I received an advanced copy for review. This is my honest opinion.

Enemies to Lovers is a perfect summer beach read!

Enemies is a bit of a misnomer to us as readers, but to over thinking Flo, it makes sense. Her brother’s best friend Jamie always held her at arms length, but after a *moment* last Christmas, he pretended nothing happened and ditched her with a note. When Jamie shows up to the family vacation in Greece, Flo is blindsided. (He was invited, the family email chain just goes to her spam folder!) At first she vows to ignore him, then she decides to get to know him better, until they both realize they want more.

I think my favorite aspect of Enemies to Lovers was the large family. Florence and her brothers are funny and endearing, and the way they all interact as a group was a delight. There is a smidge of family tension at the end (quickly resolved), but their family is heartwarming and the relationship doesn’t hinge on drama, like so many do. I also appreciated how Florence treated her mental health and recovery from a breakdown.

Florence and Jamie’s “enemies to lovers” track was cute and fun! Adonis was a jerk and I hope he steps on legos.

I read this one really quickly, and it’s a perfect beach vacation read.

Thanks to Netgalley, GP Putnam’s Sons, and Laura Jane Williams for the ARC!

This book was super cute & a perfect summer romance! Lots of times when a story is touted as enemies to lovers, they’re really not enemies at all. In fact, usually one is secretly obsessed with the other. Well, this wasn’t the case here. These two hated each other so much, I was questioning how they’d ever become lovers!

But all is well…they do, in fact, have an HEA…a really awesome one at that. This book touches on lots of mental health issues…grief, loss, anxiety, depression. There is family drama, camaraderie, love, friendship, and a beautiful setting. It has all the elements of a great summer read! Highly recommend!

This is a fun, light-hearted, well-written summer read. I personally didn’t connect with the author’s style or the characters, but I’m sure others will enjoy it.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Thank you to @netgalley and the publishers for this free advanced reader in exchange for a free and fair review. “Enemies to Lovers” was just what I needed. I felt like I was on a beach vacation in Greece with the Greenberg family. The tension was palpable. I also really strongly identified with the protagonist, a sister among brothers. Super cute, light, and a great summer read!

I had so much fun with this rollercoaster ride of emotions!

I adore a good enemies to lovers, and this was the perfect mix of that AND brother’s best friend. The tension and the angst are just right.

On family vacation, our protagonist finds herself stuck in close proximity to her brother’s best friend, a guy she put herself out there with, but was shut down. She is mortified to spend any time with the infuriating man. He is so aloof, not seeming to be affected by her presence at all. Not like she is by his…

She loathes the man, but maybe exposure therapy will make her realize she doesn’t really have feelings for him after all. Or maybe she will discover he isn’t as bad as she thinks… OOF! It was just SO good!!

Enemies to Lovers by Laura Jane Williams

Thank you @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for this early copy.

Flo is on vacation with her family trying to get back to life! She had a breakdown and now everyone treats her as if she will have another. Her quirky family will have you laughing and crying. Flo did not however get the family email that said her brothers bestie Jamie was coming. Flo had a crush on him and felt like before "The Incident " he was hitting on her. She then found a note under her door saying sorry to have led you on. So now she wants nothing to do with his hotness. Now trapped in a house with her family and Jamie in Greece, she has to figure out a way not to kill him. Will she be able to be nice to him?

This comes out tomorrow!

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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.