Trying Not To Love You

Trying Not to Love You is a book by Amabile Giusti and translated in to English.
It’s the story of Penny, she works in a bar at night and looks after her Gran who suffers from dementia in the day.
Penny is timid and scared and having issues with a customer in the bar.
One night she meets a new resident to her apartment building. Marcus is like no one she has ever met before. He’s rude, crude, on parole and she can’t resist him.

I will be honest, this wasn’t what I expected it to be at all from the description. It also came under the genre “Romance” on NetGalley.
This book is not my idea of romance at all. It’s more erotic fiction and for that reason I struggled with it. I very nearly gave up on it. Had I not received it as an ARC to review I would probably have given up on it.
For the majority of the book I didn’t like either of the main characters. I thought Penny was pathetic and weak and Marcus was vile but in sticking with the book I was introduced to The Malkovich’s and Sherrie and start to learn a bit more about Marcus and why he is the way he is.
Overall it wasn’t a bad storyline and I liked the ending. This type of book is not for me though.

Thank you to the Author, Publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Trying Not To Love You is a beautiful romance novel. This is my first book by :Amabile Giusti and I loved it. This is only the second translated work by the Italian author, but I will definitely take a look at When In Rome next.

Penny is in her twenties and still lives with her grandmother, Barbie. Her life basically evolves around tenting to her grandmother's needs and balancing her two jobs. When Marcus moves in the apartment upstairs her mundane routine is starting to get threatened. The rude delinquent is out on parole and not interested in anything Penny has to offer, that is until both of them need a favor from the other. Now they're forced to spend time together and the walls Marcus has put up are slowly crumbling down.

Barbie is adorable, and while her story is only secondary, I couldn't help but feel empathy and grief for her own love story. Penny is a simple girl, with so much more to give than a first impression may tell. She grows in confidence throughout the story and I enjoyed seeing that. Marcus is a possessive alpha with a dark past, who has trouble opening up to people. He merely sees women as objects to meet his needs, and is thrown off by the emotions Penny is able to get out of him. His growth was the most exciting part of the story. Marcus emotions and actions are complicated and truly tragic. His relationships to Penny and Francisca, especially at the end made me cry some serious ugly tears. I felt like my heart was breaking by the misunderstandings and unspoken words.

"Love is that golden four-leaf clover, that warm blanket, that distant music, that miracle which comes back one evening at sunset, when everything seems lost forever, and makes you feel eternal because someone out there has never forgotten you."

The chapters are mostly written in the past tense third person with a focus on Penny, but the book is interspersed with chapters in the present tense first person POV from Marcus (and Francisca at the end). I loved Penny's chapters, but wasn't a big fan of Marcus'. His POV was merely a rough retell of what we already know from Penny's chapters, not giving us a whole lot of new information and I don't quite understand the switching of time from past to present. In my opinion it messed with the flow of the timeline.

Overall the plot was just beautifully tragic. There were a few scenes that made me laugh, but it was mostly serious and heavy read, leaving me with lots of thoughts and a swelling heart.

I’m not sure if there was a lot lost in translation but this story had a lot of potential. The main contention I had (besides how gross of a person Marcus was) was that it was narrated in third person from what looked to be Penny’s POV and thoughts and it was first person from Marcus’ POV. Then at the end it thew in a few more people’s POVs and that threw me even more. This was a roller coaster and if you like that and shock value, you will like this book. It just wasn't for me.

Penny basically fell in love with this guy after he treats her terribly and bangs random girls in front of her and tells her he is leaving her in a few weeks when his girlfriend gets out of prison. WHAT? She just can’t help herself. She showed no strength through the book and that made me sad.

I can’t even begin to talk about Marcus without wanting to be sick. Yes he was messed up because of childhood but I’m sorry that doesn’t give you the right to treat people the way he did. Even so, maybe this could be real life but, there was no love story here or romance.


The translation possibly had something to do with the way things were worded and I looked past that because it was written in Italian first, but the whole plot of the book was just not for me. It was crude, confusing and the characters were severely lacking.

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for allowing me to read this book early for my honest review, I just wish I liked it a lot more.

I start by saying that for me, reading this book remains a rollercoaster ride, a ride on and off of strong emotions.

I know the author, besides being a person with a good heart, I 've had the opportunity to meet her in person and I want to say that she writes really, really, really well.

I love all her books, I am Italian, so I've read almost all her works. I only miss the fantasies she writes under another name.

But going back to the book.

Marcus and Penelope are at the antipodes, she's sweet and kind to everyone, pure beauty. He's sexy as hell, with a turtle in the right place and tattoos covering his skin.

She feels attraction for him, it's inevitable, but Marcus with his rough and wild behaviour tries to push her away, but with poor results.

Penny is aware that she is not the right woman for him, but going on the two get closer, they get to know each other, their paths meet and their hearts start beating in unison.

Needless to deny that every time, with all the books of Amabile Giusti, I feel butterflies in my stomach.

Amabile Giusti has a masterful way of narrating, to the envy of many readers. She, with a simple story, knows how to shock me. The book is write from the both point of view.

If you haven't read anything about this author yet, I absolutely advise you to catch up.

You won't regret it!

I'm not sure how to describe this book? The characters were Idk kind of weird? I guess? It was an odd book for me! Penny was an odd quirky girl and Markus was kind of mean lol Idk I'm at a loss of words for this book although I did enjoy reading this book it was just strange for me?! So I do recommend reading it to see what you think?! Lol thank you NetGalley and the publishers for sharing this book with me!

I got confused a lot of times reading this book. Overally it was a good book that is quite enjoyable for the greater part

This book made me have a love/hate relationship with Marcus as he meets Penny and their “relationship” forms. There were a couple parts where I laughed out loud and more than one part that tore my heart out. This story is one that had me from beginning to end to find out what happens next.

My emotions were all over the place with this book. In the end, I’m very happy I finished it and the ending was put together very nicely and definitely helped my final thoughts on the book. Even though this book is translated it was still written very well and was easy to follow. It follows Penny, a girl whose life is busy working two jobs and taking care of her Grandma with dementia, meeting her new neighbor Marcus who just got out of jail. They do not get off to a good start but when Penny asks for Marcus’ help - they inevitably have to spend more time together. She starts realizing she may have feelings for the ex-con, as rude and brash as he may be.
For the first 1/3 of the book I was ready to DNF it. I hated how Marcus was treating Penny; I hated the way he told her he wouldn’t have sex with her even if his life depended on it. I didn’t like how, in spite of Marcus saying rude things, Penny still was overly nice to him and didn’t get offended when he treated her like trash. As the book progressed and the characters grew and changed I started to warm up to them and wanted to see how this book wrapped up. The reader can see Penny growing into a confident woman who won’t put up with shit from guys and Marcus grows and tries to allow himself to let down his guard a little more. I liked at the end there were a couple different perspectives put in, other than just Penny and Marcus’, to show their relationship from an outside view and really tie the ending together. Over all the ending was well thought out and put together and made me happy that after my initial thoughts I still gave it a chance.

This was an odd duck of a book. As other reviewers have noted, it's hard to see what draws the novel's heroine, Penny, to our hero, Marcus. Beyond his (per Penny) physical beauty, he's a rude, chain-smoking, selfish bruiser with anger management issues. Initially, I had no idea where this story was set--it seemed like a vaguely anonymous city, maybe London--so I was surprised when well into the book the author tells us the setting is Connecticut. The characters also speak like Europeans: At one point, Penny went for a "weekly food shop," instead of "going to the grocery store" or supermarket to get groceries. (These quibbles might be the result of something lost in translation, perhaps?) The book also changes voice a lot: Most of the book is written in third-person, but three characters chime in throughout with first-person chapters; this is problematic primarily because we often go back in time in the narrative, reading the exact same events again through a different voice. This slowed down the story's momentum.

With all of that said, I cared about Penny. I also came to care about that rude chainsmoker of a man she loved, Marcus. I was invested in them, and rooting for them, because the author made them come alive for me. This book IS an odd duck, but different isn't bad.

The cover is lovely, btw.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

My apologies but this book did not capture my interest and I gave up and did not finish about 1/3rd of the way through the book. I love books that are romances with a hint of danger but this one just did not capture my interest. My apologies.

I read this book really quickly but I’m not sure I’d say it was all that enjoyable. I didn’t like the repetition of having POV from Marcus after having read it all once already.
I get the broken bad boy is a great romance character but this version wasn’t appealing to me.
I did enjoy their romance and the HEA ending

Okay, so I finished reading this romantic fiction, a steamy one. I like reading love stories. And I like the plot of Trying Not to Love You. It has potential. It's a translated work and like the writing style, even though certain chapters are too descriptive. But as I kept reading, two things started to bother me:

1. Portrayal of Marcus. It's hard to like a love story if I don't like the male protagonist. And I didn't really like the portrayal of this character in the beginning. The kind of things he says...Maybe it's translation or Or maybe it was done on purpose to make it a little erotic, but it really bothered me. However, his behaviour changes with time, transforms in fact...But you know what I mean.

2. The PoV. The story has been told from multiple points of view (mainly dual). I understand that a story told from multiple PoV has its own advantage and purpose but what annoyed me is, the same scenes have been told from the different points of view. It makes it repetitive, so much that sometimes I skipped certain pages, almost sure that I could read the same thing from Marcus's point of view. And I wasn't wrong.

Overall, it was a quick, entertaining. At certain places, it's really nice. I liked the ending. You would like it if you like reading romance, and if could ignore above mentioned points.

Thank you, Netgalley for the ARC.

I was pretty excited to read this on because I thought I'd really connect and like the main character. Instead this turned out to be more erotica than romance. That's not an issue except when you're in the mood for a romance and end up with a lot of nakedness.

Trying Not to Love You by Amabile Giusti is a romance book that was translated into English.
I honestly had a hard time getting into this book. I think maybe details were lost in the translation. It is a story about a girl named Penny, she works in a bar but also takes care of her Gran who suffers from dementia.

I think the idea of the story had potential but it was missing something.

ARC provided from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I am sorry to say this book just wasn’t for me. I am not sure why, but I just could not get into the characters and so it just wasn’t that enjoyable for me.

Thank you Net, Montlake and Amabile Giusti for the ARC.

This book was an okay read for me. I feel like there may have been some of the story lost in translation. I did not like the characters all that much, especially Marcus, but I was able to finish the book. It could definitely use an epilogue. Overall, I don't know that I would read it again, but it was an somewhat enjoyable book. It had the potential to be more, but it fell a little short for me.

Thanks so NetGalley and Montlake for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: ⁣
Gonna keep this short and sweet! I rated this ⭐️⭐️.5/5 stars!⁣
I started reading this and actually wasn’t a huge fan... It was cheesy, childish, and seemed to have a lot of pointless drama. It almost seemed like the beginning half of the book had been written by a teenager and then the last half was written by someone more mature. I think the last 40% of the book redeemed it for me and I ended up liking the way it ended! It wasn’t a perfect love story by any means but I tend to enjoy that more than the unrealistic fairy tale ones anyways. ⁣
Overall, not the best romance I’ve ever read but certainly not the worst! I also want to note that this was originally written in Italian and some of the charm of the book could’ve potentially been lost in the translation. ⁣
⁣
𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧! ⁣
⁣

Overall it was a good book and I enjoyed a lot of it, but I have some big problems:
1) The writing style. I don't know if maybe I wasn't paying too much attention to what was happening, but the story was confusing and hard to understand some times. It was also a little repetitive.
2) the romance pace. Our heroine falls in love quite quickly, which make it kinda unbelievable. Perhaps this also has to do with the fact that it is classified as "romance" but I would say that it is more like an erotic novel.
3) our hero. Not that I didn't like him as a character, but some of the things he said... yikes. This is directly related to the fact that it is an erotic novel and that is not my forte and it made me a bit uncomfortable, but it is totally in me.
4) an epilogue is necessary.

Complementary copy given for honest review and opinion. I was not really impressed with this book. The translation lost some of its grammar. I did not like the author throwing in politics into the book.

This was an enjoyable quick read but fairly formulaic. Penny's relationship with her grandmother is lovely and adds depth to the story, but Marcus's propensity for casual sex and plan to wait for his "true love" Francisca to get out of jail seem absurd at times. If either one of them had actually said what they really thought it would be a different story.

Ok I love enemies to lovers story, and I tend to like jerks who eventually redeemed themselves, however this was not it. First Penny was weak, let him treat her like crap, knew about his manhorish ways. Marcus was a jerk and stayed that way, I personally hated him, and disliked Penny because she should know she could do better. And to top it all off I felt like sybil with multiple personalities since that it how I read it, there were too many peoples thoughts. So all in all I hated it. Read something else unless you want to read nothing but a whole lot of sex and no redeeming qualities.

This was a bit so-so with me, it was okay, but it definitely wasn't great. I quickly got bored of Penny allowing Marcus to treat her like crap. Generally a bit of a frustrating read to be honest.

This book is very different and in some spots the writing is awkward ... but that could be in the translation of the book to English. I really felt sorry for Penny having to work 2 jobs and look after her Grandmother. I just couldn’t see what she saw in Marcus because he kept telling her that Francisco was his true love and he treated Penny like crap! It took me a really long time not to hate him and he never did win me all the way over. I found myself skimming the book at times because it moved slow, but the last part of the book had my full attention.

I received an early copy courtesy of Amazon Publishing UK through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

Had a feeling I would like this book but didn't expect to absolutely LOVE it all!!!
Penny and Marcus are both a hot mess separately but their broken lives are forever changed when they bump into each other. Their start as awkward neighbours turns after a weird proposition is made that eventually leads to an unexpected "benefits with a time limit" that ruins them both. Not your typical love story, because that's the one thing they will avoid at any cost.
Heartbreaking and frustrating emotions lead you through their story while your rational side fights the idea of them ever ending up together. Obstacles are everywhere but you can't help but want these two to wake up before it's too late.
A must read if you want to give all your senses a serious workout.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley for my honest review.

Trying Not to Love you is a standalone novel by Amabile Giusti, and translated by Hilary Locke. It was published on July 28, 2020, by Montlake. I was able to read this novel by receiving an ARC on NetGalley after requesting it.

The novel centers around two individuals, Penny and Marcus, who could not be more different. Penny is shy and stays out of trouble while keeping her nose down and helping to take care of her grandmother. Marcus has just been released from prison and is counting down the days that his girlfriend will be released as well, and they can leave this boring town.

However, they realize they both need each other in their time of need, so they come to an arrangement that forces the pair to spend a lot of time together. This causes unwelcome feelings to arise in both, that could affect a lot of people around them, not just their hearts.

I enjoyed this novel. I came to care about the characters and was anxious to see how to story would play out. I ended up speeding through the end to ensure the ending was a positive one.

The only issue I had was the translation. There were a few errors in the novel where words were not correctly used, or the grammar was off. It would throw me off a bit, but not too much to deter me from finishing the book.

I rate this book as 4/5 stars. I recommend it for romance fans, but not for fans of other genres, since there is not much else within the pages.

I found myself drawn to each of these characters once I started the book. Penny who lives with her grandmother and looks after her. I found myself liking the calm she was looking for. When she sees a new tenant to their apartment complex, she finds herself drawn to him though others are fearful of him she is not. She hires him as her bodyguard.
Marcus Drake has just been paroled and is waiting for his girlfriend Francesca to be paroled. Staying at an apartment he found he is hoping he can just make do until she is released. Seeing Penny has changed something in him and when his parole officer shows up, she announces that they are dating this is where the story really begins and you are taken on a ride of emotions highs and lows. You never know where the story is going that is what the beauty of this book was really about. The author captured everything from a woman taking care of her grandmother, to two people dealing with having been in foster care and not the good part. To a husband and wife grieving still for their child that they buried way too soon. Those were the real stories of the emotions tied to this book. When you finally get to the end I was hoping for more pages or at least an epilogue, that was just me. Overall a very good book with good characters.

I received a free copy of Trying Not to Love you in exchange for an honest review. Overall, this was a good read. I always like novels that are a "little rough around the edges," and this didn't disappoint. Marcus had a very difficult background, and probably wouldn't be someone you brought home to meet the parents, but he ended up being a stand up guy to Penny. Penny probably could have done better, but circumstances led her to Marcus, and in the end they were the perfect compliment to each other.

I did not like this book. What annoyed me most was the writing but since this is a translated book it's hard to know if the issues are from that or if it is simply badly written. For the most part it felt like someone describing movie scenes instead of writing a novel.

I also disliked the main character and how she behaved.

I really enjoyed this novel. I came to care about the characters and was anxious to see how the story played out. This book wrings every emotion out of you and takes you on a heart wrenching journey. I absolutely adored Penny and Marcus. The way the author makes you feel what the characters are feeling is amazing. It was real, it was gritty, and it was down right heartbreaking at times. I loved it!! This book is definitely worth the read if you love being taken on a journey of growth and success redemption.

Trying Not To Love You by Amabile Giusti is the story of Marcus Drake and Penny Miller. This is certainly a opposites attract book for me. Penny was the sweet women who works two jobs lives with her grandmother and tries to do good even with her broken life. Drake is a rough guy who doesn't see much good in life but these two rub each other wrong until they can't fight their attraction anymore. Enjoyed this book.

I really enjoyed reading this book, I didn't want to put it down. I look forward to reading more from this autbor.

A chance meeting; two lonely souls meet. Both have past issues, issues with trust and in no hope jobs.
Penny, is a petite adult, who lives with her gran in a smal department block and has a few jobs. She's a loner but is being stalked by a bully.
Marcus, is a bad boy with a past. He's on parole and moves into a small department block.
A chance meeting, a strange friendship blooms; both have feelings for each other but they continue to fight it.
Will their demons continue to escape or can they finally accept their fate?

Sadly this book wasn’t for me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into the story. I would try to read the author in the future.

I voluntarily reviewed this book.

This was an ok read for me, though I have to say that I am not a big fan of insta-love (with the exceptions of some authors and pnr)

I also found that the editing wasn't really up to par. It just didn't read smoothly and the pov's were a bit odd to be honest.
Now as far as the characters go, I was not a fan of the heroine. I need my heroine to be a bit tougher than she was. She read like a doormat and that just won't do for me. This is personal preference though.

The hero was a bit of an ass, but I can deal with redeemable assholes :P

All in all, I wasn't really impressed and I have to go with 2,5 stars

Marcus is gruff, rude and crude. Penny is hard working, caring and the total opposite of Marcus. Penny cares for her grandmother. Marcus cares for nobody, not even himself. As the saying goes, opposite attract much to Marcus shock.
This is a story of one person fighting their feelings and watching their world crumble away, while the other is struggling to know what to do with their feelings and doing the right thing.

I'm a big fan of romance and always will be , whether is just sweet or dark and dangerous, i'm always up for one.
I enjoyed this story, Penny is a nice young woman that takes care of her grandmother and lives her life as a librarian by day and bartender by night trying to make amends.
For as interesting that it sounds, she's actually lonely and bored and of course something clicks when her new neighbour makes an appearance , especially since he is a bad boy and everything that she should stay away from in a partner. There are a lot of steamy scenes and everything you want from this story.
I just couldn't connect with any of the characters, she even seemed a bit too weak and giving in too fast at everything he wanted because he gave her the attention she so much looked up for.

this book was probably honestly just lost in translation, but i honestly could not get into this book at all and i found it to be kind of boring and penny to be annoying

Enjoyable read. Interesting characters. Loved how this story unfolded and sucked you in. Would recommend

So this was a hard book for me to read and rate. The characters were not that strong or developed and there was just no growth for them in the book. It didn't seem to have a point in it so I didn't really enjoy it.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. This was a very emotional book. I could tell it had been translated and I do agree that in this case opposites did attract. I just wish there had been more than just multiple rounds of sex a day.

I would like to thank the Netgalley website and Amazon Publishing UK for this partnership.

I was immediately attracted by the cover where we see Penelope and Marcus tight against each other. Especially since in Italian it is the first volume, there should be a sequel.

We find Penelope who at 22 years, Orphan to give up her studies to stay close to her grandmother. She accumulates two jobs at the same time to be able to do it. She has a rebellious spirit.

As for Marcus, life has not been kind to him, he is on parole. His behavior expresses anger.

They will fall on each other and between them they will struggle to get along. However, they will get closer and have things in common.

I loved this book despite the fact that the sex was very present in the book. I found the characters engaging and the story moving, captivating and full of suspense and twists. Can't wait to read another book for this author.

This was good! It took a little bit for me to get into the characters and story, but it kept you entertained once you did. The writing was good, and the storyline was interesting and a bit different from the norm. Overall, a good read.

The premise of this one intrigued me -- a small-town librarian with lofty dreams of being swept off her feet meets her match in a tattooed bad boy out on parole. The internal monologue of the heroine ended up being a little grating, but I still found myself invested in the story! A solid read.

To be honest, the beginning made me very confused, and it almost got put down so many times. I really wish the beginning had been written better.