Pen pals/rivals/lovers???? I THINK YESSSSS! Luca and Naomi are too cute and this is a perfect story for anyone who really likes the enemies-to-lovers trope.

WOW!

So thankful to be chosen as an ARC for Hate Mail!

The plot of this book is so well thought out!

We first meet Naomi Light from Oklahoma and Luca Pichler from California when they’re in the 5th grade and are made write letters to one another through their schools pen pal program.

Most of the students stop writing to their pen pal after a few weeks/months. But not Luca and Naomi who write to one another for almost 2 decades.

If they’re writing to one another, the letters must be meaningful, kind and they must be really close friends, right?

Wrong.

All they get from one another is HATE MAIL ;)

———

Read Time ⏱️ 3.5 hours

“Dear Naomi, I hope you get struck by lightning and die in the middle of your next weather report. Wouldn’t that be ironic? -L”

omg this was just what I needed. As soon as I started it, I did not want to put it down. I was so happy I didn't have plans today so I could just binge it. I did find it to be a little bit predictable but it didn't take away from how much I enjoyed it. I highly recommend this book especially if you are in a book slump. Thank you to net galley and one more chapter for this ARC!! 4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for providing a DRC of this title for review.

Unfortunately, I didn't personally connect with the book's sense of humor or Naomi or Luca, but I could definitely see folks loving this one if they're looking for a banter-forward contemporary romcom where the characters aren't afraid to lean into the enemies part of enemies to lovers. 2.5/5.

Great storyline! It was a fun idea and a quick read. I loved the plot and the twist but the dialogue fell a little flat for me.

This book is worth every star and more. It’s been on my radar for a while and as soon as I saw this on NetGalley I RAN!

Hate Mail is raw, emotional, heartwarming and incredibly gratifying. It’s well written, smooth and the chemistry between Naomi and Luca is so fun from page one. Their letters to each other had me giggling, the banter was so fun and reading the story as it unfolds was so worth the wait.

I only wish I could read it again for the first time. I’ll definitely be buying a physical copy when this book comes out and closer to the time I will be updating this with a full review. If you are holding out for Hate Mail then please know, Donna Marchetti does not disappoint. I am so excited for what this author may bring us in the future.

Also, the cover itself deserves all the stars.

When I read the synopsis for Hate Mail I knew it was something I was going to enjoy, but I have to admit I found it quite underwhelming. The story was fun but I didn’t feel invested in the characters and I found Naomi’s friend really irritating. I guessed the twist pretty early on in the novel too which didn’t really add to my overall reading experience. Overall though, this was an easy, light read.

✰ 2 ✰

((thank you to NetGalley for providing the arc!))

I was really excited for this book. The cute cover and even cuter premise drew me in and it seemed really promising. In the first ~10%, I thought it was funny and very much read like a romantic comedy. I enjoyed reading the letters exchanged between Naomi and Luca. Unfortunately, as the story continued, it fell a bit flat for me.

The characters didn't seem to have much depth or personalities, beyond Luca occasionally showing some with his POV chapters. The dialogue and character of Anne was kind of odd and felt very stereotypically like an oddball sidekick. In addition, the plot seemed to really drag on and become repetitive with the trips that Naomi and Anne took, but it was somehow entirely predictable too. I saw the ending coming from a mile away, which made the underwhelming reveal of it all even more underwhelming.

Overall, not my cup of tea - but readers looking for a predictable romance might enjoy it.

I have such mixed feeling about this book. On one hand I really enjoyed the chemistry between the main characters, but on the other hand I really struggled with some of the letters and how awful they were. I feel like it leads into the stereotype of if he’s mean to you I like you. I also got stalker vibes in the book and there were just a couple of cringy parts that ruined the overall story. I’m still giving this 3 stars because it was a quick read and had some fun parts and the couple did work in a lot of ways. Thanks to NetGalley and one more chapter for the ARC.

3.5 stars, rounded up, because I liked the ending. It took me a bit to get into the story because I found the banter/writing to be immature (which I realize was the point when the were kids), but even in the characters’ adult voices. I also wasn’t surprised by the various “twists” - I thought they were fairly obvious. I would recommend this book to the YA crowd, probably not to more seasoned readers. Overall, cute and enjoyable and I really liked the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

This was so cute! I love a little pen pal romance story. The letters between Luca and Naomi, especially when they were younger, were so funny. I loved the idea of them continuing to send letters even when things like Facebook and instant messaging took over, especially since they were still pretending to hate each other.

I did guess the twist quite early on, but honestly, it didn't take anything away from the story. If anything, it made it a little funnier knowing while the main character didn't.

First book of Donna Marchetti's I've read but I'd definitely pick up any of her other books. It was sweet, funny, light and enjoyable.

So cute, romantic, hilarious, and engrossing! I absolutely loved Luca and Naomi! The banter was so funny, the story line was engaging, and their love story was swoon worthy. Definitely a must read!!

This was entirely too cute! I love these romcom styled novels. The banter was great, the romance was swoony and the main characters were super relatable!

okay but this is the absolutely most wonderful cutest funniest utter noughties book i’ve ever read and i’ve never been more in love. i giggled, i squealed, i kicked my feet, i gasped, i predicted it from the start because who wouldn’t but it was still just so utterly perfect. i loved everything about hate mail and i am preordering a copy and telling everyone i know about it.

top moments:
annette & facey moments at work
the kittens
caterpillar kid
aquarium scene
the spicy scenes
the hangnail

HOWEVER i wish we actually met the siblings and knew more about the reaction to do with the moms thing

but that didn’t take anything away and gawaahhh i just love it so much

3.5/5 ⭐️
This was a fine read. It did what it needed to as a junk food-esq romance, but it wasn’t great. The best parts to me were the letters. I literally laughed out loud while reading them. However everything else, meh. The writing was kind of choppy. It felt like getting in a car with a first time driver and they go back and forth between hitting the gas and breaks kind of violently. Then the dynamics between the characters was strange. My first thought when we initially met Jake was, um I’m getting creeper vibes, is he going to turn out to be a stalker. And even after I guessed what Jake was going to be, it didn’t really diminish his creepiness. Then the FMC’s supposed best friend did not feel like that at all. I did not get best friend vibes. I was also kind of freaked out by her. Like she was way too involved in this other girls love life and pressuring her to jet around the country to find him. That should’ve been maybe cute, but I don’t know, it came across as creepy. And finally, I think this story had so much potential, but immediately I was not on board when from the very first letter they noticed it did not have a return address but didn’t think to look to see if it had postage which would’ve given them the post office it mailed from. They didn’t even think of it until the 60% point!
Overall, it was fine. I didn’t DNF it. Could it have been better? Definitely. But it was enjoyable enough for me to read the whole thing and read it fast.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

❥ hate mail — donna marchetti
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

˗ˏˋ ♡ ´ˎ˗ genre : romance
˗ˏˋ ♡ ´ˎ˗ pages: 355

synopsis —

naomi and luca have been pen-pals since fifth-grade. well, more like bitter rivals caught in an epic battle of insults and verbal jousting...

but what starts as a hilarious chain of hate filled letters, slowly develops into a friendship spanning coasts and years. that is until one day, years later, when the letters suddenly stop.

its been two years since naomi last heard from luca. two years since the letter that changed everything.

but when a new envelope turns up out of the blue at her desk at the local news station, naomi is determined not to let luca have the final word.

review —

this book literally made a pit in my stomach, filled it up, dug it up again and then filled it up all the way to the top. this book made me laugh, almost cry and kick my feet all at the same time?

i loved the childhood ‘penemies’ to lovers scenario. the way everything tied together. everything was just so so good about this book and i loved it. this was the breather i needed after reading too much fantasy

thank you for the arc <3 here’s my honest review :)

Thank you @@Donnarchetti and @netgalley for this Arc copy of ‘Hate Mail’

Available for preorder now!
Release date; March 14th 2024

★ ★ ★ ★ / 5 stars

I enjoyed this book alot it was fast paced and easy to read, I didn’t expect the twist though!! The banter and jokes were 10/10, I loved the friendship between Anne and Naomi besties who pretend to be bounty hunters stay together. Jake…. Luca…. Joel….. I’m still shocked I really didn’t expect that😅

2.5 stars ⭐

I really wanted to love this because the premise was actually good and I really enjoyed the plot! However, the writing fell completely flat to me. This was a case of a writer telling you and not showing which was so hard to get through. The amount of flat and toneless sentences I had to read to see where Naomi and Luca ended up was insane. Additionally, both characters sounded exactly the same when they were elementary school and when they were full blown adults, which should not happen?? Like Luca talked and thought exactly the same throughout the whole book and if it weren't for the font I would not know what time period he was in of his life.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins UK One More Chapter for an earc in exchange for my honest review!

I laughed and awwed my way through this book. It was so adorably funny. Naomi and Luca's letters were the best thing and I loved how darkly funny and nasty in content they were as they tried to one-up each other in every letter. The letters allow the reader to see things from the perspective of both characters so I enjoyed watching Luca pine for a girl he had never met.
It wasn't a big stretch to figure out Luca's identity although I was expecting crazy Penelope to be the reason for the name change.
Naomi has amazing chemistry with 'Jake' and their dates are amusing.
The side characters are a lot of fun too and I laughed a lot at Anne and Mr Facey.
This was such a funny, romantic read and I enjoyed every moment of Luca and Naomi's journey.

I was so so excited to read this book after it kept popping up on my Goodreads suggested. The idea of pen pals falling is love, yes please.

I was so invested at the beginning of my book. People being snarky via letter and long lost love are a winner for me. But as the story progressed, I just began to lose interest.

We meet Naomi and Luca via letters and flashbacks through the book. However Naomi meets ‘Jake’ who lives in her building. As the story progressed it just became so obvious that he was Luca and I wanted to pull my hair out at how obvious it was. And the fact that the dude never introduced himself was sketchy.

Naomi battles her feelings whilst writing to Luca and flying to where he used to live and being with Jake. The whole thing was so far fetched. Who has spare hundreds of dollars to chase a dead end? Why not just ask him in the letters? I know this is work of fiction, but I just couldn’t get on board and found myself skimming through the last 40% or so.

I had high hopes for this one, but sadly it wasn’t a winner for me.