Book: Fight or Flight (by Samantha Young)
Genre: Romance/RomCom
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Okay, I have always been a fan of romance novels and one of my all time favorite tropes is enemies to lovers and this book does that so well! Some of my favorite RomComs leading up to this have been The Hating Game and Dating You Hating You (both enemies to lovers stories). This fits right into my top 3 RomComs along with those two lovely books and I want to share why.
First off, here’s the quick goodreads synopsis:
The universe is conspiring against Ava Breevort. As if flying back to Phoenix to bury a childhood friend wasn’t hell enough, a cloud of volcanic ash traveling from overseas delayed her flight back home to Boston. Her last ditch attempt to salvage the trip was thwarted by an arrogant Scotsman, Caleb Scott, who steals a first class seat out from under her. Then over the course of their journey home, their antagonism somehow lands them in bed for the steamiest layover Ava’s ever had. And that’s all it was–until Caleb shows up on her doorstep.
When pure chance pulls Ava back into Caleb’s orbit, he proposes they enjoy their physical connection while he’s stranded in Boston. Ava agrees, knowing her heart’s in no danger since a) she barely likes Caleb and b) his existence in her life is temporary. Not long thereafter Ava realizes she’s made a terrible error because as it turns out Caleb Scott isn’t quite so unlikeable after all. When his stay in Boston becomes permanent, Ava must decide whether to fight her feelings for him or give into them. But even if she does decide to risk her heart on Caleb, there is no guarantee her stubborn Scot will want to risk his heart on her….
Things I loved about this book (some spoilers):
Okay, the first thing is the enemies turned lovers aspect of this lovely book. I adore this trope to begin with, so any book that uses it automatically winds up higher on my list. The way that Young handles this trop is unique in this book. The enemies aspect is based on a first impression, a theme that keeps coming back throughout the book. I love how she continually nails home that first impressions aren’t always what they seem. From this first impression their supposed hatred obviously blooms into a romance. This romance isn’t like other enemy to lover tropes and I love it.
Getting into the romance a bit more, I love how Young grew their relationship. She does a phenomenal job of showing the struggles of life and relationships not just between the main couple but also in past relationships and the relationships of their friends. The begin their journey in this book as casual friends “with benefits,” but as the story unfolds and layers of their lives are peeled up you can see them falling in love. Young does a great job of showing this through subtle things like affection names and having her characters open up more and more.
One final thing that put this over the top for me were the uses of multiple characters with accents/from different countries. Not only do we have a Scot, but we also have a Irishman and some Brits, making it truly enjoyable for those as well. I love how Young goes about writing the text for Caleb, our male lead and hunky Scot, by putting everything in a way that when it’s read you can imagine the Scottish accent. It is amazing. Seriously amazing.
Okay, that’s enough form me, because I could literally write another book on how much I loved this book. It was funny, lovely, raw, real and the romance is one of my new favorites. If you love romance or romcoms please do yourself a favor and check this one out!
HAPPY READING!
Joyfully Jacquie 