Score: 2/5 Bookmarks

Steam Rating: 0/5

Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s Sons for gifting me a review copy of You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle.

To be honest, after the first few chapters I found myself really hating all of the characters and thinking I probably wouldn’t finish this book. I persevered though and it did get better as the story progressed and you learn more about Naomi and Nicholas, our lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers couple.

This book is marketed as a ‘wickedly funny’ romantic comedy. Even though there are a handful of chuckle-worthy moments I found the story pretty cringeworthy and depressing overall. The basic premise is that the two meet and get engaged fairly quickly. They then fall out of love and grow to loath each other (at least from Naomi’s perspective). So they embark on a game of relationship chicken, trying to get the other one to break off the engagement.

I really disliked every single character, and not in that delicious ‘love to hate them’ way, unfortunately. Naomi, in particular, is such a wishy-washy shell of a person. She has no ambitions or drive, and is such a perpetually negative person. And while the author tries to turn that around towards the end of the book she is barely any better by the time you reach the last page. And if I had to describe her fiance Nicholas in a word it would be ‘beige’. Even after we learn more about him and he opens up more emotionally he is still such a nothing character.

To me, the only redeeming factor is that the audiobook is narrated well by Taylor Meskimen. You can check out the audiobook by clicking the button below.

Synopsis:

Naomi Westfield has the perfect fiancé: Nicholas Rose holds doors open for her, remembers her restaurant orders, and comes from the kind of upstanding society family any bride would love to be a part of. They never fight. They're preparing for their lavish wedding that's three months away. And she is miserably and utterly sick of him.

Naomi wants out, but there's a catch: whoever ends the engagement will have to foot the nonrefundable wedding bill. When Naomi discovers that Nicholas, too, has been feigning contentment, the two of them go head-to-head in a battle of pranks, sabotage, and all-out emotional warfare.

But with the countdown looming to the wedding that may or may not come to pass, Naomi finds her resolve slipping. Because now that they have nothing to lose, they're finally being themselves--and having fun with the last person they expect: each other.

When your nemesis also happens to be your fiancé, happily ever after becomes a lot more complicated in this wickedly funny, lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy debut.