Jo
I’m not bad; they just write me that way.
That’s what I tell myself—the lie I peddle in interviews.
If they want a bad girl, I can be their bad girl.
Their villain.
“Everyone loves a scandal. And you’re the queen of scandals..”
Years ago, I broke the heart of the biggest pop star in the world.
And then I became the Sexiest Man Alive’s biggest regret.
I am not that venomous girl anymore.
But I know a life-changing role when I see one.
“At his name, my heart stills. The man I hate and want.
The bane of my existence…”
Being Tristan Kane’s on-screen love interest will be good for my career.
And bad for my heart.
For him? I aim to devastate both.
Tristan
The world thinks it’s easy being the son of Hollywood royalty.
But they don’t know the burdens I wear.
Or the regrets in my chest—that all say her name.
“We will be nothing more than co-stars. Not friends. Not anything more…”
Loving Josephine Ouellette goes against my late father’s wishes.
Fits into my meddling manager’s plans.
And pisses my sister off.
“…forget the world, they can’t have this moment.
This is our story, and no one gets a say in it.”
But I’m tired of living in his shadow.
Living for their games.
I fell in love with a villain.
And no one loves harder than the scorned.
Without rehashing the plot of this book, I really felt for Jo. She’s been labeled a villain in Hollywood but that is really so far from the truth. My heart broke for her, and all she’d been through, and how she craved safety and quiet. And never got it. Tristan, meanwhile, is trying to be his own person but forever being followed by the shadow of his late father, an iconic Oscar winner. There is a lot of messy emotion between Tristan and Jo as they work on making a movie together and forge a tentative friendship… and eventually, become more.
However, I felt that a lot of this book was disjointed. It didn’t flow as well as I would have liked it to. I think the flashbacks to the past would have served the story better if they were chapters on their own rather than within a present-day chapter. Also, I felt that there was a backstory to both of these characters that I didn’t get the full scope of, and I’m wondering if that’s because they both previously appeared in books from the author’s back catalog? I’m sure having read those books would have been beneficial, and I definitely felt like I was missing pieces to Jo and Tristan’s story.
In the end, I Like You, I Hate Her had a satisfying HEA that made me smile, knowing that Jo and Tristan made it through the mess and found their own version of paradise together.
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
J.R. Rogue first put pen to paper at the age of fifteen after developing an unrequited high school crush & has never stopped writing about heartache. She has published multiple volumes of poetry and novels.
Three of her poetry collections, La Douleur Exquise, Exits, Desires, & Slow Fires, & I’m Not Your Paper Princess have been Goodreads Choice Awards Nominees.
To keep up with everything she is working on join her facebook group, Rogue’s Rebels.
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Sunny Shelly Reads 