ARC Review: Love at First Spite by Anna E. Collins

“The story was fun and had a great plot and dialogue”
~ Under the Covers

It’s love at first spite when Danielle Porter sets out to get revenge on her ex, only to find love and support where she least expected it.

When Dani caught her fiancé cheating on her with their realtor, it turned her life upside down. So Dani does what any sane person would do when their life is spiralling out of control: she decides to get revenge on her ex. And not just any revenge. Property revenge. As an interior designer, Dani knows just the right people to help her build a spite house on the empty plot right next to her ex and block his gorgeous view of the ocean. Unfortunately, one of those people is architect Wyatt Montego, a tall, dark, and stoic man known for assuming his ideas and opinions are always right. Dani thought she was done with men when her ex-fiancé cheated on her, but the closer she works with Wyatt, the more Dani starts to think she isn’t done with all men. Dani might have started off building a spite house, but ended up building a future for herself instead.

Love at First Spite was a revengeful, yet cute, opposites attract romance. I honestly can’t recall a recent read that had a more memorable opening scene than this book; Collins immediately pulled me in with her introduction to Dani and I ended up reading Love at First Spite in just two sittings. I was intrigued by both main characters, but for their flaws more than anything else. I personally found their chemistry together and the overall spice level of the book to be a solid three out of five, but it was who they were as people that I found the most interesting.

Dani was a bit insane at times with the lengths she would go to in order to get revenge on her ex. I understand wanting to get revenge when you’re hurting, but Dani really went all out; she not only built a house right next to her ex in order to block his view, but she also decorated the whole place with all the things he hates in mind. Dani was quite obsessed with her ex, and at times it was concerning. But in her obsession, Dani ended up being a realistic character; spite houses are a very real thing and I loved Collins’ fictional portrayal of such a house.

Overall, I ended up loving the characters in this book but I didn’t like Dani as a person. Dani spent a lot of her time with Wyatt lying and deceiving him about the house, and I actually would have been completely fine if this book didn’t have a happily ever after. Wyatt deserved all of Dani, and their relationship started off with her keeping some pretty big secrets from him. Wyatt as a character was enjoyable. He started off as quiet and a bit grumpy, but he was really just misunderstood and I loved him more as Collins pulled back his layers. Collins gave Wyatt his own backstory and problems, and I did like how both Dani and Wyatt’s histories shaped who they were with each other. Both main characters were human and flawed, but I ended up loving Wyatt for his and being wary of Dani for hers.

Love at First Spite was a unique love story, one that showcased two very different ways of dealing with rejection and moving on after a breakup. I loved that Collins wrote a romance around the lesser-known, but still very real, concept of a spite house. The story was fun and had a great plot and dialogue. I very much loved the characters more for how they worked through their past issues rather than their time together, but overall I found Love at First Spite to be an enjoyable read.

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[about-author author=”Anna E. Collins”]