Well hello there, long time no see. This week has felt so week, I wake up every day feeling like it’s Monday. Today I’m bringing you another ARC review I got from NetGalley, so I’d like to thank them, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity. I’m talking about How to Kiss Your Enemy by Jenny Proctor.

I don’t really keep up with new releases, or rather, that’s what I’m trying to do now with this new NetGalley account, so even though the name Jenny Proctor sounded familiar, I really didn’t know she was a best-selling author. After reading How to Kiss Your Enemy, I can understand why her books are so well-loved, and I can also understand that I am not her target audience. As I made progress with this novel, I kept thinking about how people who didn’t like Analysing Her Assets, which I loved, would really enjoy this one. It’s a safe choice, but to me that translates into basic, predictable, and boring.

I don’t really enjoy the enemies-to-lovers trope because I don’t find it believable or realistic. But don’t worry because despite what the title and tagline suggests, this novel is not really an enemies-to-novels romance. I mean, Tatum and Lennox were rivals when they went to culinary school, but now they’re in their late twenties, and the whole rivalry thing dies down pretty quickly. I must say, I love the gender-neutral names, but sadly, that’s the only fun thing these characters have going for them.

Tatum quits her job in California running her dad’s very famous restaurant and ends up in North Carolina (?) at this family farm where Lennox, her rival from culinary school, has his own restaurant. At the beginning, I really liked Tatum’s character and thought that she was way more mature and had way more going for her than Lennox, but as her relationship with Lennox progressed, she started losing her personality and becoming an extension of her partner. He became less basic, and actually was a decent guy to her. That also prevented miscommunication, which I despise in romance, and made the conflicts come to resolutions pretty quickly.

Did I like this book? Not really, but I can’t say I disliked it, either. Will I read other novels by this author? I’m not sure, but I’m leaning towards no.