I really wanted to like this but unfortunately I just found it really hard to get into the story. I loved Hargan’s first novel and I really like her style of writing generally so I’m definitely not put off but this just wasn’t for me

O’Leary.


I loved Niamh’s debut book so was instantly excited to be invited back on tour for this book. This has delivered and been everything I’d hoped.

Imagine agreeing to be married for a year, being unable to reach the other person to arrange the divorce, only for them to end up in your workplace. This goes one step further, Fia is her husband’s mentor- for ten weeks.

I love enemies to lovers, it’s one of my favourite tropes and this is an author on my must read list. This book has delivered in every way possible. I have been completely pulled in, captured and kept until the very last page.

I loved Fia and Ben, both are well developed and seem real. I loved the interactions between them and how tense things when they are together. They are a fantastic pair and have made me smile as I’ve read this one.

This is beautifully written. I have been transported and felt as though I’ve been watching this play out in front of me. I could easily see this being on screen- I definitely would be watching this over and over.

This is an author who knows how to write a good book. My heart has been stolen, my mood has been changed. I devoured this book in just one sitting with no regrets. Niamh is a must read- I cannot say anything negative about this book. It’s a must read.

A very enjoyable romantic debut from Niamh Hargan. A fast paced, enemies to lovers plot where the two main characters start off with an unplanned Vegas wedding after working at an American summer camp when they were younger. Fast forward 8 years and they are thrown together again in a high stakes New York law firm sharing an office. The text was well written and kept me reading up late. Romantic tension was built up well.

I loved this rom-com - a well eritten book that has comedic and heart warming moments, a perfect summer's afternoon read!

It's really, really hard to find a satisfying enemies-to-lovers story, but boy did I hit the jackpot with this. Full disclosure: I LOVED Niahm's debut, Twelve Days in May, so I was always going to pick this one up. And, far from struggling with the difficult second album-syndrome, Niamh has knocked it out of the park.

I loved Fia and Ben in all stages of their developing love story. It was fun seeing them genuinely dislike each other, barely saying two words to each other, even though they share a tiny office. I adored how the small, subtle changes in their feelings develop naturally and unexpectedly. Fia is such a warm and wise character, who's easy to relate to. A native Dubliner, transplanted to a corporate law firm in Manhattan, she loves her job and her life, even if she hasn't quite worked out what she wants from the future. (The passages about family and home and belonging were genuinely moving.)

So yeah, there's some deeper stuff going on here, but what you really want to know is: is Benjamin Lowry hot stuff and is there heat between them? (Mandatory in enemies to lovers). Well, I'm pleased to report the answer is a resounding, YES, and THANK YOU, JESUS.

And, I hope it's not spoiling anyone's fun to say, hoo boy, do these guys ratchet up the heat factor. (Who doesn't love the old 'let's get it out of our system' ploy.)

The plot took unexpected turns which is always a lovely bonus, I definitely didn't see at least tw0 of them coming, and I read a *lot* of romcoms...

Run, don't walk, and buy this book. I am not going to stop talking about it for a loooong time.

Fia has a new intern, whom she hates. For good reason - see, they're married.

This is an interesting second chance romance with flashes of a really good story. However, I wasn't a fan of the characters and their relationship felt more forced than destined. Not a book for me.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Imagine you accidentally married in Las Vegas to someone you barely knew, only to find him ask you to agree to remain married for one year as it would affect his aspiring politican mother’s electorial changes. Then a decade later he turns up at your workplace and you have to mentor him. Now you have to keep this a secret as you’re his supervisor, and your secret marriage would look badly upon your character for promotion in your stuffy New York law firm.

That’s the story of Irish expat Fia and American Benjamin in Niamh Hargan’s wonderful second novel, ‘The Break-Up Clause’. We go through the gammut of Fia and Benjamin’s relationship, starting with Benjamin’s unexplained longstanding emnity at Fia, the professionalism they both are forced to demonstrate at work publicly, all the while a growing chemistry that threatens to burn down their office.

Hargan writes such fantastic characters, I loved Fia and Benjamin, and also the authenticity she brings to how the situation affects their emotions and how they treat each other (sometimes badly). ‘The Break-Up Clause’ is ‘enemies-to-lovers’ done right, filled with red-hot chemistry, banter and wit with the perfect resolution to their issues. Chefs kiss.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the ARC. I’ve pre-ordered my copy.

I am struggling a lot with this story. The story moves at a very slow pace, and the writing style is just not for me. There can be pages of descriptive text, while my preference has always been dialogues. My interest wanes very quickly when that happens. As such, this is a dnf for me.
Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Feels authentic in its New York setting and I felt as if the law firm setting was equal.ly so.

The set up of Benjamin and FIA ending up at the same office works for me, including its timeline. I enjoyed seeing the female superior to the male, career-wise.

Usually when a romcom is over 400 pages I'm a little put off but I was just glad to have extra time with Fia and Ben in this book! I absolutely loved it and couldn't put it down. This is an enemys-to-love, forced proximity and 'got married in vegas' book (if that's a thing). But I enjoyed the new york setting and that both characters are lawyers, I also loved the relationship Fia has with her friends - basically I loved everything! I can't recommend this enough!

Premise of this story is enticing and should make for a perfect HEA romance and parts of it are great and really hit the mark but it fell short on the chemistry between Fia and Ben and their history seemed patchy at best.
I just didn’t feel as though there was enough pull between them to accidentally get married’.
I truly despise weak miscommunication storylines to derail a romance and theirs was epic in a way the romance wasn’t. It was equal parts realistic but lame, however the realism of their miscommunication made me have a little more respect for book.
There was some comedy in Ben and Fia’s banter and bickering which made the book easy and enjoyable

Two great characters, feisty lawyers who navigate having to be around each other. A good dose of reality and arguments and legal banter made me want to fight for Ben and Fia. The characters are so different and their fights so real that the book came to life for me.

This book wasn't anything that blew me out of the water, but I still enjoyed reading it and I think it will make a great pool side read for during the summer.

Yeah, no. Life's too short to read books that you don't like and exhaust you just turning a few pages. There's enemies to lovers and then there's this dumpster fire. Two actual assholes, disliking each other. And I care so little, I don't even want to get to the point where the relationship starts improving. I'm reading another enemies to lovers right now and it's done so much better than this.
I gave an extra star because the writing is not terrible, it's just not brilliant either. Everything felt so slow, so dragged out and desperately boring - where was the movement, the action, the spark? I had no empathy for either of the lead characters. Genuinely, the most interesting part was the flashback to the wedding in Vegas. Seriously - I got 25% of the way in and NOTHING HAD HAPPENED. NOTHING!

There are better rom-coms. There's better enemies to lover! Hell, there are better rom-coms enemies to lovers set in offices in a big American city!

Sexy, funny and infuriating - the perfect combination for an enemies to lovers book in my mind.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review,

Absolutely brilliant, loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending.

This fell a bit short for me. I'm a sucker for an enemies to lovers book, but this just wasn't it. I wanted to like the book, but Fia just tended to waffle on with monologues, and Ben wasn't particularly likeable either.

So a long time ago Fia and Benjamin used to be frenemies and in their wild a reckless youth they got drunk an goaded each other into getting married in Vegas. For reasons they didn’t get it annulled straight away but agreed to do so after a year only for Ben to never be heard from again. Ten years later Fia is working her butt off as a top lawyer in New York and is given a baby lawyer to mentor…guess who it is? Benjamin! They must keep is a secret. No one can find out or their jobs are toast, they just have to get divorced. I do like a Vegas wedding trope. This was ok, I found it a bit bloated as it’s all from Fia’s perspective and she goes off on monologues quite a bit and I’m sure I liked her all that much. It also means we get very little of Ben and he is also not particularly likeable so it’s a good job he’s so hot. There’s some stuff in there about being an Irish abroad and the guilt of moving away from home which adds a bit of texture but it wasn’t as fun as it should have been.

This had so much promise for me. I looove enemies to lovers. But this just fell short. It felt like so much was unexplained. The miscommunication between the 2 was infuriating to say the least. And the sudden chemistry just felt forced and plucked out of nowhere. Really disappointing read for me

Review in progress and to come.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review