Title: Love At First Fight
Author: Mary Jayne Baker
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
First published: August 5th 2021
Publisher: Aria
Finished reading: June 20th 2021
Pages: 352
“Sometimes the most obvious explanation is the only one that makes sense, however much we might want to deny it.”
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Aria in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
After really enjoying The Runaway Bride earlier this year I simply couldn’t resist returning to Mary Jayne Baker‘s writing; especially since her newest story promises to deliver the ‘enemy to lover‘ trope I tend to enjoy when done right. I’ve been looking forward to Love At First Fight ever since, and I’m still surprised myself I ended up struggling with this story instead of having a great time with it… But there were various reasons why this story and me simply weren’t ment to be.
First of all I do have to say that I did like the general idea behind Love At First Fight (or at least Bridie and Ben’s story), and the story started out well enough. I always love the banter that comes with the ‘enemy to lover’ trope, and there was definitely plenty of that in the beginning. The 20 dates Bridie forces herself to go on were fun to read about, and most of the characters were easy to like initially. BUT. I can’t say this story is actually properly an ‘enemy to lover‘ story as the two characters are not really enemies in the first place. Friends with a grudge maybe (and only in Bridie’s case), but fullblown enemies? Most definitely not. And the whole friends and family teaming up to show them they love each other all along was getting old fast too.
I also still don’t understand why the story lost focus on Bridie and Ben and introduced a major pet peeve with Hattie and Cal’s story instead. I hate stories with a cheating element and the way it was introduced and milked out in Love At First Fight was just cringeworthy. I also thought there was just way too much drama and insecurity going on especially in the second half, and the ending felt rushed after all that sudden cliche drama going on. Not credible, not entertaining to read, and it basically ruined the story for me. A sole focus on Bridie and Ben and more banter would probably have improved things considerably, but as it is the story turned out to be a dud for me. Such a shame, as it started out so well!
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Fab review Yvo but such a shame it was as good as her previous book! xx
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It’s a shame I wasn’t able to enjoy this one better, but I still have hope for her other titles…
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Ugh. Sorry it was so cringeworthy. Thanks for the honest review.
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It’s always a shame when a story includes unexpected pet peeves… And the lack of a true enemy to lover trope was a bit of a disappointment too.
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Oh, no! I had high hopes for this one. FYI, I can’t stand cheating elements where I’m supposed to forgive the cheater. Ain’t happening. Excellent review, Yvo💜
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My thoughts exactly! I’m never a fan of a cheating element, but it’s even worse when the cheating is condoned…
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I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this one! It sounded like it had the potential to be a fun read.
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Oh yes the potential was definitely there!
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Great review for this book. I also read it and felt very much the same way. Besides, why did she have the main character named Bridie? I kept reading it as Birdie, and it was driving me crazy. I rated it slightly higher than you, but, I agree, it was difficult to get through.
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YES! That is exactly what happened with me with the Bridie name too!
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