They Hate Each Other by Amanda Woody

This was such a delightful, fastpaced and gorgeous enemies-to-lover story about two archenemies whose friends think they would be perfect for each other! But while it was sweet and fuzzy, it also had a lot of depth with anxiety issues, childhood trauma, parental neglect and alcoholism, all weaved together into a perfect heartwarming and emotional story. Absolutely loved it!

The two main characters, the introverted Dylan Ramírez with a childhood trauma and anxiety issues and the loud, confident and attention seeker Jonah Collins with a huge shameful secret that is almost crushing him, have hated each other from the first time they met as eleven-year-olds and Dylan beat Jonah in Uno. But when Dylan’s best friends Hanna and Jonah’s best friend Andre become the school’s power couple, Dylan and Jonah are forced to spend time together. But the most annoying part is how their friends keep nagging about how perfect they would be for each other just because they are the only two openly bisexual guys at school. ‘Cause there obviously can’t be any other reason for it, right? Well, when they start fake-dating to get their friends off their back they are about to find out…

This book had two of my favorite troops – enemies to lovers and fake dating – plus amazing, fleshed out characters, snarky banter and wonderful friends! But it was so much more than tropes, it was such a deep and special story dealing with trauma, mental health issues and abuse.

“You have to decide if it’s worth the sacrifice of losing him.”

The story had some truly heartbreaking parts, and I truly hated both Jonah’s dad and Dylan’s mother. No matter what they had been through, neglecting your children is unforgivable. I felt that they both got off the hook a little too easy, even though I’m of course happy for the positive turn of events. I also feel that Jonah’s friends could have done more to help him earlier, or hinted to Dylan about his struggles. But that set aside, I loved the friends and their banter. They were such an amazing, lovable and diverse squad!

The writing was flawless, you couldn’t tell at all that this was Amanda Woody’s debut book, and they made an amazing job combining the difficult topics with the lighter ones while still making it a very easy and joyful story to read. 

All in all, this was a sweet, fuzzy and funny read while also dealing with some pretty heavy topics, and with great representation. I finished this book in one sitting, ending it with a big goofy smile all over my face!

Rating:
5 stars

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Author info:
Amanda Woody