Enemies to Lovers is a great read! Flo is on a family holiday with her parents, two brothers and sister-in-law. One of her brother's best friends joins them to her surprise. It's the friend she almost had a fling with at Christmas, but something went awry and she was left with a bitter taste in her mouth. Now, she must fight her anger to be civil or just give in and make nice.

What I loved about this story was the come back from a mental health issue that Flo experiences. It is a testament that we can be okay and love who we are with the help and support of those around us. Another aspect of this story that I loved is that there is no back stabbing between the two main characters that is normally seen in enemies to lovers type of novels. They have great chemistry and understandable squabbles.

You will fall in love with Flo and her family. They are the type of family that has fun and supports and loves each other even when the going gets tough. I look forward to more entries from Laura Jane Williams.

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

First and foremost, despite the title, this is really more of a second chance romance than an enemies to lovers. Had I known that, I'm not sure I would have picked it up in the first place as second chance is one of my least favorite tropes.

The book is set in a vacation home on the beach in Greece. The setting is absolutely gorgeous and is perfect for a summer read. Florence is going on vacation with her family, and unbeknownst to her, her brother's best friend, Jamie, is joining the family. Six months earlier, it felt like something was starting between the two of them, but one night she receives a note telling her he had lead her on and then promptly leaves town. She is furious with him, and when she sees him he also seems to be angry with her. Additionally, Florence is about a year into recovering from a mental breakdown. Coming on this trip, she is also dealing with her family treating her with an abundance of caution, which causes her additional tension.

Besides the misleading title, there were some other issues I had with this book. The plot heavily relies on miscommunication, not just about what happened the last time they saw each other, but also just throughout both between the two of them and between her and her family. Florence keeps bringing up her breakdown, but never really goes into depth about what led to her mental health issues. She mentions that she has been in therapy and has "done the work", but if that were true I feel like she should have been better able to communicate with Jamie and her family, thus negating the entire plot.

I’m trying to be fair as I realize time and time again that I don’t like most romance books. And there’s a good chance I would’ve loved this 15 years ago. But alas….

I keep hate thinking about this book. The fatal flaw was hearing how beautiful every single character was, constantly. It went beyond the first introduction of each person - the author referenced physical descriptions in every single chapter. We get it - the main character doesn’t know how beautiful she is! The men take our breath away!

I’m also so over the trope of [redacted because I just now realized this might be a spoiler— no matter how predictable it was to me] being the reason a couple doesn’t get together. It’s so immature and uninteresting.

I’ll leave it at that because I think anything else I say will ruin the plot for anyone who likes these types of books.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the early copy. Sorry to be such a snob! I really like this author’s nonfiction and social media content.

Enemies to Lovers by Laura Jane Williams delivers exactly what it promises: a romance where enemies become lovers, with the classic brother's best friend trope. While the story had moments of charm, it felt slow to develop and struggled with characters who lacked relatability and likability.

A heartfelt, emotionally deep, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, vacation romance between two family friends who have unresolved feelings caused by a misunderstanding at Christmas. I loved the mental health rep in this book, the FMC has anxiety and depression and was hospitalized after a breakdown. There's lots of fun family drama and the Greek island setting was aspirational! Great on audio and definitely worth the read! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

CW: depression, anxiety, grief over the accidental death of parents

This book is a rom-com set in Greece with a “brother’s best friend” trope. The book follows Flo on a Greece vacation with her family and, unfortunately for her, with her best friend’s brother as well. She feels wronged by him because of something that happened between them during Christmas one year which made her despise him, hence the title “enemies to lovers.” The scenery in the book was great and definitely had good summer vibes. However, I did not feel very connected to the characters. It felt like the story was rushed and throughout the book, the female main character acted in ways that I didn’t particularly relate to/love.

While the characters were not my favorite, the book is very lighthearted and had some entertaining scenes as well as good summer vibes to read by the beach and pool.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for providing me an ARC for this book!

Unfortunately this one wasn’t for me. I wasn’t a fan of the main characters and it was hard for me to get past that.

This book was a huge yes for me! I loved Flo and felt like she was very relatable! Overall just a sweet romance in a fun setting!

Flo is looking forward to a family vacation. Things have been a bit off with her family since her breakdown, but she's hoping maybe they'll finally stop treating her as fragile and they'll have a lovely trip... until she finds out her brother's best friend, Jamie, is coming along. The Jamie she almost hooked up with last Christmas, until he wrote her a note ending things and fled the trip early. She's angry, and humiliated, but determined to enjoy the trip regardless, especially once a hot local man starts giving her a lot of attention. But she can't quite shake her anger toward Jamie...or her attraction toward him.

I absolutely flew through this book--I read it in one sitting. The chemistry was great and I ADORED the whole family dynamic. I want to read all three of the siblings' love stories now, and I will definitely be reading more by Laura Jane Williams.

Somewhat predictable storyline but perfect holiday read! Enjoyed binge reading this book and would recommend

This book was a cute and fun read. I enjoyed the Greek vacation setting, the Greenberg family banter, and thought Jamie was a sweet “book boyfriend”. Overall I really liked this book but felt at times it lacked tension.

I really wanted to love this… and the cover is so cute. Sigh. I didn’t feel like there was any chemistry or spark between the two of them and found it hard to get through.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (2.5 rounded up)

Enemies to Lovers by Laura Jane Williams is a charming poolside read, light, frothy and fun. As the literal title states the book is all about the enemies to lovers trope and while it doesn't do anything ground breaking, it is still a perfectly enjoyable read.
When Flo agreed to join her family on holiday in Greece the last thing she expected was to find her brother's best friend Jamie as part of the group. Just months before sparks had seemed to fly between them at Christmas, but before anything could happen he had disappeared leaving just a note to apologise and Flo is still pretty upset about it. But sparks like these two have just cannot be denied and so Flo decides to spend more time with him to try to get him out of her system - what could possibly go wrong?
I have to admit that you have to be willing to go with the flow and let go of reality to enjoy this book, if you scratch beneath the surface it starts to fall apart a little, but as a fun little pick me up you could do worse.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

This is one of my favorite troupes, enemies to lovers and even better its set in a beautiful location, 2 week vacation in Greece. Flo has gone through lots of issues and has never had a real true boyfriend. & this absolute hunk Jamie is her brothers best friend & surrogate family member. I absolutely loved the heat between the two of them throughout the vacation. Nice slow burn! This is a great summer beach read and I can’t wait to read the next book by this author.

This was cute! The scenery was great and I loved the character development throughout. I felt like there were some plot holes and some things not resolved that could have been, but overall it was an enjoyable read!

Flo and Jamie are at odds with each other on a summer holiday in Greece with Flo’s family - including Jamie’s best friend. Flo has seemingly unrequited feelings for Jamie and he thinks the same for her.

During their slight interactions, Flo is also dealing with the aftermath of a breakdown and just wants to be back to “normal.” Part of that is “exposure therapy” to Jamie to try to get over him.

To be honest, I think the title could have been better than Enemies to Lovers. There was more miscommunication than anything else. Other tropes: forced proximity, best friend sibling, and vacation. I also appreciated the mental health awareness.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this eARC. Enemies to Lovers comes out on August 13th, 2024.

Overall rating 3.5/5
Spice rating: Vanilla - kissing with fade to black

I found myself getting BEYOND frustrated with the FMC in the story for acting quite juvenile. For the entire story to be based upon a miscommunication that caused so much pain for both parties - seriously people just talk to each other

Pick this one up if you enjoy:
* Vacation romance
* Brother's best friend
* Slow burn
* Single POV
* Age gap
* Miscommunication

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the book's publisher for this advanced digital copy of Enemies to Lovers! Unfortunately I decided not to finish this book, it was just not for me as I often was annoyed at characters as they felt quite childish and situations felt unrealistic. However, I hope the authors future works better for me.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!

What a good book!!! Such a good story and great writing style. This was my first by this author and will not be my last! Such a cute cozy summer read!

Forced Proximity.
Enemies to Lovers.
GREECE.
Family drama.

Loved this. This is the ultimate read for a summer vacation, by the pool, the lake, the beach, etc. This has umbrella drink in a pineapple written all over it.