You know, it’s a rare thing to find a book that speaks to your soul. It’s even rarer to find an ARC that does that. This won’t be my typical review - okay?

Maddie Sanderson has one good thing in her life - her big brother Josh. She can handle her awful mother and grandmother because she has him to call home. Because of him, she has the Perrys too - Josh’s best friend Dom, his twin brothers and his parents to call her own too. At least until that summer. She runs away and leaves Dom behind. Josh is still the only person in her life to love her consistently. But then her wonderful brother dies and Maddie is cast adrift. She wants to be wanted, needs to be needed - so she becomes her job.

Josh leaves instructions for his ashes to be scattered across the states he never visited - all planned from his death bed - with letters and instructions. Maddie knows she has to do this for her brother… just not with Dom, his best friend and the man Maddie fell in love with. Anybody but him.

I can genuinely say it was an honour to ARC this book. The way grief was captured so well? It spoke to my soul. I cried - I very rarely cry - and laughed. I felt like I knew Josh and loved him too. The anger from grief is so real. You try to stop it from spilling out of you and contaminating your loved ones. Crying is a symptom. I loved that. I didn’t cry when my dad died. I don’t think I cried for him for years until it hit me that one day, I’ll live longer without him than I had with him.

Basically what I’m saying is this book is healing. It’s a beautiful romance that tackles grief head on and I cannot wait to read more from Lauren.

I really struggled to get into this book, as someone who recently lost a sibling I really was shocked by this characters behaviour and attitude, it left a horrible taste in my mouth and I found the MFC to be unrelateable and have a terrible personality.

Thank you to Lauren Connolly and NetGalley for providing the ARC; all opinions are my own.

I found this book difficult to get into, and unfortunately, I struggled to connect with the characters. This was especially disappointing, as I was really looking forward to reading it and was thrilled to receive the ARC.

The characters came across as somewhat immature, and some of the internal dialogue felt quite toxic. While I understand that certain people might experience that level of negativity in their own thoughts, it felt a bit off-putting to read.

When I first saw the title, I thought it might be a unique twist on Cecelia Ahern's *PS, I Love You*, and in some ways, I wasn’t entirely wrong. The intention was clear, but it just didn’t resonate in the same way. The similarities are hard to ignore, and it’s difficult not to draw comparisons.

For me, if you stripped away the more adult content, this could have been a great YA novel.

Maddie and Dom are on a series of enforced road trips following the loss of her brother, his best friend. The more time they spend together the more about the past is revealed. A great read, emotional at times.

Oh goodness, this book... This book broke me.

I'm not sure how to begin explaining this book. It was extremely hard to read, and yet I devoured it in less than twenty four hours. It made my throat constrict itself trying to hold in painful sobs while also making giggles slip between my lips. It encapsulated grief in a way that feels a little too real, and simultaneously explored a hopeful relationship between two childhood friends carrying a heap of baggage each. Maddie was such a great character to read about. I empathized with her so, so much. Her dealing with the loss of her brother was painful to read about, but it was still a journey filled with hope and promise of a brighter future. I loved how Dom gave her enough space to deal with everything on her own, while grieving as well, but still being there for her if she needed someone to lean on in the process. The whole found family was heartwarming, and I loved the side characters a lot. They were a breath of much needed fresh air after reading the scenes involving Maddie's mother and grandmother. The two of them made me irrationally angry simply by existing, but their words and actions rationalized that anger quite quickly. I was extremely satisfied with how Maddie ended up dealing with them and their constant abuse.

I would highly recommend this book! There's great banter, enemies turning to friends and then to lovers, a scene where they have to share a room, spicy moments, beautiful sceneries, tear-jerking scenes, characters overcoming their grudges and trauma, and a lot more that makes this story stand out from the rest.

The premise of this angsty romance is inviting - I do love an exploration of grief, and combining it with a road trip gives the characters space to process and learn to be together. Along the way through eight separate trips, each with some of the ashes of Maddie’s brother and Dom’s best mate, they find out about themselves and learn about grief: How we all grieve differently, that its so personal, and visceral and it can’t be shortcut, or avoided.

Maddie is a black cat - she’s angry (and petty) and takes it all out on Dom. There’s not much nuance or self-awareness in Maddie, so her growth is as arrested as her grief. Dom is a mystery, as is his marriage, and I struggled to believe in his feelings for Maddie. This has plenty of worthwhile features, but the whole didn’t work for me.

Thank you Lauren Connelly, Quercus Books and NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Quercus and Lauren Connolly for providing me with an advanced reader copy for review purposes!

4 stars ⭐

Ps. I hate you is a story about loss, about grief but most importantly about love. Not just romantic love, but love all around. From familial love, to platonic love, and of course romantic love. It’s not just a story, it’s a full journey. We follow our main characters through the course of a few years, and we see them slowly grow into better versions of themselves.

I really really enjoyed this. There were moments where Maddie pissed me off so much, but hey, I think it’s pretty normal and also a bit expected, because she is not perfect. She is flawed, she needs to work out stuff, she has to grow and that’s ok, because let’s be honest, is anyone perfect? Absolutely not. So why would we expect a character to show no flaws at all?

Then there's Dom, oh my god Dom. There were moments where he pissed me off too. I spent a good chunk of the book just asking myself why? (if you decide to pick this up, you’ll probably understand immediately). But I connected to him on a different level, and that made me appreciate him more than any other character present in this book.

I’m not going to talk about the ending, because there’s a lot going on and I don’t want to accidentally spoil something, but just know I cried my eyes out. I literally had to stop reading because the tears were getting in the way, and I couldn’t see the words anymore.

Just wrapped up a read that left me teary-eyed. 😭 If you've lost a loved one, this story will hit home. But it’s also a powerful narrative about healing and finding strength in tough times. A strong contender for my favorite book of the year! 💖📖

I picked this book up initially as I felt some sort of pull to Maddie. Maddie is grieving the loss of her brother, Josh, (I lost my own brother 5 years ago so this where I felt able to relate to the character when first reading the synopsis).
Josh has left his sister a request that she scatter his ashes in specific places BUT she has to do it with the help of Dominic. Josh’s best friend and someone Maddie cannot stand.
I like a good “enemies-to-lovers” story, as long as it makes sense and has relevance. This one did.
Lauren Connolly has written a wonderful story here, full of heartache and love and every emotion in between.
She gave the characters depth and really got across the strength of the emotions felt, (which I’ve found from reading other books in the past, is a skill). not everyone can manage this and keep the story fully immersive, believable and relatable, but wow….Lauren absolutely pulled it off.
I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author in the future, and I’ve no hesitation in recommending this book either.
An emotional yet heart warming read that will stay with me for a while yet. Thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC. Much appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed!

This is an emotional heart-warming read by an author I hadn't read before. The story is about Maddie who is grieving the loss of her brother Josh. Josh has left his sister a list of places to scatter his ashes - but the catch is that she has to do it with her brother's best friend Dominic - who she can't stand, This is a well written enemies to lovers story that will pull on every heart string.

5🌟

It’s been quite a while since I’ve had the time to sit and read and honestly o thought I had lost a bit of my love for reading for a while but with this book coming out in the coming days I thought it was about time to sit down and start again and I’m so glad I started the year with this one as I can honestly say it was brilliant.

This was a story about loss and love and finding yourself again after losing a loved one and accepting that life does still go on after and that you will always have people around you who love you. I loved the plot to this story, it was so captivating and had me flying through this in 2 sittings.

I adored the characters, Maddie was such a strong character and I loved getting to see her come out of her shell and getting to be free. I thought her and Dom were so well matched and watching them get their second chance was so heartwarming especially as they were doing it while parting with their most loved one who believed in them and their love.

This story covers a range of emotions including love, lust, anger, loss and grief and it really had me going through the motions. I usually find the whole miscommunication thing annoying but I found this was done in a way that I didn’t find that the reason behind the miscommunication to be so unbelievable. It felt just right to set the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Lauren Connolly for allowing me to read this E-ARC.

I'm a little bit surprised that I didn't cry because oh my god, this book was emotional. Even though it didn't bring me to tears, I definitely felt a lot while I was reading it: sadness, frustration, hope, joy, humour, confusion, and just generally keen to keep turning pages and see Maddie find happiness and solace and peace. PS I Hate You packed an emotional punch, delivering incredibly complex characters and relationships, a beautiful found family, moments of levity that were needed and deserved, and a romance that defies all the odds. I definitely felt like Maddie was the most fleshed out character, purely because Dom didn't get a POV in this story, so I didn't really get to experience his grief in the same way. I think if different types of grief from lost friends were explored a little more, that would've made this a five star read, but I understand the desire to focus on just Maddie's experience. Seeing her growth through the story was beautiful, and I really did appreciate that she had to work through things herself ultimately, but that her friends and loved ones were ready to hold her hands every step of the way - it's what we all hope for if we ever experience the pain she has. If you can't tell from this review, Maddie felt incredibly real to me so I felt myself going through the various stages of grief right alongside her, and I loved how Josh almost felt like he was being brought back to life every time an experience was shared or a letter was read. Dom was most definitely every girl's dream in terms of romance heroes, given the way he was so protective, patient and in love with Maddie, Like I said, I would've liked to experience his POV a little bit, but I do feel like I got a snippet into his emotions as he revealed them to Maddie and worked through the grief with her. I think Adam was one of my favourite characters because of how goofy and positive he was, and that meant that this book had levity it desperately needed. If there wasn't an Adam character, I reckon the feeling of hope that I got from this book wouldn't have been as prominent, so I really appreciate that. All in all, I think this was an expertly crafted story and I'm definitely keen to read more from Lauren Connolly because this was just amazing.

This was magnificent in every possible way. I’m a sucker for a MMC who yearns pathetically for the FMC; loves silently and just waits for them. What a beautiful journey these two went on together. Wow. At times I was slightly confused and felt like there could have been more clarification regarding the MMCs previous relationship, mainly because I didn’t like that I assumed there was cheating involved. If the book hadn’t been as good as it was, this might have swayed me to stop reading because of how long it took to clear that situation up. Regardless, this was a very pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with this book the way I did and after a reading slump, it perked me right back up. I’ll be reading more of this authors work.

I thought this book was beautifully written, and the ending, made me cry! I loved the characters in this book, and I loved how they supported and helped each other. I loved Maddie, and I personally thought that her grieving process was realistic and true. I also loved Dom, and his little brothers. This book deals with some sensitive issues such as the death of the fmc's brother.

4.5
This is my first book by this author and I really loved the writing. This book is filled with angst, emotion and heartfelt moments. I could really feel the heartbreak from all the characters over losing Josh. Lauren wrote the grief really well and I think the pacing and timeline worked perfectly as it felt sympathetic to the premise of the book.
Maddie and Dom had yearning for days. They had a comfort and deep understanding of one another despite being apart for years and I really enjoyed seeming them slowly pull back the walls and fall for each other once more.
Can’t say much about the ending without spoiling it but the revelations really packed a punch- the idea that people lost precious time with each other always breaks my heart but I appreciated all the stories nonetheless.
Definitely recommend!
Thank you to Katy at Quercus for sending me this one!

Thank you to NetGalley, Quercus, and Lauren Connolly for providing me with an ARC of PS: I Hate You in exchange for an honest review.

PS: I Hate You follows exes Maddie and Dom as they are tasked with fulfilling Maddie's brother and Dom's best friend, Josh's, last wish; to spread his ashes across eight states that he could not visit in his lifetime. With a letter from Josh to be opened upon reaching each destination, Maddie and Dom must overcome their differences to receive their goodbye messages.

I really wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did, I feel that the title was slightly misleading and didn't capture the heart of the book. PS: I Hate You sounds like a typical enemies-to-lovers, second-chance romance book. In reality, this book was a devastating exploration of grief and trying to hang on to the pieces of lost loved ones. Every time I put the book down, I found myself looking forward to the next time I could pick it up again. I also had to stop myself from crying at the end as well.

I thought Maddie and Dom's chemistry was good and they had funny banter with each other, but strangely the romantic aspect of this book wasn't the focal point for me.

This book was so much fun. A perfect rom-com with heart that will equally make you smile and tug at your heart. I'd not even finished this book before I was researching this author's backlog and adding them all to my TBR list. It's rare for me to find an author's writing style that I instantly love as much as this one. Lauren Connolly is an auto-buy author from here on out for me. I can't wait to see what she writes next.

Review is up on Goodreads and will be posted on Amazon Australia on release day. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book.

I’ve just finished and absolutely adored this book.

This was high in feelings, following Maddie as she’s just lost her brother and finds herself on an adventure he has left for her and his best friend, Dominic, to go scatter his ashes together. Dom also just happens to be the man that broke her heart years ago.

Not gonna lie, what Maddie really needed is some good old fashion therapy. Her behaviour, although understandable given her history, is completely self-destructive. She shuts people down instead of letting them in, so that if they leave it hurts less. There were time where it was almost painful to read - Lauren Connolly did an amazing job in writing Maddie’s character.

It’s a story of grief and sadness. And in the end, a reminder the value of life and love.

I knew by the first chapter that I was going to like this book. We opened up with the FMCs brother leaving a dying wish for his sister and best friend to take his ashes on an adventure he didn’t get a chance to. The angsty vibes I got right away had me excited to keep reading. I was like, I’m sorry what? Your brother’s best friend broke your heart years ago after one night together and now you’re being forced to spend a lot of time together on a trip around the country? And you’re going to read out letters from your dead brother at each stop, like that movie with the hot Irish guy? Nom nom nom. Get in my belly.

The “you did this” scene at the airport, the text message/email banter, the shared heartbreak of losing Josh. All *chefs kisses* 🤌🏼 I laughed. I cried. I swooned.

Thanks to #netgallery, the author and publisher for a copy of this book.

Genre: Romance (MF)
Format: Digital
POV: Single
Tropes: brothers best friend, road trip, dying wish, protective MMC that doesn’t give off “alpha” energy, grief, FMC with asthma, people who puzzle, trapped by a snow storm, one bed at the inn.
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ /5
Ending: HEA
Age suggestion: 18+

I enjoyed this read. I loved the chemistry and between the characters and well rounded back stories.
Great dialogue and banter between mcs. I did wonder about the title of the book - I don't feel it suits the seriousness of the book and was expecting it in one of the letters of emails but it didn't show up.
Overall I thought it was a good story and I'd recommend to friends.