May 12th 2020 | Forever
Source: Library
Liya Thakkar is a successful biochemical engineer, takeout enthusiast, and happily single woman. The moment she realizes her parents' latest dinner party is a setup with the man they want her to marry, she's out the back door in a flash. Imagine her surprise when the same guy shows up at her office a week later -- the new lawyer hired to save her struggling company. What's not surprising: he's not too thrilled to see her either after that humiliating fiasco.I wanted to love The Trouble with Hating You but I ended up being more disappointed than anything else. I love a good hate-to-love romance but this was most definitely more of a hate-to-hate-to-maybe-love story.
Jay Shah looks good on paper...and off. Especially if you like that whole gorgeous, charming lawyer-in-a-good-suit thing. He's also arrogant and infuriating. As their witty office banter turns into late night chats, Liya starts to think he might be the one man who truly accepts her. But falling for each other means exposing their painful pasts. Will Liya keep running, or will she finally give love a real chance?
Liya Thakkar is a woman after my own heart and I connected to her in so many ways. Maybe this is why I felt like her character needed more...more development, more kindness, more forgiveness. I don't always say this but I truly think she would've done well with some therapy. There are some plot points that are talked about in this story that can really hurt someone, and Liya is hurting. Instead of keeping all of her feelings to herself, someone who is a professional with helping people in these situations would've been great. As much as it sucks, always being defensive and hurting others to protect yourself isn't the best idea.
Jay, as nice as he was, wasn't much of a character either. He also had some grief and guilt to work through but I didn't really believe his growth. All of this combined also led me to not really liking Liya and Jay together. As I mentioned, there was more hate than love, and if I'm over 60% of the book and don't root for the main couple, I don't think anything could salvage the story.
The Indian representation was excellent, however, but one I think some people will have issues with. There's this idea that Indians, and Desis in general, are far more liberal living in the United States or other Western nations but that's not always true. This hasn't always been my experience and the experiences--to a certain degree anyways--was reminiscent to how I grew up. Parents aren't always as believing or supportive, and elders in the community can really cause harm with their "innocent" comments.
Another positive included all of Liya's supportive friends and Jay's family. I loved seeing how there are always good people between the bad. I know that her friends were a big help to Liya, and I was happy that she had them around. I always want more supportive and present friends and family in stories.
Overall, I wanted more from The Trouble with Hating You in all areas of the story. While there were aspects to this story that I loved, I wasn't as invested in Jay and Liya's romance and I wasn't as big of a fan of the writing either. I don't know if I'll read anything else by this author, but we'll see.
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