Enemies to Lovers by Laura Jane Williams was one of my favorite reads this summer and I am so grateful for this ARC!

Flo and Jamie had a maybe-something over the holidays that ended abruptly. Since Jamie is her brother's best friend, he's essentially an adopted member of the family so when he shows up at the family summer vacation in Greece, Flo is not happy! What follows is one of the best representations of my favorite tropes - brothers best friend, forbidden romance, and enemies (sorta) to lovers. Adding in the amazing supporting characters with the backdrop of Greece and it was perfection!

Behind all the happy-go-lucky moments and the yummy angst, the story did have some deep moments and Laura Jane Williams handled them so thoughtfully. I truly enjoyed this book so much!

Thank you to Netgalley, author Laura Jane Williams and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was not just about a relationship between Flo and Jamie but also their individual relationships with Flo's family. Jamie happens to be the best friend of Flo's older brother Laurie and we all know how older brothers feel about their friends having interest in their sister. The story takes place during Flo's family vacation to Greece. I really enjoyed the family feels in this book. I too have adult children who are willing to spend vacation time with me and my husband and it's truly a blessing. I'll definitely look for more of this author's work.

Enemies to Lovers by Laura Jane Williams was such a well written romance story.
The plot and the characters were wonderfully entertaining and they were such fun to be with.
A great plot, witty characters, banter, a genuine love story. I can’t find a single thing I didn’t enjoy.

Thank You NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This one was just quite ridiculous, a break up note slipped under the door? Can you imagine that in your 30s. It’s a weird forbidden love that just makes no sense.

Thank you to @netgalley for the advance copy.

Flo is in Greece for a family vacation. She is surprised to see her brother’s best friend, Jamie, in attendance. Flo and Jamie had a mini-moment the prior Christmas and Flo is mad to see him.
She decides to try “exposure therapy” to try and get to know him better.
This vacation has a lot of fun moments, but getting to the heart of Flo and Jamie was a good part of the book and I was here for it!
I enjoyed it! (Also want to go to Greece!)

I loved every moment of ENEMIES TO LOVERS by Laura Jane Williams because I got to spend time with a fantastically well-written story with the twists and turns of a family vacation to a beautiful place, bringing all their unfinished business, unacknowledged desires and dreams, and forced proximity to keep the tensions high and the pitch perfect dialogue flowing. While I started the book with a challenge in my eye, because I love the enemies to lovers trope and few writers really do it justice, but the challenge quickly melted into total immersion in a terrific story. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

Many thanks to Penguin Group - Putnam for the digital review copy of this title, which comes out this Tuesday, August 13th.

Enemies to Lovers finds Flo relaxing on a family vacation, only to realize family friend and almost-fling Jamie is crashing the party. After what happened the last time she saw him, Flo decides to try and ignore him. But of course, that's harder than it seems, and neither of them can quite resist the pull between them, even when they think maybe they should.

What I Liked About Enemies to Lovers

The banter and the chemistry in Enemies to Lovers is spot on! I absolutely loved Flo's narration and the writing style, as well as the back-and-forth between her and love interest Jamie.

The family dynamics are fun to watch play out as well, showing you just how much love there is between them even when things are complicated.

I also really liked the mental health representation that's present here, as Flo navigates trying to find a new normal after what she calls a breakdown a few years ago. She's got her coping strategies in place and we can see her trying to show her family - and herself - that she's in a better place now.

What I Didn't Like About Enemies to Lovers

Honestly, this was a five-star read for me! I absolutely fell in love from page one and just couldn't wait to sit down and read.

My one complaint is probably the title, if I had to pick a negative. It's a cute tongue-in-cheek reference to the trope, but it doesn't quite fit the actual, more complicated situation that plays out between our main characters.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Enemies to Lovers was a delightful read that reminds me why I love a good rom-com so much. The vacation vibes, the tension, the banter... it's all there. Very much recommend this one to readers who love a good swoony love story that'll give them a few laughs along the way.

This was such a fun book! I loved the Beautiful setting and the back and forth between Flo and Jamie. I know we weren’t meant to like Laurie but I hated that he got in between Flo and Jamie at Christmas m

The concept of the book was interesting but I did trudge through a lot of the book. It grabbed me the more I got into it.

Florence is on vacation with her family when her brother's best friend(who she had an almost tryst with) shows up. I really liked Florence a lot but I had a hard time rooting for Jamie. He was acting completely off and you kind of didn't want them together. I think a dual POV would have been helpful with that.

What I didn't like was I am not a fan of a sibling putting their foot down to their friend. People are going to feel what they feel for each other. The twist at the end I sort of saw coming but I got so pissed. I would not have been as easygoing as the MCs were.

It is semi spicy and a lot of funny lines. Florence is a wonderful MC who has come back from a lot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the e-ARC of this book. This review is my own opinion.

I think Laura's books have always been a hit or miss for me. And it's very rare that I can actually connect with the romance or even the main couple.

Flo & Jamie have this enemies situation going on because they think that the other doesn't a relationship. And in the end, when the reason for this miscommunication is revealed, it feels petty & frustrating at the same time.

I did enjoy the family vacation setup but it's not my favorite by Laura.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When Flo showed up in Greece for her family vacation, the last person she expected to see was Jamie. The man who she hit it off with last Christmas and the same man who abruptly broke things off with her through a note that he slipped under her door literal days later. A FREAKING NOTE. (!!!) To make matters worse, Jamie was kind of like an inaugural brother. He was Flo’s brother’s best friend and her parents basically took him in when his own parents passed away tragically.

Flo had her own struggles too. After a mental breakdown, her whole family looked at her as a fragile little flower and treated her so differently. As someone with anxiety, this hurt my heart. It was sad to see how her family treated her - especially her brother Laurie. His character truly made me so angry. I found it to be so immature that as a grown man, he couldn’t accept that his best friend might be in love with his sister. You’re 30+ years old, get over it.

This book makes for such a fun summer read and will have you feeling like you’re beachside in Greece! Thank you to @netgalley & the publisher for gifting me this copy!

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to review this ARC. All opinions are my own.

The title sounded fun, but wrong, no enemies at all. No tension. Missed the banter. Really kind of boring energy. Not much romance either. No chemistry between the two. Some of the scenes could be a little more detailed and drawn out.
Maybe a DOV would have saved the story??? Sorry I just didn’t enjoy it.

I’m so grateful to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for allowing me early access to Enemies to Lovers in exchange for my honest review. Thank you!!

I am generously giving Enemies to lovers 3 stars. I love a good story with character growth and the author does an amazing job evolving both main characters. The author did a really great job with imagery and really placing the reader in the story. I have to admit, I was expecting a higher spice level after reading other reviews, but it was quite vanilla at best. The spice was written as if the two main characters were inexperienced virgins and that didn’t appeal to me. There was so much anticipation up the “the moment” and for me, it fell flat over and over.

If I am being completely honest, I almost DNF this book so many times because I was bored. The plot holes.. there were so many. The author deterred from the main plot several times and never fully pulled it back together and my brain was reeling confused 80% of the time.

I love a good enemies to lovers trope, but to me, this wasn’t it and it was obvious the author was trying too hard to achieve it. It was more found family than enemies to lovers and there’s nothing wrong with that. The found family aspect of this novel was endearing.

Enemies to Lovers is a rom-com about a woman, Flo (Florence) on vacation with her family. Unbeknownst to her, Jamie (her brother’s best friend) shows up to this vacation. Flo and Jamie don’t get along because last Christmas there was a vibe but evidentially Jamie slipped a note under her door saying it wasn’t a good idea and he was sorry to lead her on.. so Flo was holding a serious grudge over not getting laid (or so it seemed). The story is navigating the vacation from
Florence’s POV as she tries to find out what really happened last Christmas.

There were serious situations in this novel, such as, mental heath issues and death of parents. I would have appreciated more of a back story to these issues the main characters faced; however it was simply touched on. If the author plans to revisit serious issues such as these, maybe elaborate more or simply leave them out of their next book.

Enemies to Lovers is a cute, quick summer romance read to finish out summer with. I absolutely loved the setting in Greece! However, I didn't really pick up on the "enemies" plot line. The book finished strong in the last 80%.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. Enemies to Lovers hits shelves on August 13, 2024.

The cover doesn’t really do this book justice. Was it perfect? No. Sure there were problems. But it was a decent beach read. The Greenbergs were a fun family to read about. The family dynamic worked well. It was odd that Alex had no partner at all. The main characters did seem very immature for their ages, which was annoying at times. The spicy scenes had no mention of protection or thinking ahead. Kind of strange for the main character to admit she’s never given a blow job but is suddenly inspired to do so. Guess Jamie had some BDE.

𝖠𝖱𝖢 𝖱౿𝗏ꪱᜒ౿⍵ ✏️
𝖤𐓣౿ოꪱᜒ౿ડ 𝗍𝗈 𝖫𝗈𝗏౿𝗋ડ
𝖡ɣ: 𝖫ɑυ𝗋ɑ 𝖩ɑ𐓣౿ Ԝꪱᜒᥣᥣꪱᜒɑოડ
𝖯υᑲᥣꪱᜒડ𝗁 𝖣ɑ𝗍౿: 𝖠υ𝗀υડ𝗍 13, 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

After a mental breakdown, Flo is on a much needed holiday with her family. While there was an email going with her parents, two brothers, and sister in law, Flo was unaware of said email and could not see the other person who was included on this chain. Her brother’s best friend, Jamie. The same Jamie who she had a fling with at Christmas, but was rejected afterwards with a letter and the two haven’t seen each other since. What was supposed to be a relaxing holiday in Greece, just turned into a complicated situation where Flo has to fight her anger and be civil or just make nice and give in.

Laura Jane Williams wrote such an easy, binge worthy story that had you feeling hooked from chapter 1. While having a mental health and loss of parents triggers in this book, she handled those matters with care. I loved the chemistry between Flo and Jamie and their banter. Her whole family was great. They had such a wonderful dynamic and were so supportive of each other. This book had everything you want from a summer romance book and I really enjoyed it.

If you are looking for a quick and light vacation read, then check out Enemies To Lovers! 🇬🇷💙

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 @netgalley , @putnambooks , @laurajaneauthor 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘

So I was having a tough day when it came to my chronic illness life and I am so thankful to have had such great entertainment for the day.
I was able to read this book in the day and am so happy that I did not have to stop at any point.
This book was fantastic, I loved it sooo much!!!!!

The characters were amazing, and the family dynamics were good, a bit crazy but good and entertaining and the 2 main characters (with the love interest, or past feelings for each other) were great and I definitely loved them both. Flo and Jamie.
There was a lot going on in this book and kept my interest but also there were so many emotions, not just from the characters but when you feel as well. At one moment you are happy and laughing with the characters and then you are sitting at family dinner and so many feelings hit you hard and you feel like crying. It's crazy but in a good way.
There was some hate but it was hard for both characters to really let that be them, but there was a lot of awkwardness and tension and bickering which kinda turned into playful flirting.
I have not read a book by this author before and now I def need to go see what else they have written bc this book was that good.
Well written and had great character development also.
So this book was based on a family vacation which they call a 'Holiday' and that was just fun for it to be a summer read for me. I liked how it gave those great summer vibes.
This is def a good read, so do yourself a favour and grab this book and read it this summer. That's my advice anyway :)

What a fun book, but also a meaningful book, this book covers anxiety in a way that I love cause it’s different for every character, and the reader goes on the same journey as the FMC, Flo, as she learns she isn’t the only one struggling in her family. Flo’s family vacation is so much fun, with a heavy food focus I wanted to go to Greece and immediately get some of that food, but man they way they competed, had so much fun, listened to each other, it was a perfect imperfect family that was so easy to love.

Jamie is Flo’s brother’s best friend who she now avoids at all costs after he wrote her a letter saying he doesn’t have feelings for her, but she’s stuck with him, because her family took him in as one of their own. They have miscommunication down, and honestly I love it, because it’s so hard to communicate truthfully with someone who hurt you, especially when you already have insecurities and anxiety over that to begin with, but man their tension flies off the page. They are PINING for each other the entire book, and I ate it up. When they finally start to communicate and get together, there is still so much to cover, and I loved how it all came out to play.

I love Flo and Jamie, but this family takes the show in this book, it’s one of my favorite families but also found family for Jamie that I won’t forget!

Thank you Putnam for the review copy. Unfortunately this is a read that did not work for me, I found a lot of the plot hard to connect with and didn't like a lot of the behaviors and underlying motives for the male main character. I dislike books that explore, in adults, promises to not date a friend/sibling (adults should have their own agency in exploring consensual relationships) and found a lot of the early rejection behaviors to be immature for people established in adulthood. I am often willing to overlook some less than believable points in a romcom for the sake of fun escapism but this read felt a little less escape, a little too plodding for me.

Flo's family is going on a two-week holiday in Greece—a tripped primed for relaxation and an escape from the world's problems. That's until her brother's best friend, Jamie, shows up. Flo and Jamie had recently experienced an almost-situationship-maybe-love thing over Christmas, but after he'd stood her up, Flo's grudge has remained in place. During the trip, those weird feelings and thick tension begin to enchant them once again, and they're forced to come to terms with what that means and if they can give what happened last Christmas another shot.

There was so much of this book I loved. Flo had recently suffered a nervous breakdown and was continuing to recover. There were so many beautiful insights to anxiety and what it means to remind yourself you're in control. I've felt similarly to Flo, where I look at my mom as superwoman but see myself as someone who doesn't live up to those expectations. There was a sweet moment where one of the characters reminds Flo that while her mom is awesome, she is, too, in her own way. That really spoke to and comforted me.

I also enjoyed the tension between Flo and Jamie. I hate to admit I'm a sucker for a jealousy trope, but it's a vice I can't seem to shake. Every scene where Adonis and Jamie are in the same room had me on the edge of my seat. I loved to watch as that affected how Jamie reacts around Flo and the dynamic of Flo's family.

Towards the end, the novel lost me. I'd been championing this book so hard, but Jamie's complete 180 practically gave me whiplash. I struggled to fully see his side and how it would lead him to react so impulsively. In a novel where Flo had been trying to accept herself, I also didn't understand why all of a sudden every character made it seem like it was her fault. It seemed to contradict the entire plot.

I adored the majority of this book because the way it represented mental health made me feel seen. I enjoyed the slow burn aspect up until the end where everything seemed to explode. Either way, it felt like a great beach read, and I'm so grateful for receiving this e-galley from NetGalley and Penguin Random House.