Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Published by HarperCollins on July 25th 2017
Genres: Contemporary, Contemporary Women, Fiction, Multicultural & Interracial, Romance
Pages: 384
One night. No one will know.
That was the deal. Every year, Livvy Kane and Nicholas Chandler would share one perfect night of illicit pleasure. The forbidden hours let them forget the tragedy that haunted their pasts-and the last names that made them enemies.
Until the night she didn’t show up.
Now Nicholas has an empire to run. He doesn’t have time for distractions and Livvy’s sudden reappearance in town is a major distraction. She’s the one woman he shouldn’t want…so why can’t he forget how right she feels in his bed?
Livvy didn’t come home for Nicholas, but fate seems determined to remind her of his presence–and their past. Although the passion between them might have once run hot and deep, not even love can overcome the scandal that divided their families.
Being together might be against all the rules…but being apart is impossible.
This book came highly recommended by a dear friend and so I was immediately cautious while reading… I’ll be honest, Rai is a new author to me and I have some serious reading issues that sometimes can cause me problems, but Rai hit every right note for me with this story.
Not only is this a second chance romance, which is one of my favorite tropes, but she also weaves in a bit of forbidden romance and love… to hate … to love!
The Kane and Chandler families lived, loved and grew together. They created a booming business and legacy, and it was only fitting that Livvy Kane and Nicholas Chandler would fall in love. But when a rift in the family breaks them apart they are suddenly enemies who still have feelings for each other.
Every year, Livvy and Nicholas meet for one perfect night. No more, no less… the hours are spent only in each other’s arms where they can physically express the feelings they can’t have for each other during the light of day.
When Livvy doesn’t appear one year, Nicholas assumes she has moved on and so he goes on with his life, preparing for the eventual handing over of the empire his grandparents created. But he can’t seem to forget about Livvy, and when she suddenly reappears in town, he finds she’s become quite the distraction.
The characters that Rai has created in this story are so captivating. Nico is so broody, you can’t help but fall for him. He’s swoony and sweet and absolutely miserable without Livvy in his life. And Livvy… she’s just as complicated and she’s a perfect combination of strong and vulnerable and I just loved getting to know them. I’m so incredibly excited for the secondary characters to get their own stories too as well as for more of the story of the family rift to be revealed.
Rai can definitely do sexy too – Livvy & Nicholas have such a passionate romance the chemistry between them is off the charts and things definitely get steamy! Add in the flashes of their past and you can see why they can’t seem to get over each other.
This could be described as Romeo & Juliet in the modern world … warring families and forbidden romance and a captivating story that you won’t be able to stop reading until you turn the last page! Secrets, lies, betrayal… you’ll find all that and more. If you’re looking for a wonderful new romance series, I highly recommend this one!
About Alisha Rai
Alisha Rai has been enthralled with romances since she smuggled her first tattered novel home from the library as a teenager. She writes hot and emotionally complex contemporary romance novels and is frequently sought as a speaker on topics such as love in the digital age, sex positivity, and inclusive representation in romance and media.
She is the first author to have an indie-published book appear on Washington Post’s annual Best Books list. Her books have also won the RT Reviewers Choice Award and have received critical attention and rave reviews from sources such as Library Journal, USA Today, BookRiot, Washington Post, Bitter Empire, NPR, and Smart Bitches Trashy Books. Alisha spends most of her time traveling, reading, dreaming up sexy heroes and heroines, and tweeting.
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