Bridie has just about sworn off men. She's on her last few dates of her "20 Dates in 20 Days" experiment, and if they don't turn out well, then she's done with men. Her best friend Hattie is about to marry her other good friend Cal. Bridie's convinced to be the Maid of Honor, which she didn't want to do only because she hates weddings, but she doesn't want to let her bestie down. However, she's being forced to plan the prewedding party with the one person whom she absolutely loathes, Cal's brother Ben.

Ben has been away for a year. He returns home and gladly takes up the mantle of Best Man. How he loves to spar with Bridie. They've been at each other for over a decade. What neither of them know is that one broke the other's heart back in sixth form. There's so much tension between the two and the only way they express it is through verbal sparring. Hattie and Cal know better...

What unfolds is scheme after scheme to bring the two sparring partners together on a different level. Many antics ensue, and unsuspectingly, another crisis emerges that will require unlikely partners to come as one to solve.

Mary Jayne Baker writes a delightful romantic tale. Loads of laughs are abound. The frustrated tension between Ben and Bridie is delivered with just the right amount of spice. The reader is rooting for them to realize just what they have is a perfect union. I really liked the twist thrown in that sees two unlikely heroes working together to bring the two perfect lovebirds together.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aria & Aries for the ARC. The opinions in this review are my own.

I have been on a RomCom kick here lately and I'm not complaining! I love an enemies to lovers trope with some sarcastic banter, and Love At First Sight by Mary Jayne Baker filled that ticket!

Oh Bridie, Bridie, Bridie.....(here's a little secret....I did get her name jumbled with Birdie instead of Bridie multiple times throughout the book) can't get over a high school crush that stood her up at dance. Not only did Ben Kemp stand her up, but she asked him to be her "first time" and he stood her up! She was Devvvvasttttated (I drew that out in my southern drawl). So all this pent up anger is the fuel to this book!

The witty, sarcastic banter between Bridie and Ben had me rolling at times!

I LOVED this book! If you love an enemies to lovers storyline, then put Love At First Fight on your list! Available for purchase 8/4/2021!

Thank you to @netgalley and @ariafiction for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was OK. Not bad, not good just OK.

I can't confidently say I enjoyed reading. It was just super predictable, and ticked every single trope of this genre! I didn't connect to the characters, and because of the tropes the characters were just stereotypes. Nothing new or original here.

DNF 35%

This book was so, so, slow. It's very overly wordy and just never gets to the point. I found it very confusing to have a lead female named Bridie (whom friends often called Bride) when this book is set around a wedding.

I found the side characters to overwhelm the intended story focus. Sad to say, this book just didn't work out for me.

I received a gifted copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed Bridie and Ben’s story, but there were too many other distractions in the book.

First, the book revolves around her best friend’s wedding and the main characters name was Bridie? I read her name as Birdie the entire book, even my autocorrect wants her name to be Birdie. Sometimes people called her Bride, but she was not getting married. It was not the best choice of name for the main character.

Bridie and Ben have a falling out, leaving Ben embarrassed and Bridie heartbroken, and they have been “frenemies” ever since. Ben and Bridie truly have chemistry which may be why neither has been able to have a successful relationship. But I found it hard to believe that Bridie would not have asked Ben why he stood her up for the school dance for 11 years? Bridie and Ben are obviously part of the same friend group.

Hattie and Cal are secondary characters that kind of take over the show with their wedding and relationship drama.

I felt like this was a really fun story with a few too many distractions.

I received an advance copy of this book from Net Galley and these are my honest opinions.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this new novel.

This was unfortunately not to my taste and I didn't enoy it. It felt like it started out about Ben and Bridie but then the focus shifted to Cal and Hattie. It wasn't a straightforward romance.

Hopefully next book will be better. :)

Love at First Fight by Mary Jayne Baker is a cute romcom based on Much Ado About Nothing. It follows Bridie, a teacher who has sworn off love and Ben, a handsome casanova. Both of them went to high school together and have some history from back then.

I started this one and it had me laughing from the very beginning. I loved Bridie and her friendship with Hat and Cal, their interactions were funny and felt real.

I liked that the story didn’t center around Bridie’s unsuccessful dates but more about what happened afterwards. The teaming up for the wedding preparations was really fun to read and I think Baker did a great job portraying Ben and Bridie’s chemistry.

The pacing was quick and I very much liked that even with miscommunication issues, these were resolved within a couple of days. It was refreshing that you don’t get all the dwelling and miserable characters for long.

I also enjoyed all the side characters (except for JoJo) and their shenanigans to get Bridie and Ben to open up about their feelings for each other.

Overall, I’d recommend it to romcom readers and anyone looking for a light, fun summer read full of humor and banter, as well as swoony moments.

✨Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Aria for an eARC of this book in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.✨

This review will be posted closer to pub day on my Instagram account: @bm.bookish.girl

Bridie Morgan has no luck in love department. Currently she is going on twenty dates in twenty days. But unfortunately non of dates turn to be the one. Right then her best friend is getting married and she ask her to be a maid of honour, she has again a challenge. And guess who is the groom's best man? No one else than her lifelong nemesis Ben Kemp who returns home to join the wedding party. Ben, who hurt Bridie. Ben, who left her waiting outside their leavers’ prom in a brand-new dress, alone. Then the friends combine things in order they spend a lot of time together. They have a new chance to talk, to explain and everything.

The story was nice. I was really interested in how they will become friends again. I loved the friendship between friends. I needed time to adjust to Bridie as a name. But ok for lazy summer read at the beach.

I have to thank Netgalley.com and Aria & Aries for a copyin exchange of an honest review.

This is a second-chance rivals-to-lovers romance that is compared to The Hating Game. The Hating Game! But oh my goodness, this book is annoying.

First of all, the title doesn't even match the story! The leads Ben and Bridie had a short fling when they were teenagers which blew up because the guy got cold feet. How was it love at first fight? They liked each other before the fight??

Second, all the snark and biting jokes and comments aren't interesting. I do like it when the leads have good banter but this isn't good. I simply couldn't like it.

Third, the writing is so stilted!!! There is no proper flow of dialogue and events. Suddenly we're switching between POVs and the conversations jump topics so fast. There is no flow.

Fourth, in the beginning, we're being convinced that Bridie is obsessed with Ben by showing how she brings him up in every conversation. But listen. Every conversation barely lasts a few minutes and she talks about Ben for half of the conversation. It feels so FORCED. Random things are linked to Ben and it's not even natural?? I am not convinced.

The characters seem quite one dimensional, which I hate. One thing I really care about is characters and this one doesn't have good character formation.

Overall, not for me.

Such fun read. The first couple of chapters had me hooked with funny dialogue and interesting characters. I liked the fact that the two main characters had a interesting history that gave the story more depth. The only thing I kind of didn’t like was how fast everything between them got resolved and the way it got resolved. It felt too easy and took a way from the story. But in the end a fun read. 3 out of 5

This was my first read by the author and I can honestly say I loved it. In fact, I could not stop reading it, I started it after midnight and was up till 6 AM this morning just devouring the book. The characters were so much fun, and the plot was very well-paced. Without spoilers, I just want to say that the main storyline was the perfect amount of cute, witty, funny, and angsty. The brewing romance that neither MCs were aware of for ten years culminates into something very satisfying. I will say that there was some angst that could have been avoided by a simple conversation and honesty (I mean full honesty). I also found some of the things with the side characters a bit too much, but I definitely understand the role it plays in solidifying the relationship between our MCs and building a foundation of trust. Overall the book was quite enjoyable and definitely a quick read. Also, I am pretty sure I pronounced the main character's name wrong for at least 60% of the book.
P.S. Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

"Love at First Fight" by Mary Jayne Baker
Release Date': 8.5.2021

Bridie Morgan has decided to end her 'dating' stage of life with a bang -- 20 days in 20 days! She has to meet "the one" that way! Plus, she needs a date for the wedding of her best friend, Hattie.

Ben Kemp comes home for the wedding and joins the wedding party! Of course, Bridie is not happy. Ben is the boy who left her outside alone on their school dance.

Bridie and Ben need to help plan the wedding, as they are the maid of honor and best man. This is a ploy from their friends to try and get them together.

This reminded me of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," except of prose, there is witty banter!

Thank you to @netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #netgalley #netgalleyreads #netgalleybooks #2021bookreleases #loveatfirstfight #maryjaynebaker #romcom #contemporaryromance

I receive this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Aria & Aries for providing me with access.

So I am a sucker with enemies to lovers. However, I didn't feel like this book quite hit the mark.

Ben and Birdie are more frenemies than actual enemies, and while their banter was good, I didn't quite get the tension that I wanted out a traditional enemies to lovers. Even knowing that this book was based on Much Ado About Nothing didn't help, as I felt that relationship with Beatrice and Benedick was more fraught with tension than this one.

Additionally, the inclusion of Hattie, Cal and their perspective left things a bit disjointed. I was fine with them being secondary characters, but to bring them into the forefront felt really out of place.

Enemies to Lovers is one of my favorite tropes so as soon as I saw the title I was so excited to dive into this novel! But, after reading iI was left with some mixed feelings. This may be due to personal circumstances as I am American and this book was filled with popular Brit terms (I knew some but had to look up a lot) which made it a tad difficult to read. Although, I did love the banter between Bridie and Ben and really enjoyed how their story unfolded! I also enjoyed Hattie and Cal, but I think the four characters had a lot to say and it felt a bit rushed between all of them for this singular book.
I did think this was a precious book and can definitely see this being popular fun light-hearted read for when you need a little HEA!

Special Thanks to Netgalley and Aria & Aries for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest review.

Love at First Fight was not exactly what I imagined it might be from cover and the blurb alone. Birdie is making a last ditch effort going on twenty dates in twenty days before giving up and accepting singledom. Hattie and Cal, birdies closest friends, are happily in love and getting serious. Enter Ben, Cal’s older brother and Birdies ex friends with benefits, shows up back home after trekking through Peru. This is marketed as enemies to lovers, but the enemies part doesn’t quite stick. If you enjoy the lighter side of romance, you will enjoy this book. This romance is more steam, than sizzle, giving you a little hint and then fading to black. I’m also not sure I understood how fast Ben went from never wanting to get serious, and then desperately in love? If you can over look the sillier parts and enjoy a fluffy read, this one is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aria for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm normally not into contemporary romance, but I picked this up in hopes of finding a lighthearted read during a very stressful month... and it didn't disappoint! I devoured Love at First Fight in less than 24 hours. It's well written and fast paced, has plenty of funny and enjoyable banter and is enemies-to-lovers. What more could you possibly want? A love interest that's described as a mix of Aidan Turner and Chris Hemsworth? You got it. Enough drama to keep you on your toes without dragging on for too long? You got it.

I did have a moment of hesitation when the plot took a new twist at the 70% mark where I thought that the book might be a tad too long. Fortunately, there was no unnecessary melodrama and it didn't drag as I had feared. I was hooked until the end! All in all, an enjoyable read that I'm sure fans of contemporary romance will love.

I have mixed feelings about this one...on one hand, the blurb and even the title is misleading. I wouldn't classify this as an enemies to lovers romance. I wouldn't say this is a huge spoiler because you realise this quite early on. The blurb also mentions Bridie's 20 dates in 20 days and honestly, that plays a very small role in the story which is annoying because I think if it had played a bigger role, I might have enjoyed this more.

Positives? I thought this was well written and I did like the romance and ship it. It just wasn't the enemies to lovers romance I was expecting and wanted to read.

Negatives? The biggest one for me is that Bridie's friend Hattie's story plays quite a large role and we're following her life as well and it was really hard to care about that because I didn't feel like I knew her character well. The story arc wasn't bad...it just wasn't what I wanted to read. If Hattie's story was going to play such a huge part then I wished that she'd been introduced as a protagonist and that we'd followed her earlier on.

Overall, this wasn't a bad book. It just wasn't the story I expected or wanted. Would I recommend this? If you're looking for an enemies to lovers romance - no. If you looking for a romance - maybe but probably not.

<i>Thank you NetGalley and Aria and Aries for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an Honest Review. </i>

I really enjoyed the premise of the book which is rivals to lovers meet second chance love. It had great potential from a great cast of characters to a great plot. The first half of the book was great, it was funny and it was going at a great pace. But when the second half began, the book had lost its course. I felt as though the love part was way too fast for my taste, and the main couple's issues had gotten resolved at the 70% mark leaving the story to centers itself around Hattie, Cal, and their random drama. Their POVs felt unnecessary to the story and the book should have stayed focused on Bridie and Ben. Mary Jayne Baker's Narration was great and the writing was very easy to enjoy. The book was cute and I had a fun time reading it but it should have focused on the main couple.

I liked this book, but I think it would have been better if it had been two separate books. There was Birdie and Ben…and then Hattie and Cal. Both couples could have had their own books and I would have loved to read them!

The story focuses on Birdie and Ben, who have known each other for many years but had a falling out when they were 18. It’s an enemies to lovers story, but not with a ton of emphasis on the active enemies part.

I really liked the banter between Birdie and Ben. They were able to go back and forth really well! Birdie was a funny character. There was a part towards the end with an additional character I didn’t totally care for, but overall I enjoyed the book!

I'm someone who adored Much Ado About Nothing back when I read it in high school. At least, I adored Beatrice and Benedick.

So this book, being a modern retelling? That sounded like it was just about them? Perfect!

Only, it's not. You're getting Hattie and Cal's story too.

And it bored me as much as Hero and Claudio did in the play. Everytime one of their sections popped up in this I was bored to tears. I wasn't invested enough in Bridie and Ben for putting up with the other stuff to be worth it.

Sigh.