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Thank you to Net Galley, Quercus and Lauren Connolly for the opportunity to read this eARC. My thoughts and views are my own.

I was very keen to dive in to this book as the premise and blurb sounded so interesting. Enemies to lovers? Forced proximity? Road trip? Second chance romance? Tick, tick and tick.

I’m happy to say that it didn’t disappoint and I really enjoyed the story. The first half was a little harder to read because I didn’t click with the FMC, Maddie, at first, but definitely grew to like and understand her as I read on.

I am a fan of a saga book. This isn’t quite a saga but it does take place over two years…so a lot longer than a lot of modern romances which are focused on instalust. The time span allows you to fall for the characters on a deeper level as you go on a journey together.

Lauren is a new to me author and I will certainly read future books and recommend.

What a read this was!
A sibling bond that is truly unbreakable even in death. I adored everything about this book.... the characters, the plot, and the fact that it had me smiling one minute then sobbing at the end. Perfection!

Firstly, thanks to Net Gallery for this ARC with an exchange of my honestly review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice Level: 3/5

This book was so so good. I was bawling at the end of the book.
Honestly I was so well written, so creative and nothing I've ever read before. I also didn't know how healing a book can be. This book showed romance, neglect, grief and everything else.
Maddies character was amazing. How her grief was showed from anger to snappy to laughing. Her banter and humour was hilarious.
Dom was amazing as well. You first think he's so cold but the more you read, the more you understand why he's like that and he shows his love in a different way and you learn to love that big man.
I also love Josh. Even though he's passed away in the book, I swear I feel like I know him as much as Maddie and Dom knows him. I love his banter, his way in trying to make the grief process for Maddie and Dom. The fact that he's matchmaking even till the every end.
I love this book

✔️ enemies to lovers
✔️ forced proximity
✔️ second chance
✔️ found family


✈️✉️✈️✉️✈️

This book was way too long and way too unnecessary to be over 600 pages. And I really didn't like how Summer and Whit kept saying what they enjoy in the bedroom is "disgusting" and "sick". But again I guess they were young so maybe they don't know degrading is thing.

✈️✉️✈️✉️✈️

Simply incredible. This book was an absolutely perfect mix of emotional and romantic and read so smoothly!



This book follows Maddie and Dom on a journey to eight different destinations, to spread the ashes of Josh, who was Maddie’s brother and Dom’s best friend. Only problem, Dom broke Maddie’s heart years ago and they haven’t spoken in years. Now Josh, in his dying wish, expects her to travel with Dom through the U.S. while grieving?

What an emotional roller coaster! I’ve read a few reviews that said that Maddie is a little insufferable and I agree to some extent. She is snarky and rude towards Dom, a little standoffish and stubborn. But she is grieving and grief has many different faces. And putting that aside, I understand the insecurities she carries, and how her past has affected how she sees herself. Her pain and fear of abandonment became so clear and I really felt for her. As we got to read about their history and their past, their character traits made so much sense and even if you didn’t agree with their decisions, you understood. It was all the more beautiful to read about both of their character development! It was joyful and emotional to read how Maddie and Dom both carried and supported each other through their grief, even if their beginning was rocky and how they helped each other to overcome their insecurities.

Josh’s love for life and adventurous spirit could be felt through the pages and radiated so much warmth, which made it even more heartbreaking. I loved how the author incorporated him into the story.

A roller-coaster of emotions but just truly beautiful. And though grief plays a very big role in this book, the story is still romantic (and steamy!). Absolutely loved it!



„PS: I Hate You“ is out January 16th 2025!

Thank you SO much to Quercus Fiction for providing me with an earc through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

4.5/5

This isn't only a romance book, it's also a book about grief, which unfortunately I've experienced a lot of. And I read this book a few days after losing a member of my family, which the main character Maddie did.
The topics and emotions of grief were handled and spoken about so well. Grief appears different to everyone and it certainly did to Maddie, who found it very difficult to cry, or talk about, or let her brother go.
Dom, who she had a confusing past with and who she now hates, reappears into her life and the two have to accept Josh's dying wish that they go to eight states he never went to; to spread his ashes.
God, this was so good. So emotional, funny, a little cringe in places as expected in a romance but I loved it. The main characters balanced each other out perfectly with their opposing personalities, and they're actually both likable.
Highly recommend to any contemp romance reader!!

What a fantastic moving special book. For anyone who has ever loved anyone and they died.
A supportive loving, kind brother and sister bond that lives on past death.
I sobbed so hard towards the end of the book I couldn't see the page. BUT that was because it was so beautiful and descriptive not just because it was sad.
A true love story but not just about a partner but family in all it's guises not just blood relations.
Can't recommend it enough!!!!!!

I almost got stuck in the beginning but I am glad I finished. While I chanted for much of the read that Maddie desperately needed therapy, she resonated with me. Experiencing traumatic loss and not feeling enough are so painful,but unfortunately normal. It was great to see her grow throughout the book, and it reminded me of my own experiences.
I only docked half a star because of the pacing of the end, as it seemed to go from good to bad to good in a couple chapters, while the previous 2/3 was more fleshed out.

P.S. I Hate You is a book about love, loss, and second chances. After her brother Josh dies, Maddie must honour his final wish: to scatter his ashes across eight destinations. But she has to make the journey with Dom, her brother’s best friend and her former love interest who left her with a broken heart.
This one is PERFECT for lovers of slow-burn romance and emotional stories, It’s a read that will make you laugh and cry ugly tears!

I LOVED THIS SO MUCH!!

Maddie's brother, Josh, passed away after a battle with cancer and, at his funeral, she discovers that he has left letters for everyone - but she has to share hers with his best friend, and her nemesis, Dom. Maddie and Dom embark on a two year adventure, carrying out Josh's final wish.

This was SO SO well written. I love the interactions between Maddie and Dom and I was crying pretty early on - we don't get to meet Josh on the page but the way he loved and was loved is so well written into the story that it felt like I knew him. The time frame of the relationship building was realistic and the supporting characters were fun and engaging.

As always, my pet peeve, most of the issues could have been resolved by communicating, but I found that it didn't bother me in this story as much as it usually does.

This is the sort of book that changed me and I can't find the words to explain how amazing it was.

Tropes:
- Second chance
- Enemies to lovers
- Brother's best friend
- Road trip
- Epistolary

An absolute five stars of a book. I love this book from page one all the way to the end, crying so many times and I kept turning the pages desperate to keep in the lives of Maddie and Dom.. The topic could’ve been dumb as a cliche, the best friend and and little sister sent around America to scatter joshes ashes it was fun and sensitive. There were also surprises along the way from a great group of friends and siblings. This is a book that once you start you are hungry to keep turning the pages to get to the ending.

I absolutely adored this book and read it all in one sitting! It is the first book this year to make me so engaged with the characters that I end up sobbing on the train. I was so immediately invested in our FMC and her growth; her friends are the most gorgeously written side characters and I would be quite happy with three more books for their stories. I grew to love our MMC and this story felt so genuine, so raw and so loving.

I left this one to read until I felt I needed a good romance and boy am I glad I did!
The story of deep grief was portrayed so vividly I felt connected to the characters. As the story continues I really felt for the sister and how her friend became her life line.
Their journey together isn’t just physical but an emotional one, the way they supported each other while healing was really refreshing.
By the end of the book I truly felt a sense of closure!! I feel like this story will stick with me for a long time.

THIS BOOK. Honestly, I think this will be one of my top 5 books I’ve read this year. It had all my favourite tropes, executed them so perfectly that I actually cried at the end (Which is some feat).

The story is emotional and did have me reflecting on my own familial relationships, which I believe is always a sign of a good book. I loved the way that grief was shown in the book, how Maggie deals with the loss of her brother, her relationships with the maternal figures in her life, while also reflecting on the loss she had with her previous relationship with Dominic. The book flowed so well, and concluded with a beautiful epilogue (For me, epilogues can really make or break a book).

I really liked how the second chance relationship was written, there was tension from their previous encounters, then the gradual building up of their new relationship! Dominic is top-tier book boyfriend and his brothers are soo sweet too!

IT IS A MUST READ!!!!*
*with tissues on stand by!

When Maddie’s travel photographer brother Josh dies, she’s forced to fulfil his final wishes to spread his ashes in eight destinations with Dom, his best friend and the man who broke her heart seven years ago. Over two years we see how grief affects both, with Josh ever-present through his letters and the adventures he sends them on. Dom, the responsible, caring protector, unable to save his best friend. While spiky Maddie struggles with her feelings for Dom. Growing up with a neglectful, narcissistic mother and grandmother, Josh was her only family, so her ability to trust is non-existent and her abandonment sky high.

This book tugged at my emotions, Connelly deftly conveys Maddie and Dom's grief while carefully weaves a slow burn romance, as the enmity gives way to a tenuous friendship, before love. There’s a few twists thrown in – one I guessed and the other unfortunately signposted in the content warning (publishers – yes to warnings, but please keep the spoilers on a back page and tell people to go there for the full list). The secondary characters – Rosaline, Jeremy, Tula and Dom’s twin brothers Adam and Carter were also fantastic.

This book exceeded my expectations with its wit and snark, pathos and characters that jumped off the page. For days after reading this I had a massive book hangover, thinking about the characters as they felt so real. I had a giant hole in my heart with their grief and also the seven years of missed opportunities for everyone. It reminded me a lot of ‘Ten Years’ by Pernille Hughes which had a similar premise, and I highly recommend. Have the tissues ready for this!

Thanks to Quercus and NetGalley for the ARC.

A great read with heartbreaking undertones and a hot romance at its core - this is a book that really tugs at the emotions. I loved the journey that Dom and Maddie took, and the fact they took the reader with them at every step.

Absolutely loves this book. Dark humour, it's funny, enjoyable 7% into it and was loving it. Very real.n
Main character really relatable and funny.

Unsure why we have to be reminded how tall the mmc is, which is annoying but doesn't ruin the story for me.

I loved how the mfc was so self aware of herself and how she knew she was treating people sometimes badly, she didn't want too but it's how she protected herself.

⭐ 5 tear stained stars

what the hell 😭 it was so brutally soul and heart breaking, I had to stop reading a few times and pull myself together cause I couldn't see through my tears and I loved it.. seriously, what the hell 😭 ?! the portrayal of grief and all the emotions that can accompany it was perfect - Maddie and Dom go on an emotional journey to fulfill Josh's last wishes during which they try to deal with their own emotions and repair their damaged relationship - a perfect mix of pain, sadness interwoven with humor that makes you laugh through tears of sadness. This book broke me in the best way, I'd like to thank the author for this journey.

P.S.: Get your tissues ready

Binged this book in 1 day! I loved it so much. Maddie was such a raw protagonist, and even when she was being harsh you could understand her grief. I loved that the timeline wasn’t rushed and was spread over multiple years, but didn’t feel like it was dragging. It made the progression of the story seem really natural. Misunderstandings at the end were a little annoying but within the context, I was able to understand where everyone was coming from. Definitely excited for more reads from this author!

This one give you food for thought with the characters dealing with loss so it can be a lot but overall it’s a beautiful and amazing read so please soldier through if you can the result is worth it !!

I haven’t devoured a book like this in so long. I cried so much. I felt physically sick, I even found I couldn’t breathe at times 😭😭😭😭 The way this book made me feel? Indescribable.

Why is it the best books are always the hardest to praise? Words cannot do this beautiful book justice. It reminded why I love this genre. Go read this right now but just make sure you have tissues, a full day to yourself to binge and remember to breathe 🧸