I have a feeling this post series is one you’ve all been waiting for ever since I announced there would be multiple new genre and trope based posts. My feelings towards the ‘enemies to lovers’ trope is a little on the fence. I love it, but I don’t really think it exists within contemporary romance, however, I will be including some contemporaries in this series, but they’re more ‘rivals to lovers’. Enemies to lovers just sounds better, doesn’t it?
For this reason I will try to pair a true enemies to lovers with a more contemporary rivals to lovers in each post.
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
I’ve been thinking about this book a lot lately. Since reading the novella last year, my love for Elisabeth and Nathaniel has grown immensely. They are true enemies to lovers as to begin with they wouldn’t have thought twice about killing or sacrificing the other for the sake of getting what they want.
I read this book before I wrote reviews for everything I read, which is seriously annoying as I love looking back at my thoughts in the moment. However, I did mention it in a monthly reading wrap up where I called the book brilliant but hated how long it took me to get through. Now, I remember reading this book and it was back when I worked in retail full time. I vividly remember reading it during a lunch break.
I think I’d like to give this book another go as I did really love the world, the magic and obviously, the romance. Elisabeth and Nathaniel despise each other which only makes their romance that much more passionate. Seriously, I love them so much. If you haven’t read any of Maragaret Rogerson’s books yet you’re missing out.
Synopsis: All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.
Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.
As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.
Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter
The way that Liz and Wes constantly bicker throughout this entire book is why I’m including it in this post. It is technically labelled as enemies to lovers as Liz really doesn’t like Wes to begin with. I personally loved their bickering. Especially as Wes would often get a little flirty with it to make Liz flustered.
Liz and Wes aren’t even rivals, so it does feel a little weird to include Better Than the Movies in this post, however, they really don’t like each other to begin with. Well, Liz hates Wes. They were best friends as children and no longer talk as high schoolers until they form a plan to get Liz a date to prom. We all know how this will end but getting to go on their journey of becoming friends again to falling in love is so wonderful.
We don’t talk about the second book though. I firmly believe this should have stayed a standalone. Book two butchered Liz’s personality and she became quite unlikable. I found her really relatable in book one.
Anyway, this is one of my favourite romance books of all time. I read it through Kindle Unlimited a while ago and have not long ago purchased my own copy, so maybe I’ll do a re-read at some point.
Synopsis: Perpetual daydreamer Liz Buxbaum gave her heart to Michael a long time ago. But her cool, aloof forever crush never really saw her before he moved away. Now that he’s back in town, Liz will do whatever it takes to get on his radar – and maybe snag him as a prom date – even befriend Wes Bennet.
The annoyingly attractive next-door neighbor might seem like a prime candidate for romantic-comedy fantasies, but Wes has only been a pain in Liz’s butt since they were kids. Pranks involving frogs and decapitated lawn gnomes do not a potential boyfriend make. Yet, somehow, Wes and Michael are hitting it off, which means Wes is Liz’s in.
But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz noticed by Michael so she can have her magical prom moment, she’s shocked to discover that she likes being around Wes. And as they continue to grow closer, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love – and rethink her own ideas of what happily ever after should look like.
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Like this post? Why not read this one too: Organising My Goodreads #25
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