I had to dnf this book. It isn't going badly, and the characters are interested, I might go back to it later on.
However, I went into it thinking I was going into an enemies to lovers and it just didn't really do that. It was maybe that for 1/4 of the books, which is disappointing.
I was expecting it to be slow burn and for them to hate working together and hate being attracted to eachother.
I hope to get back to it later on when I'm in the mood for something cute and can appreciated it more.

Troublemaker is a fun and flirty read involving lots of back and forth banter and button pushing between two guys who seem to be working hard to fight their attraction to each other before they inevitably give in. Mac is fierce and take charge in all of his business dealings and leaves no room for down time. Luca is working on setting up his business as an event planner and agrees to work as an assistant to Mac temporarily as a favor to a friend because Mac is struggling since his assistant up and quit. Their relationship has been somewhat rocky in the past, whether because they are somewhat opposite in nature or because of all that underlying chemistry.

I really enjoyed this book. This was my first by this author so I didn't know what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised. The story line was engaging and the characters were likeable. I enjoyed how Luca challenged Mac to step outside his comfort zone. I am definitely intrigued regarding the set up for the next book regarding Cal and would definitely like to read more of this author's work in the future.

I am voluntarily reviewing an advanced copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book.

Passive aggressive, they had a lot of miscommunication. I don’t like that in books but some people don’t mind that. It wasn’t for me
Thank you NetGalley for this arc 🖤🖤

M/M romance that follows its own characters. It was a nice change of pace to read this book. Several of the typical tropes for romance were turned sideways and for a change, I didn't see all the twists and turns coming at the reader. Highly recommended.

Mac and Luca are part of a larger group of friends - but are pretty much oil and water. Luca is extremely family oriented and all about the work-life-balance. Mac has fed all of his energy into his business and has basically no life outside of work. Luca's old boss and mutual friend of his and Mac asks Luca to step in and help Mac when Mac's assistant quits unexpectedly. This throws them together in a whole new way and causes the sparks between them to fly even higher.

I loved the support of Mac and Luca's closeknit group of friends in this book. It is always awesome to read about a group of men who are the antidote to toxic masculinity. My heart broke for Mac at many points during the book - but I loved seeing him put in the work to show he was willing to change and accept constructive criticism and change in his life. Luca was definitely so good for him. On the flip side - I am not sure that Luca didn't end up being the more inflexible person in the relationship (despite his push for balance). I also didn't love Luca's all-or-nothing attitude towards their relationship. While I agreed with him that he shouldn't have to compromise what he wanted for anyone else - I think sometimes in a relationship you also have to consider whether with the right person - sometimes your needs/wants change a bit - including what you want out of life. This was resolved very well - but still - it bothered me that he sort of showed a lack of maturity there.

I think this would have been a full four star review for me - but for the flow. things came in waves - one minute they were all in, the next they were at odds. Which I guess is consistent with their relationship - but it felt disjointed at times for me.

Overall - I would love to read more of this group of friends! I received this book via NetGalley as an ARC, but these opinions are all my own.

I DNF this book after about 30%, It didn't pull me in. Maybe one day I will go back and try again. It got 2 stars from me.

DNF 25 %

Right off the bat from the first couple pages, I really was not into the writing. The descriptions felt cheesy, the dialogue was stiff and didn’t make sense, the interactions between characters were stiff and unnatural, leaving me ultimately cringing at it all. I just wasn’t invested at all in the characters and I really disliked the writing through it all and I didn’t see it getting better nor did I want to push through. Ultimately I DNFd it simply for the greater good. I just could not stand the writing.

(2 stars)

Luca and Mac have a sizzling chemistry in the book, which was the first (and unfortunately the only) thing that kept me invest in the book. The sensual texts, heated looks and casual flirting added a lot to their lives. It was a typical love at first sight situation where the heroes broke their characters because of each other.

Sadly, I found the language to be very off-putting. Despite the book being in third person's point of view, the content didn't exactly align with it, instead frequently switched from one to another to express their perspective. The repeated shift from one's perspective to the other brought a confusing feel to the plot. The overall language was too direct, which hindered the flow of the story and added to its confusing aspect.

All in all, the characters could have been written better without their back stories being mentioned randomly, and the language could use some work.

Thank you Netgalley and Evernight Publishing for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

It’s just so predictable. I know all romance follow a pattern but there’s nothing beyond it that pulls me in.

This book was just ok. Mac and Luca were a super cute couple who needed to work on their communication skills. Nothing spectacular happened in this book and that's honestly okay. I wouldn't say I liked how the book kept alluding to the next part of the series without going more in-depth about Mac and Luca.