If You Hate Me (Toronto Terror, #1) (2024)

takes a deep breath

jfc. what the actual f*ck was this!?

the first moment I asked myself wtf is this and had the urge to dnf was when the fmc walked into this:

Claude, my other former roommate, is doing the helicopter, and every rotation of his wiener slaps Eugenia’s cheek.

like fine this is weird af but I thought I’d preserve.

AND THEN. AND THEN!!!!!

“Look at this, Bea.” He holds up THE CUCUMBER for me to see. My juices are dripping down the sides onto his fist. “You haven’t even come yet, and you’re making a mess.” He aggressively bites off the end, then slides it back inside me while chewing.

“I want you to watch me f*ck you with tonight’s salad.”

I WANT TO f*ck YOU WITH TONIGHT’S SALAD???? SIR????? WHAT!!!! not only does he f*ck her with A CUCUMBER but he bites it, AGGRESSIVELY CHEWS IT, AND STICKS IT BACK IN??? immediatelyyyyyyy no. I stopped reading and will never ever ever pick this book up again.

I have no words. dnf @ 36%

No, no, no, no.

The scene with the cucumber will haunt me forever. 😑

What kind of nightmate is this?

NOT SAFE (Hero had orgies with h's brother)
- Both with others after meeting because they met as childreen
- he is her brother's best friend
- both only with each other after their first time
- He has threesomes, foursomes and more with her brother! This killed any possibily og enjoying this for

She moved into their house because her roommates disrepected her by having loud sex and sex in places she could see. They pressured her to accept group sex and she didn't want it so the moved. The author tried to create a parallel because her brother and the hero often have sex together sharing girls. The big joke? She tried to blame it on peer presssure, the poor hero even though he enjoyed it every time with contless women, was unable to say no.

I hate the "sister double dippping" trope but the "my brother not only saw my boyfriend f*cking, but he particates in the act with their genitalias probably touching" trope is another low I was not expecting given this is a romance book, you know?

This plot sounds like the script of a bad p*rn.

Her brother is nasty, he is a disgusting human being. I even wondered if he and the heroine were traumatized as childreen having to listen or witness their parents having sex (they were not), because it is not normal how her own brother would have loud sex knowing she could listen to it. He even has to cover his lap on a scene while he is at the living room with the heroine and a girl, because he and the girl starts their foreplay there for her to see.

The heroine met three girls the hero slept with while having an orgy with her brother. The first was before anything happened between then, the other two were together offering a foursome to the hero in front of the heroine and it was after the brother found out about them. He humiliated the h, shoving the girls at her face and embarrased the hero who I couldn't give less of a f*ck, but still who does that to purposely hurt his own sister? The hero was not with those girls in any of those ocasions, but he was before. This whole set up was vomit inducing.

The way the heroine and everyone else around her treated the fact his brother and the hero f*cked people together like a normal occurence was absurd. The heroine thinking train is so messed up when her brother apologized for bringing the girls over she simply said it was fine, she also made the mistake of being with the hero behind his back. I am sorry, what kind of comparation is this? She is a grown up and so is the hero, for f*cks sake. Does his brother miss the other d during his sex acts to be so offended?

There is a gross cucumber scene I will not even get into details because it was simply gratituous nastiness. But remeber L shein phase of sticking random objects in the heroines vagin*s? Yes, you can guess now. I hate it then, I despised it now.

It looks like beautiful diasters era is back with thise nasty heroes.

Now some lovely quotes

“I know what you’re like. What you like. I know exactly how you are. I’ve seen it. So you can say I pressured you or whatever, but “I know what you’re like. What you like. I know exactly how you are. I’ve seen it. So you can say I pressured you or whatever, but you can’t tell me you didn’t get down and dirty right along with me.you can’t tell me you didn’t get down and dirty right along with me."

- Her brother who had more sex with the hero that the heroine at this poing (I mean had sex more together sharing women, they never f*cked each other, small mercy I guess)

“Before Rix moved in, you would have been all over those two with me. In fact, you were all over those two with me.” He says it loud enough that I’m sure Bea can hear.
“You didn’t leave a lot of room to turn you down,” I snap.
“I never heard you complain.” He crosses his arms. I rub the back of my neck, frustrated. I expected his anger, but this is blatant, in-your-face sabotage. “What could I say when you brought two or three women home and told them we’d all party together? If I ever wanted to tap out, you’d tell me you needed me as your wingman, that I had to take the pressure off. Before you moved in, you want to know how many times I tag-teamed a woman?”
I make an O with my fingers. “Zero times. And now you’re bringing home these women for what reason? To remind me of all the sh*t I’ve done in the past? You’re disrespecting Bea. Like she needs to see this.”
“She doesn’t need to be here. She can get her own damn apartment. And it’s never bothered her before, so why would it bother her now?”
“How do you know it doesn’t bother her? Have you asked her? Or do you assume because she only jokes about it that she’s cool with it? Because that’s what you did with me. Just assumed I’d want to get in on your f*ck parade.” I’m so angry that I’ve gotten myself into this sh*tty situation, that I sat by and allowed this to happen. I hate that I was so hung up on keeping Flip happy that I went along with his plan. “I didn’t hear you complaining.” “It was something we did, and I fully participated, but it was really your thing, Flip, not mine. Think about how things have been since Bea moved in. How many women have I brought home since the day she started sleeping in the loft?”

-Poor hero saying it was peer preasure he just had to bed all those women

It’s not Flip’s fault that I didn’t say no to the endless women he brought home. I always had a choice. I just never exercised my options the way I should have.

-He finally admiting he had a choice. Yes he did and he always chose to f*ck them.

@voraciousbrazilianreader on IG

SPOILERS 🥴🥴🥴🥴

Nothing says sexy like my brother knowing what my boyfriend looks like while he’s having sex…

SUPER sexy 😵‍💫

Or knowing that my brother has had multiple orgies with my boyfriend, and a bunch of the girls my brother brings home are girls my boyfriend hooked up with 🥴😵‍💫

SOOOO swoony

And let’s not forget that my boyfriend claims he felt pressured to do all of this 😒🙄

🙄🙄🙄

What kind of brother shoves previous hookups in his sister’s face??? Like 🤬 I guess the saying "blood is thicker than water" doesn't matter here... all because his brother's upset that his sister and his "wingman" are together... he's SuCh a MaTuRe AdUlT🤬

As a woman, or a sister even in this case, I would HATE to be wondering if the woman/women my brother brings home has/have been with my man... 🥴 Family dinner and SHARING at family dinner has been taken to ANOTHER level 🥴🥴🥴🤢🤢

Yeah, it's not appealing AT ALL 🥴

I can’t even believe that this is the same author that’s written some of the other books I’ve enjoyed 😐

Soooo disappointing

3.25 stars

Sadly, it's not my favorite from Helena Hunting. I never felt the romance and connection between Tristan and Beatrix and honestly, I could never get over the ick between Tristan and Beatrix’s brother… if you know you know.

Painfully bad, painfully disgusting, painful wasted time.

Disappointed what happened to this author
This was so bad
No romance
The cucumber 🤮🤢scene
The MMC tresome with her brother
The dramas
This to me was really bad

Rix + Tristan

Rix just quit her first real accountant job and she also might have moved out of her apartment - because her roommates were way too weird.
Now she's sleeping on her brother's futon. A futon that sits in an apartment he shares with his childhood bestie and current hockey teammate Tristan.
Yup. The Tristan Rix had a huge crush on ten years ago.
And also the Tristan she hates soo much!
They're constantly arguing and yellling and fighting and playing tricks on each other.

Let the fun times begin...

══════════════════

Adorable!

A tiny little warning first:
If you're scared of super sexy and p*rny romances - this is not the book for you! I just don't want you to complain afterwards. You've been warned!

This book was so sweet and funny and a little bit sad and heartbreaking. We get some hockey and some family problems and some workplace and roommate and relationship drama. But most of all this book was mega erotic! I love that - but it might've been a tiny - very tiny - little bit too much even for me. But I still loved the book. I loved Rix and Tristan and all the others - so much potential for future books!

IF YOU HATE ME was such a sweet + funny and super erotic Love Story! Full of friendship and family and hockey and food and all the good things! I loved reading it! Run to your nearest book dealer for your own Tristan - he'll be sold out in no time - and this one is MINE!

💜 💜

5 Stars!
(ARC provided by author)

Beatrix Madden aka Rix is extremely stressed while trying to navigate all the recent changes. Her world is pure chaos lately as almost every area of her life is in transition. The first thing she needs to do is find a temporary place to stay, so she heads to her older brother's condo that he shares with his childhood best friend. They are both professional hockey players for Toronto's pro team, the Terror. As a teen she crushed hard on her brother's best friend Tristan, but hasn't really been around him in about a decade. He's now in his mid twenties and sinfully gorgeous. The problem is he's also an arrogant playboy she now finds extremely annoying. They constantly argue and can't stand each other, but that doesn't mean sparks don't fly when they're in the same room. As their attraction grows and they feel out of control, will they be able to resist each other, or will they complicate everything and cross that line?

If You Hate Me (The Toronto Terror #1) by Helena Hunting is an all new standalone enemies to lovers, brother's best friend, forbidden, sports romance full of humor, emotion, passion, insane chemistry and fantastic banter. This hockey story was addictive, and I am so excited about this new series. There are so many characters I want more of, and I can't wait to see whose book we get next! :))

***NOW AVAILABLE***
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C...

2.75⭐️ for this one

🚨there will be a few spoilers🚨

I wanted to like this! I love hockey romance and I think it can be really fun a lot of the time. And who doesn’t love a brother’s best friend trope?! There was so much that didn’t work for me in this book :/

Both MCs are so so emotionally immature. There are some MAJOR red flags and not in the fun/fictional way. But in the “this couple wouldn’t last a week irl” way. They get together around 25-30% into the book and they pretty much don’t have one single interaction that doesn’t end with them having sex for THE REST OF THE BOOK. I’m all for a spicy book! But this felt like it was trying to have a romantic story and it just didn’t. I don’t think the MCs knew anything about each other or had a single conversation that wasn’t about sex. And, while I won’t deny that a lot of the spice was spicin’ 🥵, at one point this man f*cks her with a LITERAL CUCUMBER. And then eats it!!!!! And there’s also a part toward the end where he shoves her panties inside of her. The man does not care for vagin*l health at all 😭

I understand that he was supposed to be the wounded mmc who is scared of love and commitment but Tristan is straight up just an awful partner. He needs so much therapy before he should even consider being in a relationship. Also Flip is the worst brother and most disgusting person I’ve ever read about and I wouldn’t touch his book (that I’m assuming will come) with a 10ft pole.

Also there are TWO 3rd act breakups. TWO!!!!

This book could’ve been like 100 pages shorter and been marginally more enjoyable.

Also the fmc talks constantly about how refried beans give her the sh*ts. Like it was kinda funny the first time….but by the 5th time it’s a little much.

Thank you Good Girls PR for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review ♡

Cada vez que un libro malo tiene una portada bonita, un hada 🧚‍♀️ muere. Y no soy un hada pero las ganas de morir no me faltaron mientras leía esto. Es una ATROCIDAD. Una falta de respeto.

3/5

That was hurting. Like, I can't help but feel horrible for what happened to Tristan, but at the same time Beatrix definitely didn't deserve that so I was torn between the two of them and literally COULDN'T choose who I would stand for. And I LOVE THAT. Just, amazing.

"My being upset with you for taking something that didn’t belong to you without asking first has nothing to do with my f*cking cycle. I’m a human being with emotions, and they are not tied to the goddamn blood moon."

I am not a prude. I like smut/spicy books but I am also not a guy. I don’t read romance for the sex and lately I feel like there has been a lot smut and too little story development. Authors are more concerned about giving their readers smut than an actually love story.

When have women turned into men? Is sex more appealing to women now than Romance? I mean we like sex but we love romance so much more. Or so I thought…🤷🏻‍♀️

I was originally hate reading this, so I skipped the first 130 pages, but I actually ended up really liking it. Well, I liked it up until about 80%. The second break up was unnecessary and made me not like the H. I already didn’t like that he participated in threesomes with her brother, but him breaking up with her PISSED me off. And he didn’t have to grovel at all whatsoever to get her back, it was really sad because I liked him before this. I liked that he was ashamed of his nasty ways (I love when men are ashamed😚😇😇) before her and didn’t want it shoved in her face. However, I don’t like that he tried to say he really didn’t want to participate in the hookups with her brother because nobody held a gun to his head and MADE him do it. So whenever he would say he didn’t actually want to do it I just rolled my eyes 😒. But now onto her brother🤢🤢🤢absolutely disgusting human and I honestly wish he had just jumped in a lake and ☠️. Sorry not sorry. He was sooooooooo nasty. Like actually disgusting and I will never read his book if he ends up having one. No sane woman should touch him with a 5000 foot pole. And the fact that he tried to shove two girls the he and the H had f*cked in the h, his SISTER, invited the H to his room in front of the h face just showed what kind of person he was. And bring home hundreds (thousands?) of women and f*cking extremely wildly and loudly where his sister is staying was just beyond disrespectful and disgusting. And he never really apologized in my eyes.

But yeah I actually didn’t hate this book like I thought I would, not including the ending because that needed a lot of work from the author. It was already a long book, so why not just make it a little longer and have the H apologize and grovel appropriately for acting like an asshole?

5% in and I have a headache 😬😬

She quits her job after a few months because her boss gices her too much work (she's an accountant). Shes sleeping on her brothers futon that smells like sweat and manballs because her roommates are into role play and want her to join them. Her brothers roommate comes in drunk and then starts masturbating and she watches. She had lots of tacos with refried beans and margaritas. So her stomach is gurgling and she pees like the Niagara falls (the authors words, not mine). And he has lipstick and glitter on him from some girl from that night.

This is just the first 5% of the book. It tew much. I can't do anymore!!!

Dnf.

1 Tristan and Beatrix Star

I was so disappointed with this book.

Let me start by saying that Helena Hunting is one of my favourite authors. I have read 21 of her books (not including this one). The Pucked series is an all time favourite Hockey Romance series and Pucked Love is in my all time top 5 contemporary romance books. Fourteen five star , six four star and one 3.5 star ratings by me and I had high expectations for this one but unfortunately this novel just didn't work for me.

I love the brother's best friend trope and an Ice Hockey Romance is my go to happy place so I was positively giddy with delight when I heard Helena Hunting was releasing book one in a new Hockey Series.

Then it all started to go wrong (for me).

First , the cover. I'm not going to bang on again about how much I loathe illustrated covers except to say that this proves one of my main arguments. This cover is cartoonish with a girl and guy back to back and it looks like the type of book a teen would pick up. It conveys the image of a fluffy , light read. Whilst there are light moments , this book is far from fluffy.

If I didn't have a history of loving this author's work , I would not have bought this book because I think this cover is very unappealing. Luckily it is available on KU.

In addition to the cover , I wasn't keen on Beatrix , the heroine. She irritated me. Tristan was the hero and he was truly horrible to her at times. He doesn't do relationships because of his childhood experiences but I never really got why he hated Bea so much. Also , and this is purely personal preference , Tristan is not a name that I would associate with a hero - my sincere apologies if you have a Tristan in your life or you are a Tristan.

I felt that the cruelty of his words went beyond the premise of secretly crushing but trying to hide it. He broke up with her twice . The first break up fitted the story well but the second one felt weak.

I love passion in my books but it felt like there was so much sex , it drowned out the narrative of their relationship. There is a graphic scene with a cucumber and , yeah , well , ummm....no. Nope. I did not need that scene in my head. It was often unpleasantly graphic. Frankly, I don't know how Bea retained the ability to walk straight after all the sex.

Then there was Flip (Philip), who is Bea's older brother and Tristan's best friend and team mate. I don't think I have the words to describe him. Manwhor* doesn't even cut it. He has sex all the time , he doesn't tone it down even when his sister moves in with them and he is aware he can be heard. He usually has two or three women at a time - no issue with that , whatever floats his boat BUT he parades women that he shared WITH Tristan in front of Bea. Flip is always trying to pull Tristan back into three /four way shenanigans and when he is livid with both Bea and Tristan for them seeing each other behind his back , Flip tells Bea about how he and Tristan have both been inside the same woman at the same time.

Flip's angry gaze lands on me. 'How could you let him touch you? How? We've f*cked the same woman at the same time! And not just once , but many, many times." He motions between himself and Tristan. "We've been in the same puss* at exactly the same time. My dick and his dick." He slaps his palms together. "Like this."

I don't know who was more in love with Tristan because at times I was pretty sure Flip was heavily invested in his friend's love life and when the reveal happened it felt like Flip was jealous. On a similar note , Tristan often resented Bea's relationship with her best friend Essie , except they really are just best friends.

Finally, the secondary characters are interesting but a lot of people got introduced at once and I had to really concentrate on how people were linked. It doesn't help that one character goes by two names and two of them have similar names. Might just be a me thing though...

HEA? The epilogue is one month in the future and felt very much HFN rather than HEA.
Cheating? No.

I'm not wasting time writing too long of a review because f*ck THIS BULLsh*t but I just want to say this one thing ...

There's a f*ck lot of people that are okay with circ*mstances that happened in this story, based on its reviews, and that is more problematic to me than anything that happened in this book.

That's it. Exiting stage left now.

Freaking loved it. I don’t actually like cucumbers 🥒 but at least they’ll give me a smirk from now on.

Tristan is fun, childish and has a dirty mouth. This combination doesn’t always work but does in IF YOU HATE ME. He’s got good banter and his shard of glass cuts deep enough for me to understand his wounds.

Bea has hit an all time low. She needs to move out of her apartment and find a new job. Flip her brother is her lifeline. She’s moving in with him and his best friend for a short while. The problem is Tristan and Bea don’t get along.

The chemistry between these two is off the chart. I loved their hating games. The fine line between love and hate is walked so tightly the heat was sizzling from the pages.

I really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait for the next one. It’s an easy 5 from me. Maybe my new favourite from Helena.

If You Hate Me is fun. The banter is cute. The charatcers are loveable. The plot is OK and the humor is spot on. I do like it. Miss Hunting done a wonderful job writing the book.

What I do not like is the lenght. The third act break up is not needed and the ending can be made more sexier.

3 stars

DNF at 75%
(please excuse my expletive laden review)

Audiobook Review:

This makes me so sad! I LOVE Helena Hunting books! She’s my go-to for funny and spicy rom-coms. A Favor For A Favor is one of my favorite hockey romances.

But this… this is just not it. I am mad I wasted my money on it. It feels like Helena got bored writing her normal fantastic smut scenes and just decided to say f*ck it and wrote some weird, painful, unhygienic sh*t. Like I don’t care how well you cleaned that cucumber, it only belongs in my mouth! Bleh! 🤢 Let me just leave you with a couple quotes to really drive my point home:

“Claude, my other former roommate, is doing the helicopter, and every rotation of his wiener slaps Eugenia's cheek.”

And:

"Look at this, Bea." He holds up THE CUCUMBER for me to see. My juices are dripping down the sides onto his fist. "You haven't even come yet, and you're making a mess." He aggressively bites off the end, then slides it back inside me while chewing.
"I want you to watch me f*ck you with tonight's salad."

Like, what?! And there’s talk about fisting and how his penis touches her cervix and it feels GOOD?! Have you ever had an iud inserted? Or had your cervix checked by a doctor?? That sh*t hurts like no one’s business! It does not enjoy being poked, okay!

On top of the terrible spice that could’ve been awesome because of how much they couldn’t stand each other, Rix’s brother is a garbage human and I cringed every time he was brought up which was a lot AND there’s uncomfortable sh*t with teenagers. Like a teen boy gets a blow j*b and the friend group involves a 17 year old girl that they talk about raunchy sh*t with. It’s just beyond icky to me *shudders*

I just can’t finish this. vagin*l health matters!

I’m going to go back and read a different Helena Hunting book to hopefully scrub this one from my brain.

This was my first book by Helena and will definitely not be my last. Not only because I went ahead and bought book 2 as well as some of her other books. This book was a wonderful into to this world and these characters that I can't wait to see fall. I loved the banter in this one. I loved the chemistry between Rix and Tristan. I loved all of the side characters. I LOVED the spicy scenes and that they were somewhat original in my opinion. I did have a hard time with the immaturity of Tristan. Man was he a d*ck to her at the beginning. I have read enemies but this guy was shooting some LOW blows. However we did learn more into why later on. I just had a hard time with his wishy washiness because he also did a lot of really sweet things. I also did not like how Flip responded when he found out what was going on BUT appreciated Rix standing her ground. I found myself laughing out loud at the text banter and honestly just the conversations and situations in this book. I REALLY wanted them to make this work and though it was a struggle at first we finally got there.

Rix has hit rock bottom. She walked in on her roommates inviting her to join them for a threesome on almost the same day that she quit her job that she is realizing she wasn't loving. The only place she can think to move to is her brother's apartment. Her brother Flip and his roommate Tristan are town hockey stars. The major problem with this is they don't have a third bedroom so she will be sleeping in the loft without a door or barrier of any kind. Oh and the fact that she HATES Tristan. He is not only her brother's roommate but has been his BF for forever. They are known around town as a lover of the puck bunnies. So why is she suddenly finding it hard to look at Tristan and not think dirty thoughts? And why is she thinking that he is also thinking lewd things? He is giving her really mixed signals too- super cold with her then does something sweet. Whatever she doesn't have time for this- she needs a job. But then she finds time and man oh man does he rock her world. She has NEVER in her life experienced what they did together. And now they are going to keep doing this on the sly with no strings. But she finds herself wanting to know more about her not boyfriend. She wants to know what makes him tick and what makes him smile. She wants to see where this thing goes. But will his baggage get in the way? Or will he be able to recognize that what they have is something worth facing his demons for?

Tristan is feeling weird about life right now. He is tired of the going out and bringing a different girl home every night. That doesn't mean he is going to do anything about it. But then Rix moves in. His best friend/roommates little sister. The same one that he tormented for years. But she is all grown up now and he is thinking of tormenting her in a different way. But he can't. He can't do that to Flip (her brother). But he is only human so of course it happens and holy sh*t his world has turned upside down. He wants more. He says no feelings but that went out the window when he realized how amazing she really is. They are toeing a hard line that gets blurred real fast. And now Flips knows and Tristan doesn't know what to do. His loyalty is to him but priorities have shifted. Rix isn't just a hookup anymore. She is everything. But he can't get out of his head about things that have happened in his past. He can't stop thinking about what can go wrong. Will he able to prove to Rix that he is in it for the long haul? Will she believe him after all they have been through?

Your girl LOVES a best friend's sibling situation and this one was top notch in my opinion. I am looking forward to reading about Hammer & Hollis. I love it when author's give you just enough of a taste so that you are hooked on what is to come. Though this wasn't a quick read, I would definitely recommend!

“He says and does the dirtiest sh*t. Like the other night he spat in my mouth, and I was so shocked I just said thanks.”

Good lord.

“I’m not the same little girl who wanted his affection. Now I wish he’d choke on his own dick half the time—the other half I wish I was choking on his dick.”

GOOD LORD

“I’m nervous, too. I’m probably better at railing you than I am dating you.”

This was spicy af but also so emotional and well done! 4.5 stars

“Best cucumber I’ve ever eaten. Hands f*cking down.” IYKYK 😂 but you can probably guess if you don’t know 😂

There were spicy scenes that I’ve never read before and I am dead from them 😂 I thought Tristian and Bea had great chemistry and I loved their hate for each other, it just made it so much better.

“Maybe something to consider in the future. Some people spend their lives chasing dreams. I’ve spent mine chasing financial stability,” she says softly.

Tristan and Bea were both experiencing the side effects of childhood trauma, abandonment/verbal abuse and poverty. I thought both of these traumas were portrayed really well. I was, like anxious, with Tristian at times, even when he was being a dick, so I appreciate that depth to his character.

“My heart aches. I wish he could admit that he cares. But Tristan is a broken boy living inside an angry man, and I can’t fix that.”

Tristan and his anger issues, his anxiety, his commitment issues, were well grounded in his childhood without being in your face and you felt his pain and anxiety as triggers came up. He knew that he was taking it too far at points but he didn’t have a coping mechanism in place and didn’t know how to stop. Bea with her obsessive budgeting was so real, I felt that hard. I was emotional.

“f*cking Tristan.” Hammer shakes her head. “Only he would send you a basket of dick-shaped vegetables as an apology. That’s what this is, right? An apology basket?”

Flip to an extent was also worried about his money from their childhood, but honestly, I need to see more character growth from him because right now he’s just a f*ckboy douche most of the time. He had some nice moments near the end, but Helena, I need some more of him (he’s getting a book right? RIGHT!?*sobs*). I also always love the girl friendships that are in Helena's books, they are so comforting and I love women supporting women.

“You don’t want my attention, Beat.” His voice is soft and menacing, sending a shiver down my spine. “I promise you, you’re playing with fire, and I will f*cking incinerate you.”

If you like:
- Hand necklaces
-🍆 in the first chapter
- Hair pulling
- Produce experimentation
- Best friends little sister
- Roommates and forbidden-ness
- Spice. Spice everywhere
- Hockey romance
- “You might want to hold on.”
- They hate each other

“I head for my room and close the door, then glare at my semi-erect co*ck. “f*ck you for getting excited.”

Thank you so much to the author for sending me a PR box!!

3 Stars

Quick Overall Opinion

Potential Triggers: the H participated in orgies and threesomes with the h's brother in the past (off page) and some of their past conquests are introduced to the h (on page), and the H was abandoned by his mother when young and this caused some trauma (off page)

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but, respectfully, Y’ALL ARE INSANE GIVING THIS BOOK SUCH A LOW CUMULATIVE RATING😭 This is one of Helena Hunting’s best books (that I’ve read) yet and it pains me that the GR rating is as low as it is!

Now, when it comes to Hunting’s books, I will admit that I’ve learned to not always expect the best. I don’t know, her writing can be so different between all her books, and it’s difficult to know when something of hers is gonna work for me. So I went into If You Hate Me with that mindset but very quickly I realized that Hunting was bringing her A-game and making this book COUNT. I always wonder if an author like Hunting—someone who pumps out books constantly like it’s nobody’s business—struggles to think of new scenarios, new sex scenes, new characterizations, etc., especially because I feel like I have struggled with some of her books in that department. But this one, IDK y’all. Something about If You Hate Me felt fresh and exciting!

The Romance:
I don’t think I’ve read a book by Hunting where it felt like she gave as much time to the complexity of her main couple as she did in this book, and that was a fantastic element of this story for me. We start the book with Rix and Tristian having such a genuine amount of animosity for each other, but we still also get the fun sexual tension and banter. This book made me realize that that’s actually a rare balance to achieve in books laced with the enemies-to-lovers trope, so kudos to Hunting for that!

The development of Rix and Tristian’s relationship is gradual and bumpy as f*ck, but in a great way. Both Rix and Tristian have a lot to work through on their own that causes them hiccups in their relationships, and I loved getting to see them work through that to be a stronger couple. The general bumpiness of their relationship also made it so much more fun to read because even when we get scenes of them at their angriest towards each other, we then get such sweet, tender scenes that are just so good😭

The Characters:
Rix and Tristian were perfectly imperfect leads, and I loved both of them equally! I also loved seeing Rix with her girlfriends and Tristian with his brothers; a lot of those interactions were so wholesome.

Flip, however… ugh. I want to like Flip so bad, but his disregard for women and bringing them home to have loud sex with his sister in hearing-distance was so f*cking gross to me. I’m hoping he’ll get his own story, though, so we can see him move on from this and truly learn how f*cked up this behavior was. I think he definitely has some redeeming qualities waiting in the wings, but it just wasn’t the time to get that from him yet.

The Story:
I really appreciated that the progression of this story was actually somewhat unorthodox!

I definitely expected the climax of the story to be when Flip found out Rix and Tristian were hooking up, but we had so much left after that, and—going back to Rix and Tristian’s relationship being so bumpy—we got to see the two of them work through a lot more afterwards.

Overall…
I well and truly loved If You Hate Me! It wasn’t perfect-perfect (those Hunting-isms where the characters talk so ridiculously will never not bother me😭) but I was well and thoroughly sat for this book with Rix and Tristian making me externally giddy one second and leaving me in pain the next.

And, actually, I’m so f*cking excited for If You Want Me in a few months. The glimpses we got in If You Hate Me of Hammer and Hollis (and Roman for that matter!) had me INTRIGUED, and July seriously cannot get here soon enough!

Star Rating: 5/5 ⭐️
Medium: E-book 📱

Note to self: don’t be tempted to read, all sorts of weird-ass cucumber shenanigans taking place. 🥴

4/5⭐️
3.5/5🌶️

I truly forgot just how funny Helena is and how much I love her writing. I received an ALC copy of this book & finished it within a day. I found myself laughing out loud way too often & having so much with this audiobook!

If You Hate Me follows Beatrix (Rix) & Tristan, who is Rix’s brother’s best friend/roommate/teammate. Rix & Tristan grew up together. He was always the one she had a crush on growing up, even though he often made her feel like the annoying little sister that tagged along. Fast forward to adulthood, Rix has recently quit her job AND needs a place to stay, so she goes and stays with her brother & Tristan. Let’s just say they start off on the wrong foot when the first night she’s there, she catches Tristan drunk, stumbling back into his apartment & then j3rk!ng off. What could possibly go wrong staying with the stupidly hot guy who not only hates your presence, but is supposed to be completely off-limits…

Tropes:
- Sports Romance
- Brother’s Best Friend
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
- Forbidden Romance
- Opposites Attract
- Good Girl x Bad Boy
- Reformed Playboy

Diving straight into a new Helena Hunting hockey universe? Pleaaaaaaase! Helena is one of my favourite hockey authors; I forgot how FUNNY she is while reading this book; the banter is unmatched and I absolutely DIED at the cameos from two of my favourite Helena heroes!

What to expect:

🥒 brothers best friend
🥒 NHL star x good girl accountant
🥒 forced proximity
🥒 roommates
🥒 epic banter and 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨 spice

5 ⭐️ / 4 🌶️

Rix finds herself in a wee predicament and shifts to stay with her brother and his best friend, who play hockey for the Toronto Terror. She has always had a wee crush on Tristan, but these two are gold medalists at pushing each other’s buttons. Feelings are confused and the lines blurr for the both of them!

I absolutely devoured this book. Tristan and Rix are the absolute definition of winding each other up and pushing each other’s buttons to get a reaction. Some of the lines in this book were so insanely ridiculous and I loved every minute! Tristan is his own worst enemy, on and off the ice. He shoulders a lot a responsibility due to some hurt he suffered as a child. He really struggles with his feelings and verbalising them but when he was sweet to Rix, it was like nothing else 🥰🥰🥰 he was also a bloody filthy man, like I am SHOCKED. Every time I eat a cucumber now, I will think of this book. I loved Bea, too. She is used to not being seen, cast in the shadows due to her brother’s popularity and talent; she is therefore independent but just wants to be considered. Her and Tristan were fire together, and bought each other the best peace and comfort. Quick mention must also go to the new girl group that Rix found; they’re so FUN and I’m excited for their stories!

AND the glimpse of the couple for book 2! I am HERE FOR IT! I can tell this is going to be amazing new series and I can’t wait!

Thank you Helena and Sarah for the arc; it was a pleasure!

Wowzers! I couldn’t put IF YOU HATE ME down! I’m always up for a new book for Helena Hunting, so I jumped at the chance to read and review this one nice and early and I’m so glad that I did! I read it both as an egalley and listened to bits of the advanced listener’s copy and both the ebook and audiobook were absolutely fabulous…the readers are amazing and Helena’s words were as captivating as always!

IF YOU HATE ME was hilarious, heartwarming and jammed full of sizzling spice! Rix and Tristan were such wonderful characters and I had so much fun seeing them go from hate to something much, much deeper…and their chemistry was off the charts! I loved their solo journeys, and also how they complemented each other. I loved seeing Rix become more confident in herself, uncover her passions, and find a sense of belonging...and Tristan. Oh boy! I was right there with Rix when Tristan was on her last nerve, but he won me over hard! It was a delight to see him grow, and I love, love, loooooved seeing him learn to realize his own worth. Gotta love self-aware main characters who know they have to work on themselves! ;)

There truly was so much heart in this story...and it definitely didn't cool the heat down at all. In fact, I'd say this is one of Helena's spiciest books yet and if you haven't perfected your spicy reader poker face...you might want to watch if you decide to read this one in public...especially if the audio is your format of choice! It's a scorcher and you will likely find yourself blushing. ;)

Now onto the rest of the fabulous cast of characters! One of my favourite parts of starting new series from Helena is meeting her delightful cast of characters...and she's once again created the most excellent group of side characters who I desperately want to read about. I loved Rix's growing group of friends, and loooooved all of the Toronto Terror players! If you look around online, you might just spot some hints on what's in store next for this series (*hint hint* look for IF YOU WANT ME)...and I am seriously so excited for what's next! I'm also just so excited for all of the potential in this series, and can't wait until more and more people have read IF YOU HATE ME so we can all discuss who we want to read about next! ;)

Overall, I absolutely loved IF YOU HATE ME! Enemies-to-lovers is one of my favourite tropes and I'm always a fan of brother's best friend...so this was right up my alley! I also adored seeing a sports romance set in Toronto from one of my favourite Canadian authors! It was so fun to see certain Canadianisms...and even hear some of them in the audio version, too. I highly recommend IF YOU HATE ME to anyone who loves spicy rom-coms that are high on the spice scale and pack some delightful heat, especially if you also love hockey romances! This is one that I won’t be forgetting anytime soon and I already can't wait to reread it! ;)

Star Rating:★★★★★

Which prompt did the author submit into ChatGPT for it to spit out this unremarkable, unoriginal dribble?

These authors are not trying anymore.

I think it's because some of them have dedicated fan bases who will buy literally anything they publish...

Hmm...