HATE NOTES by VI KEELAND & PENELOPE WARD

‘Charlotte reminded me of a time in my life when I was happy. That was painful to think about…’

After a little hiatus, it was great to be back with the authors in Hate Notes; an enemies to lovers, boss/employee romance we adored! One that put grins on our faces, warmth in our hearts, and even moved us to shed a tear or two. And, the epilogue. So, so beautiful! Oh, our hearts!

These authors have produced some fabulous books, but we think Hate Notes might just be one of our favourites in this partnership. Mostly because of the sweet, funny and lovable Charlotte Darling, and she really is a darling with capital D.A.R.L.I.N.G! Charlotte captivated us with her little quirks, innocence and no nonsense attitude. Oh and of course, the sexy brooding Reed Eastwood, wow! Between them, they have witty, heartbreaking and most definitely passionate interactions that exude teasing sexual chemistry!

‘She had an innocence that I had the urge to shatter and I wasn’t sure why.’

The discovery of a note pinned to a discarded wedding dress and a drunken Facebook stalk, leads to the meeting between Charlotte Darling, a newly single girl living in New York, and Reed Eastwood, the man responsible for the romantic note discovered by Charlotte.  But, what happened to the wedding and why didn’t it go ahead? And most importantly, who is this swoony romantic man?

‘I wanted to taste her lips and suck away that sour look on her face, yet I knew that if there was one set of lips on this earth forbidden to me, it was Charlotte Darling’s. She wasn’t just a pretty face and a hot body. She was someone who wanted inside my soul, and that was never going to happen.’

Well, Charlotte wanted to know, and unfortunately, the Reed Eastwood she meets is broody, intense and completely guarded with his feelings. What happened to this enigmatic man?

“You can only find true happiness within yourself, not inside of other people, no matter how much you care about them. Make yourself happy, and the rest will come. I promise.” 

Both Charlotte and Reed had disastrous previous relationships causing Reed to lose his faith in love, and Charlotte, because of her past, riddled with abandonment issues. This is exacerbated by the fact that she caught her ex in a tryst in his office. Charlotte is at a crossroads in her life and down in the dumps. Reed has become a workaholic devoid of any wish for a relationship or love. They’re like oil and water!

Was it fate working her magic hand to bring these two together to heal each other’s hearts? Well, if it was, she was surely going to make them work for it. Though Charlotte certainly jolts to life the passion that’s lain dormant in Reed for quite some time, in return, Reed gives Charlotte hope there is a chance for a happily ever after, though Reed is insistent he is not the man for her. Reed sees Charlotte as forbidden to him for reasons which become apparent later in the story.

“I think it’s better to spend years treasuring a memory that might hurt sometimes than to never make one at all.”

We loved the cat and mouse chase between Reed and Charlotte, however, we sadly did find it was a little drawn out, longer than we would have liked, instead we’d have preferred to have spent more time with Charlotte and Reed as a couple, which we felt came a little late for us.

The secondary characters were delightful. Iris, Reed’s sweet meddling Grandmother, and Max, Reed’s flirty playboy brother enlightened Hate Notes even more with their antics. Plus, Max more than brought out the grumpy possessive alpha male in Reed! Oooh he does the alpha so well! His thoughts on Max hitting on Charlotte were very witty: ‘Manwhore Ken had wasted no time moving in on Nordic Barbie.’

From the desk of TotallyBookedBlog….Thank you for the smiles – we really enjoyed this read!

“You can’t bicker with someone whose mode of communication is to silently air-type her side of the argument.”