The Hate Zone is a really nice story about instant physical attraction combined with instant incompatibility due to the fact that the two main characters come from two completely different worlds. Enrique is an ordinary guy who believes in values like hard work and always being there for family, while January is a Hollywood socialite who sorts of behaves like a spoiled rich girl. They are instantly attracted by each other, but at the same time they get under each other's skin pretty badly.
I am not gonna lie. At first, I was afraid I could not like this book because, at the beginning of the story, January (the female protagonist) is not very likable. Fortunately, the author did a good job in making me see "the woman behind the curtain" and making me root for her. Just like Enrique, I soon realized that January is not just a rich girl with a heart made of stone. On the contrary, she is a lonely girl who supposedly has everything she could ever desire and yet struggles to believe she is enough and lovable. Once I understood that, I began to truly appreciate the way Enrique makes her experience true happiness and shows her how, instead of acting like the shallow, entitled and spoiled heiress portrayed by tabloids, she can simply be herself: a surprising, unpredictable, beautiful (inside and out) girl.
So, overall, I really liked the way the author made me feel the electric charge between January and Enrique and the way it gradually turned into love. Therefore, I totally recommend The Hate Zone and I am looking forward to reading book #2 of the Precio Brothers series!

Thank you NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for providing me with an ARC of this book.

The Hate Zone is a romance story between an around the way business man and an uber rich socialite. Enrique is hired to be January’s driver and from there the sparks (of hate or love?) fly. If you can get past some of the absolute over the top and unbelievable situations and behaviors by the characters, then it is a decent read. There are some cute moments between the leads, but to me Enrique’s family were really the best characters. I would be interested in reading some of the brothers’ follow up stories.

This book was a cute fun read. The story was a bit all over the place at times but I loved the chemistry between both the main characters. A really fun summer time read for any romance lover.

The hate is about a rich & famous girl named January & a Latin American guy named Ricky
January’s life style had a Paris Hilton resemblance to me & Ricky was the help.. They love to hate each other until they don’t.

I enjoyed the banter these two shared & the pranks they pulled on each other. It keeps you hooked. I wished they didn’t go around in circles so much & got into they’re love story a little deeper.

Thank you to netgalley for allowing to read & review a copy of this book. (All my opinion)

What a cute read! I started off not liking January but grew to really like her. The premise was different than a lot of rom coms I have read and I liked that. This was my first time reading this author and I enjoyed her writing style and found it easy to read. I wish the Spanish and French conversations (although there wasn’t a ton of it) in the book were all translated so I didn’t have to put it all through Google translate. I loved how protective Ricky was of January and their goofy flirting. I will be reading more from Gigi Blume after this one!

I loved this story from beginning to end 💖

I found January and Enrique adorable 😍

This is my first-time reading Gigi, but -definitely- it won't be my last. I devoured the book in two sittings and it left my heart warm and had me smiling most of the time.

Being a romcom, you pretty much know what to expect, and I wasn't going in with very high expectations. In fact, I'd say I wasn't going in with any expectations at all, but I promise you that I couldn't have been more surprised and it's one of the funniest books I've read lately.

At first it gave me a lot of "It happened one summer" vibes (since January is a socialite) and that scared me a bit because I didn't particularly enjoy that read, but as I got further into the story, I realized that nothing to do with it.

What I liked the most was:

✨ Double POV (January and Enrique).
✨ Enemies to lovers
✨ Forced proximity
✨ Closed-door romance
✨ The contrast between the Precio’s family dynamics VS January's dysfunctional family.
✨ Multilingual (Enrique and his family are from Mexico and throughout the story we find Spanish phrases and expressions. Very TSLD-like)
✨ Humor (silly and hilarious moments).
✨ Good development of the female protagonist (she is presented in a way that you expect to be a bimbo, but not at all).

Perhaps I missed a little more development on the characters, but it is a 364-page book and I think for the length it is, quite a bit of information is given about them and you can get an idea of why they are the way they are.

It is also true that, speaking Spanish, some of the multilingual scenes lost the intention that in English they may have had. Especially one of them comes to mind 😂. I admit that when I read it, I was like 🙃😶 but I took it with humor as much of the dynamic between January and Enrique. The romantic moment was lost, but that's because I already speak Spanish per se, and reading the same thing twice makes it lose that effect.
If you are looking for a light, fresh and fun read I definitely recommend it, and it's available on Kindle Unlimited!

Also, it's the first book in the Price Brothers series and part of the epilogue is narrated by one of them 🤭 and I can't wait to keep discovering this crazy and endearing family because they have earned a place in my heart 💖.



Many thanks to Xpresso Book Tours, Sodasac Press and NetGalley for sending me the copy and for giving me the opportunity to read and review it.

My bookstagram review will be up next week (@escamadesirena) as well as its aesthetic reel.

Learned of Gigi Blume through a different author's newsletter and the premise of this book caught my attention.

I enjoyed this book and the dynamic of the characters. While I do wish certain scenes had been fleshed out a bit more, overall it was still a great book and will definitely recommend and be on the lookout for future books from this author.

Cover: 5 out of 5
Premise/Blurb: 5 out of 5
Story: 4 out of 5
Characters: 4.5 out of 5
Overall: 4.5 out of 5

This was a really cute book but maybe I skipped this information or I thought it would still be done well, but this was a closed-door romance novel. At first, I thought it was just a book filled with wasted opportunities (I’m using this term for moments where they were filled with chemistry but the next chapter (they are usually at the end of the chapter) is set at a different time or place) For example, they were on a beach and had this cute moment with ice cream and it looked filled with promises of kissing but the next chapter ruined it because it was set like hours later or another day or idk when.

So overall, I guess I was just really disappointed because anytime when I thought it would happen something exciting it was cut short – like there would be a brother banging on the doors of their room, etc.

⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
ARC was provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks @netgalley @gigiblume for the free reviewer copy!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (0-5)
Steam: 🔥☄️/🔥🔥 (0-5) making out & lots of sexual attraction.

What I’m Starry-Eyed Over:
🤩 Feel-good romcom with interesting families, places, and storyline.
🤩 Tropes & feels: opposites attract, enemies-to-lovers, employee/forbidden romance, so the feels are fierce, fun, and flirty!!!
🤩 Both MCs (January & Enrique) are spunky, sassy, and sexy! One might be a little more high-maintenance than the other. The angst and banter are top notch. They go so far as to lick each other’s gelato.
🤩 Mexican immigrant family/Mexican American kids—I love all the language and traditions.
🤩 Big family=big series; so much family fun!
🤩 First person dual POV—it is the very best, especially in a closed-door romance, because you still get all the thoughts and attraction. Hot
🤩 So many fun and laugh out loud moments. Anybody else a super fan of under anesthesia videos?! Ha!
🤩 Adventures in the vineyards of Mexico—like driving lessons.
🤩 Book 2 in the series—Nacho Boyfriend is out July 10th & mine is pre-ordered!

What I’m Wishing/Dizzy About:
💫 Caution: mild triggers for off-page (only referred to) domestic abuse and parent drug addiction.
💫 Not quite as serious caution: you’ll be hungry for guacamole and your favorite Mexican restaurant dish. Yum taco tamale margarita chips
💫 The ending and HEA epilogue were lovely and cute; however, I’m so greedy about getting the physical connection back after the drama or time apart.

“for a communications professional I sucked when it came to communicating my own emotions.”

The Hate Zone by Gigi Blume
Pub Date: out now
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4/5)
Spice: 🌶 (1/5)

Review:
January Madison is a spoiler hotel chain heir and reality star whose driver just retired. Enrique is a car obsessed man who gets hired as Januarys new driver. Enrique has 7 siblings and his family runs and owns a Mexican restaurant business. January and Enrique’s forbidden love is steamy but not too hot.

I loved the first Precio brothers story. Enrique’s dedication to his family and work is swoon worthy extreme. There was pretty much no spice except for kissing. The story is not predictable but so well done. This is a great beach read. I finished the book in a day.


If you like:
- Forced Proximity
- Close family vs distant family
- Split perspectives
- Multilingual


Thank you to Net Galley and Sodasac Press for proving me with an eARC of this novel.

I saw this book posted by the author GiGi on instagram. It sounded really good, and then found (The Hate Zone) on netgalley, which I was totally pleased when I got accepted to review it. This book was totally up my street, I love hate to love genre books. The set up of (The Hate Zone) and the characters, but I did find that it was a little bit slow and dragged on in some places, but I was really glad I read it.

𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙨𝙖𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙛𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝.

January Madison is a rich spoiled Reality Star, she has everything in her life that she wants, the question is money and being in the spotlight really everything? There  was a lot more to January and she was awesome as we got to know her more through the book, she truly  has a heart of gold. With her dad running the Madison Luxury Hotels, the only love he has for his daughter is being a control freak, asking January to stay at his penthouse after all the drama she causes with the tabloids. Basically her life is not as good as people think. Until the HOT Enrigue, and wow excuse me but where can I find a driver like him lol, He is hired and I gotta say haha. I loved the banter, pranks and the games these two played on each other, it was so hilarious. With Enrique his  life is the  complete opposite to January's, he has a  big lovable family, and likes to work for his money, with his deep love for cars. When he thought he was gonna be driving higher people he gets dumped with the boss’s spoiled daughter, but the more time Enrigue and January spend together the more, sizzling romance begins to bloom between them. Enrique sees more in January then she lets on, and January sees what it's like to have a normal big family and love.

𝙄𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩.

This was my first time reading GiGi books. What I really liked is that the book was a POV between the two main characters. I love getting both sides of the story from  both points of views and the feelings they had for each other. It made it even more thrilling and loving. There were some adoring romance scenes and it was full of  laughter and fun. Also had some surprises that popped up too. A loving contemporary romance and overall not a bad read, the ending was really sweet. I can't wait to see what GiGi brings for the next book.

thought the book's romantic aspect was a bit cheesy but comforting and familiar (in a really great way). january's attitude was so genuine, she's just like me fr... it was a COMEDY first!

3/5 ⭐
0/5 🌶️

Enrique shows up to his new job as a limo driver for one of LA's Hotel kings only to find out he won't be driving around executives, but will instead be at the beck and call of spoiled hotel heiress, January. The second they meet, insults start to fly. Insults turn to pranks and pranks turn to love in this sweet romance.

I really loved the back and forth of the pranks phase and January's early moments of letting her true colors sneak out. The chemistry was great and I loved the family elements, both bad (hers) and good (his).

I didn't really laugh out loud or have any can't stop smiling moments, and the moderate religious aspect just wasn't for me. It bugged me that she clearly wasn't a virgin and we are led to assume he wasn't either, but there was never even closed door romance. All we got was some hot kisses that always ended with Ricky stopping it out of "respect", which when it's clearly what she wants, doesn't actually feel like respect. If it was made clear he was a virgin and saving himself for marriage, it may have made me feel a little differently about it.

This is probably a great read for sweet romance readers, but for smut lovers the story just isn't strong enough.

The hate zone by Gigi Blume.
This book follows the relationship between January, a socialite and reality tv star and her new driver, Enrique. The hate to love trope is utilised, which is one of my absolute favourites. This was especially the case in this book with the scintillating banter and clever and hilarious pranks seen between these two characters, yet their ultimate chemistry is undeniable and off the charts. The book also utilises the opposites attract trope as you watch their personalities clash from the get go yet also see their connection and attraction clearly form as they begin to truly care about one another.

At first, I didn’t like January’s character as at the beginning of the book she’s seen to be quite spoilt but throughout the book you end up falling in love with her as you follow her character development and her relationship with Enrique and his family, where you begin to understand her behaviour. She has definitely met her match in Enrique, allowing her to open herself up so you can see her personality and sense of humour. I adored Enrique from the beginning, with his sassy attitude, not taking any of January’s BS not to mention his lush family. Enrique’s relationship with his family and the dynamics within his family are honestly amazing with all of the wholesome and hilarious vibes of a big family and I love the attention given to these side characters, allowing them to shine.

This is a cute, feel good romance with some laugh out loud banter filled moments and I definitely recommend it as a fun, lighthearted read for these summer evenings!

For a lighthearted romantic comedy, this hits the mark. I found the descriptions of the secondary characters to be some of my favorite parts, which I always appreciate in a romcom. Otherwise it is just a lot of staring and innuendo. Unfortunately, the main couple were not as well developed. But overall, happy read and I enjoyed it!

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

If you’re looking for a summer read, look no further. This is the book for you.

The Hate Zone by Gigi Blume is a funny, witty, sweet rom-com I read in just a few hours!
I got hooked on it from the very first lines, as January Madison, the leading female character has a distinct, funny, a bit sarcastic voice. Thanks to that, I was completely immersed and her problems seemed real to me too. Of course, they are not extremely big problems – she is mostly misunderstood, neglected by parents and trapped in a gilded cage, harassed by paparazzi as an reality show star and heiress of her father’s hotel chain.

Things got only better and/or hotter when met with Enrique Precio, a young entrepreneur, currently limo driver, who becomes her chauffeur, after her previous driver had been kicked out of service after having fall in love with January and not taken “no” for an answer.

Sparks fly when Enrique and January meet and a classic enemies to lovers trope is on the way. They won’t realize they’re attracted to each other at first. They’ll make some pranks, show vulnerability and January will meet his big family. Enrique has 6 brothers and a sister, parents, aunts and uncles…they all have a wonderful family dynamic. Interestingly enough, all brothers are entrepreneurs, perhaps their father’s legacy spirit.

I found the big family and their bond very well written – I absolutely loved it, especially in contrast to January’s family. However, it seemed to me January hardly interacted with his family. I would have loved to see more of them together.

Also, Enrique’s family restaurant gets into some big financial trouble. They are able to turn everything around and get salvage it, but we get very little detail about it, especially about the part about dealing with the mafia. I am sure that’s because there are other books coming – this is just the first of the Gigi Blume’s “Precio brothers” novel series.

I was also not a fan of how January’s family was portrayed. Her father is said to be controlling, I didn’t get that too much from his actions, but he did treat her mother poorly – again, not something very explicit. January doesn’t interact with her mother for 6 years, not clear on why. Don’t get me wrong, there are explanations for these things in the book, they are just not that convincing.

However, the romance part was just perfect: steamy make-out scenes and innuendos, nothing too explicit, as well as chickens. There were chickens, as the book blurb says, I can attest to them :)

This book was fairly good, it was an easy and quick read once you first get into it. Although, I had some issues with the characters first impressions to the readers.

This book was very enjoyable. It was such a fast read for me and very funny.
I enjoyed the characters and the plot, it felt refreshing and silly which I adored.
I was looking for a fun rom-com and this book was just right!
The banter was impeccable and the enemies to lovers was very well executed!

The moment I started reading this, I knew I didn't have high hopes. Seeing as how it turned out, I guess my low expectations were accurate.

January starts off as a spoilt rich girl, complaining about everything and being rude, essentially. Then suddenly, I don't even know when exactly, she's not like that anymore. She's a saint and nice, doing charity work and not complaining at all. I'm confused by the sudden personality change.

Enrique was ok, he wasn't anything extraordinary or unique, in my opinion. He was very unprofessional, though. It didn't make sense to me how he could immediately be so rude to a client, even with the assistant. It just was weird. I did enjoy his family's dynamic and I liked that there was, finally, some good bilingual rep in a book.

Both of the characters felt underdeveloped. I don't think either of them really had a personality. The only thing I know about them is that Enrique likes cars (and names them absolute ick) and January likes Yorkies. Very superficial stuff.

The two main characters had no chemistry. Although their banter was fun, at times, nothing made me feel like they liked each other romantically other than the author telling the reader so. The pranks between them came out of nowhere and I don't understand why that started. Also, he suddenly is in love with her out of nowhere.

The two characters had alternating POVs. This usually is my favourite as we can see what both of them are feeling/thinking. However, an issue I've encountered several times is that they have the same voice. And this was one of those cases. If it weren't for the name of the chapters being the character's names, I wouldn't know whose POV it was.

The end of the book was so random. She went to Paris out of nowhere and the dad's plot twists came out of nowhere. The ending was a climax with a quick resolution. It felt a little rushed.

Overall, not for me. The characters were bland and the plot was ok.

ok love love love. this was such a cute little clean romance. i lived for the banter between january and enrique. i found myself laughing on numerous things occasion. this was a fun breezy read. i definitely recommend