Sharon’s review ~ If You Hate Me by Helena Hunting

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My new roommates are two pro hockey players.
First, my f-boy of an older brother, and second, his seriously hot best friend (who I seriously hate).
This was a last resort.
No one should be sleeping on a futon that smells like Cheetos and man sweat.
But here I am, trying to get my life together.

Tristan Stiles is the bane of my existence.
He never wears a shirt.
We can’t seem to stop fighting.
He’s an arrogant playboy with a filthy reputation.
Sure, I had a crush on him when I was fourteen but that was a long time ago.
I know better than to trust him.

I just need to survive long enough to find a new job and get a new place.
And not accidentally let Tristan show me exactly how well deserved his reputation is.

If you enjoy romance books with NO romance, lots of s*xual exploits, and very little substance then If You Hate Me is the book for you. If those things don’t appeal to you I recommend you skip it. ~ Sharon – Simply Love Books

I’ve been reading this author since very early in her career and I’ve enjoyed her work immensely, but in my opinion she is better than this book. If You Hate Me was a huge disappointment to me as a reader and long time fan. I enjoy a good s*x scene or 4 in a book, but in this book instead of developing characters and letting them grow, instead of having a real plot, she went just for all the pucking with a f.

After quitting her job and needing to be out of a bad roommate situation, Bea (Rix) begs her brother Flip to let her crash in the loft of his apartment until she gets a new job and can find a decent place. Flip agrees without informing his roommate and best friend since childhood Tristan who actually owns the apartment and who doesn’t get along with Bea. There’s some history between Bea and Tristan and instead of acting like I don’t know, the adults they actually are, they trade barbs and make rude comments about each other constantly. I found it childish and exhausting. Meanwhile Flip is a pig with women and brings one, two, or three home a night and bangs them all night where his sister can hear. Seriously it was vomit inducing.

Tristan and Bea both have issues from their childhood they’ve never dealt with and it shaped them into the people they are today. Bea’s baggage stems from never being put first in her family because it was all about Flip and hockey and them never having enough of anything, and honestly she isn’t that bad except when she’s around Tristan where she turns into a shrew. Tristan on the other hand has abandonment issues from his mother leaving that left him having to step in to care for his much younger brothers when his father was working, plus he never dealt with the screaming matches his parents had before his mom left. Frankly he’s a damaged mess who should have gotten therapy years ago because there’s no doubt he could afford it but instead just decided to be his a$$hole self instead.

As you can imagine the “passion” between Tristan and Bea boils over and they start a physical relationship that is hot, heavy, and at times a bit kinky but nothing major (honestly I felt certain scenes were put in for shock and awe because they felt forced). They sneak around and even though some of Tristan’s teammates figure it out, Flip doesn’t until he walks in on them together. And of course there is drama and of course this couple breaks up two times and there’s another time in which Tristan is an absolute a$$hole and despite being very intelligent, Bea takes him back every time fairly easily which was disappointing. I’m sorry I don’t care that he is damaged and has issues; he deserved to have to work for it a lot harder than he did.

I’ll be honest; I didn’t feel any type of emotional or even cerebral connecting between Tristan and Bea, only physical. That’s all they had together and the fact that they built a “relationship” based solely on that was sad. I hated the games they played with one another, the sniping, just about everything about them felt off.

The best part of this book was the women who befriended Bea although the coaches 17 year old daughter being a part of this group as they discussed very adult things was frankly kind of ick and I’m putting it out there right now, I see her ending up with the man-ho disgusting Flip in a big old age gap romance that I will not be reading.

If you enjoy romance books with NO romance, lots of s*xual exploits, and very little substance then If You Hate Me is the book for you. If those things don’t appeal to you I recommend you skip it.