Review: Dating You / Hating You by Christina Lauren

Author: Christina Lauren
Publication Date: June 6, 2017
Publisher:  Gallery Books
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Find It: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Book Depository
Source: Purchased
Rating: 2 stars – you are getting very sleepy

Despite the odds against them from an embarrassing meet-awkward at a mutual friend’s Halloween party, Carter and Evie immediately hit it off. Even the realization that they’re both high-powered agents at competing firms in Hollywood isn’t enough to squash the fire.

But when their two agencies merge—causing the pair to vie for the same position—all bets are off. What could have been a beautiful, blossoming romance turns into an all-out war of sabotage. Carter and Evie are both thirtysomething professionals—so why can’t they act like it?

Can Carter stop trying to please everyone and see how their mutual boss is really playing the game? Can Evie put aside her competitive nature long enough to figure out what she really wants in life? Can their actor clients just be something close to human? Whether these two Hollywood love/hatebirds get the storybook Hollywood ending or just a dramedy of epic proportions, you will get to enjoy Christina Lauren’s heartfelt, raucous, and hilarious romance style at its finest.

It pains me to give a CLo book this low of a rating but I really struggled with this one. I ended up putting it down for quite awhile before finally going back to it, which is just crazy for me and a CLo book. 

This book felt kind of disjointed to me and I never felt connected to either of the protagonists. CLo are usually so amazing at writing characters with fantastic chemistry but I felt like Evie and Carter has no spark. 

I also disliked the cliched world of the Hollywood agent that they worked in. Maybe it’s because I’m from LA and work in entertainment that I hyper-critical of this aspect of the book. I’ve never worked at an agency so I can’t say what it’s like but it felt very stereotypical and unoriginal. Brad was a little too over the top as well. I’m sure people like him exist but it’s hard to believe that he wouldn’t have had some conversations with HR about his sexist attitude by now. It was also a little unbelievable that someone as smart and confident as Evie would let Brad abuse her for so long. 

I enjoyed some of the pranks that Carter and Evie pulled on each other but overall their relationship didn’t do much for me. I was actually caught off guard a little when it’s revealed that Carter loves Evie because I didn’t see it coming at all. 

This is probably my least favorite CLo book out of the 10 or so I’ve read. While I’m a little disappointed in this one, they’re still some of my favorite authors and I’ll continue to buy and read anything they release.