley

Overall the story was cute and funny with a touch of drama that didn't seem far fetched, but still kept me entertained. Charlie is sweet and the supporting characters were all likable. I would totally read the next book!
There was a lot of crude language and mean insults (though not bad enough to keep me from enjoying the book), but if you're from a rural area where that type of language is the norm, this book will be your jam!

This book was wayyyyyy too long. The only time I love books with such a length is when I love the characters enough to stay with them and that was not the case here. At the very beginning, I had to check and make sure this was adult because the dialogue and the narration read very young at times but then it’ll age up in the next chapter which didn’t make for a consistent or easy read. A lot of the humor was…weird? There’s even a mention of sex with animals and it was so strange—this humor is what you can expect throughout the whole book. Also, I should have known I wouldn’t have liked it when we start with Chuck, an unlikeable officer who often reminds us all he’s law enforcement and he makes the rules—another gross power dynamic that shouldn’t be in any book. Poppy says “I respect law enforcement” well you shouldn’t, not if they’re anything like Chuck. The representation in the book is a joke. The MC, a woman, seems to hate other women? Calling someone a slut when it’s the man you should be upset at? Another joke. This book actually made me uncomfortable and I wouldn’t recommend it.

Thank you bet galley for this arc!


A fair warning was okay. Typical rom com, relatable. I would recommend it ! Childhood friends to lovers. This trope isn’t my favorite but somehow I liked the Dianna wrote it. It took a little for me to get into honestly but I’m glad I stuck to it :)

Just okay. I wasn't fully invested in the story, the characters, or their relationship. It was fine, nothing special to me.

QOTD: What are you plans for the day?
My A:
.
Unfortunately this one was a little hot and cold for me and ended up just plain chilly. Things started out fast and I thought I'd get sucked into the story based on the first few chapters, but I found myself bored after awhile. The pace was just a bit off. If this was a novella I think I'd have liked it better, but stretching this story into a full length novel took away some of it's oopmh I'm afraid.

I didn't even finish reading this book due to the fact that the main character just seemed too immature to be an adult. It was hard to push through and I just had to stop midway.

I really enjoyed this cute small-town rom-com. The main characters had depth and an interesting backstory, and their relationship progressed gradually, like peeling back the layers of an onion. Poppy and Charlie had sizzling chemistry and delightfully sassy banter. Most of the side characters were not fleshed out much beyond a name and their role in the bar, but that did not detract from the story line.

Warning: This review and this book contain adult content. I don't recommend reading this review or this book if you’re under the age of 18.

TW// sexual assault/harassment, rape (technically but I’m sure some people wouldn’t view it as that), mentions of cheating, detailed descriptions of vomit, violence

I’ve been really into contemporary romances recently, so I thought I’d give this one a chance. The description made it seem like an enemies to lovers rom-com. However, I think I may have found the worst book of the year. I hate using the word “worst” to describe a book, but if you read even a few of the hyper sexualized and cringeworthy similes used in this book, you’d realize why I say that this is the worst. Like the writing in this book was so terrible that I was rolling my eyes and nearly throwing my phone. I can’t give specific quotes since I read an eArc of this book, but I will say that a girl is compared to the NRA (in a way that’s supposed to be attractive?), there’s lots of talks of having sex with animals, and mentions of a warm tingle in the thigh area when a person eats chocolate. I could find hundreds of insanely awful sentences like this scattered throughout the entire book. I wish I could give you exact quotes because they’re crazier than my summaries make them seem.

Let’s talk about the two main characters because they are a huge part of why this book is a hot mess.

Chuck: A police officer who’s been stalking and obsessing over Poppy for years. He treats her like garbage for that whole time and gaslights her instead of owning up to his mistakes. He acts like his police badge lets him get away with whatever he wants and then tries to go “poor me, I’m a police officer who deserves pity because people are mean to me.” Oh, and sorry but he’s a DEpuTY who acts all tough but doesn’t like when people call him a cop. He also has somewhat violent tendencies even when a situation doesn’t necessarily call for reaching for your gun. I don’t understand why he was even made a cop for the purpose of this book? If you’re goal was to make people hate cops more, then you did it, but if it was to make people respect cops more, then maybe don’t make him a cry baby who abuses his powers. He’s also sexist and thinks about how he wants the girl of his dreams to do indoor things that “proper” women should do.

Poppy: She is mentally unstable and needs immediate treatment. I don’t mean this as an insult in any way, but if I knew someone like Poppy, I would help them get therapy. She’s childish and rude. She has so much going on in her life and she doesn’t cope with any of it well. She’s not as bad as Chuck, but she’s insufferable and possibly the weakest female main character I’ve ever read about.

The romance in this book was a big miss. It was extremely toxic and unhealthy. Both main characters were hyper sexualizing everything right off the bat despite claiming that they hated each other. The first sex scene between the two is rape but because of who raped who, I’m sure a lot of people wouldn’t consider it rape. I won’t spoil much more beyond the fact that if someone says “no” even if you think they want it and you proceed to do the action, that is straight up rape. Then when it comes to Poppy finally falling in love with Chuck, it’s a drastic change that happens over night. It was so sudden without any sort of build up to her realizing she has feelings for him.

I have to mention disability “representation” because it is awful in this book. The disability parts of the book shouldn’t have been included in this book at all. A guy who stutters but can conveniently say every single cuss word and insult without stuttering but doesn’t really say much else besides those things. A character shaking her head apparently can make it look like she has Tourettes now. That’s a new one that I wish I could unread. The only character with a mental illness is violent and awful things are said about him. It would’ve been so easy to just call him a crazy guy instead of making it so that he has a mental illness and making that his main personality trait. The book also sexualizes emotional support animals. Like… why did it have to go there? I’d prefer cheesy alpha and omega stuff instead of that…

Oh, and this book manages to sexualize spirit animals. I’m completely grossed out. There’s been lots of talks recently about how white people need to stop using the phrase spirit animals so much and seeing it turned into something sexual in this book made me so angry. There’s no excuse for why that part of the book wasn’t cut out.

I wish I was over exaggerating in this review, but I’m really not. I would only recommend this book to people who want to read extremely detailed smut. I don’t know if I can read any book that I hate more than this one this year but it’s only January, so that may change…

I do want to note really quickly that this is one of the harshest reviews that I’ve ever written. I wanted and needed to express my issues with this book, but nothing that I said has anything to do with the author. I know very little about her, but she seems like a good person and if she happens to read this review, I hope she knows that I don’t hate her.

I've read a few childhood friends to lovers books but I've never heard of childhood enemies to lovers and if they're anything like this book I've been missing out.

Poppy Prince and Charlie Duke have known each other since childhood and they never got along. Growing up they would always prank and tease each other. Now as adults, Poppy has taken over her family's bar because after her dad died of cancer her mom decided to take a trip with his sister to try and deal with her grief. She also just got divorced after finding her husband with another woman. Charlie or "Chuck" as Poppy likes to call him returned to town to take care off his dying mother after being gone for years and became a deputy. Growing up his family didn't have a lot of money and he left to find work so he could help his mom keep their home while repaying his dad's dept.

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Plot:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Spice:🌶🌶🌶/5

I loved pretty much everything about this book but the thing I enjoyed the most was the fact that they managed to solve their misunderstandings like adults because despite the fact that they disliked each other, once they started talking they actually listened to each other and they didn't keep any unnecessary, big secrets. Also the book was extremely funny and Chuck's internal dialogue had me laughing most of the time. And in my opinion the possum has a very well-deserved place on the cover of the book because it was an amazing character. 😂

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for am honest review!

The book started out well enough. I love the enemies-to-lovers trope and I enjoy cops. So hey!

But I really disliked Poppy. She had such strange thoughts and was so agressive to Chuck/Charlie. I actually thought it so sweet he had liked her when they were teens. Fortunately there were different POV's.

Overall this book was just not my cup of tea.

DNF
I’m sure this story will be great for some people but I only got 5% before I had to stop. I don’t have the mental energy to force myself to read something I’m not enjoying at all. Chuck’s internal monologue really turned me off but so did Poppy’s. I come from a small town full of hillbillies (as the author says) and I think the way they both speak and react to the world just reminded me too much of people I know that I’d rather not think of.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and Wild One Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

From page 1 I knew I would enjoy this book, and I was not wrong. This is a 4.5/5 read for me.

A crass rom-com that delivered spice and all the feels. It has a miscommunication trope which normally I don’t enjoy, BUT the miscommunication happened when the main characters were adolescents and clarification came as as adults. I thought that storyline was very well done.

With most rom-coms the reader is on a roller coaster ride of highs and lows as the characters go through bliss then some type of trauma then their HEA. The MCs have trauma but their relationship continued on an upward trajectory. I thought that gave a little bit of a different feel to this story.

The cons: There were a couple of typos, and I thought the story ended a bit abruptly. The epilogue could have been flushed out into the story’s ending. In turn the epilogue could have included a look more into the future: i.e. finding out they’re pregnant or a wedding.

I look forward to reading more from Dianna Roman.

This was a cute read of enemies to lovers romcom. Alot of miscommunication throughout the book, but not too much where it does get annoying. After a bad year of issues, Poppy just wanted to get back at her cheating ex, yet deputy Chuck has other ideas. This was my first book but this author but not my last.

I received this ARC through #netgalley and I am voluntarily reviewing this book.

I really enjoyed this cute small town rom com. The main characters had depth and an interesting backstory, and their relationship progressed gradually like peeling back the layers of an onion. Poppy and Charlie had sizzling chemistry and delightfully sassy banter. Most of the side characters were not fleshed out much beyond a name and their role in the bar, but that did not detract from the story line.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I don't know if I read this at the perfect time, but it was everything I needed! Something fun, steamy, and with lots of love. Some of the banter had me laughing out loud., and you definitely got to know the characters well.
Sure, the way Poppy thought of herself was quite worrying, but she grew to love herself. I guess lots of people have others from high school that have given them a hard time at some point. I'm glad she found out the truth of it all.
5 stars as it was everything it claimed to be, a rom com that sucked you in and was easy to read.

I didn't character “Chuck” tricked her in the beginning. Poppy had too much internalized misogyny and i was concern for her at times. They were cute when they got together.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this arc.