This was so cute! I love a little pen pal romance story. The letters between Luca and Naomi, especially when they were younger, were so funny. I loved the idea of them continuing to send letters even when things like Facebook and instant messaging took over, especially since they were still pretending to hate each other.

I did guess the twist quite early on, but honestly, it didn't take anything away from the story. If anything, it made it a little funnier knowing while the main character didn't.

First book of Donna Marchetti's I've read but I'd definitely pick up any of her other books. It was sweet, funny, light and enjoyable.

So cute, romantic, hilarious, and engrossing! I absolutely loved Luca and Naomi! The banter was so funny, the story line was engaging, and their love story was swoon worthy. Definitely a must read!!

This was entirely too cute! I love these romcom styled novels. The banter was great, the romance was swoony and the main characters were super relatable!

okay but this is the absolutely most wonderful cutest funniest utter noughties book i’ve ever read and i’ve never been more in love. i giggled, i squealed, i kicked my feet, i gasped, i predicted it from the start because who wouldn’t but it was still just so utterly perfect. i loved everything about hate mail and i am preordering a copy and telling everyone i know about it.

top moments:
annette & facey moments at work
the kittens
caterpillar kid
aquarium scene
the spicy scenes
the hangnail

HOWEVER i wish we actually met the siblings and knew more about the reaction to do with the moms thing

but that didn’t take anything away and gawaahhh i just love it so much

3.5/5 ⭐️
This was a fine read. It did what it needed to as a junk food-esq romance, but it wasn’t great. The best parts to me were the letters. I literally laughed out loud while reading them. However everything else, meh. The writing was kind of choppy. It felt like getting in a car with a first time driver and they go back and forth between hitting the gas and breaks kind of violently. Then the dynamics between the characters was strange. My first thought when we initially met Jake was, um I’m getting creeper vibes, is he going to turn out to be a stalker. And even after I guessed what Jake was going to be, it didn’t really diminish his creepiness. Then the FMC’s supposed best friend did not feel like that at all. I did not get best friend vibes. I was also kind of freaked out by her. Like she was way too involved in this other girls love life and pressuring her to jet around the country to find him. That should’ve been maybe cute, but I don’t know, it came across as creepy. And finally, I think this story had so much potential, but immediately I was not on board when from the very first letter they noticed it did not have a return address but didn’t think to look to see if it had postage which would’ve given them the post office it mailed from. They didn’t even think of it until the 60% point!
Overall, it was fine. I didn’t DNF it. Could it have been better? Definitely. But it was enjoyable enough for me to read the whole thing and read it fast.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

❥ hate mail — donna marchetti
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

˗ˏˋ ♡ ´ˎ˗ genre : romance
˗ˏˋ ♡ ´ˎ˗ pages: 355

synopsis —

naomi and luca have been pen-pals since fifth-grade. well, more like bitter rivals caught in an epic battle of insults and verbal jousting...

but what starts as a hilarious chain of hate filled letters, slowly develops into a friendship spanning coasts and years. that is until one day, years later, when the letters suddenly stop.

its been two years since naomi last heard from luca. two years since the letter that changed everything.

but when a new envelope turns up out of the blue at her desk at the local news station, naomi is determined not to let luca have the final word.

review —

this book literally made a pit in my stomach, filled it up, dug it up again and then filled it up all the way to the top. this book made me laugh, almost cry and kick my feet all at the same time?

i loved the childhood ‘penemies’ to lovers scenario. the way everything tied together. everything was just so so good about this book and i loved it. this was the breather i needed after reading too much fantasy

thank you for the arc <3 here’s my honest review :)

Thank you @@Donnarchetti and @netgalley for this Arc copy of ‘Hate Mail’

Available for preorder now!
Release date; March 14th 2024

★ ★ ★ ★ / 5 stars

I enjoyed this book alot it was fast paced and easy to read, I didn’t expect the twist though!! The banter and jokes were 10/10, I loved the friendship between Anne and Naomi besties who pretend to be bounty hunters stay together. Jake…. Luca…. Joel….. I’m still shocked I really didn’t expect that😅

2.5 stars ⭐

I really wanted to love this because the premise was actually good and I really enjoyed the plot! However, the writing fell completely flat to me. This was a case of a writer telling you and not showing which was so hard to get through. The amount of flat and toneless sentences I had to read to see where Naomi and Luca ended up was insane. Additionally, both characters sounded exactly the same when they were elementary school and when they were full blown adults, which should not happen?? Like Luca talked and thought exactly the same throughout the whole book and if it weren't for the font I would not know what time period he was in of his life.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins UK One More Chapter for an earc in exchange for my honest review!

I laughed and awwed my way through this book. It was so adorably funny. Naomi and Luca's letters were the best thing and I loved how darkly funny and nasty in content they were as they tried to one-up each other in every letter. The letters allow the reader to see things from the perspective of both characters so I enjoyed watching Luca pine for a girl he had never met.
It wasn't a big stretch to figure out Luca's identity although I was expecting crazy Penelope to be the reason for the name change.
Naomi has amazing chemistry with 'Jake' and their dates are amusing.
The side characters are a lot of fun too and I laughed a lot at Anne and Mr Facey.
This was such a funny, romantic read and I enjoyed every moment of Luca and Naomi's journey.

I was so so excited to read this book after it kept popping up on my Goodreads suggested. The idea of pen pals falling is love, yes please.

I was so invested at the beginning of my book. People being snarky via letter and long lost love are a winner for me. But as the story progressed, I just began to lose interest.

We meet Naomi and Luca via letters and flashbacks through the book. However Naomi meets ‘Jake’ who lives in her building. As the story progressed it just became so obvious that he was Luca and I wanted to pull my hair out at how obvious it was. And the fact that the dude never introduced himself was sketchy.

Naomi battles her feelings whilst writing to Luca and flying to where he used to live and being with Jake. The whole thing was so far fetched. Who has spare hundreds of dollars to chase a dead end? Why not just ask him in the letters? I know this is work of fiction, but I just couldn’t get on board and found myself skimming through the last 40% or so.

I had high hopes for this one, but sadly it wasn’t a winner for me.

4.5 stars

Naomi and Luca have been penpals since fifth grade. Instead of sweet letters, they were pretty nasty to each other. They kept writing long after the rest of the class stopped writing to their penpals. Now, twenty years later, Naomi wants to meet Luca face to face, but doesn't know his current address. So that's where the story begins, and while some things in this novel were predictable, others were so charming and fresh, I fell in love with almost everything.

I actually laughed out loud at some things (ok, snort/laughed) which I never do when reading, and I loved the dialogue/banter between almost every character. Anne was delightful (she needs to be the main character in the next book) and it's always a great idea to include animals as part of the plot. Three things that bugged me was 1) checking the postscript on the envelopes didn't occur to anyone until two thirds of the way through the novel 2) deception and lies, even through omission, feels like a cheap way to propel a romantic storyline and 3) we get all of Luca's backstory but hardly any of Naomi's. But by and large, I really loved all the quirks with the characters (Mr. Facey😜 and Caterpillar girl🐛) and that moment when I needed a tissue, and all the heartwarming/evil letters. I really did love this book and sped through reading it. I will most definitely pick up the next book by Donna Marchetti.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I can't believe this is a DEBUT novel because it was so good. The cover is adorable and is givining nostolgic 2000s feelings of rom-com movie posters.

I didn't expect to like this and thought it would be a cliche type of book but I was SO happy to be wrong. This was written so well, especially the enemies to lovers trope. I was swooning, giggling, and even sad as I read this.

Even though you predict some thigns right away, I think that's what is suppose to happen. I enjoyed the storytelling of how Luca and Naiome would navigate the issue and I am so happy to report that it was done really well! So please pick this one up and share it with everyone because it's just so cute

I started this book quite spontaneously when I didn’t have the energy to read my fantasy book in the evening. This spontaneous decision led to sleep deprivation, a late day at work and a bad mood because of the two previous points. Why, you may ask, is that this book’s fault? Well, thank you for asking. Let me start by saying it only took about 3 minutes for this problem to arise. As soon as I read the first of the hate letters, I was hooked. I highlighted the entire first one. It was brilliant, witty and funny and surprisingly sounded like an 10 year old had actually written it. Maybe let’s backtrack and talk about the books set up.
Luca and Naomi have been writing each other letters for well over 10 years. They get assigned as penpals in school and even though Luca initially wants nothing to do with a stupid penpal. But for some reason, they continue writing hateful letters back and forth. Initially it’s probably out of spite and an inability to let the other person win, but over time, they develop a strong bond. Until one of them stops writing. Right?
I’m going to leave it at that because I think it’s best discovered while reading. The letters themselves are truly incredible. Funny, creative and very emotional in a way. Both of our characters get their own background story and screen time which I really appreciate. There’s almost an adventure element to the book that was entirely unexpected. The chemistry of our MCs jumps of the page. Truly. That’s what kept me up all night. I couldn’t find a point to stop at, I needed to know what happened next. I was up til 3.30 because I needed to know that Naomi realised what I already did. And now I’m tired and instead of blaming my own choices I’m going to blame this amazing book. Truly, if something was going to cost me sleep, I’m glad it was this book. I cannot recommend it enough!!! It ends up being a very emotional story with some slight but good spice and it was very, very funny. Also, there’s pets!!! (and I had never thought about the fact that fish also needed a vet)
Thank you so much to the author and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy of the book.

Oh… my… god…. This book is sooo CUTE!! It had me giggling, screaming, and wanting more. I love how obvious the twist was but also not obvious at the exact same time. We really felt all the emotions Naomi went through. This book makes me want to go back to 5th grade so I can have a penpal as well!
Thank you so much for the arc! It was incredible.

First of all I want to say THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH to Netgalley, HarperCollins UK and One More Chapter for providing me this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I'm completely IN LOVE. The writing was so good, I was captivated from the moment I read the first letter and ended up devouring the whole book in 4 days.
Hate Mail took me back to my school days, my school also tried to do the penpal experience with kids from another city but mine didn't even show up when the school organized a meeting.

But anyways...This romance gave me so much 2000s romcom vibes and I'm sucker for that kind of genre.

Naomi and Luca relationship built up was amazing and they were simply adorable. The way the author wrote their small gestures and even their intimate scenes without having to occur to the overusing of smut scenes, when you can naturally feel how amazing their chemistry is (i do love a good smut scene, but books that have like 5 scenes of those and no plot are big no to me).

My other favorite thing in this book was how their povs were split between past (Luca's pov) and present (Naomi's pov). You could understand better the characters and in Luca's case, because of his life path, see how Naomi's letters were his only constant and his escape.

Naomi Light and Luca Pichler are my new favorite romance book couple. I really recommend this book to everyone!!

This book will have you giggling out loud, kicking your feet and smiling from ear to ear, it's just that good. I really enjoyed reading the hate notes between our "Penemies" and reading between the lines of their sentences to their true feelings. I love the idea of pen pals that form a friendship (or something more?) over a long period of time. This is a bit of a slow burn but that just makes it all the sweeter when our MC's do get together. If you like the premise of "You've Got Mail" then this is a must read!

The cover, the title, the characters and even the animals in this book couldn't be any cuter. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author in the future!

Many thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and Donna Marchetti for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The idea of these two main characters sending each other letters due to a school penpal program and that they choose to continue the exchange through their childhood and young adulthood is unique and entertaining...especially the way these two write letters to each other...maybe slightly unrealistic and events around their miscommunication 70-80% breakup etc is one that you can see almost immediately but an understandable situation. I dont think I could have written to someone over that long a period on not shared more of my life and so I was a left wondering a little how did they form such a strong connection with their 'hate mail'.
However, it was a fast paced and comical romance and I recommend for all romcom fans!

I received this as a free ARC from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

Hate Mail is about Naomi and Luca who become assigned pen pals in fifth grade. And while most of their classes stop writing their pen pals after only a few months, their letters span nearly two decades. After a two year stint of not hearing from Luca, a letter from him shows up at Naomi's news station where she works as a weather reporter. And thus, Naomi sets off to find a way to write back and not let Luca get the last word.

I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this book. Like truly. I was crying laughing, then I was just straight up crying. The letters in this book are so absurdly harsh that they're some of the funniest things I've ever read. My personal faves being the original fifth grade letters. Kids can be brutal, man.

It was dual POV, but focused on Naomi's POV for a large portion of the book so as not to reveal anything about Luca's current location too early on in the story and I feel like that was really well done to keep that element of surprise.

Also... I KNEW IT. That is all I will say about that.

All in all, this was such a fun debut and I loved every second of it.

This was a fun and easy read!
I laughed so much because of the letters, they were really funny! Also, Naomi and Luca's story was really cute. They started having this wierd friendship as pen-pals and writing mean letters, just to meet again later in life.
In some parts the book was really interesting, like when Naomi was trying to find Luca. He was like a mystery that needed to be discovered. I had a few ideas where he could be and I ended up being right. It was a bit predictable, but still it was a cute story.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for the free ARC!

This book was SO SO good. Penpals since childhood, Luca and Naomi, who have never met and now they are grown. They have always gotten on each others nerves....and loved trading insults....until they lost touch. But 2 years later, Luca gets back in touch with Naomi. A fantastic read, a fun romcom - a must read!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.