I know some people are not fans of enemies to lovers or fake marriages, but that person is not me. When two people can’t stand each other and they have to be living under the same roof, I say bring that story on.

In this case, Sadie and Jonah have been enemies since college, and unfortunately for them, becoming academics means they still can’t get away from each other. When Sadie lands a professor position and Jonah needs a way to move closer to his recently divorced sister, they discover Sadie’s contract has a clause that can get her spouse a job. Bing, bang, boom. They marry!!

The story is surprisingly deep for a romance. Sadie and Jonah are both working through things separately, but it never turns into one of those stories where everything falls apart because they refuse to have a conversation. Was there miscommunication? Yes. But it actually made sense to the plot.

Sadie’s only got her sister, who is MIA, and she’s afraid she’s broken their relationship. Jonah is trying to make up for some lost time with his sister. I liked that they were both dealing with these things outside of their marriage instead of every problem being about their relationship.

I also really enjoyed the dual POV because you always knew what was going on in both of their heads. You could see them slowly realizing they weren’t actually the enemies they thought they were, even when they weren’t ready to say that to each other.

The best part of this story is that they aren’t the enemies they thought they were. And they both know it, though they don’t tell each other right away. It’s nice to see the story flow to its eventual conclusion and not be mad about things that go wrong in their relationship.

I liked that the relationship was allowed to just keep moving forward. There were issues, but nothing felt forced just to create drama. And thankfully, no third-act breakup.