The Man She Loves To Hate (Mills & Boon RIVA) [Paperback]

When I saw this book and read the description, I gave the book a chance and I'm utterly glad I did. Not only did it make me laugh it made me smile and also a little sad. What's more is the price is brilliant. Although I did read it in one night whether that was because I read too quickly or got swept up in the book; all I know am I enjoyed reading this book very much.

Jolie and Cole are the victims of a past for which neither are to blame, but both bear the consequences. This is the tale of their right to have a relationship. If I recollect my English A level the avalanche scene at the beginning could be described as a symbol of that struggle, but then again Mills and Boon might also have needed to fill their quota of extreme weather story lines. The book is full of quiet emotion and determination. The characters are well drawn and the dialogue engaging, as with all Mills and Boon books the characters have issues, but unlike so many, Jolie and Cole recognise them and work through them. Kelly Hunter is one of my favourite romance authors and this is one of my favourite books. I re-read this book often and I love it each time.

I will start with the confession that I come from a bookishly snob family. I was brought up in the knowledge that romance novels weren't really literary books and weren't worth my time. I'll skip over how I discovered them in high school thanks to my best friend and just say that I think this demeaning attitude towards romance novels stem from the usually cheesy and cheap and ridiculous titles they sadly get.

I am so glad I wasn't turned off of this novel by its generic and cheesy romance cover, because I would have missed out on a great story! Another occasion when it's proven not to judge a book by its cover...

I really loved The Man She Loves to Hate, it was a very nice surprise: a great love story with interesting characters and intense dialogues. But let's start at the beginning...

Jolie Tanner grew up with Hannah and Cole Rees until she was twelve, when they discovered that Jolie's mother and the Rees kids' father were having an affair. It broke up their friendship and Hannah and Cole never spoke to Jolie again. Losing her best friend so abruptly and bearing the stigma of her adulteress mother Jolie has grown up to be a shy and introverted, beautiful young woman. Her path's crosses with Cole when they are stranded together in a ski cabin in the middle of a blizzard. Where you guess right something happens between them: they can't deny the chemistry and sizzling attraction that is between them, even if they vow to forget it as soon as they get back to civilization.

I liked that despite the constant hurt and gossip and her own shy nature Jolie still had some spunk and fire:

`Here's what we're going to do,' she muttered grimly. `I'm going to clean your head wound. Then you're going to warm up, and wake up, and thank me very nicely for my efforts. No house. No diamonds. A simple thank you will do. And then when we get back to Queenstown and everybody asks you what it was like being stuck on a mountainside with me, you're going to go very quiet and then you're going to say--in front of God, your family, your fancy friends and half the town-- "I may not have been entirely comfortable in Jolie's company, but she kept me alive, and she has my thanks." Is that really too much to ask? That for once in your life you and your sister and your mother stop hating me for something that was never my fault?'

And then of course I simply melted at the quiet and intense determination of Cole when he quickly realized that he wanted Jolie despite the past of their parents and the present opposition of her mother to his relationship with Jolie.

"And just for the record, when I close my eyes at night I think of greedy lips and silken skin and blinding passion the likes of which I've never felt before. Ask me where I go each night, Red."
Grey eyes, wide and startled. A mouth made for kisses; not one kiss but more.
"Where?" she whispered and it was a supplicant's murmur and it magnified the heat deep inside him a hundredfold.
"I come to you."

"I live simply, Cole. Don't expect anything grand. You're coming slumming."
"I'll be there around nine," he said. "And just for the record, I'm not coming for the scenery, Jolie. I'm coming for you."

"Yes, it's working well," he said gruffly. "Which is why I'm asking you for more. I can't keep leaving my world to come and play in yours, Red. Sometimes I'm going to need you--and want you--in mine. Can't you understand that?"

The sizzling chemistry and then later blossoming love and harmony between Jolie and Cole was heart-warming. How they tried to surmount the obstacles left for them by their parent's affair and their bumpy childhood feelings was not simple but so satisfying to read.

At times the descriptions were a bit choppy and the transition between the scenes was often abrupt (it read like a change of scene in a script), but the highlight of this novel were the dialogues which deliver powerful and poignant sentiments.

Verdict: If you are looking for a fun, heart-warming, toe-curling romance you can't go wrong with The Man She Loves to Hate! It is hot, it is funny and it is definitely romantic! A novel I very much enjoyed!

Plot: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Writing: 7/10
Ending: 8/10
Cover: 1/10 - ugh so bland and cheesy, don't let it turn you away from reading this great story!