They Hate Each Other

I loved absolutely everything about this book !!! The dynamic of hatred to 'reluctant' friends to oh shit i have a crush on you to lovers is just phenomanal !!! I love how they both realise how their assumptions about the other is wrong and that theres more to them than they ever thought could be possible. And the fact that there were conflicts and resolutions, but none of them were homophobia/transphobia, external or internal, or coming out, there was sm queer joy and I loved that sm !!!

I loved Jonah so much !!!! He was goddamn sweet and stubborn and would happily die for his sisters. It broke my heart watching him burn himself to the ground trying to give them happiness and buy them what they wanted, watching him tolerate his disgusting manager bc he needed the money, watching him be a parent from 13y/o bc his mother had died and his father drowned himself in alcohol and they had no one else left, he was still a kid himself and yet he took on the role of parent so his younger sisters wouldnt suffer, so he could keep them all together. And yet he still had so much energy and love to give other people, making himself the centre of attention at parties, putting up that persona to hide just how tired he rlly was. I loved his dynamic with Andre, their banter always made me.laugh sm !!! And ofc I loved his dynamic with Dylan, from them purposely trying to get a rise out of each other, to them realising they genuinely cared and helping each other, to the sweet moments they shared.

I also rlly loved Dylan !!! It was so painful to see him punish himself and distance himself from his family bc he blamed himself for being a victim and "breaking up their family" when he was only a child. His panic attacks and fear of being too much, of being a burden, was very real, and I was happy to see him work through them and finally reunite with his brother and work towards his relationship with his mother. Also the fact that big griups of people and being the centre of attention overwhelms him is so relatable !!! And the stress baking, even ij the middle of the night !!!

I loved the romance sm !!! I loved the gradual way they went from absolutely despising each other to realising they cared about each other and supporting the other, Jonah helping Dylan with his panic attacks, and Dylan willing to sacrifice everything to give Jonah a home, a break and the chance to just be a kid again, and how they both realised they were actually falling for the other. I also really loved too that we got to see them still a couple of months after theyd actually gotten together and how their relationship was coming along !!

I also rlly loved the amount of casual queer rep. We had a 9y/o trans girl, we had an asexual young woman who's been in a healthy and loving relationship for over two years, we had casual nonbinary rep, and two bisexual male protagonists, and sm more, and I just love sm that no one ever questioned them or told them they were too young to know who they are, or that they're wrong, there was just sm queer joy !!!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book in exchange of an honest review.
Rating:5/5
I'm usually hesitant to pick YA romcoms because of some previous disappointments, but as fake dating is one of my favourite tropes, I was willing to give it a chance......and I'm so glad I did!! It was a book i didn't know I needed to read!
The fake dating trope, as well as enemies to lovers was done extremely well. In the beginning, I found both Dylan and Jonah annoying, but as I got to know them and their struggles better, I absolutely adored them both. The book deals with some serious issues like alcoholism, sexual harassment of a minor, PTSD and panic attacks,etc. I really appreciated the fact that the trigger warnings were given at the start, which is very important for a book. Homophobia not being one of the trigger warnings was a welcome relief.The romance was extremely cute and believable. I found this book to be heartwarming as well as heartbreaking. I laughed during the funny moments and as Dylan and Jonah opened up to each other, I cried.
I'd definitely recommend this book and it's sure to become one of my favourite reads of 2023!

They hate each other, what an amazing read this was.
This is the first time I've genuinely really enjoyed an enemies to lovers story that actually feels believable, it was so heartwarming with the way the story progressed even with the things both Dylan and Jonah were going through.
The side characters were also very lovable even with their annoying pushing of the couple while having amazing personalities of their own

They Hate Each Other follows Jonah and Dylan who get along like oil and water. While Jonah thinks Dylan is an arrogant, spoiled golden boy, Dylan knows Jonah is an attention-seeking asshat who never shuts up. Despite them not being able to share the same air for longer than a second before they start to bicker, their friends are under the impression that Jonah and Dylan are a match made in heaven. So when a disastrous end to a party turns into people hearing the rumour that Jonah and Dylan are now together, the boys come up with a plan: pretend that they’re dating to appease their friends only to then break up and make them feel horribly guilty for pushing them together in the first place, which means Jonah and Dylan will finally be rid of all their nagging to just “try” to like each other. Sounds easy, right? But the more time they spend together to keep up the fake dating narrative, and the more they practice handholding and…kisses for the sake of making it look real in front of their friends, the more they see what lies beneath all the assumptions they made about each other until their scheme might just turn into more.

Falling for your enemy has never been this entertaining. Honestly, everything from the amazing protagonists Jonah and Dylan to the compulsively readable writing had me cheering.

Speaking of Jonah and Dylan, they have such distinct personalities and life journeys that kept me flipping the pages but when they were together on the page? Sparks flew, every single time. They had the kind of chemistry you can’t really put into words because it just felt so natural. Their banter was just so engaging and their respective humour meshed so well together. I loved that we got to see them be actual enemies-in-cahoots for a hot second there and then saw their dislike for each other slowly unravel. It’s so magical seeing Jonah and Dylan slowly open up to each other and no longer seeing the other as the enemy but instead as someone who could really care for them and become a safety net. The climax of the story made me shed more than a tear because you could tell that they cared so deeply for each other but that sometimes that means ostensibly hurting your relationship to make sure that the other party gets what they need to survive and thrive on their own.

Lest you think this is just a romance, nuh-uh. The romance and comedy parts are expertly balanced with more sobering topics such as trauma, poverty, loneliness, and anxiety. Both Jonah and Dylan deal with quite a lot of challenges and issues at home. Their relationships with their respective siblings is so important to the plot and who they are as young men and I absolutely adored it. While Dylan’s history is more of a mystery and is slowly unravelled, we get to see Jonah as the caretaker for his younger siblings and the strain this puts on him. Yet despite that, he never fails to make them smile and care for them in whichever way he can. Dylan, meanwhile, is shown to have a whole different side to him through his introspection and painfully relatable anxiety.

Honestly, this book was a complete home-run for me. Woody manages to take amazing tropes and make them even better, all on top of offering fully fleshed-out characters that will steal your heart from the very first page. I can’t wait to see what this new voice comes up with in the future.

Taking on beloved tropes such as fake dating, enemies-to-lovers and grumpy/sunshine and making them shine in new glory, Woody’s They Hate Each Other is an irresistible, delightfully funny, and emotionally heartwrenching debut that’s not to be missed!