Review: A LOVE HATE THING by Whitney D. Grandison

Review: A LOVE HATE THING by Whitney D. GrandisonA Love Hate Thing by Whitney D. Grandison
four-stars
Published by Inkyard Press on January 7, 2020
Genres: Romance, Contemporary Fiction, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 464
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much to Justine Sha for inviting me to take part in Harlequin Trade Publishing’s Winter 2020 Blog Tour for Inkyard Press.  Today I’m sharing my thoughts on A LOVE HATE THING by Whitney D. Grandison.

Whitney D. Grandison’s emotional debut, A Love Hate Thing, first caught my eye because of its title and that gorgeous cover.  The promise of my favorite romantic trope, hate to love, called to me like a siren.  What I got, however, was so much more than just a love-hate story.  A Love Hate Thing is just as much a coming of age story as it is a love story, and it’s also a story about second chances and making the most of them.

I fell in love with the protagonist Tyson Trice, who goes by Trice, as soon as we were introduced to him.  He’s a young man who comes across as vulnerable but yet also tough as nails.  A tragic event has left Trice without parents and recovering from a gunshot wound.  In hopes that he’ll be able to eventually heal and move forward from this tragedy, Trice has been sent to live with old family friends who happen to live in a safer and more affluent part of town.  Trice knows he doesn’t fit in, but all he’s really focused on at this point is trying to cope with what happened and get his life back on track, which starts with summer school in his new neighborhood.  Trice is such a sweetheart that it’s just impossible not to love him and want the best for him.  What I liked the most about Trice is that he’s determined to stay true to himself. He has no interest in trying to fit whatever mold the “in” crowd at his new school thinks he should strive for. I always love a good underdog so watching Trice navigate his way through these privileged and elitist types is totally my cup of tea.

Not so easy to love, however, is his counterpart, Nandy Smith.  I’ll be honest and say up front that I did not like Nandy at all when the story first opened.  Nandy’s family is who Trice ends up moving in with, and as soon as Nandy hears the news, she starts acting like a brat.  She’s considered a big shot at her school and is obsessed with maintaining her golden girl image.  She is not about to let some homeless boy from the wrong side of the tracks wreck her summer or damage her reputation.  From the first moment Trice enters her home, Nandy is rude and obnoxious, to the point where even her little brother tells her she needs to back off and stop acting like a jerk.  I didn’t start to warm up to Nandy until she started to warm up to Trice and actually get to know him.  Once she began to show tremendous growth and development as a character, I started to love her too.

The changing dynamic between Trice and Nandy was what really sold me on this story.  There’s history between them that accounts for some of Nandy’s early behavior and I loved learning about that and then watching their relationship evolve from there, especially as they are caught between their two worlds.  Can Trice fully let go of his past and embrace the second chance he has been given?  Can Nandy let go of her obsession with reputation and just be herself and be there for Trice?

A Love Hate Thing is an emotional roller coaster filled with heartwarming moments as well as its fair share of tearjerker moments.  If a story about family, belonging, love, loss, and ultimately finding a way to move forward sounds like your kind of read, give Whitney D. Grandison’s A Love Hate Thing a chance.

 

 

PURCHASE LINKS:

HarlequinAmazonBarnes & NobleIndie BoundKoboGoogle – Books-A-Million

 

SUMMARY:

A fantastic enemies to lovers romance about an It girl whose world is upended when a boy from the past moves into her house after tragedy strikes. For fans of Ibi Zoboi’s Pride, Mary H. K. Choi and Samira Ahmed. Wattpad author Whitney D. Grandison’s traditional publishing debut.

When they’re stuck under one roof, the house may not be big enough for their hate…or their love

When Tyson Trice finds himself tossed into the affluent coastal community of Pacific Hills, he’s ready for the questions, the stares, and the total feeling of not belonging in the posh suburb. Not that he cares. After recovering from being shot and surviving the mean streets of Lindenwood, he doesn’t care about anyone or anything. He doesn’t even care how the rest of his life will play out.

In Pacific Hills, image is everything. Something that, as the resident golden girl, Nandy Smith knows all too well. She’s spent most of her life building the pristine image that it takes to fit in. After learning that her parents are taking in a former childhood friend, Nandy fears her summer plans, as well as her reputation, will go up in flames. It’s the start of summer vacation and the last thing Nandy needs is some juvenile delinquent from the ’Wood crashing into her world.

Stuck together in close quarters, Trice and Nandy are in for some long summer nights. Only, with the ever-present pull back to the Lindenwood streets, it’ll be a wonder if Trice makes it through this summer at all.

four-stars

About Whitney D. Grandison

Whitney D. Grandison was born and raised in Akron, Ohio, where she currently resides. A lover of stories since she first picked up a book, it’s no surprise she’s taken to writing her own. Some of her works can be found on Wattpad, one of the largest online story sharing platforms, where she has acquired over 30,000 followers and an audience of over fifteen million dedicated readers.

26 replies
  1. verushka
    verushka says:

    Even if I liked Trice, your perception of Nandy would have made me cautious about reading this, but YES, their evolving dynamic and their history makes me excited enough to add this to my TBR.

    • Suzanne
      Suzanne says:

      Yeah, Nandy had me so frustrated in the beginning. All I could think was “Stop being so mean to that sweet, sweet boy. What is wrong with you?” LOL.

  2. Tanya @ Girl Plus Books
    Tanya @ Girl Plus Books says:

    Nandy does sound like she’d be difficult to warm to… privileged and without much compassion. Trice sounds like such a worthy character, though. I love that he doesn’t feel the need to conform and is comfortable just being himself. We need more characters like that!

    • Suzanne
      Suzanne says:

      I completely agree about needing more characters like Trice. I loved that he had no interest in trying to fit in with the cool crowd and just made friends with people he personally thought were interesting regardless of what crowd they were in.

  3. Deanna @ A Novel Glimpse
    Deanna @ A Novel Glimpse says:

    I love how Nandy won you over in the end. I think I would have felt the same way about her at first. That’s generally how those hate to lovers characters start out for me, though. Great review!

  4. Sam@wlabb
    Sam@wlabb says:

    I am glad to hear you enjoyed this book. I had pushed it off, because I kept seeing unfavorable reviews, but now you and Gen have said good things about it. I will have to take a look.

    • Suzanne
      Suzanne says:

      I’m definitely curious to see what you think of it. I had seen some mixed reviews too and was nervous going in but ended up really enjoying it.

  5. Olivia Roach
    Olivia Roach says:

    It sounds like this is quite a tricky one… I am not sure how I would feel about Nandy and if she would frustrate me too much I think I wouldn’t enjoy the story? So I am on the fence about picking it up but I am glad the characters warmed up for you in the end 🙂

    • Suzanne
      Suzanne says:

      I agree about it being tricky. If I hadn’t seen that Nandy was basically a nice person to everyone but Trice, I probably would have given up. But her singling him out for her meanness had me curious enough to keep going and find out what was going on with her.

    • Suzanne
      Suzanne says:

      I can definitely understand not liking Nandy. It took me a while to warm up to her. Most of the time I just wanted to ask her what her problem was, lol.

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