Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Please don't throw things at me...yet. I tried. I really, really tried. I read this a couple of weeks ago because I read the blurb and saw all the feedback saying, "OMG, this book is hilarious!" That's like waving a red flag in front of a raging bull, the bull being me of course. So I bought this book and started reading. After a few chapters, I stopped because I didn't like a single thing. But then I looked at all these glowing 5-star reviews again and thought to myself, "Surely, all these people can't be wrong. Maybe I should try again." I did. The verdict? I still didn't like it. I love the enemies-to-lovers trope. It's one of my catnip. And this book does have that in spades. Unfortunately, it lacks the self-reflection and character growth that I want in my romance. Lauren met her boss (she doesn't know he's her boss yet) during a fender bender on her way to her first day of work. Her boss was the one who hit her. She of course, lets him have it. Again, not knowing he's her boss. I loved her attitude then. I thought she was spunky and after being betrayed by her ex husband, I was rooting for her to get the hot guy. Then she arrived at her work place and found out her boss is the guy who hit her car earlier. And suddenly, the story devolved into a juvenile, playground, sandbox bully territory. Look, I have no problem with pranks being played by characters on each other. But it has to be done within a certain context for it to work, at least for me. Things like age and situation are important to me. Unfortunately, the pranks in this book and the way the characters went about it, was enough to turn me off the whole book. Putting laxative into your friend's drink CAN be funny. But putting laxative into your BOSS' drink when you know he'll have a very important meeting afterwards? NOT FUNNY. And grounds for termination. Yes, yes, this is fiction. Duh. But come on, that was uncomfortable and criminally unfunny. If Lauren and Austin were friends or even frenemies for years, it would've been funny. The fact that Lauren is a temp and Austin was her boss and it was her second day at work... And it wasn't just this one prank. Austin pranked Lauren by...get this...rearranging her post-its and giving her "porn virus." In retaliation she put itching powder in his pants... Yeah, and this was just the first week of work. The whole thing would've probably worked if the author managed to convinced me that these two characters have a very good reason to hate each other. They don't. Not really. Or at least, I never felt there was any good reason considering the length they went to to antagonize each other. It felt manufactured. Not only that, there is nothing at stake here! NOTHING. If they stopped hating each other the next day, it wouldn't matter. There's no emotional reward or consequence for both of them. At the end of the day, their animosity expressed in pranks (*roll eyes) are not earned. Therefore, it feels empty and shoehorned. It did nothing for me.