Dating You / Hating You

This starts out ok but it turns into being a great book.

I have to admit, I am a Christina Lauren fan. I have read all of their books without hesitation. One of my favorite things about their books, is there series and the additional time with characters I love. I have reread both of their series WAY too many times. All that being said, I was bummed when I discovered their next few novels would be stand alones. Wait--no extra time?? No check ins with my favs? I almost took it personally. So I was unsure about Dating You Hating You. Could I get over my series favoritism and enjoy a one-time fling with Carter and Evie? Well the answer was absolutely hell yes. I made the mistake of starting the book yesterday afternoon at work....my productivity was so shot. I was so hooked instantly. Why? THE CHARACTERS. Christina Lauren always always give good males--the best males? Flawed, but good. Confident, but willing. Sexy, and also adorable. So I have a good feeling about Carter. He was funny and charming and pretty perfect for this story. An instant book boyfriend to rival the many others they always create. I seem to sometimes have trouble with female characters, which I think is because I am a female. I judge them to critically and project too much. I didn't do that with Evie. She was amazing. Strong and vulnerable and always fighting for herself and what she wants. I was laughing, cringing and swooning with her in equal measure. In addition to the characters--this book as the perfect slow, realistic build. Evie and Carter's ups and downs seemed so real. Perfectly paced and true to themselves and the story. Nothing felt rushed and nothing felted too slow. It was the perfect build that only showed how well Christina Lauren does relationships: the preliminary interest, the doubt, the want, the what-ifs, the back tracks, the decisions and the happiness. I never rolled my eyes; I never thought "ok but this is unbelievable" or "no one would do that." There is something so good about a book where you are just there--immersed in the story, without having to disconnect because of plot holes or inscrutable logic. I loved visiting a world I really only see in movies. The Hollywood Agent world is completely foreign to me, but felt really authentic. It was detailed and layered and added an element to the story that felt necessary and right. The career ups and downs combined with the relationship ups and downs were a perfect combination of anxiety and relief throughout the book. I really can't recommend it enough. It's perfect for a funny, sweet, sexy summer read. Honestly, the only downside is that it wasn't 800 more pages. I could read these characters forever.

I absolutely love this writing duo and every book of theirs is written to perfection. While I enjoyed this book immensely and the character situations were funny and humorous, it lacked the sexual fire and intensity of their Beautiful Bastard or Wild series. The sexual chemistry seemed lacking in this one - and it kept you hanging on until 70% in - but I loved the friendship that developed.

I guess, based on the blurb, I expected this book to be funnier. Definitely had some humor in it during the pranking phrase but wasn’t really what I would call a comedy. The romance was okay if a bit eh and the main characters were pretty good as well. So what made this book earn four stars? The absolute truth it portrayed. That just because you’re female you should set up parties and crap like that even if it’s not your job. That naturally you should be the one performing secretarial tasks even when you’ve fought to gain a position far removed from that job. That you get called nicknames like sport, kiddo, hun, and anything else that is both astonishingly condescending and infantile. That you can work harder, longer, and be better at than your colleagues and still not be given the same respect you should get. That any mistake, emotion, or even remotely less than perfect work is somehow that much worse than your male counterparts. I gave this book four stars because there, in black and white, they were able to capture the frustration of dealing with misogyny in the workplace and it was just all so true to life. From the line they carefully thread so it’s just this side of legal to the internal rage you must hide because there’s nothing you can do unless you want to be unemployed. So yeah, four stars for showing what it’s really like.

Guys, I freaking loved this book. Carter and Evie were flipping amazing. They had me literally laughing out loud. There were Harry Potter references, y'all. If ever there was a Kim book, this is it. This book was just flat-out fun and I was a little surprised, if I'm being totally honest. I've been a big fan of Christina Lauren's books for awhile now, but I don't think "fun" is a word I've ever used to describe one of them until now. That's not to say that they haven't had their funny moments, but I've always felt like the emphasis was more on the dirty and even the angst at times in their other books. (Which is so not a complaint. I love all of those things.) Don't get me wrong, this one had it's dirty moments and a few feels, but the overall vibe was light and fun. I seriously loved Evie. She was ridiculously relatable. (And I mean that in a good way.) We might have different jobs and live on different coasts, but I found myself nodding along and seeing a lot of my experiences in what she was going through. At 33, she's a little older than most of the heroines I read about — or the single ones anyhow — and I loved that. More of this, please, authors. I adored Carter, too. He was totally swoony. Did I mention he is a Harry Potter nerd? (As is Evie.) These are my people and I absolutely loved reading along as they got to know each other, then got pitted against each other at work and became "enemies," all while fighting their insane chemistry. Dating You / Hating You was smart, funny and sexy. Both Evie and Carter were wonderful characters who I found it easy to root for — even when it made it tough because they were on opposite sides. I love a good workplace dynamic in romance books, so this one worked for me all the more. From their intense chemistry during their meet cute to the pranks they pulled on each other in the name of office warfare, I just really enjoyed this book. It definitely goes on the "to be re-read" pile.

DATING YOU / HATING YOU switches points of view between Evie and Carter each chapter, and both of them are complete messes of awkward and very entertaining. Evie, or Evil as Carter calls her, is in her thirties, married to her work, and knows she has to work twice as hard to still not get taken as seriously as her male colleagues. She's one of the best, and she knows it, but that means nothing to her boss who won't let her forget one flop. Her ambitions, concerns, and asides about her life and work are great, and she knows her boundaries in this competition with Carter. Carter is adjusting to moving, changing companies, and working out this relationship with Evie. He's charismatic, gets along with everyone, and after some time does end up gunning for Evie's job. He gets faced with a lot of reality checks in the book—pay disparity, sexism, his own privilege—and despite trying he doesn't really get it for a while. The UST between Evie and Carter is great. Their rivalry for the position and the small sabotages they do to each other are fantastic, but they don't let it get into one of them turning into a horrible human being territory—when it gets close they do realise and work to make up for it which is nice too. It's fun seeing both sides of the plotting and the pranks themselves, and Evie is definitely my favourite throughout it. Their text message conversations are great, and (while a couple were kind of difficult to read on my Kindle as they seemed to be images rather than text) I love that they were included in the text rather than only referenced. The ways that the texts went between them over the course of the novel were nice, and the fact that a lot of the time they took a while to look at their phones or answer their texts too were great lol I loved the banter between characters and the bits and pieces of in-jokes between Evie and her friends, and Carter and Mike. I liked how the competition progressed, though part of me would have preferred more sabotage, and the ways Evie and Carter tried to resolve it to only end in competing again and again. There were times where both Carter's and Evie's narration sounded pretty similar, but that may have been because they have similar senses of humour. However, I would have to say that I preferred Evie's chapters to Carter's, mostly because I enjoyed her freak-outs and angry rants a lot more than Carter's. Carter's had some really great moments too, though, and I really liked his scrambling to find a way to get ahead in the competition. The way sexism was explored in the book was good to see too. It wasn't over-exaggerated and, while it was a factor in quite a bit of the novel, it wasn't the only factor. The different ways each character deals with or reacts to it is interesting to read, and the attempts of figuring out how to respond are good too. Because it's hard to respond sometimes, and for some characters it's a little harder to pick up on, but they learn. I love how this book ended, and I love how their snarking at each other still doesn't change. Evie's and Carter's banter makes this book for me. Their development, Carter's especially, is a bonus, but I'm in love with their conversations and non-conversations. Can I just get more books about the two of them, please?

This Christina Lauren book did not disappoint. It was a wonderful mixture of banter, wit, revenge, make-ups, humour and tension. The ride from lovers to enemies and enemies to lovers kept me engaged and guessing. I loved the character development and the relationship that was developed between Evie and Carter. A very small regret; I do wish that there was an extended epilogue because I would have loved to see them later into their future.

Content warnings: sexism, sexual harassment So on the day, I read Roomies I also read Dating You, Hating You. I know, classic Kirsty. I'm in the middle of a slump and I read 2 books in one day then go back to not reading anything. I had to take the day off work because I couldn't sleep at all, which isn't good when you work in accounts. Immediately after finishing these 2 books in the same day I went back to being in a slump. Carter and Evie start dating after their friends set them up at a Halloween party as the only single people they know. They both work for entertainment agencies but somehow try to make it work. That is until their companies have a merger making them in competition for the same jobs. It all goes a bit tits up for their romance. I love office romances so this one was super up my street. I watch a fair few office romance Kdramas and I love reading them whenever it's in a book. I think what I really enjoyed with this book was that it wasn't your standard hate to love or forbidden romance, this was love to hate to love which was a whole different ball game. You know what the couple is like as a couple then they're not anymore and there's just so much tension. I love it. For me though, the best part of this book is the constant discussion of how women are treated in the workplace. Whether it be the leading lady talking about it to her friends or the main man becoming increasingly more aware of how the world works for women. It was so good to read in a romance. This is my third Christina Lauren novel and I really want to read everything else because this cemented how much I enjoy their writing and their characters. There's just something about their style of writing that really pulls you in. Like me being in a huge slump but still managing to read 2 of their books in one day.

This is a nice funny office romance. Evie and Carter are invited to some mutual friends' Halloween party as the only singles there. They immediately connect and feel attracted to each other, but destiny has some other ideas for them. A few days later, both their agencies merge into one without previous warning, and suddenly they find themselves fighting for the same job. It's really interesting watching them try to put together their physical attraction and their need for the job in a ruthless environment. The part whey they hate-prank each other is so funny, and I love how Carter recognized the sexist bullshit the boss is pulling towards Evie, and how he goes from just watching it happen to actually try to help. In the end, though, it's the women that get the job done in one final adventure that led to the happy ending. This novel has great characters (even the despicable Brad), a nice feminist touch and some funny moments. 4 stars for a nice rainy weekend read.

C'est la première fois que je n'arrive pas à terminer un roman de Christina Lauren ! Pourtant je suis une grande fan, mais celui-ci est simplement insupportable. Le seul point positif, c'est que c'est toujours aussi bien écrit, mais l'histoire est imbuvable. Deux agents artistiques se battent pour conserver leur poste. Déjà, qui a envie de lire un livre dans lequel les héros sont stressés à l'idée de se retrouver au chômage, vivent une vie merdique en bossant comme des fous pour gagner à peine de quoi payer leur loyer et en se faisant humilier régulièrement par leur hiérarchie ? Pas très glamour comme décors. Les personnages ne relèvent pas le niveau. Outre le fait qu'ils sont assez misérables, à lécher les bottes de leur patron pour conserver un job dans lequel on les traite plus bas que terre, mais ils ne sont pas crédibles. C'est comme si les auteurs avaient voulu courir deux lièvres à la fois. Ce sont des requins dans le travail, mais des bisounours dans la vie, ce sont tous les deux des bombes sexuelles, mais ils sont célibataires et ils agissent comme s'ils étaient les gamins boutonneux avec les doubles foyers au fond de la classe, ce sont des célibataires endurcis, mais au premier coup d’œil ils pensent mariage et bébés... Pour moi, le seul intérêt de ce livre est qu'il montre bien comment le capitalisme ultra libéral a transformé le "rêve américain" en cauchemar, et le fait que les auteurs et éditeurs du roman aient songé une seule seconde que ce thème pouvait être "romantique" laisse à penser que les Etats-Unis, et nous avec, sommes dans un sacrée pétrin !