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0701mango's review against another edition
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
As a Texan Indian, there were parts of this book I could relate to. However, I went in thinking it'd be a lot more relatable than it was, but maybe it's because of a difference of community. I found most of the characters really annoying, and the book didn't feel well tied up at the end. There were questions/issues left unanswered/unsolved, in my opinion. That being said, parts were super enjoyable and indulgent and there were some really great and swoon-worthy moments. The male lead is lowkey my dream man.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Racism
bookishvanessa's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
lulimaffeo's review against another edition
medium-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
3.5
3.5/5 over 3/5 stars because of how much i enjoyed reading it. Great book to pass the time, well written and interesting characters/ plot
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Sexual assault
crazyrandom_music's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
shams96's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Misogyny, Violence, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
jnb2796's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
aqtbenz's review against another edition
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
syfylauren's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Grief, and Death of parent
amywong's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I love a good enemy-to-lovers trope. On that front this was good. the relationship between Jay and Liya wasn't bad. I think what stumbled is the writing and a bit of wanting to do too much and be deep without executing it that well. I can see what the author wanted to do but it just wasn't there. The writing was a bit choppy which made the monologues or speeches where Jay or Liya wanted to show up or speak up on their issues felt a bit forced, checking a box and a bit disingenuous. Like Liya finally speaking out about her sexual assault shouldn't feel dramatic in like a child tantrum kind of way, it should've made me feel for her. What bothered me, even more, was her friend's reaction when they learned was even more terrible. I, personally, don't believe true friends would center their emotions on finding out that their best friend got sexually assault as a child on the assaulted, the reactions should be centered on making sure my friend is ok and how they're feeling, what they want to do now. Not go on a rant about the assaulter. That made no sense to me and really made me think the author doesn't understand the actual emotions in a sexual assault situation. It leads me to see that the whole aspect of this plot was written by a person who wrote sexual assault as a bystander. The friend's reactions came off as what a person thinks the victim wants as a reaction but not truly what the victim needs. This is wholly why everything this book touches on outside the cultural aspects just wasn't natural enough. Apart from the poorly executed deeper issues, the trope plot is fine. It ended how I expected and ignoring my issues I still had fun with this book somewhat.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Sexual assault
spearly's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Whenever Liya glanced at me, which wasn’t often, she had daggers for stares. Her annoyance level was ridiculous. But as soon as Ma engaged her in conversation, she was someone else entirely
The Trouble with Hating You is a story told in dual POV by Liya, a forward-thinking, stubborn, non-traditional Hindu girl who has effectively been shunned by her community due to her sexual history and no-nonsense demeanour, and Jay, an all-around "nice-guy" (my quotation marks, no the authors) who loved his family and has a grin that could drop your panties. They first meet when Liya literally runs into him when she's escaping dinner with her parents, because as she finds out, they plan to ambush her with the appearance of Jay, with whom they are trying to set her up in an arranged marriage.
I'm not going to pretend to know the intricacies of Hinduism or Indian culture, but I had a major problem with the insidious misogyny in this book. It was most likely included to foil our progressive couple, and the author does a great job tearing it down, particularly at the end (which I will get more into), but that didn't make it any less uncomfortable to read about. Still, I liked how Liya was quick to point it out and shut it down. I liked how she kept her head held high when faced with her communities judgement, disdain, and vicious rumours.
But. I didn't particularly like howher main trauma, the reason that she's so standoffish with guys and never lets anyone in, was because she was assaulted when she was 15. And I really didn't like how Jay is suddenly the one tearing down her walls, healing her. If you want to base your main character's personality on a past trauma, at least let their big breakthrough be something they find within themselves. People don't magically forget their past, their issues, and their scars just because the right person comes along. And if you ARE going to make that the case, then at least show them working through it together. I feel like all we got with Jay and Liya was a few "of course I believe you"s, a few tender kisses, and some long-winded i-love-you speeches at the end that felt more like exposition than a genuine declaration of love.
I ALSO... and this might be controversial.... DON'T LIKE JAY.
Sure, he came through at the end there. But as he's courting Liya, he is such a "nice-guy" it made me literally sick.
Here he is enlisted her friends to convince her to go out with him after she ALREADY SAID NO.
The gist of the twenty-mile-long text chain was this: Jay had asked them to convince me to go out with him! The audacity! Who did he think he was, getting my friends involved? And to make matters worse, of course they were on Team Freaking Jay.
Here he is acting in true nice-guy fashion when Liya continues to turn him down.
I opened my mouth to snap at him, but he walked out and said, “You messed this up, Liya. We would’ve been good together. We could’ve had something real."
Here he is in his inner dialogue calling Liya UNGRATEFUL because he bought her $1400 (!!!) shoes (they are not even friends yet, people), and she was like.... um, take these back weirdo:
Since I’d been helping Liya, that ungrateful woman, for the past few weeks, I’d skipped out on our meals, which upset Ma.
And you're trying to tell me Jay is supposed to be this progressive, "we're always equals mkay? we walk side by side, I will never be above you, we're gonna be uNtRAdiTIonAL like that" kinda guy? I got some news for you....
Anyway he asks her out like 5 times I think before she finally caves. And, look, okay, I get it's a romance novel and the whole point is that she wanted to say yes and he could tell that, and that it's supposed to be romantic that he doesn't give up, but like... how many times do women need to say no for men to take the fucking hint? How many times do men keep pushing because they think we, like Liya, actually want to say yes but are playing hard to get?
(I apologize for that very heteronormative statement. In my personal experience, and the experience of nearly very woman in my life, however, it has always been the man who doesn't take no for an answer.)
And this isn't a fluffy rom-com novel where that sort of toxic behaviour doesn't speak to any deeper issues within that novel's world. When it's all fluff, things aren't that deep. But this is a novel with heavy themes, like deep-rooted sexism in religion, believing women, family dynamics in traditional households... I couldn't ignore Jay's character, and it doesn't stack up against the other themes of the novel.
Unrelated, I found the whole workplace drama thing boring and unnecessary.
Also unrelated, is anyone else hella bothered when a character is like, declaring their love and is all "I fell in love the first moment I saw you" (or in Jay's case: “I’ve been in love with you since the day you walked into that diner, when I took you home and decided to buy these damn shoes.”) when it's so obviously not true?
Um. I think that's most of what I thought. I could probably add more but this review is too long already.
The Trouble with Hating You is a story told in dual POV by Liya, a forward-thinking, stubborn, non-traditional Hindu girl who has effectively been shunned by her community due to her sexual history and no-nonsense demeanour, and Jay, an all-around "nice-guy" (my quotation marks, no the authors) who loved his family and has a grin that could drop your panties. They first meet when Liya literally runs into him when she's escaping dinner with her parents, because as she finds out, they plan to ambush her with the appearance of Jay, with whom they are trying to set her up in an arranged marriage.
I'm not going to pretend to know the intricacies of Hinduism or Indian culture, but I had a major problem with the insidious misogyny in this book. It was most likely included to foil our progressive couple, and the author does a great job tearing it down, particularly at the end (which I will get more into), but that didn't make it any less uncomfortable to read about. Still, I liked how Liya was quick to point it out and shut it down. I liked how she kept her head held high when faced with her communities judgement, disdain, and vicious rumours.
But. I didn't particularly like how
I ALSO... and this might be controversial.... DON'T LIKE JAY.
Sure, he came through at the end there. But as he's courting Liya, he is such a "nice-guy" it made me literally sick.
Here he is enlisted her friends to convince her to go out with him after she ALREADY SAID NO.
The gist of the twenty-mile-long text chain was this: Jay had asked them to convince me to go out with him! The audacity! Who did he think he was, getting my friends involved? And to make matters worse, of course they were on Team Freaking Jay.
Here he is acting in true nice-guy fashion when Liya continues to turn him down.
I opened my mouth to snap at him, but he walked out and said, “You messed this up, Liya. We would’ve been good together. We could’ve had something real."
Here he is in his inner dialogue calling Liya UNGRATEFUL because he bought her $1400 (!!!) shoes (they are not even friends yet, people), and she was like.... um, take these back weirdo:
Since I’d been helping Liya, that ungrateful woman, for the past few weeks, I’d skipped out on our meals, which upset Ma.
And you're trying to tell me Jay is supposed to be this progressive, "we're always equals mkay? we walk side by side, I will never be above you, we're gonna be uNtRAdiTIonAL like that" kinda guy? I got some news for you....
Anyway he asks her out like 5 times I think before she finally caves. And, look, okay, I get it's a romance novel and the whole point is that she wanted to say yes and he could tell that, and that it's supposed to be romantic that he doesn't give up, but like... how many times do women need to say no for men to take the fucking hint? How many times do men keep pushing because they think we, like Liya, actually want to say yes but are playing hard to get?
(I apologize for that very heteronormative statement. In my personal experience, and the experience of nearly very woman in my life, however, it has always been the man who doesn't take no for an answer.)
And this isn't a fluffy rom-com novel where that sort of toxic behaviour doesn't speak to any deeper issues within that novel's world. When it's all fluff, things aren't that deep. But this is a novel with heavy themes, like deep-rooted sexism in religion, believing women, family dynamics in traditional households... I couldn't ignore Jay's character, and it doesn't stack up against the other themes of the novel.
Unrelated, I found the whole workplace drama thing boring and unnecessary.
Also unrelated, is anyone else hella bothered when a character is like, declaring their love and is all "I fell in love the first moment I saw you" (or in Jay's case: “I’ve been in love with you since the day you walked into that diner, when I took you home and decided to buy these damn shoes.”) when it's so obviously not true?
Um. I think that's most of what I thought. I could probably add more but this review is too long already.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault