Arc review
Luca and Naomi
Pen pal to enemy penemy
Secret identity
Neighbors
In fifth grade Luca and Naomi class started a pen pal sending mail (not email) and it start innocent enough for Naomi until she received one from Luca and he was mean it when back to forth Naomi was also mean until highschool where getting less mail and then after highschool on and off when Luca got engage which he didn't propose at all his girlfriend bought a ring with his CC and then started the wedding planning. Luca was having doubt to go along with the wedding until he wrote a letter to Naomi and ask if he should marry which she never response back and everytime he would write he never received anything until his fiancé Penny confronted him about the letters she was hiding the letter Naomi send back with a response. Which ended is relationship.
Naomi got a letter at her job and when she realize it came from Luca and it start her journey to finding out who is Luca so she does to San Diego to Georgia and Dallas. Which she found information but also dead end. While looking for one guy she was dating another and keeping all this. Secret from him. She eventually find out who is Luca.
I really love this book I love there banter it's hilarious. It's a slow burn but very enjoyable.

This is one of those books that I wasn't sure if I'd love or hate and, thankfully, I absolutely loved it.

I figured out the "big twist" quite early on but that in no way took away from my enjoyment of this story. I really like the way the relationships were written between all of the characters and the inclusion of the letters between Luca and Naomi was incredible.

Even the side characters were well formed and wonderfully written and I read this book straight through in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down! I'm looking forward to reading more work by this author!

I cannot reccomend this book enough, you need to read this. it's the story of Naomi and Luca who have been panpals since they were 10. The kind of letters they shared were not the usual letter a ten-year-old would write. As they grow old these letters become easily one of the most important thing in both Naomi and Luca's lives. That is until these letters abruptly stop. It's been two years, when Naomi receives one at work, without the sender's address. Determined not to let Luca have the final word, she decides to embark on a mission to find him, alongside her friend Anne. Will she find him?

First and foremost, I can't believe this is a debut novel. It hooks you up from the very beginning with the letter Luca sends Naomi, and you can't get enough of them. Of Naomi and her friendship with Anne, her pen-friendship with Luca - that you get to read about throughout most of the book - and her budding romance with Jake, a vet who lives on the upstairs apartment from hers.

This book has everything, friends to lovers, dual pov, the slow burn romance, the dark humor these two had from a very young age. I laughed and I cried a bit as well. But the thing that hooked me up the most was this incredible unique plot, that I think I've never read before, it kinda gives You've Got Mail vibes, with all those letters shared.


To sum up, the novel was a lighthearted and fun read. A perfect choice if you are looking for a fun sort of enemies-to-lovers novel.

Thanks to the publisher, HarperCollins and One More Chapter, for providing me with an advanced reading copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.8 ⭐️
What a sweet and heartwarming story 💕

So many things I identify with: childhood penpal, history of being stuck in elevators, carrying everything in one trip, child of divorce, loss, otters 🦦 and of course, sarcasm 🫶🏼

📫 Banter between childhood penpals in letters originated as a means for emotional support and evolved into a sarcastic flirt.

🛩️ After losing touch, Naomi (aka: Gnome) goes on a journey to find her long-lost penemy, unraveling a heart-felt story that lay hidden between the lines of letters. But just as she’s getting closer to re-connecting with him, things start heating up with her neighbor who had been pursuing her.

💕 This was a super cozy quick read for me. There’s not a lot of distraction to get lost in, and I found myself smiling and giggling (in public!) while reading.

“As fun as that sounds, I should probably go home. I promised the kittens I would take them bowling.”

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, and Donna Marchetti for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This couple is so stinking cute but also so normal. The love was built over the years so you saw how they became friends and were able to fully move into the romantic side of things easily. I did like the twist but it could be a little predictable just because of the book cover. The side characters were a great addition and were really fun to read. I love the pen pal aspect. The plot was fun and was written at a good pace. I liked the format of this story and how effortlessly it flowed from flashbacks to the present. The spice was ok. The writing of it was a little awkward tho. I would have loved Luca to be more honest in his letters when he was younger. I also would have loved their letters to be more positive to each other instead of all of them being mean or sarcastic. Overall this was a really fun and enjoyable story

While the main plot was semi predictable I enjoyed this book so much. Cute story and lovable characters. I really liked how it was a dual timeline. It added depth vs just reading the letters by themselves. I like spice so I think it could have been spicer but I still enjoyed it.

3 stars!!

This book was really cute! It was a easy and quick read!
This book is about Luca and Naomi who have been pen pals since fifth grade! Luca and Naomi end up losing contact for two years until luca finds Naomi and starts sending her letters again!
I thought this book was good but I had the problem of guessing the whole plot in the first 10 percent of the book, And since i guessed the whole plot i was a little bored! But other then that this was a cute book!


Thank you Netgally and One more chapter for the eARC for this book for my honest review

I just loved this book. It's very You've Got Mail, but with a bit of a more serious tone. Beware: the letters can be cruel at times, but there are good reasons behind that.

I love stories in which the people fall in love through contact of letters, phones, email, etc... without actually seeing each other. Typically, those types of communications show the main characters reading the BEST of what the sender has to offer personality-wise and oh, they are just so in love.

HATE MAIL was different because the two started off as pen pals for a school project. One didn't want to do the assignment and his disgust for writing to his pen pal carried on for two decades. Or was he really disgusted?

You have to read it to find out! I've been in a huge book slump and this helped get me out of that funk.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter for an e-copy of HATE MAIL to review.

I rate HATE MAIL five out of five stars.

Naomi and Luca have been penpals, or enemies, since the 5th grade and continued to write mean letters to each other up until 2 years ago when Naomi never received a reply to her last letter. Now living in Miami as a meterologist she never expects to here from Luca again. Thrn a mean letter shows up at the station where Naomi works - and a challenge. Can she find Luca after all tie time, or let him have the last word?

I really liked the concept of this. Two people who've never met face to face, yet they've known each other the longest time. They know so little about each other, yet have also been at every major life stage so far. There's a lot of plot to run with, and I think the story overall does a pretty good job at spinning an interesting idea into a tangible plot. I think it helps if you get the jist of what is going on, plot wise, before Naomi does too as it makes the addition of Jake that bit more understandable to a story that's suppose to be about Naomi and Luca. If you have no idea what is very heavily implied from the get go, then I could understand why you might wonder why this random neighbour features so heavily in the plot. I also liked the dynamic between Anne and Naomi, especially in scenes involving their office boss who kept walking in to their inappropriate work conversations and getting flustered.

What I wasn't really a fan of was the weekend trips portion of the plot, scouting out Luca's old addresses. It's made clear very early on that Luca obviously knows more than he's letting on, and gives hints to Naomi that he's open to revealing where he is. There was no need for the cross country road trip that added nothing to the plot, as all the information Naomi and Anne receive could be found within the letters. This point is further provided when the trips are swiftly dropped part way through the story, and overall I found thr writing style to be a bit childish, making the sex scenes feel that little bit cringy - especially at the beginning.

Overall I found this to be an interesting and clever romance that combines the tropes of childhood friends and enemies to lovers to create a slow burn, yearnful filled story but it definitely could have done without the road trip element and, for me personally, better written sex scenes.

Thank you to HarperCollins, One More Chapter, and Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Hate Mail is a hilarious childhood rivals to lovers romcom, Naomi and Luca battle each other out since elementary school via pen pal letters, coming up with the most random and hurtful insults toward each other. This exchange of letters lasts for several years until they are brought to an abrupt end.

And just when our FMC Naomi is about to move one she gets a surprise letter from Lucas, and so begins her quest to find him!

Luca and Naomi have an interesting dynamic and one that I surprisingly enjoyed! Their romance begins way deep in the rocks and blooms as it continues. The letters in their early elementary school days definitely had me cracking up given how silly and flat out MEAN they were.

The book is written in a dual pov featuring the letters and the timelines in which they were written in, I actually was able to enjoy the jump in timelines given how entertaining each timeline and the letter alongside with it was!

If you want a book with the perfect early 2000's vibes alongside some great humor and adorable romance this is definitely the book for you!

This book would have gotten a higher rating but I wasn't entirely a fan of how the conflict was resolved but it was pretty cute!

The pets in this book get a highlight of their own because they were simply adorable! I will always be a fan of pets in books <3333

This book was so addictive to read. With all the letters it made it so fun and I was genuinely looking forward to the next letters.

This book was dual POV, mostly from the female Naomi and at school she had a pen pal Luca where they wrote hate mail to each other but they agreed to keep writing letters without knowing who each other were in real life. Luca did search Naomi on Facebook though before making this agreement so he knew who she was.

Later in life they carried on sending mail even if it became a lot less. And one day Naomi wanted to find Luca where she travelled and searched all over for Luca.

The only reason I didn’t give this 5 stars was because I knew who Luca was from way in the beginning but I do get the feeling it was supposed to be like this and it was more of a miss communication trope.

Overall I really enjoyed it and there was a lot of laugh out loud moments as well as swoon worthy scenes. I highly recommend for a fun lighthearted romance lover.

First of all thank you so much to Netgallery and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
I have loved this book, it is everything I needed to read at the moment. I love books that make me empathize and feel things and this one has certainly done that.
In this story of Enemies to Lovers , friendship and love, and something that I loved is the theme of correspondence, for me it was something very original and real.
This book is a story of hate at first sight that turns into love, with funny dialogues and a romance that will make you fall in love. Donna Marchetti presents us with charismatic and loving characters that win your heart, as well as intense scenes that will not leave you indifferent.
"Hate Mail" is a funny, tender and engaging romantic comedy that will leave a smile on your face and make you want to read more from Donna Marchetti.
If you are looking for a romance that is fun, heart warming and different from others this is the book for you.
I give it 5 stars (and because I can't give it more). ^^

It's such a shame when you think that you're going to love something and it ends up being the opposite. I ended up giving Hate Mail 1.5 stars (rounded up to 2).

I really love the first 25% of this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the letters our two main characters wrote as children and the writing style was engaging and interesting. However, it was all downhill from here.

I had a feeling that Jake was actually Luca after a few chapters but I couldn't be sure so all that happened was that I began to feel frustrated and resentful towards the romance. I signed up to read about Luca and Naomi not Jake and Naomi. Not telling someone your name is deceitful and I was INCREDIBLY uncomfortable when Luca had sex with Naomi while she still didn't know who he really was.

Marchetti played into some really harmful stereotypes about women when she has everyone describing Luca's ex-partner as 'crazy' all the time. In that relationship, Luca was the loser who was using her who couldn't commit. That would drive me a little 'crazy' too.

Anne, Naomi's best friend, was so ridiculously pushy. There were times where Naomi clearly wasn't interested in sharing a secret and Anna just continued to push anyways. I found reading about her annoying and frustrating.

All in all, my problems had to do with story crafting rather than anything structural like pacing or world building, so I would still consider reading Marchetti's future novels but this one simply wasn't for me.

This gorgeous book gives us the Marian Keyes of the 2020s. It’s a ridiculous premise but that’s okay because the author executes it with such humour, sensitivity and even realism. It’s funny, cute and engaging with a plethora of characters to love. Fantastic work and highly recommended.

AMAZING!!! Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

WOW!!! Hate Mail really swept me off my feet!! From the adorable cover and catchy title to its intriguing synopsis, I was immediately drawn into this captivating DEBUT rom-com! The story had me laughing, swooning and even shedding a few tears at times, thanks to the perfect blend of humor, romance and emotion. The combination of frenemies-to-lovers trope, pen-pals dynamic and dual points of view added depth to the narrative, while the slow burn romance kept me hooked to the very end. The passion, dark humor, tender and gut-wrenching moments made for a rollercoaster of emotions, and the chemistry between the main characters was undeniable. Plus, the incorporation of the cutest animals ever and wonderful secondary characters added an extra layer of charm. Honestly, the story was a breath of fresh air with its unique plot and fresh ideas-I absolutely LOVED it!!! 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

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. It's 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 to not let Luca have the final word.

Overall, this is a cute, hilarious and heartwarming romance that I cannot recommend enough! Please read this book!! It deserves ALL the stars!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for the eARC in exchange for an independent and honest review of Hate Mail.

This is my first Donna Marchetti read and I honestly LOVED this book so much. While it was slightly predictable, I did not even care for a minute because the story line was so intriguing to me.

Naomi and Luca have been "penemies" (pen pal enemies) since the fifth grade. Their letters exchanged over the course of years a filled with witty banter, insults, and downright rudeness on the surface. But just under the surface, an actual friendship and longing starts to form. As Naomi and Luca continue through their lives separately, they keep each other close through their intermittent letters sent to each other until suddenly the letters stop out of nowhere.

Fast forward two years to modern day Miami, and Naomi has done her best to move past her non-existent relationship with Luca when she meets her new neighbor, Jake. A relationship quickly forms and Naomi finds herself experiencing feelings she has never felt before. However, she just can't seem to completely get Luca off her mind and out of her heart. In order to fully move forward with Jake and put Luca in the past, Naomi and her best friend, Anna, decide to take a series of trips tracing Luca's letters back in hopes of finding where he is today and why he suddenly stopped writing to Naomi.

Their excursions take them on a series of last minute trips across the US in order to piece together the puzzle Luca has left behind in his letters. All the while, Naomi is falling deeper for Jake, who she is currently not being entirely truthful with in regards to the reason for all of these last minute girls' trips.

As the story unravels, who will Naomi choose? The past or the present? You will want to read and find out for yourself!

Absolutely fell head over heels for this book and I hope you will too!

From the very first page this exceeded my expectations. I ended up really loving this, but especially the banter in their letters — it was dark & hilarious. My thoughts, even my dreams, were consumed with Naomi, FMC, and Luca, MMC, and how this was going to end. It was a little predictable but not enough for me to 100% predict the outcome, ya know? I still thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

The only reason I rated this less than 5 stars was the writing. It felt bland. Not much description and mostly dialogue. I didn’t like Anne, Naomi’s friend, very much… she didn’t seem like a very good friend at times. This story could have contained more passionate and descriptive writing to help us visualize and connect to the characters more deeply. Other than that, it was lovely. Thank you so much, NetGalley!

Thank you to NetGalley, One More Chapter, and Donna Marchetti for the early access copy of Hate Mail.

Donna Marchetti, thank you for writing this hilarious, unputdownable book. Finishing Hate Mail has left me with a longing for more of Luca and Naomi’s story. I cannot wait to add this to my bookshelf when it is released..

Hate Mail tells the story of childhood penpals (or penemy’s) writing hate letters to one another from elementary into adulthood. When the letters stop, addresses change and life moves on. Or does it? The reader’s journey begins as a new letter arrives.

The letters are hilarious. I couldn’t help but laugh at the banter and how creative the hate mail was written. The chemistry was brilliant.

Hate Mail is a great read for those that love penpals, letters in novels, enemies to lovers, witty banter, and a bit of spice.

GAH this was adorable. I am on a kick of books that are based on love interests writing letters to each other, and I completely blame Divine Rivals for this. Although the difference on this one is that our leads are writing mean, sometimes downright cruel, hate mail to each other. Exactly as the title describes, and I am all for it. Love can bloom in the strangest of places, and being mean to each other is one of them, and something I love doing myself. I like to call it *spicy love*. In the case of this book, our two leads begin with their hatred, turned love, of each other in the fifth grade as a penpal exchange of letters, and they continue to write to each as the years go on. I will say that I called the mystery of who Luca was fairly early on, and it was kind of funny watching Naomi figure it out when it seemed kind of coincidentally and ironically obvious.

This was an enjoyable and quick read. The plot was fun and the mystery of finding out who Luca was enjoyable, albeit a bit predictable, but that doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the story. One thing I absolutely hate in any book is intentional miscommunication, and this does occur in this book. I could understand where the characters were coming from, and it helped create tension to the plot, but when things seem to resolve fairly quickly it seems a bit unnecessary to me. Nonetheless, Hate Mail is still an incredibly good read, and I can't wait to be shoving this book into some of my friends' hands when this comes out in print.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars

This book immediately caught my attention and I did have such a fun time with it. If you're looking for a quick, entertaining read, this definitely gets the job done.

Naomi and Luca became pen pals in fifth grade, and they kept sending each other mean-spirited letters through the years, until they didn't. When Naomi suddenly receives a new letter with no return address two years after she last heard from him, she is determined not to let Luca have the last word.

I will admit I feel like I underestimated the "hate" part of the title a little bit, and I was a bit taken aback when the letters started showing up in the story, but the more I got into it, the more I actually enjoyed them and found myself cackling at each new one. While I did find the plot predictable, it didn't take away from my enjoyment.

When it comes to the characters, I did connect with Luca more than I did with Naomi, but they both were overall pleasing enough to follow. I didn't particularly care for any of the side characters, but they all had their good moments every now and then, which was nice.

Even though I did see the conflict coming from miles away, it did make me mad for a second there, but I did really like the way it was allowed time to be sorted out, rather than being rushed just for the sake of bringing the couple together as soon as possible. It definitely was one of those rare occasions where I didn't mind the third act at all, and actually thought it made sense.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, it had a pretty unique concept and a very romcomy feel to it which I very much love in a romance novel. It was very easy to overlook those little things I didn't really like on account of how much fun I had reading this.

A huge thank you to One More Chapter & Netgalley for providing me with the eARC for this book in exchange for my honest review