Kiss Me Like You Hate Me – Rue Wilde
Kiss Me Like You Hate Me – More Like Wrote Me Like You Hate Me – Book Review
Enemies-to-lovers is one of the most beloved romance tropes out there. When done well, it can be an electrifying roller coaster of emotions. Reading the blurb, Kiss Me Like You Hate Me promised exactly that, a fiery, passionate love story between a young heiress resentful of being babysat by her bodyguard, and the man sworn to risk his life to protect her. But did it deliver? Well… it certainly stirred strong feelings, though I’m not convinced they were the ones the author intended.
The story opens with the female main character launching into a massive info dump – who everyone is, what’s happening, and precisely how miserable she feels. It’s an odd choice, as most authors prefer to weave character details gradually, allowing readers to connect or at least empathise. Not so here.
Next, we meet the bodyguard. We know he’s British thanks to the generous sprinkling of the word mate. Unfortunately, that’s where the authenticity ends. The dialogue is riddled with Americanisms, and as an English reader, it’s painfully clear that while the author wanted a British character (presumably for the accent), they neither know any British people nor had any proofread the book before publication. He’s presented as tough because he swears a lot and doesn’t want to “look after some spoiled rich b*tch”. Which is odd, considering that looking after wealthy clients is, realistically, most of a bodyguard’s job description.
I hoped things would improve after the first few chapters. Sadly, they didn’t. I genuinely began to wonder if the author disliked her own heroine. She’s written as so thoroughly unpleasant that reading her felt like enduring a spoiled toddler’s tantrum. It was exhausting.
The bodyguard’s background, meanwhile, made little sense. We’re told his family runs the most prestigious protection firm in the UK, safeguarding figures like the Prime Minister (overlooking the fact that this is actually handled by the Metropolitan Police’s Royalty and Specialist Protection branch). Yet Tristan has no choice but to take an American assignment because business has been slow. The logic just doesn’t hold. If he’d left the Met to start his own firm, that premise might have worked, but as written, it smacks of an author out of their depth with research.
Then there’s his military history, or lack thereof. He’s supposedly raised from boyhood to be a bodyguard, yet the author can’t resist constantly mentioning his dog tags. Was he in the army? Was this leftover from an earlier draft? Or does the author simply equate dog tags with “tough and sexy”? We never find out.
The story picked up around the 60% mark, and I did finish it. To the author’s credit, there’s a creative spark here and a potentially strong concept, but the execution badly needs work. A creative writing course, along with honest alpha and beta readers (not just supportive friends), would make a world of difference.
Some of the emotional beats also feel off. After the inevitable insta-love moment (no slow burn here), the pair embark on an affair, while Tristan feels that if Angelica spends any time with her fiancé, it is a betrayal. It’s difficult to sympathise when they’re the ones cheating. Instead of creating tension, it makes you feel sorry for the supposed antagonist.
There were plenty of smaller irritations, too. The bodyguard laments not wanting to make her “feel small” right after paragraphs about her immense power over men. His black shirt somehow turns “translucent” when wet (perhaps the author meant white?). They manage to snuggle from opposite sides of a table. And, my personal favourite, he refers to the heroine’s father as Daddy. Truly unforgettable.
Scenes also shift abruptly between days or locations with no paragraph breaks or transitions. Characters recover from serious injuries in record time, only to be hindered by them in later chapters and events, seeming to happen because the author simply wills them to.
Despite the many five-star reviews online, I can’t help but suspect a few might be from friends or family. The author clearly has potential, a good imagination and a sense for dramatic tension, but the lack of editing and consistency drags the entire book down. With proper research, editing, and constructive feedback, this could easily have been a three- or four-star read. As it stands, it’s a frustrating one or two-star experience that could have been so much more.
Kiss Me Like You Hate Me is available here.
