Maddie Sanderson is deeply grieving her brother’s death as they were incredibly close. His will asks her to visit eight destinations and scatter his ashes, but she must do it with his best friend, Dominic Perry. Dominic is the very man who broke her heart years ago. Despite her reluctance, the will leaves her no choice.

The story is filled with angst as Maddie and Dom travel to the specified locations over many months. Together, they confront not just Maddie’s grief but also her unresolved feelings for Dom. The forced proximity gradually leads Maddie to open up to more than just a physical connection with him. However, Maddie struggles to trust her heart after a lifetime of miscommunications. The narrative captures their journey of working through past issues, making the ending a sweet and satisfying conclusion despite the missed opportunities. It's a poignant tale of love, loss, and second chances.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

4 ⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️= multiple open door scenes past the 60% mark, mature + suggestive language throughout.
⚠️ check content warnings

For the most part I really enjoyed this. It is a more emotional romance that reminded me somewhat of A Thousand Broken Pieces (but adult and way more spice). Loved all the descriptions of the beautiful places our main characters get to travel together as they are navigating grief, loss, and childhood traumas. Everything came together really nicely in the end with our main character’s growth and it was nice to see.

I think I liked Dom and Maddie as a couple almost as much as I didn’t like them. Sometimes their relationship felt more lustful than based on real emotional connection (this was wayyyy spicier than I would have liked) and so much of their conflict is rooted in poor communication/miscommunication which I didn’t love and takes foreverrrrrr for them to address. I also feel like Dom had his own set of baggage that never really fully gets addressed and I found myself wanting this to be dual POV very often. But they also have many sweet moments and I do love how he takes care of her/his protectiveness. There is great banter between them and I was laughing here and there throughout.

This was fairly well written and jumps right into the plot at the beginning. Some things were predictable but overall everything had good development and pacing, and I liked the deeper, more emotional aspects of the story.

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC!! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was such a beautiful story! A couple I easily rooted for with obstacles that really made sense. I was happy to just be with them and patiently wait for them to get to where they needed to be. This book really focuses on friendship, grief and the fear of abandonment. There are so many heavy and complicated emotions, and Connolly does a great job of exploring them all. And in spite of - or in addition to- all of this, this book is also genuinely laugh-out-loud funny! Maddie has the best sense of humor, even though it is admittedly often her defense mechanism.

I also really enjoyed the way this book takes the reader to several locations and through several seasons, following Maddie as she says goodbye to her brother and Dom as he says goodbye to his best friend. Josh is such a remarkable character, whom we get to know through the letters he leaves to be read after he dies and through the stories and memories shared by Maddie and Dom. It's hard to imagine where either of them would be without his clever and heartfelt plan for them.

Ratings = 5s across the board!
Quality of Writing 5/5
Pacing 5/5
Plot Development 5/5
Character Development 5/5
Overall Enjoyability 5/5

ɴᴇᴛɢᴀʟʟᴇʏ ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ || P.S. I HATE YOU [thank you to @berkleyromance and @netgalley for my #gifted copy!]

If “P.S. I Love You” left a hole in your heart that you’ve been waiting for a book to fill, then look no further!

And again, I reiterate, do NOT read this in public. I cried through the last 20%.

Title: P.S. I Hate You
Author: Lauren Connolly
Genre: Romance
Format: Digital
Star Rating: ★★★★☆

ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ:
Maddie Sanderson’s last promise to her brother, Josh, is to scatter his ashes across eight places he never got to visit. But the real twist? Josh’s will dictates she take along Dominic Perry—his lifelong best friend and Maddie’s childhood crush, the one who broke her heart.

Forced together on this bittersweet journey, they travel thousands of miles, revisiting their past and discovering new layers of their relationship. But when a snowstorm strands them in a one-bed setup and old feelings reignite, Maddie wonders if Josh might have been playing matchmaker from beyond. Now, she just has to decide if she’s willing to let Dom back into her heart.

ᴍʏ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ:
Okay, so first off, I want to say: you need to give this book at least the first 30% before you judge it. Otherwise you may think that the FMC is a little bitter and WHY WON’T SHE JUST LET HIM LOVE HER? Sorry, Lauren, let me explain!

But once you realize that this is a romance novel about grief and how grief looks different for everyone, you’ll appreciate her and love her, just like I did. Maddie 4eva.

I loved getting to know Maddie through Josh and through memories, because the Maddie we meet in most of the novel is not the Maddie that everyone else knows and loves - she’s a grief-ridden shell of herself and she doesn’t know how to dig herself out…until she gets the letters.

This was such a beautiful story and, since it takes place over two years, it’s so easy to see the characters grow, and push & pull each other to their breaking points…and then crash back together again.

Now excuse me while I try to go fall out of love with Dominic and look up where I can find some glow worms…and book a flight to Alaska.

ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ:
PS I Love You meets You With a View
Brother’s Best Friend
Finding Love Through Grief
Puzzles
Morbid Sense of Humor

ᴅᴇᴛᴀɪʟꜱ:
GR: 4.58
# of Pages: 432
Pub Date: December 3, 2024

Maddie Sanderson's father left early, her mother blames her for his departure, and her first real boyfriend (her brother's best friend Dominic) proposed to another woman the day after he and Maddie were first intimate. Worst of all, her beloved older brother Josh has recently died of cancer. Is it any wonder she prefers to work all the time, making herself indispensable to her boss and her employer so they won't "leave" her, too?

As portrayed in PS: I Hate You by Lauren Connolly, Maddie isn't the most likable person, but we understand how she got that way. We learn even more about her after the first quarter of the book, when she and Dom are persuaded by posthumous letters from Josh to take eight trips together to scatter his ashes in different states and cities that he wished he had visited himself.

The story unfolds slowly as the trips occur over a space of two years. Through their conversations and activities, as well as flashbacks to their younger days, we obtain more insight into both of these very different people, their lifestyles, and how they view themselves. I enjoyed the ride and the real emotions demonstrated by both. I also appreciated Maddie's supportive friends and the flashes of humor throughout the story.

My thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

I love a second chance book and this was so cute! Maddie’ has such lost her brother and before dying he leaves her a letter to go with his best friend to visit certain states. This was such a cute book. I loved all the characters and the plot. Will definitely be recommending this one

I enjoyed P.S.: I Hate You. I really liked the concept of this story. The author did a wonderful job showcasing the main character's grief. Maddie was a layered and understandably flawed character. I liked the way she was portrayed. Although she was a little harsh towards Dom at the beginning, readers understood where she was coming from. Her character development arc was done nicely. I was happy with her ending, especially when she took a moment to focus on herself and getting the help she needed. I also liked Dom's character. Dom was supportive, protective, and understanding. Once he and Maddie put their barriers down, their relationship was sweet. I thought Maddie and Dom were a cute couple. Their chemistry was palpable. I liked how Dom treated and cared for Maddie. Dom was a great book boyfriend. Dom and Maddie's shared history was messy and sad. The side characters were decent and helped with the overall storyline. I did want more scenes with Rosaline. I felt like her storyline could have been expanded on a tad bit more. I can see fans of Abby Jimenez liking this one. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC.

This is the first book I've ever read from this author. I requested the digital ARC because the title and the blurb caught my attention, but I honestly didn’t know what to expect. All I know now is that I’m SO glad I did, this book became one of my favorites. Added it to my wishlist immediately. I read it in less than 24 hours, which is new to me. I just couldn’t put it down.

A very important thing to note, as soon as you open the book, you'll find an author’s note, which states all the delicate topics that the story embrace, giving you the choice to keep reading, to stop whenever you need to or to stop reading it all. The choice is entirely up to you. I must say that these topics were treated with so much respect, which I appreciated.

Maddie finds herself with the impossible task to say good-bye to her brother, Josh, while following his instructions to spread his ashes in eight different states. And to make it even more impossible she has to do this with her brother's best friend, Dominic, the man who broke her heart years ago.

Maddie and Dom's chemistry is amazing, from the very first moment that we see them interact it's so clear that they are meant to be and they deserve a second chance.

Maddie's insecurities felt so close to home and I completely understood where they came from. It was also so easy to understand Dom, always needing to have everything under control and always taking care of everyone else but himself.

It's not just a rom-com, an enemies-to-lovers or a story about grief. It's about self-discovery, healing, growing-up, understanding what's important in life and realizing that while we may feel alone sometimes, we actually have a lot of people around us who may be going through the same or a similar situation and could help us get through dark times if we only open ourselves up and give us the opportunity to let someone else in.

I loved the fact that this book shows the importance of going to therapy, it shows that a person can't magically begin to feel ok and do the right things overnight, it's a process. Therapy is not going to solve all of your problems, but it's a start. Mental health it's such an important subject and should not be taken for granted.

It had me laughing out loud and sobbing, going through the grief process myself. I lost my dog about a month ago and she was everything to me. And now I'm heartbroken because I lost a huge part of myself and don't know how to move on. But as we follow Maddie through her journey, she realizes that she needs to start living her life again, she can't keep putting her life on hold, even though it still hurts and she will always miss her brother. That simple yet important realization helped me understand that I need to do the same thing, which is why I'm reading again and writing reviews, something I stopped doing because I couldn't focus or fully enjoy it. Because I was stuck and it still hurts. It's going to hurt my whole life, but that's the point, we keep living for ourselves and for those who can't be here anymore.

I have a special place in my heart for these characters now (clearly not for Maddie and Josh’s mother, grandmother and father). But I definitely wish I had a brother like Josh, friends like Maddie's, a found family like the Perrys and, of course, I wish I had a Dom in my life. Every person who has ever felt too much deserves a Dom in their lives.

Many, many, many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC! I can't even begin to express how grateful I am for this opportunity. And finally, a special thanks to Lauren Connolly for writing such a beautiful, heartfelt story and for sharing it with the world. For this, I'm forever grateful.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you and sorry! I think I've never written such a long review before, but this book made me feel too much. I hope you can give it a chance and enjoy it as much as I did.

Some of the tropes you'll find in this book:

-Brother's best friend
-Grief
-Childhood friends to lovers-to strangers/enemies-to friends-to-lovers
-Forced proximity
-Second chance romance
-Self-discovery/healing
-Slow burn
-Explicit sex scenes (+18)
-Roadtrip
-One bedroom
-Funny and good banter
-Found family
-Amazing group of friends

P.S. I Hate You is the perfect hate-to-lovers romance. This story is beautifully written with top-notch banter and the most relatable characters. This story is heartbreaking, and beautiful, and will leave you with all the feels. I loved every single thing about this story and couldn't help but be consumed by it.

Maddie really wants to honor the final request of her late brother, Josh. He would like his ashes spread on an elaborate trip he has planned for Maddie and his best friend, Dominic. The rub: Maddie doesn't want to be in the same room as Dom, let alone traveling to eight separate destinations with the man. They have a complicated past and they have the opportunity to unpack a lot of it.

Thank you @laurenconnollyromance @bookswithnopictures and @just_talking_to_my_shelf for this traveling ARC. I love traveling ARCs. I love seeing what other people highlight and the notes they scribble. This one was loaded with tabs by the time it got to me and I could see why once I dove into this book. Also, thank you to @berkleyromance for the ebook I received after reading the physical ARC.
For some reason, I've read a lot of books dealing with grief over the past year. A few of them have stood out to me and I've been able to relate to the emotions of the characters. This is one of them. Maddie has lost her brother, Josh, the only member of her family she had a good relationship with. His wish is to have his ashes spread to locations he never made it to, which Maddie is happy to honor. The part that she is not happy about is that she has to do all of this with Josh's best friend, Dom, who she hates because he broke her heart years ago. As Maddie and Dom each deal with losing someone who they loved so much and trying to honor his wishes with these trips he's planned, they find themselves discovering how much they understand each other and need each other. I enjoyed both characters, but Dom was really a great character to root for. Maddie's mom and grandmother however, were despicable characters who thankfully got what they deserved.
PS I Hate You is an enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, brother's best friend romance that will have your heart breaking as Dom and Maddie both grieve over the person who mattered the most to them. I was so enveloped in this story. There were moments where I gasped, I laughed, I swooned, and where I wanted to yell at the characters. I highlighted and tabbed and scribbled in the margins because there were so many lines I loved. This book manages to have humor and romance weaved into a complicated grieving process and it was truly beautiful. I'm looking forward to reading more by Lauren Connolly.

This book had a great premise, but the ending dragged quite a bit. The female and male protagonists had great chemistry and good banter. However, the last quarter of the book was overlong and overdramatic. It "surprise" at the end made the entire book feel really bittersweet. So much pain for basically nothing. It made the reader reevaluate the fun that came before. Readers should still enjoy the book, though.

📝 This book’s got travel and adventure… and a brother’s best friend 😳🤤— and it’s out in December! Thank you to @berkleypub for the sneak peek— I liked this one!

📝 Ok, so this book starts at Maddie’s brother’s funeral where she finds out his dying wish is for her and his best friend to spread his ashes in the eight states he never visited. It’s got…
- travel and adventure
- brother’s best friend
- some second chance/enemies to lovers stuff going on
- likable lead characters

📝 Unfortunately, what it also has is…
- some failure to communicate
- a rapid escalation from I hate you to let’s jump in bed without ONE major sticking point being addressed which really bothered me
- a really messy ending that everyone just seems to be ok with and it felt weird to me 🤣
- it’s also just VERY long for a romance (400+ pages)

📝 If the things in the pro column are your jam and you don’t tend to be bothered by the things in the con column, then this might be your jam! I did enjoy it, but it’s just not my favorite.

I do not have the words to describe how much I loved this book. PS: I Hate You was a beautiful exploration of grief, love, and trust. The characters in this story were so compelling and I found myself lost in their world. I really enjoyed the premise and thought everyone, particularly Maddie, had wonderful character growth. Dom was an amazing romantic protagonist - green flags all around. I also enjoyed how funny this book was - it had me going from tears of sadness to tears of laughter at multiple points. Overall, one of my top reads of 2024 and I am so so glad I had the opportunity to read this book.

This book starts so emotionally and made me so sad. I loved how Maddie’s brother knew she and Josh were perfect for each other and I feel like that is why he sent them on their quest together. I think it was more about that than the reason he gave. There were so many layers to this book, with grief being front and center. The romance happened and it was a good romance, but I feel that the grief journey is more the focal point of the book. The writing of this book was so good and it had my emotions hung out to dry. I loved how the author wrote Maddie and Josh’s journey because it felt natural and like it really could happen the way it played out. It wasn’t always perfect, and I loved that. Even though this book covers the span of a few years, the pacing is quick and before I knew it I had read all 400 pages! There were plenty of noteworthy and hilarious moments on Maddie and Josh’s journey as well. This book truly was a lot of fun and will appeal to a wide variety of readers.

P.S. I Hate You is the perfect hate-to-lovers romance. This story is beautifully written with top-notch banter and the most relatable characters. This story is heartbreaking, and beautiful, and will leave you with all the feels. I loved every single thing about this story and couldn't help but be consumed by it.

Definitely a top read of 2024 for me!

Extraordinary enemies-to-lovers / second chance / brother's best friend romance. This book is a wonderful, rich story of grief, personal growth, and the challenges of loving across time and space. The MCs are well-developed, the story complex and full of conflicts grounded not in drama, but in the nuances of their lives. Fun side characters bring much needed levity to what could be a narrative centered on grief & loss of a loved one. Overall, a fantastic romance that digs in to some heavy issues, but centers a lovely romance.

Check this out if you're looking for a sweet, emotionally charged read. I feel like there is a little bit of something for any romance reader.

Maddie really wants to honor the final request of her late brother, Josh. He would like his ashes spread on an elaborate trip he has planned for Maddie and his best friend, Dominic. The rub: Maddie doesn't want to be in the same room as Dom, let alone traveling to eight separate destinations with the man. They have a complicated past and they have the opportunity to unpack a lot of it.

I enjoyed the grief aspect because you see it in different facets. There is this really sweet second chance romance element in this book that I feel shared equal space in the book with the other important things going on at the same time. The history between Maddie and Dom is deep and presented to the reader in such a tantalizing way.

Wow, this book had me in tears within the first few chapters. Obviously I was trigged emotionally…. But the tears just kept coming, and it wasn’t because it was just sad, but sweet and achy and oh so good and loving and all the emotions the words that Lauren word brought out in me.

Oh and did i mention that I read this book all in one sitting? I mean other than heating up food and stopping to hydrate, i just sat and read and cried and read and cried some more! Gawd I did not expect all the emotions, and all the love I have for this beautiful story about sibling love and second chances.

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸…
💌Grief - loss of a sibling
💌Brother’s Best Friend
💌Enemies to Friends to Lovers
💌Second Chance
💌Slow Burn
💌Found Family
💌Single POV
💌Open Door - mild
💌Don’t forget to have tissues nearby

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

PS: I Hate You by Lauren Connelly is an absolute treasure of a book. It has quickly, and without a doubt, become one of my top five books of 2024. An easy 5-star rating, and I wish I could give it more. I am so grateful for the opportunity to read it and review early.

Connelly’s novel is a story of grief and love, Happiness and healing, all in equal measure. The storytelling is careful and tender as we explore loss and a (second chance) relationship between Maddie and Dom.

The book begins at a funeral. Madeline (Maddie) Sanderson’s brother, Josh, has just died from cancer, and she is hiding in a storage closet at the wake. Who finds her other than Dominic (Dom) Perry, Josh’s best friend and Maddie’s long-time crush since childhood. Maddie and Dom have an awkward “meet cue” in a storage closet where Maddie falls into a box of toilet paper.

At the funeral, we’re also made privy to Maddie’s family dynamic and past, as we meet insufferable and narcissistic mother and grandmother (who both make comments about her appearance at a freaking funeral?!). We soon learn that Josh’s final words and wishes were written in letters, and Dom distributes them to the friends and family gathered. Josh’s final wish for Maddie is that she and Dom spread his ashes in the eight states he did not visit while he was alive.

For the rest of the book, Maddie and Dom deal with their past and grow closer with each destination (Delaware, Alabama, Kansas, Arizona, South Dakota, Idaho, North Dakota, and Alaska) over the course of 2-ish years. Dom and Maddie’s past is slowly uncovered, and we see how they became close (and ever closer) before the moment that broke Maddie’s heart and sent her running to the opposite side of the country. At each destination, I laughed, cried, and loved fully with these characters.

This book is a reminder that humor can happen alongside and within grief. The romantic tension between Dom and Maddie is so luscious, but it does not take away from the very real heartache that they are feeling for the loss of Josh. Rather than hit hard from the beginning, it builds slowly (and meaningfully). This book runs the whole expanse of human emotion. The sadness. The love. It’s all just so well earned.

At one point while reading, my husband came in the room and asked what I was laughing at. When I told him it was this book, he noted how much I’d been laughing while reading this one. But I sobbed through the final chapters!

It’s safe to say I fell HARD for this book. And I think others will, too. The writing is so smooth, and feels a bit reminiscent of Emily Henry, with the blending of serious topics with a bit of sarcasm, humor, and heart.

Thank you so very much, Berkley Publishing, NetGalley, and Lauren Connelly for letting me read and review an early copy of this book. I absolutely loved it.


-----
Dear Berkley,
Thank you so much for the approval to read this book! You absolutely hit it out of the park with my first approval. Since I am new, I've included the information requested in the approval email as well as links to my Goodreads review and where/when my review will be posted on my Bookstagram.

A little about me: I'm a university theatre professor who finds so much joy in reading and sharing books. I'm also a mom, and my love for reading was reignited when I found myself at home with a newborn during the pandemic. I decided to create my Bookstagram earlier this year as way to connect with others about reading. As you can see with my page @professorrachelreads, I love books, fresh flowers, and that wonderful feeling of morning coffee; I’ve tried to bring that coziness and pretty positivity to my account. I read, review, and highlight books from a diverse set of authors and voices; my main genres are romance/romcoms, fantasy/romantasy, historical fiction, and lit fiction, but I truly read a little of everything!

Number of followers: 3.4k
Engagement rate/Relevant statistics, : 36k views, 5k interactions, and 224 new followers (in the past 30 days)

I will be posting this review on my Instagram page @professorrachelreads on October 30. I'll be sure to tag Berkley and the author.
Here is the direct link to my Bookstagram: https://www.instagram.com/professorrachelreads/
Here is the link to the Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6860044642

This book had me hooked straight from the start. This deals with grief, relationships, and growing up. This book had me laughing one second and crying the next! This reminded me of one of my favorite books, you, with a view, so read it if you love that book as well. I loved the savager hunt to see Josh’s favorite places he has been too. It felt as if you were there with the characters.

Maddie is a girl who believes if she is not doing everything and anything for others that they will forget about her. She puts work first and herself second. She has the biggest heart for her brother and will do anything to keep his memory from drifting.

Dom is the quiet, moody, and responsible guy. He has that silent kind of love where he is always looking out for everyone and making sure they are alright. He’s always there for Maddie even if she doesn’t realize it.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves banter, a lot of spice and a good cry.

Read if you like:
- Brothers best friend
- Forced proximity
- Friends to enemies to lovers
- Second chance