Hate Sex
They just HATE how much they love each other... and I LOVE IT
Would I pair any of these partners together in real life? Yes, if only for the safety of keeping them away from anyone else. But do I love reading books with this kind of explosive chemistry despite how deeply toxic they might come across? Yessss. Did I spend way too much time finding enough books for this roundup so I could finally unpack some of my feelings about Beautiful Bastard? Let’s move on.
Falling For My Enemy by Claire Kingsley. Hazel is a psychology professor with an online nemesis, the data nerd with no academic background Corban. Corban developed a theory and survey that he claims is guaranteed to make two people fall in love, and Hazel has been extremely vocal about doubting his methodology and conclusions, given their lack of real scientific/academic basis.
So it works out when Corban’s offered a position at Hazel’s college to actually do a true study of his theory. In a manner of speaking. Of course, because their areas of study (sex/relationships) are aligned, they’re immediately put on another study together and are office neighbors and are constantly pranking one another as a result of a fiery chemistry and their forced proximity.
Then they have hate sex against the copy machine one night when they’re both working late, and we’re off to the races!
I wanted to like this book more than I actually did (though I did enjoy it!). Hazel is ace/autistic coded in varying ways from the previous book in this series and there was a lot of potential for funny and heartbreaking scenarios, but it’s definitely the weak point of this otherwise great series in a way I didn’t expect. Rival academics turned hate sex havers turned colleagues turned lovers with a stress baking habit and a bad-tempered fat cat should be a slam dunk! It’s worth reading, because I love the rest of this series so much, but it’s not quite what I hoped from these two sexy scientists.
Rating: 4.25/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
The Worst Guy by Kate Canterbary. In a previous book in this series, ER surgeon Sebastian Stremmel is described thusly: “every day is the worst day of his life.” And the first time you ever meet him, in an epilogue of a series this series is loosely connected to, he hits on like every female character despite them having already gotten their HEA in that series. This man is not set up for success. He is relentlessly negative and antisocial, despite his fellow doctor’s attempts to befriend him, he’s moody and rude, and, if you haven’t picked up on this yet, I adore him.
You know who else I adore? Newly hired reconstructive surgeon Sara Shapiro who takes exactly 0% of his shit. She’s also recovering from an eating disorder which has made her, in her own way, a little antisocial with the rest of their hospital coworkers as well.
After a workplace incident between the two of them, the hospital sends Sara and Sebastian to coworker therapy where they have to meet weekly for several months and get assignments from their therapist to repair their working relationship. They are equally disinterested in this journey, are hostile to one another and their therapist, and pretty much instantly start sleeping together. Chef’s kiss, no notes. Especially because, despite it being hate sex with no cuddling or pillow talk, Seb always pours Sara a glass of water and leaves it on her bedside before he heads back to his apartment (did I mention they’re also neighbors, living in the same apartment complex?).
This book made me HOWL with laughter (the sumo fight!) just as often as it had me swooning (The! Glasses! Of! Water!). This is my favorite Kate Canterbary of all time. It just had absolutely everything I was looking for out of an enemies to enemy lovers to lovers story.
Rating: 4.5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren. I have been waiting for a reason to talk about this book, the debut novel for my faves Christina Lauren, for AGES, and finally read enough hate sex books I enjoyed to fill a full newsletter. I find this book absolutely hysterical. I’ve read it, conservatively, 10 times in a year. I’m obsessed with Chloe and Bennett and how deeply toxic they are and how obsessed with each other they are in equal parts. The premise of this book doesn’t really matter but here it is anyways: Bennett is an out-of-this-world extremely handsome man and son of the owner of a marketing company who until a few months back was in Europe working at different marketing companies before coming back to the family business. While he was away, Chloe, an business graduate student, has been working at this family business. The rest of Bennett’s family loves Chloe. He hates her. Which works out, because she hates him too. She’s also his acting assistant until she graduates from school and gets a job more in line with her expertise (the company has basically already promised this to her). They’ve managed to not kill each other for the past few months of working very closely, but then they introduce some very angry but very hot (and often quite public) sex into the mix after a late night in the office lowers their guards. Eventually the hate sex and acrimonious professional relationship becomes something real and true and despite the problematic power imbalance, Chloe knows her worth and isn’t willing to settle.
Chloe and Bennet have hate sex: in a conference room against a glass window, in the stairwell of their office building in the middle of the day, in an elevator at work in the middle of the day, in a car in the office parking garage, in an upstairs bathroom at Bennett’s parents house overlooking the patio where Bennett’s family and a guy they’re setting Chloe up with are having lunch, in the changing room of a lingerie store, in Bennett’s office, and in the bathroom of a brunch spot that is not single stall. It’s hilarious. It’s hot. It’s also, and I didn’t know this until my third read-through, adapted from Twilight fanfiction.
Rating: 4/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Next week, I’ll be recommending books with political b-plots.
What should I be reading next? Let me know in the comments!