The Hate Zone

If you’re looking for a summer read, look no further. This is the book for you.

The Hate Zone by Gigi Blume is a funny, witty, sweet rom-com I read in just a few hours!

I got hooked on it from the very first lines, as January Madison, the leading female character has a distinct, funny, a bit sarcastic voice. Thanks to that, I was completely immersed and her problems seemed real to me too. Of course, they are not extremely big problems – she is mostly misunderstood, neglected by parents and trapped in a gilded cage, harassed by paparazzi as an reality show star and heiress of her father’s hotel chain.

Things got only better and/or hotter when met with Enrique Precio, a young entrepreneur, currently limo driver, who becomes her chauffeur, after her previous driver had been kicked out of service after having fall in love with January and not taken “no” for an answer.

Sparks fly when Enrique and January meet and a classic enemies to lovers trope is on the way. They won’t realize they’re attracted to each other at first. They’ll make some pranks, show vulnerability and January will meet his big family. Enrique has 6 brothers and a sister, parents, aunts and uncles…they all have a wonderful family dynamic. Interestingly enough, all brothers are entrepreneurs, perhaps their father’s legacy spirit.

I found the big family and their bond very well written – I absolutely loved it, especially in contrast to January’s family. However, it seemed to me January hardly interacted with his family. I would have loved to see more of them together.

Also, Enrique’s family restaurant gets into some big financial trouble. They are able to turn everything around and get salvage it, but we get very little detail about it, especially about the part about dealing with the mafia. I am sure that’s because there are other books coming – this is just the first of the Gigi Blume’s “Precio brothers” novel series.

I was also not a fan of how January’s family was portrayed. Her father is said to be controlling, I didn’t get that too much from his actions, but he did treat her mother poorly – again, not something very explicit. January doesn’t interact with her mother for 6 years, not clear on why. Don’t get me wrong, there are explanations for these things in the book, they are just not that convincing.

However, the romance part was just perfect: steamy make-out scenes and innuendos, nothing too explicit, as well as chickens. There were chickens, as the book blurb says, I can attest to them 🙂

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley, in exchange for a fair review.