i started reading this book but couldn't finish it because the writing style seemed very juvenile and spent a lot of time explaining things rather than them actually happening. More of a show not tell. Although I will say that the book concept was very good and I loved the cover; it was very well done in regards to the story.

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

Grumpy meets sunshine and forced proximity! What a combo, right? Add in some British humour and you’ve got a winner.

This rom-com follows Lucy, a workaholic business owner who devotes her life to her work and her clients. Her world comes crumbling down when her business is in danger and her best friend had enough of Lucy’s poor friendship.
In her attempt to relax she takes up yoga but quits as fast as she buts heads with her incredibly annoying and laid back yoga teacher, Zack.

When her childhood home is put on the market she finds out that there is already an interested buyer, none other but Zack. They are both turned down by the bank and they decide to buy the house together. Fake dating to get a mortgage? Hey, we get it, we live in complicated times.

Living with Zack is not exactly easy-peasy lemon-squeezy! Lucy is a control freak in all aspects of her life while Zack is very laidback. His healthy-healthy lifestyle, his optional sleepwear and his promiscuous sex life are making Lucy question her decision to live with Zack.

There is a slight miscommunication, and while I usually don’t like this trope at all, in this case it made the whole plot thicken and turned a possible devastating scene into a really funny one.

What I didn’t like was the beginning of the book which was a bit slow. Her friends including her best friend are terrible and Lucy might not have been completely in the right but their reaction was blown out of proportion.

It was an okay book, I enjoyed the tropes that were involved with it, but I found the book itself to not hold my attention as much as I wish it had.

When I began this book, I found myself engaged with the story and our main protagonist. She frustrated me, yet I felt I could understand her, and throughout the story rooted for her to allow herself a moment to truly just live without expectation. I really did root for her!

Unfortunately that was the extent of my intrigue. Sadly, I felt the romance incredibly lacking. There's slow burn...then there's a far too long road that by the time you reach your destination you wonder if the time it took to get there was even worth it. There was no chemistry between the leads, only heaps of exhausting miscommunication. I pondered where the whole "falling in love" even happened, because I never felt it whilst reading.

I would have loved to enjoy this book more, because I did find the writing immersive and strong. While this book may not have been for me, my interest is most definitely there for more from this author. I found lots of potential within these pages, even if the execution was not quite there for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for providing me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very lighthearted book and I enjoyed reading about Lucy and Zack a lot. They’re total opposites and seeing how “opposites attract” as events progressed was nice to see. It was actually quite refreshing seeing them BOTH compromise for each other rather than one character trying to completely change themselves for the other person.

One big annoyance for me was Katie, aka Lucy’s best friend. I found her to be a bit manipulative in a way. I find it quite difficult to believe that these two have been friends since childhood based on how Katie treats Lucy. When Lucy’s business took a hard hit, I felt like it was mostly Katie’s fault and yet that was never brought up. I just had trouble connecting with this character.

The big twist (or what I think was the big twist) was fairly predictable. Not necessarily a bad thing, but nothing that had my jaw dropping. I also think Lucy went from “oh you’re not that bad” to “I can’t imagine life without you” within a span of a few pages, and it kind of had me perplexed, however after the way her perspective on life is changed by those around her, I can see why it happened the way it did.

Overall, this was a great easy book to read that I started and finished in one day. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a light romcom book to enjoy. I would rate this a 3.5/5 stars, however because we cannot rate using half stars I rounded down to a 3.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange of honest review.

I love forced proximity trope and that was one of the reason I decided to give this book a chance but the book was boring and flat.
First the characters! Lucy! I hated her oh god. She was so rude and selfish character, I don't understand how are you supposed to connect with the character like her. She was insufferable almost all the time. And I hate her even more because of her lack of respect for friendship. And there was Zack "the yoga teacher" who was completely meh. Also Zack and Lucy have no chemistry nada zero!

Although there were some funny , laugh out loud moments which I enjoyed a bit. So overall the book could have done better if the characters were written more mature and likable.

The story
Lucy is an interior designer with her own business living in Liverpool. She works hard, sometimes too hard, and her friends don’t really understand or support her. When a terribly true email is sent to her client list and her business takes a nose dive, she is devastated. It doesn’t help that when her childhood home goes on the market, Lucy has a deposit to buy the house but doesn’t qualify for the mortgage. Enter Zach, basically a stranger and her yoga instructor offering a plan.

My thoughts
A lot of criticism of this story focuses on the unlikeable characters- Lucy’s friend Katie, Lucy herself. I think this fits with author’s style of writing. Flawed and messy characters, love interests that definitely don’t make for perfect HEA’s and a sort of deprecating sense of humour. I enjoyed the story and the writing, the messy living together with mix ups and disasters. A fun read for me!

Lucy, Lucy, Lucy. INCREDIBLY obsessed with her work to the point she checks her emails for two hours in the bathroom at her best friend's bachelorette or "Hen Party" and hides her phone in her bouquet during the wedding.

So what does she do? Goes to a Yoga retreat of course. And ends up sharing a mortgage/house with the laid back yoga teacher? She does.

I never connected with the characters, too much of caricatures rather than characters to me.

Really enjoyed this feel-good book. Great story and characters. A fast, fun read! My first book by this author.

Listen, I really really wanted to like this one. Im a sucker for forced proximity trope but this just missed the mark for me.

I just didn’t feel a connection to the characters or their relationship. I love good banter in books, but this was just not it and was honestly disappointing.

This book sounded like a home run for me - enemies to lovers, forces proximity and grumpy/sunshine tropes all being on display. However I feel this book misses the mark for me.

Lucy is a workaholic perfectionist who’s business tanks after a disastrous drunken email is sent out during a hen-do. Her life falls apart and she takes steps to get back on track, including taking up a yoga and meditation class. (Not by choice I might add. She’s only there to appease her bestie, Katie.) There she meets Zack, a go with the flow ‘breathing technician’ who is her exact opposite. He’s always late and it annoys her to no end. However, when her late gramma’s home goes up for sale her and Zack strike an unorthodox deal to buy it together.

I’m gonna say this right off the hop: Lucy needs better friends. I found Katie and the other girls mentioned at the beginning of the book to be absolutely horrid. While I do agree that Lucy should have set better boundaries with her clients, Katie and Co. go out of their way to basically destroy her business and take absolutely no ownership. They treat it as an ‘oh well, I guess now you can have a life’ situation and that just rubbed me the wrong way and I never forgave them. Katie seems completely self absorbed and not a supportive friend at all. It made it hard to read scenes where she was involved because I just disliked her so much.

Lucy is an ok main character. She’s very absorbed in her work to the point that it defines her. I agree that she needs to relax a bit, but it’s not something that she could just do overnight and I think it’s thoughtless of everyone to tell her to switch off when it’s not that easy. However, she is pretty rude to Zack straight off the hop. I understand he is her opposite and was late for classes and meetings, but I do think her animosity towards him was a bit much. Her explosion on him in class, for example, just made her seem kinda childish. Zack is definitely more likeable, even if he was aloof at the beginning. I enjoyed watching them learn more about each other.

However, and I feel like this is me being a broken record at this point, I do think the miscommunication was overplayed in this book. There were several instances where I just feel like the situation could’ve been resolved if there was more honesty and less aloofness. I know it’s important to the plot, but I’m just not a fan.

All that said, the writing itself was good and I definitely felt like I could see the book in my mind as I was reading. Lucy’s eye for detail shone through in the authors writing style. This book would be perfect for people who enjoy miscommunication tropes, English humour and descriptive stories.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to love this book, but it was just ok for me 😭

I found Lucy to be childish and bratty and her hot and cold behaviour towards Zack didn't sit well with me.

This wasn't an enemies to lovers book for me, but more of a 'I'm going to sulk and strop until you give in to me' kinda book, which Zack did EVERY TIME!

Talking of Zack, he may have been a yoga lovin' sweet talker, but even he was just abit bland for me.

There was some funny moments along the way though. Particularly the batcherlorette party at the very beginning! If the story had carried on with that level of humour and chirpiness then I think I would have loved it....

I also did find myself softening alittle towards Lucy as her secret of where she goes every Thursday was revealed, so my emotions were piqued somewhat by that.

This sadly just didn't grab my attention, which is frustrating, because this book has all the great props to be one that I would usually dive head first into, but unfortunately it was missing something for me.

💌 Thankyou to netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you're looking for a steamy and spicy book, this is not the book for you.

However, if you are looking for a lighthearted rom-com read with and opposites attract/grumpy sunshine/enemies to lovers/forced proximity vibe, you're in the right spot.

Lucy is at times insufferable, especially early on in her lack of respect for her best friend, and while she tries her hardest to continually be a reformed perfectionist, she continually falls short.

Almost every main conflict in the book could have been solved with the simple act of communication between the two main characters which was a bit frustrating at times. I found myself wanting to yell at Lucy and Zack, pleading with them to just communicate.

Overall, this is a cute and quick read but not a book I would pick up to read again.

The concept of owning a home and sharing it with an annoying stranger is an interesting and relatively unique (read: more permanent and high-stakes) spin on the “living with your enemy” trope. I enjoyed the slow release of truths throughout the book; how Zack became Ziggy, why Lucy’s busy on Thursdays, etc. I was cackling at the bachelorette party scene at the beginning; I think most women have likely experienced that level of ridiculousness at those parties.
I found the character of Katie to be highly unlikeable. She is very hot and cold with Lucy and encourages bad decisions. She’s not a main character, so it wasn’t too abrasive, though.
Overall, I’d recommend this to those who don’t like too much “spice” in their romantic comedies and are into the zen yogi life.

I wanted to enjoy this book, but I just couldn’t get over my dislike of pretty much all the characters. Lucy, the female main character, was particularly awful, rude, and selfish. I had to take a 2 day break from reading it at about 40%, so that I could finish it.

I didn’t feel the chemistry between Zack and Lucy and the plot fell flat. There were a few funny moments, but overall Stuck with Him wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing this ARC.

“‘You know, at first I couldn’t live with you, Clark,’ ‘To now.’ He held my face delicately in his big hands. ‘I’ve realised that I can’t live without you.’”

Lucy is absorbed by her work as an interior designer, her social life and friends are hanging by a thread and to top that, Zack, the new yoga teacher she hates, is threatening to buy her childhood home. They can’t afford to buy the house alone, they have to do it together and try not to kill each other in the process…

You can really feel the hate between those two, and how Lucy’s life is going to crumble unless she changes how she’s been behaving.
Finally, she learns that her friends and love life are as important as her work. Real enemies to lovers and a great contemporary romance, perfect to get out of a reading slump.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC.

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

When Lucy makes a drunken mistake at her best friends HEN party, her life changed. Her company took a hit and she was now living with her best friend and her husband temporarily. Lucy is working to build her life and company back up. While walking, she noticed that her childhood home was up for sale and she knew instantly that she had to have it. Though finances did not go her way, she was able to negotiate an uncommon deal. She and her yoga instructor, who she despises, purchased the home together. Basically two strangers moving in and renovating the home. As you can imagine, they are in for many surprises both good and bad as they get to know each other.

From the get-go, I was struggling to find a character I actually liked. They were all insufferable and selfish in their own ways. Lucy’s behaviour at her best friend’s wedding was actually bizarre, while said best friend Katie and the rest of their cohort were incredibly self-centred and unsympathetic towards Lucy.

I was struggling to even slog through the beginning so I could at least get to the romance portion of the book, which is the sole reason I wanted to read the book. But even my hope for that dwindled quickly with just how insufferable Lucy was. It wasn’t an “enemies” situation, it was just Lucy being disrespectful and rude to Zack for no apparent reason.

I think this just fell victim to the romcom phenomenon of trying to make the plot and characters OTT as possible and it just stifles the entire book... and my enjoyment of it.

So, while I loathe to DNF an ARC, I had to bow out of this one. I did skim read the second half to ease my guilt for DNFing, and found Lucy to be just as self-centured and insufferable as I did in the beginning, having to beg everyone around her for forgiveness again, because she was being selfish. And since you can’t opt out of rating a book on NetGalley, this gets two stars because that’s likely the rating I would have given it had I finished it properly.

I think for people who enjoy the classic, romcom formula, then this book is undoubtedly for them. But for those of us who aren’t a fan of the quirky style some romcom’s adopt, then I don’t recommend it.

Classic chick lit, a bit slow and obvious but enjoyable characters and set in the lovely city of Liverpool plus anyone who loves Grasmere Gingerbread comes recommended in my book

Such a fun romcom. Close proximity was great and there was no unnecessary drama for the storyline. Very much enjoyed