Rosie Danan’s DO YOUR WORST (Berkley, 334 pp., paperback, $17) has that rarest of tropes: an enemies-to-lovers pairing that is perfectly, lusciously balanced. Clark Edgeware is an archaeologist in disgrace, Riley Rhodes is a curse breaker on the rise, and the infamous Scottish castle they’ve both been hired to investigate is the battleground. Riley is there for the historical artifacts, and it’s truly unfortunate that a man who doesn’t believe in curses is so good at finding ones that just happen to be cursed. This is a very light supernatural, with a sense of the world being wide and wondrous rather than a concrete magical system like Marske’s.

It would be simpler for Riley and Clark to stay enemies if it weren’t for Danan’s signature evocation of horniness — blended here with just a soupçon of pain kink, as a treat. The sexiness is more cutting than her previous two books, with a bright acid pop that brings out the richness.

Do Your Worst by Rosie Danon
Narrators: Shane East and Saskia Maarleveld
Rating: 3.5 stars
Steam: 2 chilis
Pub date: 11/14

Set against the backdrop of a haunted Scottish castle, this steamy tale pairs a no-nonsense English archaeologist, Clark, with Riley, a charming and spirited curse breaker with supernatural abilities. They inadvertently team up to break a curse that has been haunting Arden castle for hundreds of years. The sparks fly from the moment they meet, and you won't be able to put this book down.

Danon's writing is clever and engaging, offering a unique twist on the art of professional curse-breaking. The way she weaves the romantic history of the castle into Clark and Riley's love story makes you feel like you're right there with them in the midst of the Scottish Highlands. If you're a fan of anything remotely related to the highlands, mystical standing stones, fae folk, and clan battles, this book is sure to transport you to that enchanting world.

I loved the enemies-to-lovers vibes, the witty banter, and the gorgeous setting.
The story was fast-paced, and the narration by Shane East and Saskia Maarleveld was perfection. It was also a lot steamier than I anticipated, which I’ll never complain about.

While I was hoping for a deeper connection between Clark and Riley, overall, this was a fun, steamy rom-com with enemies-to-lovers vibes and paranormal elements. Thank you so much to Berkley Romance for my advanced copy and to PRH Audio for my complimentary audiobook. Grab your copy on 11/14!

Rosie Danan literally never fails at the enemies to lovers trope. I am a huge fan of the Roomate and I knew I would just love this book. I also appreciate that Danans book. This one included always has such. Good lot, the perfect balance of spice and story.

How I loved this! Riley and Clark meet in a bar and have an instant connection until they meet the next day and he finds out she’s a curse breaker. They have such amazing banter as they try to best the other. I alternated between the audiobook and ebook and loved the narration! I’ve been a big Rosie Dana fan for awhile and this was different than her normal books, but it was just a delightful read!

If you enjoy paranormal enemies-to-lovers romances with lots of spice, give this one a try. Riley is an American curse-breaker who travels to Scotland to break the curse on a Scottish castle and quickly gets off on the wrong foot with archeologist Clark, who does not believe in curses. Of course, to break the curse, the two must learn to work together -- and fall in love along the way.

The fun paranormal seasoned romance I didn't realize I was in the mood for. This one is all about enemies to lovers, but in a way that makes you feel good about both characters instead of questioning their life choices. Definitely more on the rivals to lovers side of things, where everyone has good goals but different methods of achieving them. Easy to root for both Riley and Clark the whole way through.

3.75 stars!!

This book was fun! It’s an enemies/rivals to lovers with forced proximity thrown in as well! This is the first romance I’ve read between a curse breaker and an archaeologist (who doesn’t believe in curses - hence the enemies/rivals) and I really loved the mystical/paranormal aspects! There was also really good banter and the Scottish castle setting was intriguing! One thing I didn’t love is that they really seem to “hate” each other (while fighting their attraction to each other) during parts of the book, and I wish we got to see more of the buildup to them being in a relationship. This made the book feel a little long/dragged out at times. Nonetheless Riley and Clark are hot!!

Sparks fly when Riley, a curse breaker, and Clark, a disgraced archeologist, get into a passionate enemies-with-benefits type of relationship that complicates their quest to lift the curse haunting a Scottish castle. I really wanted to love this book, but it wasn’t for me. While the premise was interesting, I couldn’t connect with the main characters. I found both main characters, Riley and Clark, to be irritating and I couldn’t buy into the chemistry between them. The enemies-to-benefits trope didn’t quite work with the curse element for me. Typically, the narrator’s perspective doesn’t bother me, but the third-person narrative with dual perspectives didn’t work here because I couldn’t get a strong sense of how each main character felt. It would have been more powerful with a first-person narration from both perspectives. However, I did find the main characters’ jobs and career trajectories interesting. There were some fun steamy scenes in here as well, but Riley and Clark aren’t a right fit for each other. Overall, I rated this two stars because I mostly skimmed to the end, but other readers may enjoy this

This was the perfect last read for October! I loved the chemistry and back and forth between both characters. I alternated between the audiobook and the e-book and I highly recommend the audiobook especially if you love an MMC with an accent. There was a delightful balance of spice and plot, I thought the premise was unique, and I really enjoyed the whole backstory with the curse. Read if you love dual POV, rivals to lovers, spicy workplace romance, forced proximity. 4.5⭐️

Welcome Back, Rosie Danan! Your romance reader dans have missed you.

Having been obsessed with The Roommate and The Intimacy Experiment, my heart had palpations when I heard about this new book. Plus the curse breaker witchy vibes? Added bonus.

I love the way Dana writes her characters’ personalities so differently, especially in Do Your Worst. Clark authentically reads proper Englishman, with the desire to have every i dotted and t crossed. Riley, meanwhile, presents herself as a fiery and headstrong woman who takes the world by the horns and makes it pay her for the gifts she’s been given. I also think that Danan does a marvelous job of interweaving insecurities throughout the novel with delicacy that balances the spicy, sexy pairing between the on the page enemies to lovers.

This book is quite different from her previous stories in that the animosity between Riley and Clark is palpable, and their need to succeed the other adds a complexity to that ever growing attraction between the two. I enjoyed reading this and they’re happily ever after. I would have slightly enjoyed a more robust culmination of the broken curse at the end of the novel, but even as it was I was enthralled to the very last page. Thank you Berkley and Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was far too delighted by the concept of this story to pass it up. A cursebreaker and a disgraced archeologist are forced to work together at a supposedly cursed castle in Scotland. She is trying to legitimize her new business in curse breaking while he is trying to recover from an embarrassing research blunder that he didn’t even commit. Who can resist enemies to lovers?
Do Your Worst was delightfully fun and didn’t lack for spice or characterization. The plot was even pretty solid! This one did start out in an unexpected way - the two characters meet at a local pub before they realize one another’s roles and immediately hit it off. Once Clark, our grumpy archeologist realizes Riley is the cursebreaker sent to work at the castle he tries to get her FIRED! Rude! Their enmity begins there and it’s perhaps even more bitter because they hit it off so well at first. As one expects, they keep getting forced together and those feels are undeniable and unavoidable.
There are some surprisingly poignant themes throughout the book as well - feeling legitimate, dealing with familial expectations and legacy, and dealing with professional embarrassment - all of which round out the story quite well. I like spice in my romance, but I like a solid plot and characterization (and good dialogue) even more. I also really like the back and forth between Riley and Clark. She kept picking at him to antagonize while he kept trying to trick her to disprove her curse breaking ability. It certainly kept things lively. Then the actual curse itself was quite good - it got into the vagaries of fae promises and solving a centuries old mystery.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Do Your Worst and had a great time with it. I like the archeology bits, though admittedly they were few, and the general mood of the setting. I would definitely pick up another book by Rosie Danan in the future!

I was really really excited to read this newest book by Rosie Danan. Scottish Highlands? Check! Enemies to lovers? Check! A cursed castle? Check! This book has all the elements of a great story in it, and I genuinely enjoyed a lot of it...but a lot of it fell really flat for me as well. To be honest about it, I DID for some reason think the hero was going to be a werewolf before I started reading, and when he decidedly was NOT, I was really disappointed, but that's on me for not actually fully knowing what this book was gonna be about. I also just really prefer my rom-coms to be first person. especially if they are dual POV. I wasn't really feeling the chemistry between the MMC and FMC, but the spice scenes and banter were pretty good.

Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan is a fun, steamy, silly romance perfect for the Halloween season. Plus, that cover!

I think this book is a great choice for those looking for a goofy little lighthearted rom com with a hefty dose of steam. The characters' personalities felt specific and fleshed out enough to make their interactions interesting and engaging.

However, I felt that the plot and relationship moved too quickly for a self-described "enemies to lovers" story, which lends itself much better to a slow burn. I also felt that the characters were a little on the juvenile side (the bluetooth speaker battle strikes me as especially immature, and very clunky writing as well. I would consider an edit there) and the spice level was very much on the high side, in both frequency and detail. Both of these things are a con for me, but are obviously pros for many others.

OK so. We liked a lot about this book, but were also frustrated by a lot of it.

The good:

Curse breaker + archaeologist pairing was very fun
Sexual compatibility was through the roof
Their bonding over similar (but different) family trauma

That said, we're both skeptics when it comes to the supernatural, so reading a book where one of the main ways the hero shows his love and support for the heroine is defending her curse breaking abilities was a little tough. But look, it's fiction, we can accept that /in this world/ curse breaking is a thing. (We can read about haunted houses and stuff, that's fine, it's fine.) But - and here's the hard part - Riley is supposed to be /good/ at curse breaking, right? So why (whyyyyyyy!?) did she have to be so stupid about it?

We've talked before about how we don't read mysteries with the expectation of figuring out whodunnit - we like being in the dark and maybe having a guess at the end. In this one, the answer to breaking the curse is so obvious that Riley's inability to get it was frustrating to the max. It also made her seem really dumb, meaning that when Clark defends her choice of career, it made HIM seem dumb.

Do we think this is a fun book? Sure! And we think in general, readers will like this one. But feeling frustrated with our characters is not usually the way to make us fall in love with their love story. 3.5 stars rounded to 4.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

Rosie writes steam and heart and a good page turning story like a champ. I LOVED her first two books and have been itching to read this third installment from her. It was truly a gem to read days before Halloween. When a curse breaker and an archeologist meet to work on the same project, sparks and arguments fly. They are staunchly opposed to each other but also really want to kiss. Its the best form of enemies to lovers. I love the castle and the community. I loved the curse and them together trying to solve it. And how they do is almost perfection.

This was a fun and sexy rivals/enemies with benefits to lovers romance. It started off on the slower side for me as I got acquainted with the characters and setting, but once things got going, I was definitely invested.

Things to look forward to:
- tropes like: forced proximity, workplace romance, opposites attract, rivals/enemies to lovers, stern brunch daddy, "watch me", etc
- fun banter and scorching hot chemistry. I almost spontaneously combusted from the build up! Things do start off superficially between these two, but I liked that as the story progressed, they actually got to know and grew to respect one another.
- A super stern brunch daddy *bites fist* Rosie Danan reeaaaalllly brought the heat with this starchy buttoned up hero.
- mystery and a 300 year old curse
- no third act breakup!

I enjoyed the mystery and history surrounding the curse and even though it was pretty clear which way things were headed, it didn't diminish my enjoyment. The epilogue was very cute and the HFN was perfect for these two.

I both read the ebook and listened to the audiobook of Do Your Worst and the narration by Shane East and Saskia Maarleveld was fantastic! Shane East was perfectly cast as Clark and he cranked the sexy times up by a million. This was a really enjoyable listen!

Audiobook Review
Overall 4 stars
Performance 5 stars
Story 3.5-4 stars

CW: complicated family relationships, parental abandonment (past), financial instability, family/work related scandal and fall out

*I voluntarily read and listened to an advance review copy of this book*

Really enjoyed Rosie Danan's latest! It is atmospheric, intelligent, and hot in all the right measures. The old, possibly haunted, Scottish castle is a great setting where Danan can play with some tropes and also explore more serious aspects of history. The townspeople that round out the cast are well drawn and slightly quirky, but never cross the line into wacky or cloying. And the enemies/rivals to lovers storyline is pitch perfect, including a few winks to the reader. I'd recommend this to just about any contemporary romance reader who's looking for a vibe-y fall or winter read.

I literally just finished this book! I binge-read it almost straight through and it was fabulous!

It was very atmospheric, which was great for this “spooky” season for the scaredy cats like me who can’t stomach the horror genre. I absolutely loved both MC. Both personalities were super sharp & witty, which is to say that Rosie’s writing was super sharp & witty. This was an easy, well-written romance with the perfect amount of spice. I LOL’d in one scene regarding a cat & a banana, funny & spot on for a cat!

I highly recommend grabbing this one when it released, or pre-ordering now – it is the perfect fall read.

“Sparks fly when an occult expert & a disgraced archeologist become enemies-with-benefits in this steamy romance.

Riley Rhodes finally has the chance to turn her family’s knack for the supernatural into a legitimate business when she’s hired to break the curse on an infamous Scottish castle. Used to working alone in her alienating occupation, she's pleasantly surprised to meet a handsome stranger upon arrival—until he tries to get her fired.

Fresh off a professional scandal, Clark Edgeware can’t allow a self-proclaimed “curse breaker” to threaten his last chance for redemption. After he fails to get Riley kicked off his survey site, he vows to avoid her. Unfortunately for him, she vows to get even.

Riley expects the curse to do her dirty work by driving Clark away, but instead, they keep finding themselves in close proximity. Too close. Turns out, the only thing they do better than fight is fool around. If they’re not careful, by the end of all this, more than the castle will end up in ruins.”

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Oh how I wanted to love this one because Rosie Danan wrote two of my favorite romcoms, so I was SO excited for her newest book.

It ended up falling flat for me. I enjoyed the concept and the jobs that Riley and Clark had very super unique and cool, which made the plot interesting especially because of a haunted castle?! Sign me up.

I enjoyed the witty banter between the two especially because it truly felt that they were enemies. It felt as though the characters didn't have a lot of depth so I couldn't connect with either of then.

I do think the spicy parts were 5 stars as the author always knows how to write those scenes. 🔥

I would still highly recommend this book, it just wasn't my favorite.