Not convinced...

As an oscar-winning documentary director, Lexi think she choose whatever project she wants. But when she is asked to postpone her dreams to shoot a documentary about Rebel Heart, a boy band, she is not happy. And when she meets band-member Aidan, it gets worse. He's egotistical, impulsive, untitle, and doesn't want anything to do with the documentary and her. How is she supposed to film a documentary when the band keeps making it harder for her? And why is she attracted to this unsufferable man?

I have mixed feelings about this book, to be honest. I enjoyed the beginning, to be honest. It was an intriguing start and I usually really like romances with a famous love interest. However, around the middle, some things made me almost DNF. First of, some reflexions felt slightly racist or homophobic at times, but that could simply be clumsy writing. But as it went on, I started really not liking the main character. I felt like she did really stupid things with no explanations, and I rolled my eyes a few times because it felt ridiculous. And she felt very intrusive and not safe at all several times, which the other characters forgave too fast and easily for my taste. I didn't like how she mingled in her friends' relationships when she was making a mess of her own love life. Some things felt too surreal for me and the way it was solved too easy. The writing was a bit off at times too, but that's just personal taste. All in all, I wasn't convinced by this story, mainly because the female main character was very annoying and the love interest quite bland at times. It just wasn't for me, I guess.

I don't necessary recommend this, but just because it didn't fit my vibe.

“Love will make you do irrational things. Love is a riptide, Lexi. It will pull you under and have you gasping for air. Love can suffocate you.”

* I want to start by thanking the author and publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. I enjoyed it!

Yet another amazing book by Emma Rae. The way she writes is so enticing it’s hard to put the book down.

Elements of enemies to lovers, angst and tension had me hooked from the beginning.

A brilliant read.

Another smash from Enma Rae! Loved it. The boyband revival setting was interesting and fresh, and Lexi was a sassy female lead.

Having read Emma's debut novel, I knew I had to read this. And it didn't disappoint. Lexi, a smart confident, takes no crap from no-one girl, and Aidan, a sensitive soul with a very hard exterior meet in the most demanding of ways. Aidan doesn't want Lexi there, and even Lexi doesn't want to be there. Yet spending time together they see the real person behind the exterior they have to display for their jobs. I found myself cheering for them both while falling in love with both. I also have a piece of my heart for Ravi!
It appears Emma can't write a bad novel and I can't wait to read what's next from her. (I do think this requires a sequel.... please!)

This book was a good read. It took me a while to get hooked on the story but once I got there, I finished it in one sitting. The story is all about Lexi, an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker who is forced to make a film about Rebel Heart—a boy band. But as she dives into their world, things get messy and honestly a bit dramatic.

The tension is intense, and when they finally start to connect, it’s a little more satisfying (although not very believable since the MMC was very keen on childish behavior to get her fired). What I liked most about this book was the plots of the secondary characters. I wish we saw more of Paige and her connecting with maybe… Miller? Also, if I’m being honest, the FMC was a little hard to connect to, felt at times like she felt superior and stubborn and honestly didn’t like the work ethics part either.

Tropes found here: enemies to lovers, celebrity romance and forced proximity ✨

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I loved Lexi, she was brilliant as an ambitious woman who was focused on work.
It took a while for me to warm up to Aiden and I couldn’t see what Lexi saw in him as he was so horrible! Fortunately he won me over and I became completely invested in not only Lexi’s and Aiden’s story, but also the individual members of the band…I loved them all!
I would definitely recommend I Knew You Were Trouble.

Loved the premise of a boy band, BTS documentary and an older female lead character.

The tropes of sunshine/grumpy and enemies to lover were enjoyable. There was good banter and some interesting characters. Overall a fun holiday read.

Thank you Hera Books and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review.

This was a super cute enemies to lovers romance com that hooked be from the very beginning. I loved the characters and thought they had great dialogue.

This wasn’t terribly bad but it also wasn’t good. Middle of the road. The spicy scenes were kinda cringe filled. As were the scenes with Lexi talking about hidden cameras. Surely she knew her behavior was foul. The boy band idea was cute but it was unnecessary to have Miller acting the way he did. The book could have stayed sweet and worked better.

I Knew You Were Trouble is a spicy enemies-to-lovers romance that kept me hooked from start to finish! Lexi, the talented and determined documentary director, initially has zero interest in following boy band Rebel Heart on their reunion tour. But when she meets Aidan, the band’s egotistical yet undeniably charming frontman, things take a turn. Their chemistry is electric, and the tension between them is delicious. I loved the way their antagonistic relationship slowly evolves into something more complex and passionate. Aidan’s impulsive, entitled nature clashed perfectly with Lexi’s guarded and emotionally distant personality, creating sparks at every turn. The enemies-to-lovers trope is executed wonderfully, with both characters growing and opening up as they face their pasts and develop a deeper connection.

I'm not sure if this was supposed to be grumpy/sunshine at the beginning because I was struggling to see who was the sunshine when they were forced to work together and neither were too happy about it. I was worried I wasn't going to enjoy the book because right from the outset I disliked both of the main characters.

Luckily the characters were well developed as the story continued and showed complexity. What might have seemed like a shallow, awkward and disagreeable (but beautiful - obviously) MMC at the beginning became more likeable as the story progressed.

I couldn't help but compare the story to the recent film "The idea of you". The older female, younger male, him the unofficial band leader, him British... I found the film very repetitive with the female to-ing and from-ing her decision. I appreciated the FMCs ability to be more decisive.

Overall it was an enjoyable and easy to read novel I would recommend to anyone wanting a slightly spicy romance novel.

This was great. I was especially impressed with the side character and subplot developments. Each of the five members of the boy band had a distinct personality and their own arc. Along with the constantly shifting settings (their own a world tour), the many mini subplots ensured I was never bored. Main characters were also multi-dimensional and had great chemistry.

(Potential minor spoiler ahead.)

My one grievance is that I couldn't understand why he forgave her in the end. We're told it's because he liked the final doc. Ok, cool...that doesn't negate the pretty huge breaches of privacy and trust he was angry about in the first place. Also, the wrong party performed the grand gesture...

But, much like Aidan, I forgive easily and would still recommend this to anyone who likes celebrity romances in general.

I definitely got sucked right into this book and spent a couple late nights finishing it! The premise is fun and the characters, while flawed, make it a fun read. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book had potential at first but omg Lexi is so fucking annoying and selfish,all she cares about is herself and no one else her character irrated me so much and her being the MC make me hate the book about and not give a fuck about the Romance.
I think I only liked Ravi in this book but yeah I was so bored and annoyed and skimmed alot as I couldn't care less ,the writing has potential tho.

I really liked this but the characters for the most part were unbearable and passed flawed which held back the rating for it unfortunately

Okay, so I couldn’t finish this book. The world was too shallow where characters were did what they wanted, not having self control or any kind of depth in their life.
Also it was bit boring, I got to the 30 % of it and plot was starting from there. So not my book.
Only good thing was how book was placed mainly UK and commonwealth countries, so more drawn to that. It was refreshing.

Thank you NetGalley for an early release of this book for an honest review. Lexi is a successful documentary director who gets roped into directing a documentary about a boy band. I enjoyed how Lexi was able to get each band member to dig deep and trust her with their honest interviews. The book was interesting and I enjoyed the writing style.

This was a decent book - not really anything special, or emotionally-packed, but it was a rom-com and it was sweet.

Lexi is a lovely character; she's relatable and all she's trying to do is her best - even though she's a bit of a mess! She's vibrant and charismatic which goes a long way with getting her in with the group. Aidan at first comes across as a really miserable jerk, but as the book progresses it's easier to see as how he shows his protective side. He's very slow to warm up and let loose - but he's a sweetheart at the absolute heart of it all.

The book did throw me for a bit as I was very confused as to if there were missing chapters as there was just some harmless flirting and then bam - insta-love. That's not my favorite trope to begin with and it was so sudden & abrupt that it really was difficult to read.

Aside from that the writing style was really addictive and it flowed so beautifully, and was just really enjoyable. I also absolutely adored how Emma Rae wrote Aidan - this is a single POV yet you truly get such a feel for Aidan - how he feels, what he feels, what he thinks - it's really nicely done. The 3rd act breakup drove me absolutely insane, as I just absolutely cannot stand the great majority of how they are written - this one however, I was able to see the point and what resulted was truly beautiful (the reconciliation).

I really enjoyed this one and have put Emma Rae on my must read list from now on!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hera Books for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fairly enjoyable read and what I'd describe as an "okay" book.

The premise sounded really fun - an Oscar winning documentary film maker stuck with a boy band she has zero interest in, until she falls for one them.

I really enjoyed the sub plots and side characters in this and I really liked how the boys in the band and Lexi's relationship developed. The side characters and especially Duncan (I would 100% read Duncan's book!) kept me interested enough to keep going, The main attraction was a bit meh for me though. I struggled to feel any real chemistry between Lexi and Aidan or really understand their attraction to each other at all. I couldn't really figure out why Aidan suddenly seemed to want her so badly out of nowhere and she fell for him way too fast considering everything that leads up to it.

I also didn't warm to Lexi. I loved her at the start, this great documentary film maker who won an Oscar for a really important piece. I loved that she wanted to do a documentary on fast fashion because she was so passionate about the environment, but that's NEVER spoken about in the book again. No comment about how many outfits the boys get through or how their merch is destroying the planet. She even goes out to buy a new dress and shoes at one point to impress Aidan, and it just felt off for a character who's supposed to be an environmental activist. I also did not love the whole lying and filming people without permission aspect to the story. I'm all for flawed characters who make mistakes but if I was dating someone who was secretly filming me without my permission for a documentary I don't think I'd personally ever get past that. That is a huge betrayal of trust without any good reason apart from "it would be great footage".

This book also felt very formulaic to me, from the plot to the sex scenes, and it just felt like I was skimming the surface the whole time. Lots of telling rather than showing. There are also situations that have caused characters a lot of trauma and pain that get resolved very conveniently out of nowhere. It felt quite predictable and a bit like ticking off all the beats in a romance novel.

But while I had some gripes, I did still kind of enjoy this, and I would maybe recommend to younger readers (maybe early 20s) who were super into boy bands!

3.5 stars!

Thank you NetGalley, Hera Books and Emma Rae for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.