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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really like the novellas ! It was cute and I had a good time.
loved under one roof and stuck with you but i didnt like below zero
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Friends, strap in cause this one is gonna be a long one.
What to say about Loathe to Love You? It was a fun, cute, nerdy ride! This collection of three novellas—Under One Roof, Stuck with You, and Below Zero—served up a delicious dose of enemies-to-lovers romance with a nice helping of STEM flair. Each story starred one of three best friends—Mara, Sadie, and Hannah—awesomely badass women in science who went from loathing to loving their respective guys.
What to say about Loathe to Love You? It was a fun, cute, nerdy ride! This collection of three novellas—Under One Roof, Stuck with You, and Below Zero—served up a delicious dose of enemies-to-lovers romance with a nice helping of STEM flair. Each story starred one of three best friends—Mara, Sadie, and Hannah—awesomely badass women in science who went from loathing to loving their respective guys.
What made this collection extra special was the friendship between them. These women were ride-or-die, cheering each other on through career wins and romantic chaos. Their group chats and check-ins added a warm, fun layer to the stories, and I appreciated the representation of such strong female friendships.
Keep reading for a deeper dive into each of the novellas.
Under One Roof
First up was Under One Roof, where Mara, an environmental engineer who'd just landed a job with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), inherited half a house and got stuck living with Liam, a corporate lawyer working for an evil big-oil company that happened to be Mara's environmental nemesis.
Their dynamic was pure grumpy-sunshine goodness. Mara was all cheeriness, obliviousness, and sass, while Liam was this brooding, few-worded hunk who seemed to scowl at everything (not unlike Ali Hazelwood's typical MMCs). Their bickering over the thermostat and stolen coffee creamer had me wishing they'd kiss already to lessen the stifling sexual tension between them. Living together forced them to see past their professional and personal prejudices against each other, and the moments of vulnerability gave the story a nice bit of emotional depth.
But here’s the thing: the novella format made their relationship feel fairly superficial. I'd have liked more insight into Liam's character. It felt like we spent too much time inside Mara's head and not enough time establishing the development of their relationship from "enemies", to being civil to each other, to friends, to suddenly having sex. Still, their opposites-attract dynamic was cute, and I couldn’t help but smile at Liam's obvious smittenness with Mara. It earned a solid 3⭐ for being fun but not fully fleshed out.
Stuck with You
Next was Stuck with You, which trapped superstitious, civil engineer Sadie in an elevator with Erik, a hulking Danish viking and professional rival from a competing firm. But their acquaintance went beyond work. Oh, yes. They knew each other intimately, in the super-hot one-night stand kind of way. What's more? Their scorching romp had ended in disaster, so suffice it to say, they were not on particularly good terms when circumstances forced them into close proximity. The story flipped between their present-day elevator trap and flashbacks to their whirlwind fling, slowly building their romance as we converged towards the misunderstanding that had rent them apart.
The forced proximity cranked up the tension, and I was hooked trying to figure out where it all had gone wrong between them. The miscommunication trope is not my favorite—it always feels somewhat artificially overdramatized—but ultimately, their reconciliation felt earned. Their shared civil engineering background allowed them to nerd out together, and their chemistry was several degrees hotter than Mara and Liam's, imo. It was a smoother read and had more of a quirky, heartwarming feeling. It was adorable to witness Sadie and Erik realize how much they had in common and fall in love on that very first day he graciously gave her his croissant. This one got 3.5 ⭐ for its intensity and heart.
Below Zero
Saving the best for last, Below Zero was decidedly my favorite out of the three stories, and I gave it 4⭐. Hannah, a NASA aerospace engineer, got stranded in the Arctic, and who showed up to save her? Ian, Mara’s cousin-or-something and the guy that'd low-key broken her heart (not that she'd ever admit it).
Their dynamic was unique in that Hannah was the extroverted, brash one of the pair, while Ian was more of an ultimate soft boi. An emotionally unavailable flirt and a kind loner seeking connection. They were my favorite couple of the three, and maybe my favorite out of all of Ali Hazelwood's couples I've met so far.
Them butting heads stemmed not so much from outer conflicts (like prejudices or misunderstandings, like in the previous stories), but from a clash of their personalities: her, rash and bullheaded; him, considerate and humble. Years ago, Hannah, who was all about no-strings-attached hookups, had pushed Ian away after a steamy moment because he wanted more than she could give. Fast forward, and she’s livid with him for vetoing her proposal for an expedition in an Arctic research station, thinking he's still butt-hurt about being rejected all those years ago, and not above sabotaging her career as revenge. At least until he risked everything to rescue her from an icy crevasse in Norway, which completely shifted her impression of him.
Their story jumped between past and present, same as the others, but over a much larger span of time (6 months for Liam and Mara, 2 weeks for Sadie and Erik, and a whopping 5.5 years for Hannah and Ian). And I think their significantly longer timeline lent itself to building a deeper connection between them. There was a much larger emotional impact to Below Zero, with forthright Hannah hiding behind a wall of indifference, being afraid of putting herself out there after being raised in a household where she never measured up, and Ian patiently waiting for her to realize he'd fallen for her just as she was. They paired beautifully.
But I had my gripes with it, too. Ian was, throughout the whole book, presented as this reserved, gentle guy. He was like a softly lit bathroom with an inviting bathtub filled with warm, fragrant, bubbly water, as opposed to Hannah's whitewater, thundering river personality. That was why it really rubbed me the wrong way when he started spouting the word "fuck". It clashed violently with my expectations of him being a "have sex", or even "make love" kind of man. It felt very out of character and jarring, and I didn't like it.
Why 3.5 ⭐overall? Well, for one, that was what it averaged out to—yay math!
Beyond that, while Loathe to Love You was a great time, with Ali Hazelwood’s signature cute moments, nerdy charm, and steamy scenes shining through. The novella format was a double-edged sword. It made for quick, addictive reads, yes, but sometimes left me craving more depth in the relationships and conflicts. Under One Roof felt too abrupt, and Stuck with You leaned on a trope I’m not wild about. Below Zero came closest to perfection, but even that could’ve used a bit more room to breathe.
All in all, Loathe to Love You was a fun, flirty escape that delivered on the enemies-to-lovers promise. The STEM settings—whether it was Mara’s EPA work, Sadie’s engineering projects, or Hannah’s NASA adventures—gave each story a fresh, unique twist. The couple dynamics were the heart of the collection, each offering a unique take on enemies-to-lovers: grumpy-sunshine, rivalry-fueled passion, and a missed chance turned second shot at love. Totally worth reading, but don't expect to be mind-blown.
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
lighthearted
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
fast-paced
3 super cute stories you can fly through in a sitting and be satisfied and happy. Each a bit unique and how the friends are connected is really sweet.
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This one is hard to rate because I loved the first story and did not like the second two nearly as much. The first story had me literally kicking my feet a couple of times though. Overall I’d say it’s my least favorite Hazelwood so far. I think I also just prefer novels over novellas.