I was so looking forward to this book but it didn't quite turn out to be what I wanted. I found that the book moved so incredibly fast it felt like I was missing chapters in my copy. I thought it was quite predictable which isn't really a bad thing for a romcom but felt exessive in this one. I also just didn't like the MCs personally but there were some fun moments. I think the concept was great and the dedication to each other was real but overall didn't quite do it for me.

I really enjoyed this romance centered on a long-term pair of pen pals who had been writing snarky letters to each other for years and then lost track of each other. Naomi suddenly receives a letter out of the blue from Luca, her “penemy.” She and her best friend try to track down where Luca now is while also getting to know the attractive and interesting upstairs neighbor in her apartment building.

The twist is not much of a surprise, but I still had a lot of fun reading her nasty, yet witty letters with Luca while enjoying her new romance with the hunky neighbor.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

Hate Mail was an enjoyable read with friendship, dark humour, drama, romance and more. It was an entertaining read with a great way of bringing past and present together through the letters between Luca and Naomi spanning from fifth grade to the present day. There were some good laugh out loud letters, if you enjoy a bit of darker humour then you'll enjoy this book. Great character development and an element of mystery as Naomi sets out to find Luca and deliver the last word. Perfect for readers who enjoy lively banter, romance with some spice too.

The only time hate mail is enjoyed.
When her grade school penpal tracks weather woman Naomi and sends her hate mail to work, she embarks on a wild exploration to track down this long lost friend. Meanwhile, she's learning more about him than their letters ever told her. Told through flashbacks of their letters, stories told through friends, and the current timeline, this book was a great read.

#netgalley
#hatemail

Well, this is something definitely different, Naomi and Luca have been exchanging letters since the 5th grade - except they're more like poison pen letters, full of insults and digs at each other. Two years ago she stopped receiving letters from him and lost all contact with him until they suddenly start again, but with no return address.
The story is centred on Naomi's attempts to track Luca down with the help of her feisty friend Anne (who deserves her own story, but that's another book). In the meantime she meets Jake, who lives in the same apartment block, and starts up a friendship with him which turns into something more. I did enjoy the letters, which although snarky always ended up signed "Love" Naomi or Luca. In summary this is a light romantic comedy that I did enjoy - and ended up finishing at 3am as I wanted to know how it finished.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influence my review of the book.

I loved the premise of the story. Pen pals falling in love? Yes please!
You will need to read Hate Mail to find out what happened between the pen pals.
The story is a mix of romance and funny moments.
A fun romcom to read on a lazy weekend.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

First off thank you to NetGalley and Donna Marchetti for the ARC of this book in exchange for this review.

This is a debut novel, and it's pretty good! There were moments that made me cry and had my swooning as well as some parts I didn't care for.

Naomi and Luca are pen pals from elementary school and from the start their letters to each other have always been mean. Like, real mean. But long after everyone else stops writing to their school pen pals, these two continue on for years and years.

I loved the way that the author gave us flashes back in time in Luca's POV and then the present POV is Naomi, up until the end.

I thought all the twists were really predictable, and I absolutely did not like the side character Anne at all. She was the worst. And she's not supposed to be the worst. In fact there is a little hint there may be a book with her and I can't imagine she'll be more likable by then. There are also some repetitive
moments and sometimes I didn't buy into the characters felt a certain way.

When two people write each other mean letters that span years they have a special kindredness and I loved how these two came together in different ways.

It's was also a little spicy which was definitely appreciated even though it felt very first-book-ish. Like maybe the author didn't want to be too graphic but it's sex, we welcome the graphic. Go big next time!

All in all it's a pretty solid and like I said there were still moments that made me swoon and feel all the wonderful things a romance should. I good debut!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'Hate Mail' by Donna Marchetti.

'Hate Mail' is exactly what I needed right now, fun and quick to read. The whole plot is one out of a movie and I was absolutely hooked. I would definitely read another book by this author in the future.

Sometimes you know from the very first page that you are going to absolutely obsess over a book, and this was one of those. I devoured this book and laughed the entire time. It was hilarious, unique, and swoony. I am enamored with it. I figured out the mystery pretty early on, but I wasn’t 100% sure and I kept second guessing myself because of some of the details being revealed. I don’t want to give ANY details away but go read it! It’s so fun!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the arc!
Pub date: 3/14/24

(4.25☆)

The romantic comedy Hate Mail by Dona Marchetti centers on the relationship between weather reporter Naomi Light and aquatic veterinarian Luca Pichler.

Many of my bookstagram mutuals were raving about this book before I even read my arc, and they had every right to since I was the same way.

The only thing that really put a dampener on the book for me was figuring out the plot early on. Like it wasn't all that interesting once everything was revealed because it was the main point of the book and the relationship.

I really enjoyed the book and fell in love with both Luca and Naomi, despite having spoiled the story for myself. From their intense chemistry to the way they got to know one another was everything!

Overall, this was a really adorable and enjoyable book with an appealing plot and tropes!

*Thank you to NetGalley, One More Chapter, and to the author, Donna Marchetti, for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.*

In a world full of romcoms this one absolutely stands out! Such a unique concept that is executed from start to finish. As someone who speaks in fluent sarcasm it was a delight to relate to some of the letters 🤣
Amazing debut novel 👏🏻👏🏻

I was fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to read this book as an ARC, so a big thanks to NetGalley and the author.

As you can notice by my rating, saying that I adored this book is an understatement.

I’m always a sucker for a pen-pals love story and this one was just so well-executed that it kept me glued to the pages.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I started to really understand that this book wasn’t actually a love triangle only at 50%. I actually felt smart that I had figured out the plot twist before it was revealed since I NEVER guess anything in books, even when it’s pretty obvious.

I liked the decision made by the author to use a dual POV because I feel it was necessary for the plot, especially Luca’s chapters, which always revealed something more: through them, you would always add a piece to the puzzle and understand something more about what was really happening.

This story was cute, funny and had me kicking my feet throughout the entire read. I highly recommend reading this one when it is released!

I really enjoyed this book! From the very first pages I was instantly engaged with the story Noami and Luca the two MC’s have been penpels since the age of ten, these letters that they exchange are not what you would expect from the average ten year old. What starts as letters of hate and verbal sparring grows over a period of time into friendship over the course of their lives and I really loved to see the change as it slowly blossomed into something more.

The dual timeline and PoV was done exceptionally well and it gave full emotional impact at certain times as well as the tender and swooning moments. While there was a few grey areas that touched on a love triangle, emotional cheating and an ounce of miscommunication I did still really enjoy reading this book!

Thank you to One More Chapter HC, NetGalley and the author for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily and these are my honest thoughts.

This was a fun book! I’ve never read anything with a similar premise at all. The characters, Naomi and Luca, have been pen pals since elementary school. The letters were not filled with nice things always, but they were a steady part of each other’s life for years to come.

Naomi is the weather reporter on a local news station when she receives a letter from Luca.. after two years of silence. This letter sends her on a trip of a lifetime to find and meet Luca. She rereads all her letters, travels to other parts of the country to find out where he could be now, and throughout the process grows closer to Luca in ways she could’ve never imagined.

My only complaint is the bestie. I couldn’t get a good read on that character at times and felt like her motive wasn’t always pure. The book ends and there wasn’t any malicious outbursts, so I just didn’t vibe with her always.

Over the course of the book, Naomi gets more letters from Luca helping her piece together where he is and understand his life better. Ultimately their meeting is unexpected and worth the wait!!!

This book sounded good but unfortunately it just wasn't for me. I was expecting a fun frenemies to lovers with a pen pal element to it but that just wasn't what I got.

Naomi and Luca became pen pals in fifth grade and started writing each other hate mail for almost their whole lives since then. I thought that the letters would add a cute element of banter and it would transform towards love as they got older, but I honestly found the letters kind of disturbing. I could almost understand why the letters were the way they were when Naomi and Luca were kids, but they didn't seem to change as the characters grew and developed, so I didn't feel any good connection between the characters.

Also, I was not expecting the love triangle element so that was disappointing, and Naomi's friend Anne was so pushy and annoying that I didn't enjoy any scene that she was in.

This book had so much potential with the premise of tracking down Naomi's pen pal, but unfortunately it just completely let me down.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to review!
This story is part dual timeline, part dual POV between Naomi and Luca, childhood "penemies" (Penpals that are enemies) as they navigate adult life and their connection that has to be something more than just enemies. It is also the story of Naomi and Jake, a spicy romance between neighbors.
This is just sticky cute with a hefty need for belief suspension. I figured out the 'twist' to this meet cute pretty early on, but it didn't take away from the story for me as long as I didn't give it too much deep thinking. Read this when you just need some fun

Who knew hate mails could be so good? This was such an interesting twist on the traditional pen pals, Naomi and Luca have been “friends” since fifth grade, writing letter to each other, but they lose touch. Until a new letter turns up out of the blue two years later.
This was such a cute read and so funny! I did guess the twist but I don’t think that took away anything from the overall story. Absolutely adorable.

TW: death of a parent, mentioning of toxic past relationships to both main and side characters

Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter for an e-ARC copy to review. All thoughts are my own.

This was such a fun little rom-com to read. The first half of this book is fabulous and I was laughing so much, even though some of the things said back and forth between the main characters were a bit out there.

This follows Naomi and Luca, who were paired together in school to be across state pen-pals. What started with good intentions from Naomi quickly grew into a crudely antagonistic battle of who could out-snark the other in their letters, which continued to be sent until two years prior when they lost contact through various circumstances. Naomi, a meteorologist and on-air weathergirl, starts to receive letters from Luca without a return address, and spends the majority of the book trying to find him, whilst also battling some intense feelings for her hot neighbour.

The storyline was super predictable, right from the start, but I enjoyed the journey of Naomi and Luca reconnecting, with the letters of their youth scattered through to give context to the depth of their connection. The romance is well-written and believable. Sure, some things were a little on the nose at times, or far-fetched, but it was mostly light-hearted enough to keep my interest high and my hope for the couple to connect properly.

I also fell for Luca very early on, and would have appreciated getting more from his POV to make the story more balanced. This is loosely a dual POV story, considering we do get from Luca here and there, but it's mostly told from Naomi's POV. I'm unsure if I would have preferred it all in solo POV, or if I feel Luca's POV really did help move the storyline along. I loved the little chapter headers too, they gave a little bit of fun to look forward to finding the reason behind them.

I dropped a star because I found the last portion with all the angst to be rather juvenile, and disrupted the character growth the author had created. I still highly recommend this read, if you're looking for a good laugh, hot romance, and don't mind how predictable the storyline is.

Naomi and Luca became pen-pals in fifth-grade. There is a reason the title of this book is Hate Mail. Their letters are anything but nice. They are cutting and down right mean. But, the continue, year after year. Through a series of events/moves, they do eventually lose touch. I kind of figured out where this book might be going, but it there were still lots of plot points I didn't see coming. I absolutely loved this book and give it a strong 5 stars. Well written and a well thought out plot. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy.

Hate Mail was a fun blend of heartfelt and hilarious, leaving me no choice but to absolutely fly through the read.

Naomi and Luca have been pen pals since fifth grade. Naomi’s initial letter was sweet and open, but when Luca’s letter returned to her full of rude commentary, her dark side comes out too and the pair begin to exchange straight up hate mail. They continue writing to each other for years, as they graduate high school, go through family tragedies, move to new states, and grow up. Naomi hasn’t heard from Luca in two years and has no way to reach him when she gets some hate mail at work and decides it is time to track him down.

The story is full of the letters Naomi and Luca sent to one another, and I busted out laughing at almost every single one. Their insults start with simple jabs and move into sexual territory as they grow into adolescence, and remain firmly snarky as the years go on. I loved seeing the evolution of their relationship through their notes and found it to be such a great addition to the book.

While hilarious, the book also has plenty of heartache, particularly in one of their lives. Those moments showed exactly why this pen pal friendship is so important in their lives in a touching way.

I did find parts of the story to be slightly farfetched, and I was able to predict how things were going to go down in the end, but I still loved every minute of the read and had such a great time with this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK- One More Chapter for the arc. All opinions are my own.