Better Hate Than Never (The Wilmot Sisters) – book review

Better Hate Than Never
by Chloe Liese
Release Date: October 10, 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Book #2 in The Wilmot Sisters series
Number of Pages: 366
Contemporary Romance
Ages 15 and up
CW: grief, loss of parents
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Childhood enemies discover the fine line between love and loathing in this heartfelt reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Katerina Wilmot and Christopher Petruchio shared backyards as kids, but as adults they won’t even share the same hemisphere. That is, until Kate makes a rare visit home, and their fiery animosity rekindles into a raging inferno.

Despite their friends’ and families’ pleas for peace, Christopher is unconvinced Kate would willingly douse the flames of their enmity. But when a drunken Kate confesses she’s only been hostile because she thought he hated her, Christopher vows to make peace with Kate once and for all. Tempting as it is to be swept away by her nemesis-turned-gentleman, Kate isn’t sure she can trust his charming good-guy act.

When Christopher’s persistence and Kate’s curiosity lead to an impassioned kiss, they realize “peace” is the last thing that will ever be possible between them. As desire gives way to deeper feelings, Kate and Christopher must decide if it’s truly better to hate than to never risk their hearts—or if they already gave them away long ago.

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There were times in this book when I felt Kate’s inner thoughts were speaking directly to my neurodivergent heart. As this author always points out about her books, everyone experiences things differently, but she is fantastic when it comes to fleshing out her characters. I appreciate the work she puts into making sure different chronic illnesses are seen and neurodivergent characters are fully formed instead of a silly sidekick.

I’m often uncomfortable with enemies to lovers. The fighting and jabs can be a bit much for me at times. I will admit there were times at the beginning of this story when I was upset with Kate or Christopher or both of them. I knew they were reacting in order to hide their true feelings, but they didn’t know that and it made some of their arguments hard to read. But once Christopher discovers how badly his barbs are hurting Kate, he turns into a huge cinnamon roll. Of course, Kate doesn’t trust this turnaround at first. She eventually lets down her defenses and these two are fire!

These two built an amazing trust that held up even when things could have gotten iffy. After how immature I felt Kate’s sister acted at times in the previous book, I was so happy to see Kate using her head when she’s such a heart-led person. Not that things didn’t get emotional or even precarious, but Christopher and Kate were willing to put in the work to get what they wanted and deserved. It was beautiful.

4.5 stars