YOU DESERVE EACH OTHER BY SARAH HOGLE // (mostly) spoiler-free book review: the perfect laugh out loud adult rom-com ft. second chance enemies to lovers gloriousness

Hello and welcome my beautiful friends, how are we on this fine day?

Apologies for this belated review, life has been crazy and I haven’t had the time to put it together. But I FINALLY read this book and it was just as brilliant as everyone said it would be and !!!!

Let’s just get into this review because I need to gush!

Title: You Deserve Each Other
Author: Sarah Hogle
Page count: 368
Date published: 7 April 2020
Genre: Adult romance contemporary

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Synopsis:

When your nemesis also happens to be your fiancé, happily ever after becomes a lot more complicated in this wickedly funny, lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy debut.

Naomi Westfield has the perfect fiancé: Nicholas Rose holds doors open for her, remembers her restaurant orders, and comes from the kind of upstanding society family any bride would love to be a part of. They never fight. They’re preparing for their lavish wedding that’s three months away. And she is miserably and utterly sick of him.

Naomi wants out, but there’s a catch: whoever ends the engagement will have to foot the nonrefundable wedding bill. When Naomi discovers that Nicholas, too, has been feigning contentment, the two of them go head-to-head in a battle of pranks, sabotage, and all-out emotional warfare.

But with the countdown looming to the wedding that may or may not come to pass, Naomi finds her resolve slipping. Because now that they have nothing to lose, they’re finally being themselves–and having fun with the last person they expect: each other.

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Big thanks to Little Brown UK for the eARC celebrating the new paperback via Netgalley! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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STAR RATING: (4.5 out of 5 stars)

Who gave Sarah Hogle the right to THIS RAW WRITING TALENT and it’s ONLY HER DEBUT?!?!?!

Also currently crying because I don’t have a fiancé to reconnect with and wants to win me back and we get married and live happily ever after.

Oops sorry didn’t mean to bum anyone out…

You all were right. This book is as cute as I had hoped and also kind of genius, just saying. Like Ms Hogle blended second-chance romance, enemies to lovers and also kinda forced proximity. Hello queen?? I bow down before you.

Let’s just dive right into how incredible the writing is. I’m seriously so shocked that this a DEBUT?! How?? It’s SO good wtf. Sarah Hogle is an absolute whiz with humour. There are a lot of books that I’ve said are witty and funny, but with this one, the writing itself is absolutely HILARIOUS. I’m not entirely sure how to explain it but you’ll know if you’ve read the book. There are just layers upon layers of humour and sarcasm and I am literally just blown away with Sarah’s impeccable writing.

On top of that, our narrator, Naomi, is just absolutely brilliant. If I had to find a character that had exactly my sense of humour, she would be it. We are the same person methinks. So so so related to her character. We also love smol beans and dorks, such as Nicholas, who is also amazing. These two characters are just absolutely wonderful and I would like the movie now please and thank you xoxo

The romance was so much fun and I loved their dynamic. I think their progression was wonderful and the plot didn’t feel rushed at all. I loved how this book focused on miscommunication and learning how to correct mistakes you’ve made in the past. The pranks were absolutely brilliant. Some serious LOL ones ahahah. Seriously WHAT other books are doing it like she is? It’s just so unique and omg I LOVED IT SO MUCH *insert heart eyes*

Ugh also just so many cute moments, Naomi and Nicohlas are the absolute bestest. Did I mention the genius pranks?? Because just YES. We love a relationship with a pinch of spice *wink wink* I WANT TO SCREAM THEY’RE SO ADORABLE!

I am aware that I said this is a spoiler-free book review. It still is, these are minor spoilers because I couldn’t not share these.

Here’s a list of out of context… things (??) from this book that I ADORED:

• the lake
• water balloons
• the bowling alley
• lotion
• flowers
• the shower!!

Okay that is all.

I think my only qualm was that it could have been a bit longer to develop a few loose ends. For instance, it would have been great to get a bit more backstory of the BEFORE part of their relationship. I also kinda wanted an epilogue at the time? It doesn’t bother me as much now but I mean I still want more of this masterpiece.

But overall, this book was just delightful. I’m still so in awe of Sarah Hogle as a writer and I seriously need to read Twice Shy <3<3 Lowkey want to up my rating to a 5 stars because it was so good! I sped through it in 24 hours and have just been thinking about it ever since. You Deserve Each Other is absolutely worth the hype and a fantastic debut adult romance. Read for serotonin, you won’t regret!!!

“But I’ve got news for Nicholas Benjamin Rose: if he thinks I’m not the biggest waste of time that’s ever happened to him, he’s got another thing coming.”

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“Being in love is frantic. Fluttery. Falling. It’s nervous sweats and pounding heartbeats and a feeling of tremendous rightness”

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“Stacy can choke on store-bought sugar cookies like the rest of us. Why’s he even bringing them? They’re dentists. They should be eating celery.”

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“He calls it his office or his study and in my head I still call it the drawing room, because in a past life I was a duchess and I’ve never quite gotten over being reborn as a commoner in this age.”

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“Go ahead and wear pajamas to dinner, Naomi. You think that would bother me? You can go out dressed as Santa Claus and I wouldn’t care.”
Now I genuinely am insulted. “Why wouldn’t you care?”
He raises his eyes to mine. “Because I think you’re beautiful no matter what.”
Ugh. That’s really low, even for him.”

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“You’re allowed to defend yourself when people hurt your feelings. You deserve to be around people who are good to you.”

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“All of his texts are grammatically correct.”

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“I tried to keep him at a safe distance where he could only see the decent parts of me and it made us both miserable. I inadvertently let him in to see the ugly parts but instead of running away like I’d counted on him to do, he wrapped his arms around all of that ugliness and didn’t let go.”

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“It’s adorable how he assumes I’m in here making myself pretty instead of smearing a pentagram on the floor in my own blood and casting hexes on him.”

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“It dawns on me that I haven’t seen him genuinely happy in forever. I’ve been so concentrated on my own unhappiness that I haven’t noticed his. I’ve been fooling myself by thinking he’s been content all along. How arrogant, to assume he was content with me when I so obviously wasn’t content with him.”

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“He needs me to give voice to my feelings, because he’s not a mind reader and it’s not okay that I soak up what he gives without offering myself in return. I can’t let him think he’s alone, not for one moment.”

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“Has Nicholas ever looked this happy? No. What a shame, to know I’ve been accepting anything less than this smile he’s giving me right now.”

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“These aren’t platitudes. I’m right here. And I want to listen. Whenever you’re sad, I want to hear why. I want to know what you’re feeling, all the time, so I can share those feelings with you.”

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“Relearning you has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

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“But you still haven’t said you love me.”
“That’s not true.”
“You haven’t.”
“I say it all the time, I just say it very, very quietly. I tell you when you’re in another room, or right after we hang up the phone. I tell you when you’ve got headphones on. I say it after you shut the door behind you. I say it in my head every time you look at me.

And that’s it for today friends!

I’m a million years late to this review so you’ve probably already read it. But if not READ IT NOW SO CAN WE CRY HAPPY TEARS TOGETHER!!!

HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK? WHAT DID YOU THINK? WHAT WAS YOUR RATING? HAVE YOU READ SARAH HOGLE’S LATEST RELEASE? DO YOU RECOMMEND? I’D LOVE TO KNOW!