
There’s something so delicious about two people going from “I’d kill you” to “I’d DIE for you” (okay, sometimes it’s not that dramatic, but shh) and so enemies to lovers are my favorite trope in the world.
Because of this, I’ve obviously devoured tons and tons of enemies to lovers books, and I would like to gift you all with the knowledge I’ve acquired throughout the years. I hope you feel the love.

Market of Monsters by Rebecca Schaeffer

๐ค Nita’s family has an interesting business – her mom kills and brings supernatural creatures to Nita, a master of dissection, and sells the dissected body parts on the black market. Being the wonderfully morally gray girl she is, Nita is more or less okay with this… until her mom brings home a very alive subject. ๐ฎ
๐ค If you’re looking for a slow-burn romance, I highly recommend this series! Not Even Bones is totally romance free, and the sequel, Only Ashes Remain, has just a touch of romance.
๐ค But that doesn’t mean that the characters aren’t slowly getting close to each other! They go from enemies to tentative allies to friends, and they’re only just now, at the end of the second book, crossing into lovers territory. ๐ฅฐ
๐ค For those who are looking for a dark, disturbing book, this series is where you’ll find that. Market of Monsters has morally gray and villainous characters who are creepy as heck at times… and yet, I was rooting for them nonetheless.

Amelia Westlake by Erin Gough

๐ค Perfect student Harriet and bad-girl Will set out to make their all-female school a better place by creating clever comics and trying to embarrass their school into taking action. It’s a witty and fun story, but also realistic and real.
๐ค F/F enemies to lovers and opposites attract together is *chef’s kiss*.
๐ค Harriet and Will have such captivating, authentic voices, and I loved to have the chance of going into both their minds.
๐ค Be aware that Amelia Westlake is definitely on the slower side both in terms of how the relationship builds between the girls and how the plot progresses, so it may not be the best fit for those who like fast-paced books. For those who like slower books, though? Perfect.

The Last Word by Samantha Hastings

๐ค Lucinda is eagerly awaiting the conclusion to her favorite serial when the author unexpectedly dies, leaving her readers without concrete answers. Finding this unacceptable, Lucinda goes on a desperate search for information, enlisting her fatherโs young business partner and her old best friend, David, to help her.
๐ค Can I just say that The Last Word is the purest, loveliest book I’ve read in the past year? David and Lucinda make for one swoony couple, and I loved to see them slowly open up to each other.
๐ค At the same time, the novel goes deep into issues like sexism, particularly regarding Lucinda’s desire to work alongside her father. She’s brilliant at math – better than her father and David combined – and she should be able to use that talent, dammit!

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

๐ค Lilac, daughter of the richest man in the universe, and Tarver, a soldier Lilac embarrassed in front of her friends, are the only survivors of a spaceship crash that leaves them alone on an abandoned planet.
๐ค This is such a tremendous example of enemies to lovers; these two hate each other but are forced to work together and help each other, otherwise they will not be able to survive. Forced proximity is such a tension filled trope, and one of my top favorites.
๐คThe banter and snark between Lilac and Tarver had me entertained all through! ๐ Their interactions were so witty and fun, and I loved being in their heads.

Hidden Legacy by Ilona Andrews

๐ค Nevada Baylor is tasked with a the most challenging case of her detective career: she has to capture a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, who is able to burn anything and anyone. To survive and complete her mission, she is forced to join forces with Connor Rogan, and, well, co-operation between these two is not a piece of cake.
๐ค Connor promptly kidnaps Nevada on their first meeting, so uh, you can very easily say that they start out as enemies. They are both stubborn and used to getting their own way, so it takes a lot for them to start properly compromising and trusting each other.
๐ค The relationship development between them is incredibly well-done – it’s gradual and careful, and it all felt realistic and healthy.
๐ค Nevada’s family is entertaining as hell – from her cousins and siblings to her grandma and mom, they all made me beam so much. ๐ค

Well Met by Jen DeLuca

๐ค Emily is roped into volunteering for the local Renaissance Faire alongside her teenaged niece, where she meets Simon, a perpetually irritated teacher who seems to make it a habit of being disapproving of everything she does. ๐
๐ค Well Met is one of the most endearing books I’ve read this year and I’m eagerly awaiting the second book in the series.
๐ค The characters captured my heart from the get go – Emily is genuinely good, and for all his grumpy-ness, Simon is far from being a bad person. We see more and more of what makes him act so controlled, and even though yes, he does fuck up once in a while, he always apologizes and shows that he can change. I simply loved these two together.
๐ค Emily’s relationship with her niece and sister made me so happy to read. Growing up, she and April weren’t very close because Emily is around ten years younger than April, but in the present they have a chance to reconnect and get to know each other. It was fun to see them interact and just have so much love and respect for each other despite not being terribly close.

Work for It by Talia Hibbert

๐ค Following a massive breach of privacy Olu has been unable to be physically intimate with anyone; he tries and tries but the revulsion he feels when touching someone isnโt going awayโฆ until he meets gruff, quiet Griff. Genuine attraction, however, is not a cure, and Griff, seeing Oluโs discomfort, tries to talk to Olu which doesnโt work out the way he intended. ๐ฉ In his frustration, Olu lashes out at Griff, hurting his feelings and destroying the connection they had, creating a lust to hate to love dynamic.
๐ค Griff is the grumpy town outcast, while Olu is everyone’s favorite charmer, so the opposites attract trope is strong in this one.
๐ค Work For It is such an emotional, beautiful little novel that made me feel all the feels, and made me root for these characters from the get go.

A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole

๐ค On her flight back to her home country, Nya ends up in the same bed(room) as Johan, stepson to the king of Liechtienbourg and notorious party-boy who simultaneously annoys and fascinates her. Being in close proximity to each other at their friendsโ wedding, the two have no other choice, but to get to know each other.
๐ค Besides being an enemies to lovers romance, A Prince on Paper is also about the fake-engagement of the main characters, and who doesn’t love a good fake engagement story!?
๐ค Nya and Johan are two of my all time favorite characters – they are both such kind and genuine people, and I adored seeing them slowly falling for each other.

Let’s chat!
Do you enjoy enemies to lovers romances? Have you read any of these novels? What are your favorite hate to love romances?

I love enemies to lovers. I mean, I feel like you kinda have to in the book community lol! But, I havenโt read a book in a long time with that trope. So thanks for the recommendations!
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So true, haha. Enemies to lovers seems to be loved by every single blogger. You’re welcome, I hope you’ll pick some of these up. ๐
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I love, love, love the Market of Monster series!
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Ahh, yes, I’m always glad to see love for that series!
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Oh my, the Ilona Andrews series is so good! But I may be partial with this one because I love all of her books! I think I would read even to do lists and the such if they are written by her!
And I have read Not Even Bones too and it was surprising!! ๐ And I think it deserves a bit more of hype!!
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I need to read more by Ilona Andrews!! I’m looking forward to more books by the author. ๐
Yay, I’m so happy to see some love for Not Even Bones, it IS very underhyped.
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I love hate-to-love romances, it is so fun letting the characters break down barriers and get to know each other especially when they do it reluctantly. I find that they are often slow burn which I adore as well. All the small details are amazing.
I love that you talked about some underhyped books as well. Not Even Bones sounds like such an interesting plot and I feel like I’m going to like the small details.
Amelia Westlake is on my TBR and you have just made me even more excited to get to it.
I loved hearing all your thoughts for these books and thank you for sharing all these recommendations!! โค
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So true, and I love the tension and how, a lot of the times, the build up can be slow and gradual, like you said. Not Even Bones is WONDERFUL, Sophie, please read it!! It’s a series that deserves so much more hype, and I 1000% believe it would have done much better had the publisher marketed it well (or at all…)
I’m so glad you enjoyed my post. ๐
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Omg so many titles Iโm curious about and the fact that itโs all enemies to lovers romances is even better ๐ Iโve been following the Webtoon for Not Even Bones and itโs been AMAZING! So curious to know who the love blooms with but I have a feeling already! ๐ also just read Well Met last week and absolutely adored Simon and Emily ๐ฅฐ Great post!
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I need to read the Webtoon for Not Even Bones!! I’ve never read any webcomics, but I really want to because they sound like so much fun. Well Met is SO CUTE, omg, loved that book. Thanks. ๐
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Love love love enemies to lovers, I’m definitely adding a bunch of these to the TBR. Great post!
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Thank you, glad you found some you like. ๐
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I love the Hidden Legacy series and I’ve been intrigued about Not Even Bones for a while, I really need to pick it up!
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Hidden Legacies is wonderful, I need to read more by Ilona Andrews. Omg, yes, please read Not Even Bones!! It’s a wonderful book/series that deserves way more love than it’s gotten.
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I adored Well Met. The push and pull between Emily and Simon was so yummy. ๐ I’ve had These Broken Stars sitting on my shelf for YEARS and have yet to read it. *sad face*
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Yes! I was heartbroken when I realized the author doesn’t have any more books out. ๐ฆ I think you’ll love These Broken Stars – there’s a lot of banter and humour in it.
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I keep hearing great things about Not Even Bones and must say I should get around to reading that soon bc it looks damn good. Also These Broken Stars.. that cover *chefs kisses* I read that book last year and throughly enjoyed the angst, very cute!! If looking for more Enemies to Lovers (a genre I personally will never tire of) than I highly recommend Serpent & Dove or Angry God by LJ Shen I finished both recently and they have become ALL time favs! Lovely post ๐
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Oh, please, do read Not Even Bones!! It’s criminally underrated, and I have to say, I’m convinced it would have done much, much better had the publisher put in some effort into the marketing. I love the cover of These Broken Stars, so pretty. ๐ Thank you for the recs – I’ll have to check out Angry God, but Serpent & Dove is already on my tbr, and I’m SO EXCITED. Glad to hear you loved it. ๐
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I loved this list! Hate to Love is one of my favorite romance tropes and can be so deliciously angsty and intense when done well ๐ I just finished These Broken Stars and the enemies to lovers romance was so good! The book itself was very intense, but I loved the survival storyline and how the characters learned to work together ๐ฅฐ
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Thanks! So true, the tension and the gradual growth is so satisfying to watch. I’m happy you enjoyed These Broken Stars – and yes, it is one of my favorite examples of enemies to lovers. The tension and the banter was so well written, and I adored the characters. Also, the plot was A RIDE. :O
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ooh I had Amelia Westlake on my TBR a while ago but got rid of it because I couldn’t remember why I wanted to read it NOW I REMEMBER IT HAS MY FAVORITE TROPE AND IS F/F thank you lol. I’ve also been super interested in reading Well Met because one of my friends really likes it.
Great list!
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Haha, Amelia Westlake is definitely recommended if you love those things + girls misbehaving and rebelling. Well Met is so fun and the setting is unique and vividly written.
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I love this trope but I don’t read it nearly often enough! Work For It sounds really interesting, and These Broken Stars has been sitting on my TBR for a while. Maybe it’s time to bump them up and get myself some enemies-to-lovers action! ๐
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Work For It is SO GOOD – and so is everything else by Talia Hibbert, she is fantastic. These Broken Stars is such a wild ride, and the banter is A++.
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I read 5 of these, and I agree, they were great. Every book in Cole’s series was fabulous, Well Met was so much fun, I adored the Starbound books, Lucinda and David were a perfect pair, and Amelia Westlake was a stupendous book.
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So happy you loved these five, Sam. ๐
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As long as it isn’t bullying to romance, I do like the hate to love romance trope! And I usually come across it in fantasy but I do need to read more contemporaries with that theme too. I haven’t read any of these, but a lot of them are on my tbr. Such as: These Broken Stars, Not Even Bones (vampires?! yes!), Burn for Me and I am going to be trying some Alyssa Cole soon hopefully ๐
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Same, bullying to romance is horrible, and I hate when that’s excused away… ๐ Hope you’ll enjoy all these, although Not Even Bones doesn’t have vampires, so don’t go into it looking for those, haha. It does have some interesting, unique magical creatures though! ๐
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Wait what?? I was so sure Not Even Bones had vampires! I am still interested in reading it but I am not sure where I got that misconception from – thanks for the fair warning ๐
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I’m a sucker for hate to love romances, so I will definitely keep my eyes out for, well, all of these!
Awesome post ๐
– Emma xx
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Thank you! Hope you’ll enjoy them if you get to them! ๐
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An excellent list!! Thanks for sharing, I have some books to add to my TBR!!
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