Chloe Liese

Childhood enemies discover the fine line between love and loathing in this heartfelt reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Katerina Wilmot and Christopher Petruchio shared backyards as kids, but as adults they won’t even share the same hemisphere. That is, until Kate makes a rare visit home, and their fiery animosity rekindles into a raging inferno. Despite their friends’ and families' pleas for peace, Christopher is unconvinced Kate would willingly douse the flames of their enmity. But when a drunken Kate confesses she’s only been hostile because she thought he hated her, Christopher vows to make peace with Kate once and for all. Tempting as it is to be swept away by her nemesis-turned-gentleman, Kate isn’t sure she can trust his charming good-guy act. When Christopher’s persistence and Kate’s curiosity lead to an impassioned kiss, they realize “peace” is the last thing that will ever be possible between them. As desire gives way to deeper feelings, Kate and Christopher must decide if it’s truly better to hate than to never risk their hearts—or if they already gave them away long ago.

Better Hate than Never

Alesha Clifford

Just as he says that, a familiar-looking woman darts past my door in a streak of messy upswept hair and fire-engine red. I miss the chair entirely and fall straight on my ass.

“I’m shit at board games!” Margo protests. “I wanna do physical things, blow off some steam, not sit on my ass and get it whupped at board games. Let’s go ax throwing—”

nanafark

“Because I have loved you a hundred different ways for so long I don’t know when loving you began, just that I haven’t spent nearly enough of my life making sure you know it. I don’t expect you to love me yet, Kate. I know I don’t deserve it. But one day, I hope you’ll believe I’m worthy of your heart.”

FINALLY! unnecessary drama avoided successfully!!!

No. I won’t do this. I won’t skip ten steps and assume the worst. I won’t take a fragment of a conversation and fill it in with all my fears and insecurities.

“Money can’t buy happiness. But it can buy you really good food and wine, and that’s damn close.”

“I have everything I want—you in my arms, and what I need . . . well, I just need to make you feel good. Tell me how you want it, what you want, anything.”

“You don’t need dozens of partners to know how to be a good lover, Kate,” he says roughly. “You just need to listen and learn, to trust and talk and try. You’ve done all of that. You’ve been an incredible lover to me.”

“What should I tell you, Kate, hmm?” His voice is dark and sharp as he sinks his hands into my hips and pulls me close. “That your birthday is my lock code, that I keep your horribly sewn handkerchief in my journal at work, that I’ve archived every single photograph you’ve ever published, that I lure your cat to my house for cuddles, that I walk into bakeries in the fall just to see the foods you love, that I sit in your mother’s greenhouse and breathe in the scent of your favorite flowers, because anything you’ve touched, anything colored by the memory of you, are relics and I’m a supplicant?

“Should I tell you that I have missed you and ached for you for so long, Katerina Elizabeth Wilmot, that you define those words, and I have done everything I could to break inside me what drew me to you, but I’m not strong enough?”

He steps between my thighs, his hands diving into my hair as he presses the gentlest kiss to my mouth and breathes slowly, shakily. “I can’t do it anymore. Denying myself you has been like battling the tide. If I fight it any longer, I’ll drown. I’m yours,” he says, reverent, quiet, like a prayer whispered in a church. “For as long as you’ll have me.”

But as someone who’s bungee jumped, skydived, who’s taken those terrifying, free-fall leaps, I know sometimes the fear doesn’t leave—bravery just joins it.

“We’ve missed you, too,” he says. “But as Grandma used to say, the ones we love are always with us. Wherever you’ve been, I’ve had you”—he taps a hand over his heart—“right here”.

[…] everything that reminds her of the grandeur of turning leaves, the cozy joy of starlit bonfires and sipping mugs of cider, the quiet beauty of waking up to a misty autumn morning.

I’m not thinking about everything that used to hold me back. I’m not thinking about everything I’m still afraid of. I’m only thinking about 

“Just because you’ve made choices different from them doesn’t mean they wouldn’t admire you and be proud of you. If I’ve learned anything by living in places whose culture and language aren’t mine, it’s that differences don’t have to hold people at a distance if we’re willing to try to understand each other. Our similarities are much vaster than what sets us apart—we just have to want to see them.”

Because I was tired and sore and broke and lonely. Because this life I’ve been living that used to fix all my problems started feeling like the source of them. Because it felt so good to feel needed, and even better, knowing I could help.

I, more than most people, know that hiding your struggles doesn’t make them disappear—it just makes them less visible to others.

I’m a damn good photographer, but my truly elite skill is avoidance.

Our eyes meet. I telepathically call bullshit. Kate beams a silent middle finger my way.

If I cared about Kate, […], I’d lose my goddamn mind. 

So I don’t care. I refuse to. It’s that simple. 

Despising means distance. And distance means safety.

He doesn’t understand that I feel like an outsider in my own family, that I know I’m loved, but I don’t often feel loved the way I need to. He doesn’t get how much easier it is for me to feel close to those I love from a distance.

Loved this enemies to lovers book so much!!! 

Chloe is a queen and we are not worthy of her books!! They are so good.

Brittany Peterson

Loved this enemies to lovers book so much!!! 

Chloe is a queen and we are not worthy of her books!! They are so good.

I cannot wait to continue this series 

After loving the first book in this series, I knew that I needed to dive straight into Book 2 and after being given this for Birthday It was perfect timing to dive right back into the world. Once again Liese never fails to disappoint with her character and world being and after being introduced to Christopher and Kate I was not expecting to fall in love with them and their relationship.

Christopher and Kat grew up together and always had an antagonistic relationship until Kat returns home after travelling abroad for work and they find themselves stuck together more and more for family and friend events. When they start becoming and spending time together and one thing leads to another and that hatred they once had turns into love?

Liese has a passion for writing some realistic neurodiverse characters and characters with chronic conditions with Kate’s ADHD and Christopher chronic migraines where both represented in a way that made them feel really realistic and like I took away how I could help people if I meet anyone that may have these in the future.

I love the slow-burn with passion, tension, and angst. I enjoyed how Christopher and Kate were able to understand what they have done in the past to build up this hatred towards each other and communicated why they felt that way.

An enjoyable romance book that felt real and just beautiful at the same time! Can’t wait for book 3

Ian Brakspear

After loving the first book in this series, I knew that I needed to dive straight into Book 2 and after being given this for Birthday It was perfect timing to dive right back into the world. Once again Liese never fails to disappoint with her character and world being and after being introduced to Christopher and Kate I was not expecting to fall in love with them and their relationship.

 

Christopher and Kat grew up together and always had an antagonistic relationship until Kat returns home after travelling abroad for work and they find themselves stuck together more and more for family and friend events. When they start becoming and spending time together and one thing leads to another and that hatred they once had turns into love?

Liese has a passion for writing some realistic neurodiverse characters and characters with chronic conditions with Kate’s ADHD and Christopher chronic migraines where both represented in a way that made them feel really realistic and like I took away how I could help people if I meet anyone that may have these in the future.

 

I love the slow-burn with passion, tension, and angst. I enjoyed how Christopher and Kate were able to understand what they have done in the past to build up this hatred towards each other and communicated why they felt that way.

An enjoyable romance book that felt real and just beautiful at the same time! Can’t wait for book 3

This could be a fantastic book for some people. It didn’t work very well for me but there are parts I appreciated. 

Megan BV

IS THIS WHAT LOVE SHOULD FEEL LIKE??? acho el “hate” banting at first y despues he was so whipped for her like making her pasta? listening to her? LOS FLOWERS??? also kate was so real running about any serious conversation ever. 20/10 had me giggling and screaming and laughing all book

They were sooo ridiculously immature at the start but cause it’s Chloe Liese the rest of it mostly made up for it. I really took a pause for a second though at a 33 year old man I’m supposed to be rooting/swooning for speaking to a woman like that in front of their family 

Abigail

because i didn't know this (or at least don't remember it being mentioned in book one - but brain fog is real so it's quite possible my memory has waivered) but kate is demisexual. and god, was i so delighted to see that.

ash (smokedshelves)

i loved it. it was the perfect amount of a good read. 

first of all, i was already sold from the synopsis. second of all, i already liked Christopher from the previous book. finally, i’m more than happy to confirm that it didn’t disappoint me.

we hit the 48% mark to know for sure what’s the deal with these two (Christopher and Kate) and although i hoped for something more in the beginning, as the story progressed it became perfectly clear 

 something specific had happened in the past. (i won’t spoil it). but again it was a relief to know for sure the real deal. 

as for the whole reading experience, i’m happy about it. i was enjoying it and i found it difficult to put it down. it was exciting and page-turning.

their chemistry was beautiful, their characters likable and their time together well described. it didn’t leave you hungry for more. 

a funny, sexy, sweet and cute slow burn, with no heartache and unnecessary drama and breakups that i definitely recommend!

i loved it. it was the perfect amount of a good read. 

first of all, i was already sold from the synopsis. second of all, i already liked Christopher from the previous book. finally, i’m more than happy to confirm that it didn’t disappoint me.

we hit the 48% mark to know for sure what’s the deal with these two (Christopher and Kate) and although i hoped for something more in the beginning, as the story progressed it became perfectly clear if something specific had happened in the past. (i won’t spoil it). but again it was a relief to know for sure the real deal. 

as for the whole reading experience, i’m happy about it. i was enjoying it and i found it difficult to put it down. it was exciting and page-turning.

their chemistry was beautiful, their characters likable and their time together well described. it didn’t leave you hungry for more. 

a funny, sexy, sweet and cute slow burn, with no heartache and unnecessary drama and breakups that i definitely recommend!

Natalie 

rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨/5 (4.25)
rep: chronic migraines, ADHD, demisexual MC
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the author for an ARC copy! I love Chloe Liese’s books, and I was extra excited when I heard that this had chronic migraine rep as someone who suffers from them. As usual, Chloe nailed it with her disability rep. In every book of hers, it is so clear that so much love, care, and thoughtfulness has gone into making sure that the various disability/mental health rep is accurate. Her books are truly some of the best for disability rep in my opinion. However, this book was unfortunately not my favorite of hers. I really enjoyed Two Wrongs Make A Right, but I think I preferred it to this one. Maybe it was just me, but I didn’t feel as connected to the story and I had some trouble staying engaged. Other than that, I enjoyed this! Kate and Christopher are so sweet together, and there were so many amazing and lovely quotes that I highlighted throughout. All in all, I can’t wait to see what’s next from Chloe! Thank you again NetGalley!

Better Hate than Never

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