As a big fan of the For the Love of Austen series, I was very excited to read this. And may I just say it blew my expectations out of the water. I loved every second of it other than the fact that it ended. How dare! The characters are all complex and even though the protagonist can make things difficult for herself, you’re always rooting for her. This was the type of book that reminds me why I love reading. 10/10 would get you out of a reading slump. This book quite literally cured my depression.

Bea está estudiando su segunda carrera para convertirse en abogada y, a menudo, se siente atrasada en comparación con sus compañeros, que son más jóvenes y algunos ya tienen trabajo. Mientras tanto, ella ha enviado su currículum, pero no ha recibido respuesta. Además, sus mejores amigos, a quienes ella misma presentó, están a punto de divorciarse. Pero eso no es todo: Josh ha contratado a un abogado con la intención de arrebatarle todo lo que pueda a Jillian. Siente que su vida está fuera de control, lo que la lleva a explotar contra Nathan, el abogado, y expresarle su baja opinión sobre él.

Cuando cree que su vida no podría empeorar, Nathan se convierte en su profesor durante algunas semanas. Ahora, tendrá que convivir con alguien a quien desprecia, pero pronto se dará cuenta de que no es el monstruo que pensaba, sino inteligente, buena persona y atractivo.

~

La historia es entretenida, pero fue demasiado la actitud de Bea.



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

I really enjoyed this book! I can definitely see Emily Henry fans enjoying it, it has that same sort of feel for a romance book.

Rival attorneys, relationship drama (they are working on a divorce case), funny banter, and well-developed characters. (Especially our FMC, she felt so real. She is angry about gender inequality and student loans, I really liked her!)

These characters were so much fun to read about and the writing style made it just fly by. And I really love when you can get sucked into a book and zoom through it in no time! I can easily see people reading this in a single sitting.

I am now very interested in reading more from this author and will definitely keep an eye out for more of her work (past and future).

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

This one goes out to all the angry girls, we all over our reasons, we don’t need adoring fan clubs, hundreds or friends (or even tens), we don’t need work families or large social media followings.
We just need a few key people who love us even though we are prickly because they know we will go to war for them. Yeah we fuck up, but once you’re in, you’re in.
It’s hard to get past our battle field, over the moat, through the gate and up the ramparts to storm our inner sanctum but when we meet the one who manages it, everything changes.
This book perfectly paints that picture.
Angry girl should be synonymous would hurt girl, and while no one else can heal you, you need the hope someone else brings to help you do so.
I loved this book. I know a just made a lot of grand sweeping statements and waxed poetic but just read the damn book and you’ll get it.

Loved reading this romance. Even though divorce is a difficult topic to read, I felt comfortable with the balance of new love within this book. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was my first Emily Harding book and I loved it. I found Bea to be pretty abrasive, but she seemed to have good reason. She could’ve said thank you more (or at all), when it was called for, but I liked how she supported her friends and that she found someone that saw through her belligerence and loved her and gave her space to change. Nate was great.

This one was such a cute and new plot for me. This would fall into a category of lawyer romance. I’ve never read a romance with lawyers and in a law type setting so I enjoyed that!

⚖️Lawyer romance
❤️Enemies to Lovers
⚖️Slow Burny
❤️Lots of tension

Bea is a law student. Nate is her besties soon to be exhusband’s divorce lawyer. There’s lots of attitude, tension and hostility due to the circumstances resulting in amazing chemistry. Bea’s character was definitely one of my favorites. This was my second book by Emily Harding and I’m loving the vibes her books bring!

How freaking brilliant. I need to re-read this book again because it was just so good.

I've loved Emily Harding's Jane Austen collaborations and this solo debut hit the spot. With its witty banter that had me laughing so many times, I absolutely loved the sparking chemistry between Bea and Nate and their slow-burn romance.

Bea is a fierce, protective friend whose spiky persona hides her loneliness. With her core friendship group fracturing due to one couple's contentious divorce, she throws herself into her job and finishing law school. Nate was a sweetheart, he saw Bea as she was and exceeded her low expectations of men every step of the way with his patience and care. The only downside for me was the way third-act misunderstanding was handled. The icing on the cake was the epilogue which refreshingly did not resort to the same old cliches that I detest.

A sharp and funny slow-burn romance with characters that had me captivated.

Thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

emily harding wrote this one for the angry girls and i'm all for it!

as someone who's read emma of 83rd street and elizabeth of east hampton and loved both, i knew harding would shine with her solo debut but DAMN i wasn't expecting these emotional punches this story gave me. and i like a sucker for emotional stories, i loved all of it!

how freaking romantic is much more than bea and nate's love story, but more like a love letter for all the love out there in life. that even in its simplicity, it's powerful. which i guess is one of the reasons this book felt so incredibly real to me. this story managed to make the mundane sound wonderful, and i loved that.

now, i have to say, i already know some people will have a tough time with beatrice, but they can take that up to ME! no bad comments towards here will be allowed on my watch. i loved her even in her bitterness and angry moments. i love her character and i saw myself in her several times. and i'm so happy that she found the love she deserved with nate.

also, i might have to get a tattoo for "not easy, just simple" because hello?!?!?!

Okay this book was so cute! I really loved the premise: law student falls for her best friend's ex-husband's seemingly evil hotshot divorce lawyer? Count me in, this was such an awesome ride.

Bea is a third year law student at NYU, and I absolutely loved her character. She basically embodies female rage as a defense mechanism against feeling loneliness, rejection and anxiety. For the majority of her book, she uses this anger and stubbornness to protect herself from her budding feelings for Nate.

She meets Nate when she storms into his office to give him a piece of her mind about how much he's trying to take from her best friend, only to find out he's filling in for the professor she TAs for. While she had so much animosity for Nate, it was so clear from the get-go that there were sparks and chemistry. The banter was top notch and I was obsessed with how obsessed Nate was with her - but she makes it hard for him to say the least.

The "forced" proximity moment? Ugh. I absolutely ate it up. And I'll admit I'm a sucker for a mmc that's successful and wants to take care of fmc. I also loved that there was like, healthy communication for the most part? There was a miscommunication due to a secret Bea had to keep that was honestly pretty reasonable, but I thought the way the author wrote the tension between them was very well-done. Overall this was a quick, enjoyable read and so funny and adorable.

Thank you so much to Gallery and NetGalley for this ARC!!

4.5 stars for Emily Harding’s solo debut novel. When I say that I devoured this novel in less than 24 hours, I am serious. I LOVED this book.

The chemistry in this novel between Bea and Nate is off the charts great. It was so refreshing that this novel just jumped right in; I feel like I’ve read a lot of slow burn romances lately.

Grab immediately if you love:
*** Enemies to lovers
*** Found Family
*** A gorgeous MMC that ticks all boxes
*** Holy hot first kiss

I am absolutely preordering my own copy of “How Freaking Romantic” for when it comes out in July.

Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Books for the ARC of this novel; all opinions are my own.

I can’t resist the charm of any book featuring my all-time favorite trope: enemies to lovers—and luckily, this one delivers! It’s a quick, entertaining read filled with sizzling chemistry, tension, witty banter, and the perfect dose of drama, making it a great one-sitting read.

I was close to rating this book four or even five stars, but one thing held me back—though this is purely personal, and I don’t want others to be influenced by it. The heroine’s extra bitchy and negative tone irritated me. From the very first page, the author explains why Beatrice, an NYU law student on the verge of graduating, has become so cynical about love—thanks to her mother’s endless cycle of marriages and divorces. But her relentless bickering, impulsive decisions, and refusal to listen made me roll my eyes more than once. I get it—starting life on your own while dealing with a selfish, narcissistic mother is tough—but Bea’s constant anger and pessimism, along with her never-ending inner monologues, were a bit too much for me to tolerate.

On the other hand, I truly liked Nathan Asher, despite his job as a divorce lawyer! He was patient, charming, intelligent, and incredibly understanding from the start. However, even his unwavering positivity couldn’t fully balance out Bea’s negativity, which bordered on toxic at times.

I did love their growing attraction and their fiery—not-so-cute—first meeting, where Bea storms into Nathan’s office to berate him for representing her best friend’s ex in an alimony case. That scene was explosive, but as their encounters continued to escalate into volatile arguments (thanks to Bea), I found myself thinking, Come on, let’s tone it down and be a little more civilized!

Aside from that—and a slightly unnecessary third-act misunderstanding (you know the one, since most romcoms have them)—it was still an enjoyable read. I loved the pacing, the undeniable attraction, and the blend of opposites-attract and forced-proximity tropes. I’m sure most readers will love it, even if I personally struggled with the overly aggressive heroine.

I’ve read Emily Harding before as a co-writer of Jane Austen retellings and loved each one. I’m excited to read more of her solo and collaborative works in the future!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing this intriguing romcom’s digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts

How cute! First read for me from Emily Harding. How Freaking Romantic was a really fun romance book. I’m really enjoying romance and I’ll definitely read more from this author.

The story follows Beatrice (Bea), a fiercely loyal friend and aspiring lawyer who’s always fighting for everyone else’s happily ever after—except her own. When her best friend’s marriage falls apart, Bea goes full-on warrior mode, ready to take down the opposing counsel, Nathan Asher. But here’s the twist: Nathan is annoyingly charming, unfairly attractive, and—plot twist—her new colleague at NYU Law. Cue the enemies-to-lovers tension.

The banter between Bea and Nathan is *everything*. It’s sharp, it’s snarky, and it’s so full of chemistry, you’ll be rooting for them from the first page. Bea’s fiery personality and Nathan’s calm, collected demeanor make them the perfect match, even if they’re both too stubborn to admit it. Total slow burn. The tension builds so beautifully, you’ll be screaming, “Just kiss already!” by the halfway point.

What I loved most about this book is how real it feels. Bea isn’t your typical romance heroine—she’s messy, she’s angry (rightfully so), and she’s got a lot of growing to do. Her journey of learning to prioritize herself and her own happiness is so relatable, especially if you’ve ever felt like you’re always the sidekick in someone else’s story. Nathan is the perfect balance of swoony and supportive, with just enough vulnerability to make him irresistible. I read this all in one evening!

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

The story introduces us with to Beatrice Nilsson, a woman fueled by righteous anger against societal injustices and fiercely loyal to her friends. Bea is the ultimate sidekick, the champion of other people's happiness, but her own romantic life is practically non-existent, a fact she seems perfectly comfortable with.
The story kicks off with the messy disintegration of her best friends' marriage, igniting Bea's protective instincts and leading her on a collision course with Nathan Asher, the infuriatingly attractive and intelligent lawyer representing the ex-husband. What starts as a fiery confrontation quickly morphs into a complex dynamic as Nathan unexpectedly becomes Bea's colleague at NYU Law.
Harding skillfully crafts the enemies-to-lovers trope, layering it with wit, genuine emotion, and a healthy dose of social commentary. The forced proximity situation works brilliantly, allowing Bea and Nathan's initial animosity to gradually thaw and reveal the vulnerabilities beneath their facades. The dialogue is sharp and snappy, often laced with Bea's self-deprecating humor and Nathan's dry wit, making their interactions a joy to read.
The novel explores the complexities of friendship, the challenges of prioritizing oneself, and the importance of confronting uncomfortable truths. Bea's journey is particularly compelling as she grapples with her ingrained habit of putting others first and learns to navigate the delicate balance between loyalty and personal happiness. In additional, the underlying mystery surrounding the divorce adds an extra layer of intrigue.
This book is a delightful read for fans of romantic comedies who are looking for something with a little more substance. I would highly recommend!

I LOVED this book! The writing was so witty and sharp and the characters were so relatable. I devoured this book in basically a single plane ride because I could not put it down. The author's voice really resonated with me and so did these characters!

I had high hopes for this book, but it ultimately fell short. Bea, the main female character, was pretty immature and blew up throughout the book. I’m all for a feisty heroine, but she crossed the line into cranky territory. I did like the portrayal of addiction- it’s rarely seen in romances but it is very real for a lot of people and their loved ones. However, I wish that plot line was explored a little more. All in all, this was entertaining but the character and story development was a little lacking for me. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc,

Absolutely loved this book from start to finish. Harding expertly shows that achy phase of adulthood when friendships change and morph. The romance was sizzling, and the main character was brilliantly rendered to be sharp but vulnerable.

I absolutely devoured this book from the minute the FMC Bea stormed into the MMC Nathan’s office after hearing that her best friend’s divorce lawyer received a new alimony request. From there it hit all of my favorite tropes from forced proximity to enemies to lovers and some others along the way. I can’t wait to read more from Emily Harding.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was fine - nothing earth shattering but I did enjoy it! Worth giving it a try if you like the author or the genre. It was cute!