[ARC REVIEW] “Love at First Fight” By: Carrie Aarons

Posted on September 17, 2020September 17, 2020 by buriedinabookshelf

Official Synopsis:

This summer was supposed to be spent lounging on the beach, madly in love with my boyfriend.
Until he decided to move to Singapore, and break up with me an hour before his plane left.
Now I’m stuck in a Hamptons house share with six of his closest pals, including his best friend … who despises me.

Since the moment Smith Redfield laid eyes on me, he’s hated my guts. I’m serious, I think the raven-haired restaurateur gets physically sick just being in my presence. And he’s never been shy about hiding that fact.

There was the time he cackled when I landed face first in a pile of Manhattan trash bags. Or the night I tried to throw my ex-boyfriend a surprise party, and Smith had strippers crash the bash. Or maybe it was New Year’s Eve, when he got in my face and called me a sheltered goody two-shoes who wouldn’t know passion if it smacked me in the lips.

He’s rooming right next door for the summer months, and I don’t think more animosity could exist than in the hallway of our vacation rental. As if I wasn’t already sporting a bruised ego and broken heart from the way his best friend left me.

But the more midnight run-ins we have, the more I can’t help but think about the way his mouth would feel against mine. With each heavy-eyed glance over the dinner table, I’m starting to wonder if the damaged alpha male doesn’t harbor more than just loathing towards me.

After all, they say hate is the closest emotion to love.
And with the way we’re skating that thin line, it’s bound to burn this whole house down.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Review:

This is one of my favorite of Carrie’s books! I really liked the main character, Molly, and it was nice to have a larger cast of characters. Can we talk about how much I love this cover? I mean, the gold glitter! Plus, I absolutely adore the title.

Even though it’s addressed a few times, it does seem weird that Molly would just believe Smith when he said the reason he’d been being so mean to her was because he was denying his feelings for her. He said really cruel things, and I think that I would find it hard to get past that if I were her.

Still, I love the idea of having a fancy summer house with your friends, and seeing the love stories of Smith’s friends evolve throughout the book was fun too!

It would’ve been nice to see some sort of confrontation between Molly’s ex (and Smith’s best friend) and Smith, but overall I think the book was fun, sweet, and layered, with quite a few conversations exploring class (like, financial class) that added more depth to the story.

Overall, I loved getting to spend a “summer” with Molly, Smith, and the rest of their friends, and I’d highly recommend this book! As with almost all new adult books, I recommend it for 17+ due to sexual content, but you do you. Love at First Fight releases tomorrow!

*I received a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!