The Trouble With Hating You

Score: 3/5 Bookmarks

Steam Rating: 🍆 /5

Thank you to Forever Books for gifting me a copy of The Trouble with Hating You by Sanji Patel.

Liya Thakkar is a biochemical engineer, and has pretty much sworn off men (or at least love). She just wants to be left alone to live her life. But of course her parents can’t let her do that, and they spring a husband candidate on her at a family dinner. Liya is outraged and sneaks out, only to be confronted with the man at her office the following week. Turns out he’s a lawyer who has been brought in try and save the company she works for. He’s not too pleased that she took one look at him and ran either.

I really wanted to love this one, after all, enemies to lovers (or at least dislike to like) is usually my favorite romance trope! But while the premise of the book sounded great it fell a bit flat for me. I didn’t feel like the characters were developed enough and I didn’t really feel the spark between Liya and Jay.

The dialogue also felt forced and unnatural to me and there weren’t really any of the laugh-out-loud moments I was promised, which was a bit of a let-down. There was some very real family drama though, and poor Liya has a horribly unsupportive father to deal with plus the added worry of making sure her mother isn’t suffering at his hand.

What I did enjoy was learning more about Indian-American culture, traditions, and the pressures that Liya was put under as she was torn between having a career and the more traditional life her parents expected her to embrace.

While not Indian, one of my best friends growing up had a marriage arranged for her (from when she was in high-school, although they didn’t get married until the year after she graduated) so I’ve seen things from the other perspective as well, where a woman openly embraces the tradition. My friend was patient enough with me to explain her reasons for wanting that sort of match, and teaching me about some of her family and cultural traditions.

I feel I should warn you that there is a sexual assault in the book, in case that is a trigger for you.

I’d definitely say this one was more of a family drama than rom-com. If you’d like to check it out, click the button below.

Synopsis:

Laugh-out-loud romantic comedy debut about first impressions, second chances, and finding the love of your life in the most unexpected way. Liya Thakkar is a successful biochemical engineer, takeout enthusiast, and happily single woman. The moment she realizes her parents' latest dinner party is a setup with the man they want her to marry, she's out the back door in a flash. Imagine her surprise when the same guy shows up at her office a week later -- the new lawyer hired to save her struggling company. What's not surprising: he's not too thrilled to see her either after that humiliating fiasco.

Jay Shah looks good on paper...and off. Especially if you like that whole gorgeous, charming lawyer-in-a-good-suit thing. He's also arrogant and infuriating. As their witty office banter turns into late night chats, Liya starts to think he might be the one man who truly accepts her. But falling for each other means exposing their painful pasts. Will Liya keep running, or will she finally give love a real chance?