You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle ~ Review

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle

Source: Purchased.

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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You Deserve Each Other is one of those books that I've seen people say nothing but great things about. I've had my paperback since last summer, but it was pretty intimidating to pick it up because hype. But after finishing All Rhodes Lead Here I was in such a mood for something contemporary that could give me feelings and make me fall in love. In a way, You Deserve Each Other delivered that, though not quite the way I'd hoped it would.

I'm going to start with talking about what did not work for me because it was the first half of the book. The first half was...really tough to get through. It's a lovers-to-enemies-back-to-lovers situation. Which sounds fun in theory. However, it took me a while to figure out why they were a couple in the first place, let alone in love enough to get engaged. And when they were enemies? It was rough. There was so much hate, and it made it hard to root for Nicholas and Naomi as a couple. 

That was one of my biggest issues. The things they said and did to each other in the first half. It kind of tainted the good that was to come of them together later. For me, at least, because that stuff was still on my mind and while some of it gets addressed, some of it wasn't. 

But that brings me to the second half. Which is the wonderful, beautiful saving grace. And this is rare for me, because like I said the first half was tough, but the second half truly makes the first half worth it. There's so much character growth. So much relationship growth. It's honestly perfect.

Thinking about Nicholas and Naomi becoming best friends? And that friendship blooming into love that was always meant to be there? It warms my heart beyond measure. Things they got so wrong in the beginning are learned from, turning them from a couple I couldn't understand to something so precious.

It's also worth a big mention that Sarah Hogle's writing is top notch. It'd have to be to pull off this story so precariously. It could have gone so wrong. But instead it hooked me enough to pull me in and kept me interested long enough for it to all start paying off. And it gave me so many emotions. I'm still processing them. But I definitely fell in love by the end.

Overall, You Deserve Each Other is a lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers story that really leans into the enemies, but the payoff of love in the end is well worth it. Just be prepared going in that even though they're difficult to root for in the beginning, Nicholas and Naomi's relationship is something beautiful...they just have to discover that for themselves first. 

3 stars - A tough beginning, but the perfect second half makes it worthwhile :)