Soul Hate is Hannah Kingsleys adult romantasy debut, and it had a lot of really awesome things going for it.


What I enjoyed:

•The premise is so unique and interesting. Every person is born with two Fated, a soulmate and a soul hate. One is destined to love you, and the other is destined to destroy you. Most people never meet their fated, but Renza meets her Soulhate in one of her political rivals son Idris. They instantly hate each other and have to fight constantly to avoid killing each other to fulfill their fates.

•The political aspect of this book as fast paced and well done. The world building was based on Ancient Rome and Greece as far as the democratic ruling system and culture was concerned. I felt like the author did a great job at showing (not telling) readers how much Renza loved her city and wanted to be a good leader.

•The tension between Renza and Idris in the last 25% of the book was delicious! Having to fight your instinctual disgust/gods given hatred to act on your attraction is such a new idea and it really worked for me.


What I didn’t love:

•This was marketed to me as a romantasy, but it felt like this was a political fantasy instead. Romance had very little to do with it, and the main romantic love scene about 40% through the book was the FMC with a different man. Idris and Renza, who were marketed as the enemies to lovers, didn’t speak more than 2-3 times before the 60%. Most of the romantic buildup and scenes were between Renza and her childhood friend. Since the book was marketed using Renza and Idris’ relationship, this felt unnecessary and took a lot away from their emotional connection.

•The pacing on the end felt a little rushed, like so much time was spend on buildup that nothing was left for the big reveal and conclusion. After I realized that politics were the main star of the show, I wanted to see how they played out.

•This is nitpicky, but the word “creamy” was used to describe stone and rock 15(!!!) times in 344 pages. Believe me, that’s a lot when you’re reading it. 🫠


Overall I think this is a solid debut. Hannah Kingsley has a distinct voice and a great imagination. I’m interested to see where she takes this series 🩷

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

The concept of this book once I saw it was so up my street and I was so excited. With soul mates so popular in fiction these days, it was refreshing to have the opposite as the basis for the book. Hannah Kingsley excelled at the world building and the politics, however sadly the book felt a bit flat and one dimensional, especially with some of the characters. Overall I feel like this could have been so much more.

En un mundo donde todos tienen una soulmate y una soulhate, al encontrarte con tu alma gemela todo será bueno, pero si te cruzas con tu alma de odio, será la muerte para alguno de los dos, ya que al verlo, entrarás en modo combate y no pararás hasta que uno mate al otro. Renza no quiere encontrar ninguna de las dos, solo desea dejar de estar bajo la sombra de su padre, que la tomen en serio en la política, hacer que Halice sea una buena ciudady cuidar de sus cuidadanos. Sin embargo, su peor pesadilla se hace realidad cuando ve a su soulhate, Idris, quien resulta ser su rival en la política. Ahora, tendrá que mantenerse alejada y luchar contra su instinto, porque nada la hará dejar de lado sus metas, y le demostrará a todos que es posible vivir con un soulhate.

Pronto, las cosas se complican aún más cuando alguien intenta matarla, y tendrá que descubrir quién lo ha hecho y por qué. Para ello, se verá obligada a hacer equipo con sus amigos y con Idris. ¿Serán capaces de trabajar juntos sin intentar matarse?

~

Me gustó la idea, se me hizo interesante. Era muy obvio quién era el traidor, pero con todo lo que estaba pasando, era evidente que Renza no se diera cuenta, ya que no estaba en el mejor estado mental. Lo único que no me gustó fue el final, ya que fue apresurado y me quedaron algunas dudas en cuanto a su relación con Idris.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a refreshingly interesting read! You always hear about soulmates, but never do you hear about soul hates. I loved the concept and knew that this would be right up my alley.
The world-building and political intrigue were central to this story and I loved delving into it, even if I could smell the betrayal from a mile away.
I loved Renza and how she was never afraid to speak her mind, even amongst political turmoil. I also loved the soul hate concept and the relationship between Renza and Idris - how they’re forced to work together for the greater good.
The world was incredibly immersive and really beautifully written. My only critique was that it would have been great to see just a little more of that enemies to lovers/soul hate relationship come forward in the middle/end of the book. There was definitely a missed chance for a little Mr and Mrs Smith-esque love/hate fight then make up scene! But that’s also just personal preference.

i quite liked this one. the FMC was awesome and the MMC was definitely interesting, although the villains were a hair flat. the story was great. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

If you love enemies to lovers you’ll love this!!
I loved the idea of a Soulhate, the person you are fated to hate and kill and I was super excited to see how the romance will play out with that aspect because in the beginning I was really unsure how that will work out, but loved how it did!
I really enjoyed the political intrigue and how Renza was not afraid to speak up about her opinion even if I saw the betrayal coming before she did, I totally understand why she didn’t (want to) realize!
I also really loved the side characters and the relationship dynamics between them and finding out more details about them throughout the story.
The ending felt a little bit rushed and I would’ve loved more details in that regard and the beginning was a little slowish but it just sets up the story so it was fine in my opinion!
All in all really enjoyed reading this, giggled at the romance and was excited to see how their plans turn out.

I am OBSESSED with the concept of a Soulhate. I mean, why have a soulmate and not a soulhate?

This story had me sitting on the edge of my seat and excited with every twist and turn. And their banter!!

I’m not big on enemies to lovers, but this definitely did it right!

Wow. This was an extremely powerful, attention grabbing book. I think we need a book like this in this day and age here in the US, though I fear it's words would be in danger of being banned, but that's what makes it all the more useful and powerful of a book. It was impossible to put down, and flowed smoothly from one point to another. I really enjoyed the enemies to lovers aspect; it really felt like they were true enemies to lovers, and I loved that they didn't immediately love one another. In fact, they were fated to hate one another, and they fell in love anyways. The characters were loveable and diverse and I enjoyed all the side characters that were meant to be enjoyed. My only qualm with the entire book is that in the blurb, it says that they end up falling in love, but that sort of ruins the twist villain in my eyes. If the it was left ambiguous, it would seem that much more surprising when the twist villain was revealed. Instead I sat there hating one of the side characters because I just knew. I could tell. And that really took away my enjoyment of the villain plot.

This book was a 3.75 for me. I read it super quickly, but I feel like it was extremely predictable which I do not really enjoy. I feel like I am really easy to please as a reader, I always give 4-5 stars and hardly rate books lower than a 4. But this one I could see the ending from a mile away. I really enjoyed the concept of everyone having a soulhate and a soulmate but I felt like there could have been a better twist likkkke Idris is the soulhate and soulmate, that would have been something I did not expect coming. I liked all the characters and felt that they were all very likable, I did have issues with the character arc of the FMC, Renza. I feel like she was supposed to be this super smart bad *ss politician who got elected to the government at 16 but was so easily tricked by the villain. I felt for how smart she was supposed to be she should have caught all the red flags. There were moments where things were blatantly obvious, and she did not see it until she overheard the entire evil plan. Even when she was being tricked, she was so naive and easy to control it drove me insane. But I feel like even with her grief the way her character was supposed to be that her sense of justice would be amplified with her grief. Instead, she allowed someone to make decisions for her and enact their evil whims. The love stories that began to bloom towards the end made the book more bearable and I felt that Renza was starting to get her fire back and stopped acting so impulsively.
I am not sure Kingsley's writing style is my thing; she spent way too long in every moment describing the building or area they were in, and it was paragraphs worth. I find that annoying and boring. I do not need you to spend 3 paragraphs describing plants and windows. I cannot tell if this was a standalone or first book as it ends open ended but I would read the next book, but I definitely won't be rushing to read it.

Thank you NetGalley and One More Chapter for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I hoped to like it but I couldn't seem to get into. I enjoyed the world building but not so much the story and characters.

I loved the concept of this with a Soul Hate (the flip side of a Soul Mate) and that was a really clever way to put it (as it makes perfect sense!). Even better when the book is centred around falling for the one person you are meant to hate / destroy (naturally!), enter Renza and Idris! This was such a unique plot and loved the fantasy and world building and enemies-to-lovers is one of my favourite tropes. I found the style of writing easy to follow and loved the descriptions of the places throughout the book that really helped my imagination picture vividly what was going on. I thought it was interesting watching them play out and how Renza's resistant to developing feelings for Idris changed over time and although part of me was a bit disappointed that the ending wasn't more solid in terms of them getting together long term due to Renza's work commitments, it was also good because it shows that she is also able to see past the rose tinted glasses and at that time, regardless of her feelings for Idris, she was able to stand up and say she wanted to focus on her career instead, which is fair enough and actually quite refreshing!!

Soul Hate is a Roman history inspired fantasy about a world where everyone has a Soul Mate and a Soul Hate. One fated love and one fated enemy, but the chances of meeting them are extremely rare. Our FMC is a young politician who finally meets her Soul Hate and is forced to work with him when a tragedy strikes the city and decimates the goverment.
Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter for the opportunity to read and review this book which I am giving 2.5⭐️.
This book started strong but once the actual political plot line started things slowed down to the point where I lost all interest in the book. None of the characters were particularly compelling and the by 75% of the book I was ready for it to be over.

This was good. A little slow in parts, but definitely a recommended read if you're into this type of genre.

Fantasy and enemies to lovers? Yes, please! This was such a great read! I thoroughly enjoyed Renza and Idris and their contemptuous relationship. So much fun!

I got this book for an honest opinion from netgalley.

I loved the concept of the book and would recommend it to everyone who loves Illona Andrews. It has a very similar vibe. I loved Renza and Idris's abiding hate through the book and it was kept till the end instead of magically disappearing.
I personally loved the political subplot, but my only gripe would be that Renza and Idris didn't get a lot of on page +tve. I would have loved it even in the end. My assumption is there is a book2 coming and it was needed to keep their chemistry under wraps.

I would definitely pick up book2. I loved the author's writing style.

I wanted to like this more than I actually did, but overall this was not a bad book. I feel very torn about it however, so I'll break down what I loved and what...not so much.
What I liked:
-The original concept of SoulHate. The idea makes for a rather sticky situation altogether when we have political enemies.
-The writing. Overall, Kingsley shows a lot of promise as a writer and her descriptions of the world she built were quite vivid.
-Idris. The chemistry between Idris and Renza was quite off the charts at times, and some of the best written scenes were the ones he was in.
What I was meh over...
-The political subplot. I felt that the political subplot overshadowed how much Idris and Renza shone, and I found myself wishing there was more time with them.
-The other characters. They were all one big fat MEH. Give me Idris with Renza...please.
-Not digging deep enough into the SoulHate lore. There was opportunity for gold here, as Renza and Idris were defying fate and working together for the greater good. But...once again, the political plot took over everything like a great big ink stain.
Bottom Line:
Good idea and structure, but it could have been executed better. Some elements were woefully underused, while Kingsley concentrated too much on things I really didn't care about.

Enjoyable and likeable but i didn't really enjoy the plot. It was quite slow sometimes and was hard to get into at first. Overall, i might recommend!

Enemies to… Enemies?

In a world where one might find their soulmate, they are just as likely to find their soulhate.

Soul Hate follows Renza Di Maineri, a young official, as she navigates the frigid waters of politics… and the impulsive urge to murder Idris Patricelli. The Di Maineri and Patricelli families are prominent members of the Electi, Halice’s governing body, and have long found themselves on opposing sides. Unfortunately for them, Fate enjoys a good laugh. When Idris returns to Halice and triggers the soulhate bond, Renza must decide if the urge to claw his eyes out is stronger than her devotion to Halice.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3.5/5

I would rate Soul Hate a 3.5 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed this read and the delightful twist Hannah Kingsley put on the “fated-mates” trope! Why have a lover when you can have an enemy? Or both??

Throughout most of the story the romance remains a subplot, drawing readers’ focus to the political rivalry. However for me, this only further emphasized the connection between our main characters Renza and Idris. Hannah’s writing is also very immersive, making it easy to imagine Halice and all of its beauty. The Garden quickly became my favorite place with its emphasis on art and science within communities! I also appreciated the diversity and LGBTQ+ representation among both the main and supporting characters in this story. The story itself was well-paced and came to a nice conclusion that I can accept as being the end. But, it does leave me wondering if we’ll be seeing Renza and Idris again? Overall, I found Soul Hate to be a fun, quick read. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy a good rivalry!

(Thank you NetGalley, Harper Collins, & Hannah Kingsley for this opportunity!)

“Violence is the mark of a weak man’s truth.”
~~
This book has a slower pace to it, but a really cool storyline. Love the idea of a SoulMate and a SoulHate. It was very interesting. Characters were interesting and likable. Overall a very cool storyline, honestly could put it down. It had me intrigued the whole time.
Thank you @netgalley hannahkingsleyauthor @onemorechapterhc for allowing me to read an EARC.

Absolutely could not put this down! The whole concept of a "soulhate" turns the more familiar trope of "soulmate" on its head. Great characters and fast-paced story.