Carole´s Monday: At first spite

Author: Olivia Dade

Title: At First Spite

Series: Harlot's Bay #1

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Format: ebook

Pages: 400

Published: February 13, 2024

Where I got It: My shelf (Amazon)

Summary: 

When Athena Greydon’s fiancé ends their engagement, she has no choice but to move into the Spite House she recklessly bought him as a wedding gift. Which is a problem, for several reasons: The house, originally built as a brick middle finger to the neighbors, is only ten feet wide. Her ex’s home is literally attached to hers. And Dr. Matthew Vine the Freaking Third—AKA the uptight, judgy jerk who convinced his younger brother to leave her—is living on her other side, only a four-foot alley away.

If she has to see Matthew every time she looks out her windows, she might as well have some fun with the situation. By, say, playing erotic audiobooks at top volume with those windows open. A woman living in a Spite House is basically obligated to get petty payback however she can, right?

Unfortunately, loathing Matthew proves more difficult than anticipated. He helps her move. He listens. And he’s kind of…hot? Dammit.

Matthew may not regret ending his brother's engagement, but he does regret what the breakup has done to Athena. He'll help her however he can. If that means finding her work, fine. If that means enduring nightly steamy story hours, so be it. And if that means watching Athena through their windows a bit too often and caring about her a bit too much…well, nothing can come of it. She’ll never forgive him. Even if she did, how could he ever tell his beloved younger brother the truth—that Matthew wants the very same woman he encouraged Johnny to leave?

Review:

Randomly stumbled upon this on Amazon while looking for something else. This sounded cute, and I love the cover. 

Here we follow Athena, who thought she had it all, but her fiancé leaves her at the instance of his brother. Now she is stuck with a tiny house squeezed in between theirs. If she is stuck with her ex-brother-in-law, she might as well have fun by messing with him. Matthew doesn't regret ending his brother's engagement, but he does feel terrible for Athena. But it was for the best. He will do what he can to help Athena, even if that means helping her find work, enduring her audiobooks, and seeing her too much. 

This was absolutely ridiculous, and the premise was chaotic at the best of times. BUT I had fun reading it. 

The dialogue was cheesy, but it was amusing. 

The characters were wild, and Athena was too much sometimes, but they were adorable. 

I had a lot of fun with this, but the ending? Ugh. He should've groveled and begged and pleaded. Athena is far too kind. 

All-in-all, I did enjoy this chaotic story. It was fun, and the characters were endearing, even though I think Athena needed to make Matthew earn her back. Grrr!

I'll give this 4 stars. 

Reading Challenges

-  Reading Romance Challenge #1 (necktie)