This was a good contemporary romance! I would definitely recommend trying it!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

I read this one a while back and recall enjoying it in the moment, but can hardly remember the body of the story now. I believe there was some bullying and unhappy valentine memories, but otherwise the plot was forgettable. The writing was good so I would still recommend as light reading and believe it deserves at least three stars.

I'm withholding this review in solidarity with the HarperCollins Union members currently on strike. I support their right to a fair contract.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon/Harper Voyager for the review copy!
Cupid only strikes once. At least that's what Lissette Alonso believes. Ever since the Most Disastrous Valentine's Day of All Time(TM) she has hated all things V-day. But Lizzie's best friend is having pre-nuptial festivities for a week leading up to her February 14th wedding and Lissette is taking her maid of honor duties seriously, maybe too seriously. Of course who is the first person she runs into on the way to the wedding? None other than her childhood nemesis, Brian Anderson, the reason for all of her Valentine's Day hatred. Suddenly the two are back under the same roof and bickering like old times, except that Brian has bigger problems than dealing with Lizzie's verbal sparring. Someone Brian is desperate to avoid shows up and somehow Lizzie gets roped into pretending to be dating him. And, suddenly, the simmering anger has blossomed into something extra spicy…
If you know me, you know that I absolutely adore enemies-to-lovers and fake dating. They’re my top tier tropes! The Valentine's Hate certainly delivers on these tropes. The banter alone made this book five stars for me. Now, no book is perfect, and The Valentine’s Hate (as much as I loved it) is no exception. While I loved the two main characters, the secondary cast feels a little two dimensional, as though they’re just filling in the necessary archetypes.

An enemies to lovers romance. As neighboring children Lissette Alonso and Brian Anderson did not get along. All through their school years they poked and provoked each other with him ruining all her Valentine’s Days. Now years later Lizzie is successful in business and living in London. She heads to Cancun for her best friends wedding. Sitting next to her on the plane is Brian. Of course now he is buff with a sexy librarian look. He also is the writer of a hugely successful book series that is being made into feature films.

For reasons that work for both of them they end up sharing his two bedrooms suite at the resort. He’s crowd shy and would like her as a buffer during this promotional trip for his book. She wants a fake partner when she learns that the ex who cheated on her is part of the wedding party as a date of the grooms sister. Finally talking they realize they didn’t understand each others childhood motivations.

I like enemies to lovers stories especially when the relationship isn’t bullying or mean. I think some of his excuses are weak, she got a higher score than him on a test, but whatever. He does make a make up gesture but it is more about understanding each others past situations. Once both declare a truce they quickly fall into steaminess. They are only thinking this is a holiday fling so I found it cliche declaring he doesn’t do relationships. And the slight angst moment and the reactions are predictable from the set-up.

But overall this is a very enjoyable fun and loving story. I really like best friend Mari and would have read a book about her but she already got her guy. I’m new to the author but she written several books that I can enjoy discovering. Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lissette Alonso and Brian Anderson have a long standing 26 year beef. Brian managed to ruin every valentine's day Lizzie has ever had since the second day when he came to Miami. When they end up on the same plane to Mexico, the angst is still front and center. But when Lizzie's room has been flooded and Brian has a spare room in his free upgraded Villa, Brian comes up with a plan. Help him navigate the fans and celebrities at his book conference and return make Lizzie's ex boyfriend jealous who just happened to show up to her best friends wedding with another guest. Lines get blurred and real feelings get involved. Can Brain and Lizzie get their happily ever after? Or will Hollywood gossip pull their relationship apart before it can barely begin?

I am so glad I picked this book up! I was in a slump of middle of the row books and I literally finished this within 24 hours. I couldn't put it down! It was just what I needed! We have an enemies to lovers romance with some close proximity and fake dating cross over. It was so fun! The passion and frustration is at the forefront. The spice during the spa scene, get your fans ready! I did find it a little predictable at some points, but I didn't mind at all because I couldn't stop to really think about it. I just wanted more! The backdrop of a luxurious Mexican resort was so wonderful. Brain was swoon-worthy and charming after believing he was such a bad guy in the beginning. It was nice to see that unravel a bit. I also loved that in the beginning we are essentially there in elementary, middle and high school with them as these events happen, then they get brought up throughout the story it was like we were there with them originally.

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review. This book releases 12/27

Rating: 3.5/5

Publication Date: December 27th 2022

Author: Sidney Halston

Review: I really enjoyed this book It was easy to read and relatively short. The chapters are long though so that can be a plus or a negative. Getting past that I enjoyed the story of Brian and Lizzie, you get a lot of back story with them and it’s the typical enemies to lovers trope with the perfect amount of romance. You get a simple taste of it without it being over bearing, I think anymore than what it had would have thrown off the whole aspect of the book. I feel like the ending was cut short I wanted him to have to try harder to get on her good graces but all in all it was a fun and fast read! If you are in the market for a Rom-Com that isn’t cheesy this is the book for you.

"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘺𝘢 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸? 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘮-𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘴?"

If I could give this 1000 stars, I absolutely would! I downed this in like 2-3 days!

This also hit special places in my heart because my boyfriend and I have known each other since 7th grade, and only started dating when we were 30 (we never hated each other though 😅)

This books was so much fun, and I truly fell in love with these characters. I also immediately connected to the feelings of not being enough and leaving before they have the chance to leave you.

Also, Mexico... ☀️💍

Read this if you enjoy:
• Enemies to Lovers
• Forced Promixity
• Fake Dating/Engagement

Thank you Sidney, @avonbooks, @harpervoyagerus and @netgalley for the ARC in exchange for this review!
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This second chance enemies to lovers romance was so cute and fun! Ended up binge reading this in one sitting.

The premise of this book is cute - childhood enemies to adult-aged lovers, with a beach theme and fun careers. However, I just felt that everything about this was flat.

The fake engagement trope was fun, and I loved the aspect of Brian being an author. Lizzie’s patience and care with Brian to help him through his stage fright was cute.

I was hooked for the first 25%, but then it just felt like everything shifted. The characters had no dimension, the dialogue was choppy, the writing became repetitive, the timeline made no sense. Then, the shift from hate to love happened WAY too quickly for my taste. It felt like they just decided to jump each other’s bones, and used the excuse of “oh, well I never really hated you” instead of building any kind of actual relationship. A more flushed out journey for them would have created a more meaningful, and thus more believable, connection between the two. I also didn’t like the third act conflict. Both characters acted immaturely and it all could have been avoided if they would just TALK to each other. Objectively, I do like both Lizzie and Brian as characters, but was never able to connect with either of them due to lack of any actual detail about them. I wanted them together in the same way you want every romance novel couple together, but never for any deeper reason, which is something I’ve come to look for in my books. WHY are the characters good for each other? WHY should I root for them? WHY are they better together than apart? This book had no “why”s.

Thanks to NetGalley, Avon Books, & HarperVoyager for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars.
Who doesn't love an enemies to lovers trope.
I had a fun time reading this book it was cute and a quick read with some spicy scenes.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC.

Lizzie LOVES Valentine's day and hates Brian for putting a damper on it during school years. Flash forward in years, what she doesn't expect is ending up on a plane headed to Cancun with her nemesis the weekend before Valentine's day.

Brian has a situation that he cannot avoid and needs help once he reaches the resort. Lizzie now needs a date for her best friend's wedding at the same resort. But will these two enemies be able to put their "hate" aside and work together?

I binge read The Valentine's Hate and recommend romance lovers pick up this short read. Told in both Brian and Lizzie's points of view, I empathized with both characters throughout their fated weekend. Sidney Halston adds appropriate steamy scenes throughout and writes interesting side characters.

Second chance enemies to lovers? Sign me up. The valentines hate is the fun, feel good-romance perfect for when you need your mood to be lifted. This is one of those books that made me genuinely laugh several times. Definitely recommend!

This book was super cute! It was a quick and entertaining read. I think you’ll enjoy it if you like the fake dating and enemies-to-lovers tropes.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book! I am a sucker for a good enemies to lovers trope and this is a great one. I fell in love with Lisette and Brian! The spicy was just right.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to review an arc of this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for an advanced copy of this book.

Lizzie is on her way to Mexico for her best friend’s wedding weekend, which also happens to fall on Valentines Day. She’s always hated the holiday, ever since she was a kid and her neighbor Brian ruined it every single year. As it happens, Brian is on his way to Mexico too. Once the surprise of seeing each other wears off, he realizes, maybe they can help each other hope. A fake dating situation could be mutually beneficial, and of course they could never fall in love…

I love a fake dating trope, but the enemies to lovers side of things didn’t really seem deep enough for me on this one. They were quick to admit their attraction, despite supposedly hating each other. And it seemed like there wasn’t enough of an obstacle to prevent them from getting together. Overall, it was a cute story, but even as a rom-com I wished it had a little more depth.

2.5 ⭐️
Childhood enemies-to-lovers with a side of fake-dating? Sign me up! I was excited to start The Valentine’s Hate thinking this would be right up my alley. And I felt like I gave Brian and Lizzie a fair try, but this book just fell flat to me. I really wanted to like the characters, but they both just felt a little juvenile and their relationship just felt very two-dimensional. The banter didn’t pull me in like I was hoping and so I never quite believed these two had any kind of real rivalry that would bring them together. The story read like a checklist, checking off the appropriate tropes: force two characters to room share and see what happens, have them hate each other based on childhood misunderstandings, make them realize they actually like each other more than just sex, throw in a character or two that tries to break them up and then let the third act be a miscommunication trope. I also felt like the timeline seemed choppy and rushed towards the last third, I.e. Brian is getting to the airport, but then he’s suddenly pulling up to his place…and I felt like we could’ve seen inside the character’s heads for thought process more in these moments. Even some of the sex scenes I was a little surprised by (not because of the spice, but romantically); it just didn’t feel like how two people would act that realized they had great chemistry. I’m hopeful that maybe we can see better stories from Sidney Halston in the future, but unfortunately this was a missed mark for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for that chance to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The synopsis of The Valentine's Hate sounded so cute! Enemies-to-lovers trope and they've known each other since they were young kids - YES! However, I did not jive with this book at all. I really wanted to like Lizzie and Brian together, but Brian was just so rude to Lizzie. I couldn't get past what a bully he was. I don't mind bully romances, but I need the angst/tension and at least some sort of chemistry between the two leads. I did not feel the chemistry between Lizzie and Brian and unfortunately have decided to dnf for now.

I REALLY liked it...surprisingly! I had read a few reviews saying that the writing was off and that the POV changing mid chapter was confusing. The writing was a bit off, but the story was nice to I got over it. The POV switch wasn't confusing at all as it was clearly marked when you changed. Anywaaaaays, I digress!

I think so often enemies to lover goes wrong, because most of the time the 'enemy' part is done incorrectly. It's either a stupid reason or they actually never 'hate' at all! This is one was perfect- childhood traumas! Albeit the reason for their reuniting is so far fetched that you just have to ignore that to enjoy the book.

It was cute and and Lizzie and Brian just worked well together. It was like a warm comfy blanket.

BIGGEST PROBLEM: the ending! Like you couldn't have added another chapter to make the ending worth it??? I almost docked it two stars just because of how disappointed I was.

The summary doesn't do this book justice, it has a totally different vibe. The two leads cannot stand each other because they each think the other dislikes them tremendously while being unaware of the full story. Once they're thrown together and begin to untangle some of those knots, however, they end up on an entirely different trajectory than they would have ever guessed possible.