3 ⭐️ I'm not sure how I feel about this book...

The thing is, I'm fairly certain it wasn't bad, but also I know it wasn't great so I think a three is a more than fair in between. This is a very heavy book, even if it has a lot of rom-com-y elements to it. The main plot of the book focuses on Maddie's grief surrounding her brother's death. He was her only sibling and the only family member she truly cared for and loved. After her brother's battle with cancer, she finds out during his funeral that he left letters to everyone in his close family/friend circle, including her. Except for hers, there were a couple of stipulations to meet. First, every single one of her letters was addressed to both her and his brother's best friend, Dom - the only guy Maddie has ever loved (in secret) and now hated (very publicly). Her confusion and feelings are all part of the journey, and it takes a while for us to settle into such a difficult story and dynamic, especially when there seems to be no clarification for the greater part of the book.

I think part of my problem with this book is that the whole thing was just a big, massive, huge miscommunication after the other... all paired with making slightly f**cked up choices all in the name of being a good person. The 'big explanations' we wait until the very end of the book to hear are so obvious from the beginning when we're given just a hint of how everything played out all of those years ago, that the angst just feels idiotic and convoluted for no reason, and it was more frustrating than anything else.

Still, grief and pain are very heavy topics, and I always applaud authors who do not shy away from them and respect the ever-changing nature of it all. It might not have been my favourite book, but it may be worth a read if heartbreak and grief are something you wish to explore or understand a bit better.

🌶🌶/ 5 - I didn't particularly enjoy the spice in this book. It felt like a way to keep the characters together even when they refused to talk to each other about any of the things they both knew they should. It was just s+x for all the wrong reasons... but also they were both very attracted to each other so idk.

genuinely really loved this. read this so quick i couldn’t put it down. such a beautiful and unique story. perfect mix of humour, grief, love and pining. I loved the idea of travelling to different locations to read a letter from Josh. As someone who’s experienced too much grief for anyone aged 23, this was shown so well. really loved this!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC of PS I hate you.

The book begins with the death of Maddie’s brother, Josh.
Through a series of letters, Josh tells Maddie where she should scatter his ashes. Each letter must be opened at the specific location where the ashes are to be scattered, and they must be read by her, along with Maddie’s worst enemy, Dom, who happens to be Josh's best friend.
Over time, we see the dynamic of hatred between them shift to friendship and eventually to something much deeper. The line between hate and love is thin, especially since Maddie had feelings for him back in college.

Although the book starts with a very sad event—Josh's death from cancer, a life cut short and the grief of a sister left behind—the story is captivating, and you can’t stop reading. You’re constantly eager for the next letter, wanting to know more about Josh and the reason behind his letters.
I found Maddie a bit repetitive, about her feelings for Dom and how she didn't want to take any risks although that's thank you to her mum and grandmother, both insufferable as we know them through the book, specially the mum and her love to use her social media for every event in her life, even the death of her beloved son.

By the end of the book I completely understood Maddie and the way she was.

The book was emotional and romantic and I do love a good romance. I finished in a couple of days as it was hard to not know what happened at the end.
This book will be one of my recommendations of the year and I will add Lauren Connolly to my list of favourite authors.

Best friends
Grief
Dealing with death
Family issues
Hate-Love
Country travel experiences

What a beautiful (but also sad) story! I really really enjoyed this book. <3
I loved Maddie, even though she seemed snarky and sometimes obnoxious (especially in the beginning) but I somehow connected with her. With a childhood and mother like hers who could blame her for having her insecurities? Thankfully she had her older brother Josh, and her neighbor family - the Perries.
This story was amazing in many ways, and I especially enjoyed Dom and Maddie going on the trips - the last wish of Josh, who recently passed away. Not only was it a story about grieving a loved one, it was also a second chance romance, and it did have some plot twists I didn't see coming.

I'm totally recommending this book, and I think if you've enjoyed "You, with a view" or even "PS: I love you" you'll totally love this book as well!

I tead this on Kindle. Unfortunately, it messed up the format and made it incredibly difficult and irritating to read!

So I couldn’t enjoy the reading experience because of that, but that is not the author’s fault, so i’ll try to be fair here.

It is a beautiful emotional reax that is not just a romcom. It deals with traumatic past and grief. It gets very heavy in the second half especially. I struggled feelign a connection with the characters but not sure if it’s because of the format mess or just Maddie is not a character for me.

Still, I think this book deals with important topics, so I recommend it!

3-3.5

La idea me encantó, pero el desarrollo no.

Es el tercer libro que leo en menos de cuatro días en el que el protagonista es un cobarde que elige a medio mundo antes que a la protagonista.

Odio cuando hacen de las protagonistas unas "dejadas". El tipo le aplastó el corazón, nunca le pidió perdón, ni fue su prioridad, a pesar de que juraba amarla y de que nunca dejó de hacerlo. Y la tonta de Maddie siempre le puso las cosas fáciles. Me dio pena verla lanzarse sobre él en cada oportunidad. Lo que esperaba, al menos, es que estuviera enojada y lo hiciera luchar por su amor, pero no, ella le sirvió todo en bandeja de plata.
Ella alejaba a todos y con quien debía hacerlo no lo hacía.




Spoilers ⚠️ ⚠️


Dom y Rosaline fueron novios durante años hasta que, un día, terminaron. Durante ese verano, Maddie estuvo ayudando a la familia de Dom, lo que los hizo acercarse más. Empezaron a coquetear, y Maddie pensó que esa era su oportunidad. Una noche tuvieron intimidad (sin penetración) y ella estaba feliz porque, durante años, estuvo enamorada de él. Al día siguiente, fue a visitarlo, pero se encontró con que Rosaline estaba allí y él le estaba pidiendo matrimonio.

Antes de seguir, debo mencionar a Josh, el hermano de Maddie y mejor amigo de Dom y Rosaline.

Durante siete años, Maddie se mantuvo alejada de él, pero empezaron a pasar tiempo juntos después de la muerte de Josh. En su testamento, él les pidió que repartieran sus cenizas en ocho estados, por lo que tuvieron que viajar juntos.

Como era de esperar, Maddie no había superado a Dom y al enterarse de que se había divorciado, saltó inmediatamente a sus brazos.

Durante los viajes, Maddie lo besó varias veces, pero él no hizo nada. El tipo era un adorno en la historia. Se supone que se fueron convirtiendo en amigos y luego comenzaron a dormir juntos y a salir. Pero en todo ese tiempo nunca hablaron sobre cómo él le rompió el corazón.

Maddie estaba lidiando con muchas emociones: por un lado, la pérdida de su hermano, la persona que más amaba, y por otro, intentaba tener una relación con alguien en quien no confiaba y que, estaba segura, no tardaría en regresar con su ex.

Cada uno vivía en estados diferentes, así que solo se veían durante los viajes que hacían cada ciertos meses, y se comunicaban por correos electrónicos y mensajes. En el penúltimo destino, él no apareció porque su ex necesitaba ayuda. Todos los miedos de Maddie se hicieron realidad, y ella decidió terminar la relación.

Se supone que Dom siempre estuvo enamorado de ella, así que se mudó al mismo estado. Finalmente le contó por qué la había dejado y le dijo que la esperaría.

La razón por la que se casó con Rosaline era la que ya sospechaba: ella estaba embarazada. No dudó en dejarlo todo para estar con ella, sin pensar ni por un momento en Maddie. Pero según él, la amaba, aunque su responsabilidad con Rosaline era lo primero. Un mes después de casarse, Rosaline sufrió un aborto. En lugar de solucionar las cosas, pedirle perdón a Maddie y demostrarle que era a ella a quien realmente amaba, decidió hacer funcionar su matrimonio. Durante seis o siete años fue feliz, pero cuando se enteraron de que Josh tenía cáncer, se dio cuenta de lo corta que es la vida. A pesar de amar a su esposa, su matrimonio se había vuelto cómodo, y él quería algo más. Uno pensaría que, después del divorcio, iría a buscar a Maddie, pero no fue así. La única razón por la que se dieron una nueva oportunidad fue por Josh. ¿Cómo se supone que crea que siempre la amó si ni siquiera fue capaz de irla a buscar?

Y su gran gesto de mudarse al mismo estado y esperar por ella, no tuvo chiste porque fue lo unico que hizo, se veian y él la saludaba todo seco. Se supone que quién tenía que dar el siguiente paso era ella porque él ya había hecho su parte. ????

3.5 Stars

P.S. I Hate You is an emotional story with an interesting premise and dark humour.

Maddie's beloved brother, Josh, has died of cancer, and in his will asks her to travel to specific locations across America he never got to visit to spread his ashes. There are eight locations and eight final letters from Josh to read at each place. The crux thought is Maddies has to do it with Josh's best friend Dominic. However, Dom and Maddie have a past. One in which Dom broke her heart.

Where this book shone was the portrayal of Maddie's grief in all it's messiness and the poignancy of the last wish Josh bequeath to Maddie and Dom. Every journey they went on and letter they read, I cried to much. Josh was a fantastic character and he really came across in the letters and the memories of the characters which is an impressive feat of the author.

The central romance was weaker. The banter was not strong and the chemistry between the characters wasn't always on the page. It felt more like telling than showing the actually attraction and chemistry between the FMC and MMC. There were glimpses and moments, but not enough to carry the whole romance for me. There is a good amount of spice in this book, but sometimes it came across a little robotic and felt like it was there was only for spices sake and didn't actually serve a purpose to further the story or characters. Which is fine. I ended up reading it for what it is was, but for me to truly invest or enjoy a story, I like a little more out of it than that.

Overall, I enjoyed this book though I preferred the grief and Josh's final wish storyline more engrossing and poignant than the central romance. I would recommend the book solely for this aspect of the book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus Books for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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!