The Ememy by Sarah Adams
on August 29, 2020
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary
Pages: 304
Format: Audiobook
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It’s been twelve years since June Broaden has seen her high school enemy (and secret crush), Ryan Henderson. That’s a long time to hold a grudge over some petty feud, but the sharp memory of him dangling a kiss at graduation, then pulling away at the last second, has fueled many angry fantasies since. Now’s her chance to get even. Ryan, along with most of her high school class, is back in town for her best friend’s wedding, and June is eager to show the former bully exactly what he missed out on. A lot has changed since their high school days; June is the Southern queen of gourmet donuts now, not to mention one of the most desired bachelorettes in her small town. What’s she’s not expecting, though, is for Ryan to show up looking like Adonis and touting his own career success as the youngest chef to ever win three Michelin stars. How dare he try to one up her revenge plot? Luckily June never backs down from a challenge…
I am a huge fan of enemies to lovers, but this one just did not do it for me. It wasn’t as fun and easy to read as the previous book, there were actually a few things that made the story feel dragged in places for me. I liked the main characters most of the time. Ryan was charismatic and I liked that he was straight to the point after reconnecting with June after all these years and was determined not to let this opportunity go, and I liked June, she was a likeable character when she behaved like an adult and not like a whiny kid, and the whole thing with her self-esteem issues made you really empathize with her. BUT I really really REALLY hate that trope where the heroine holds a grudge for years about something meaningless and the hero −who has obviously always been secretly attracted to her and that’s why he has always picked on her (let’s stop with this bs)−, returns more successful than ever while the heroine is either stuck or going through a bad time.
I rated this novel three stars. Overall, story writing was impeccable and had a nice flow. Though I kind of liked the first book better.
English (US) · 