ARC Review: They Hate Each Other by Amanda Woody

*I was given a copy of They Hate Each Other in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and Amanda Woody.*

Synopsis:

Jonah and Dylan get along like oil and water. Until a fake dating ploy gives them new perspective, and they realize that “falling for your enemy” isn’t as impossible as it seems.

There are plenty of words Jonah Collins could use to describe Dylan Ramírez. “Arrogant,” “spoiled,” and “golden boy” to name a few. Likewise, Dylan thinks he has Jonah accurately labeled as an attention-seeking asshat who never shuts his filthy mouth. Their friends are convinced Jonah’s and Dylan’s disdain for one another is just thinly veiled lust—a rumor that surges like wildfire when the two wake up in one bed after homecoming. Mutually horrified, Dylan and Jonah agree to use the faux pas to their advantage by fake dating. If they can stay convincing long enough to end their “relationship” in a massive staged fight, they can prove their incompatibility to their friends once and for all. But the more time they spend together, the more their plan begins to fall apart—and the closer they come to seeing each other clearly for the first time.

Review:

Well, what a pleasant read They Hate Each Other was. At first, I really didn’t like the narrative of them hating each other for seemingly no reason. But their little back and forth really grew on me.

Fake dating will always be a hit with me, especially when the characters dislike each other to begin with. Watching their dynamics and feelings change over time is so exciting and that was exactly the case here. You could slowly see Dylan and Jonah warming up to each other, but they kept their usual taunting. The progression of their relationship was done in a very careful manner and nothing felt too rushed.

The casual queer representation was really refreshing to read; our two main characters were bisexual, they had one non-binary friend and another who was asexual but in a loving 2 year long relationship and Jonah had a trans younger sister. It’s so nice to see these represented in a world where no one questions their decisions or whether they are “too young to really know who they are”. Huge respect to Amanda Woody for that.

I really liked both Jonan and Dylan as the main characters, but I have a real soft spot for Jonah. He was so sweet but seeing him work so hard to provide for his sisters and his fear of losing them was heartbreaking. But it did show just how strong he is and the fact that he learns that it’s ok to ask for help made me feel so proud of him. I loved his space facts too, they were very interesting.

Dylan also had a lot of troubles and the way in which he handled them could have been better sometimes, but he also goes through an incredible amount of growth throughout the book. He did do one thing that I thought was absolutely out of order, but it was to help so it’s not so bad. But going behind someone’s back about something so important is never a good idea. He does learn from his mistake though.

They Hate Each Other dealt with way more serious topics than I expected (there is a list of trigger warnings at the beginning). It had a great balance between cutesy romance and real world problems – something that isn’t always easy to get right.

I think if I had read this book in a shorter time frame (I had to take a few days off from reading due to being on a work trip) I would have enjoyed it a lot more. Which is big praise because I already enjoyed this massively.

If you are looking for a dislike to lovers/fake dating book, I’d definitely recommend They Hate Each Other. It has a lot of fun moments and all of the characters (well most of them) are completely wonderful and endearing.