Title: Love to Hate You
Author: Jo Watson
Genre: Fiction/ Romance
Source: Bestsellers
Rating: 5/5

Favourite Quote: “It was easily the hottest experience of my entire life. But then he did something very odd, something that tipped me over the edge. He lifted his head and met my eyes with such intensity that everything around me went silent and blurry. He was looking at me like he knew me. Really, really knew me.
My mouth opened and an almost inaudible whisper came out, “Do I know you?”
He smiled at me. A naughty, skew, sexy smile. “Not yet.” And then he kissed me. No one had kissed me like that before. It was the kind of kiss shared by long-lost lovers.”

Sera finds herself in the back of a car with the hottest man that has ever walked the planet. Something that she never EVER does. So when she thinks her one night stand recognises her, Sera can’t help but panic and bolts, leaving him in the back with his trousers still around his ankles.
Sera tells herself it’s just a one night stand, everyone does it, she never has to see him again. That is, until Sera shows up to work the next day and discovers the new creative director in her department is no other than her sex god from the night before. Things get even worse when he slides her panties across the desk during their meeting. The ones she left behind in a rush when she ran away last night.

‘I gasped and then slapped my hands over my mouth in utter gut-wrenching shock. I closed my eyes tightly, hoping that when I opened them again, my underwear would not be laying on my boss’s table. 
I heard a small chuckle and opened my eyes again. He was wearing his backseat look now. His eyes were doing that intense staring thing that had the power to make you feel completely naked.’

You know what, I loved this book much more than I realised when I read it for the first time a few years ago. I’ve read it so many more times since then and I still love it for it’s laugh out loud comedy and delightful romance that will make you swoon. It hit my favourites instantly and I still pick it up when I need a good easy romance to hit the spot.
I love the quirky characters and the interesting storyline that is unpredictable and heartwarming. It’s everything I want in a romance novel.

Sera is a young women with a difficult past that she couldn’t help but run away from. She’s interesting, passionate and down to earth, she would do anything to help her sister escape like she did. Living with her eccentric adopted fathers; JJ and Bruce, has made her into a stronger woman, determined to pay her dues, even when she doesn’t need too, to their dismay. When JJ and Bruce decided to take Sera in after they discovered her at her lowest point years ago, they made it their purpose to give her the life she deserved without anyone pulling her down. She remains fiercely stubborn but can’t help but fall into their wonderfully vibrant lifestyle full of exciting distractions in various wigs and crazy costumes.
I absolutely adored JJ and Bruce, not just for their selfless actions with Sera, but for their ability to light up the room. They will be the reason you’ll laugh out loud every time. You’ll fall in love with these two funny characters by their carefree sense of humour to life, you feel the close bond between the three of them instantly and their love and respect for Sera as their ‘adopted child’.

‘I wondered exactly what collective noun could apply: 
A cackle of queens. A gaggle of gays. A hullabaloo of homosexuals. 
To say they were screeching with laughter was an understatement. Bruce was currently bent over the couch squealing, broken up by fits of even higher pitched laughter. 
And JJ… well, he was lying on the floor, tears running across his face, sobbing, “He’s a panty smuggler.”‘

When Sera discovers who Ben really is, she does everything she can to remain civil, since he’s the new boss, it would be bad if anyone found out, even if it happened before he showed up at the company. When Ben continues to ask her out, Sera pushes through her determined resolve to avoid a relationship at all costs. Even if he wasn’t her boss, she had no time for such things. So when she gets woken up in the middle of the night by her new 2am DIY neighbour, she confronts them only to discover to her surprise, Ben has moved in next door. Her plans to avoid him becomes all the more difficult.

Their witty banter is so delightful. Ben is determined to convince Sera that he’s for real, their one night stand meant more to him than she would ever realise. With his boyish charms, a smile to make your insides melt, and not to mention a modern knight in shining amour when her car broke down on the side of the road, he’ll play the game until he wins, even if he has to pull strings at work to make it happen.

‘Ben put his phone down on the room table, and was leaning back in his chair looking at me. He smiled, as if he knew he’d gotten me with that message. As if he knew that he had successfully just reeled me in. As if he knew a comment like that, one that was so intimate, was far harder to resist than ones laced with sex. Our eyes locked and my stomach tightened.’

It’s a fun game of cat and mouse which has you wanting to know more, and it’s worth the read. I would highly recommend it!

‘I felt sick. I needed chocolate’
– a girl after my own heart

Goodreads Review:
Sera is usually a good girl. (Except for one wild night in the backseat of a stranger’s car!) But what happens when that bad boy turns out to be her new boss? And what happens when he wants more than one night…and he can be very persuasive…