This was the first book by Connie Brockway I've read, but it won't be the last.

My Dearest Enemy has it all: it's funny and, at the same time, heartbreaking, Romantic - yes, with a capital "R"! - and has two of the most charming couples I've "met" in Romancelandia. Avery and Lily made me laugh with their initial witty banter, made me cry when their individual beliefs tore them apart, and made me sigh in happiness with their HEA.

There is NOTHING I can fault in this book. It's a keeper and I can se More...

This was my second book form Brockway. Although the premise was different from what i have read before from her, the book still delivered! I had may laughs over the witty bickering.

I loved the tone of the book! Connie seems like a poet morphed into a writer... this woman can write some soulful thoughts!! **sighs** I love her for that!


I found the premise of the book quite interesting: "A battle of sexes" . where an old man tries to play a trick to his free spirited nephew while try to prove wron More...

This was my first Connie Brockway and it will not be my last. Wow. This book..wait.. I LOVED AVERY! What a man, a true gentleman!! :-) This book made me laugh my head off and then cry my eyes out. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 is because there was a short period of time where I just wanted things to hurry up and happen and boy did they!! And also, let me say that as far as I can tell from this first book of Connie Brockway's that I am reading, her writing is just inspiring. It's how I som More...

What a delightful experience. It was good from the beginning to the end, which cannot be said about a lot of books. I did not skim or skip a single line.
They characters were believable while being charming in a historical romance way. I like a story when the protagonists bicker so obviously I loved the interaction between Avery and Lily. Their letters to each other were witty and fun to read. The scenes were Avery reads them to his friends was enjoyable and the romance between them was touching. More...

This story was as touching as it was funny. I absolutely loved the chemestry between the hero and heroine. Avery is a wanderer, traveling the world until the time his promised inheritance, Mill House becomes available to him. Lily, an outspolen suffragist, is the woman given a chance to prove her mettle (despite the fact that the one who gave her that chance didn't believe she would pull it off) and swipe the house out from under Avery as long as she is profitable at the end of 5 years. Her and More...

new to this author. there were things i enjoyed and there were things i did not abt it which why it wasnt a 5.

first of the premise i really liked. the letters i loved. the dialogue. the characters and the male lead that wasnt as typical in all aspects. obviously the chemistry was the best part id think. all the banter back and forth. there were definite touching moments too.

that said there were times i wanted to strangle lily too. and well it started not what one would expect.
thats why i didnt More...

Avery Thorne receives the news of his uncle Horatio Thorne’s death accompanied by a letter from him. In which his late uncle tells him he will not inherit the Mill House. Instead his uncle has challenged nineteen-year-old Miss Lillian Bede to manage Mill House and if at the end of five years the estate should profit under her management, she will inherit Mill House. If Miss Lillian Bede fails to make a profit, Avery will inherit Mill House.

Avery decides to go travel for the next five years. Lily More...

Why? that's the only question I have.
Why did the author do this? Why did she begin the book in PERFECT humor and wit and suddenly dispense of all that fun in order to bring in the banal emotional relationship shit? honestly, WHY?!?!

the letters they sent each other were truly amusing and just witty!! Unique! but, the second the two meet face to face and the physical reactions register, the story starts heading DOWN HILL. I hate that; I hate how she turns a really interesting story into a common p More...

I have a friend who always tells me about this book when we talk about Connie Brockway. So when I was recently between books and pilfering through a drawer to find a book to read, I came across My Dearest Enemy and figured now is as good a time as any to finally read it myself and see what my friend has been talking about all these years.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the characters, this one isn’t a keeper for me like it is for said friend. So far my favorite Brockways are her three R More...

A super romantic historical, with an H/h story that was deeply passionate and from the heart. I loved it. I shed a few tears in the end. And such great bantering/dialog between the H/h, what fun it was when these two were communicating together. Set in the countryside of England in the late 1800’s, he was a captivating beta-type hero who grew up with physical disabilities which he had to overcome, and she was a devoted woman’s rights leader with a past that fully explains her point of view on ma More...

Genre: Victorian Romance

I think this is the only romance novel I’ve ever read that is so ensconced in the time period it’s portraying that the story could not be told in any other time. In fact, one of the major plot points turns on a detail of Victorian marriage laws. The writing is not as light-hearted and superficial as most romance novels, but the interactions between the hero (Avery Thorne) and heroine (Lily Bede) are frequently over-the-top and quite amusing.

The initial set up is that Aver More...

This really is very sweet without being too sentimental. I love books that incorporate personal correspondence, and this story is predicated on a relationship that forms when two people begin writing letters to one another, mostly sparring, but unexpectedly become very important to one another taking on a deeper, more meaningful significance.... and it's very refreshing to read a romance that doesn't have a villain (unless you count Horatio who places these two in competition with one another to More...

Not bad, but it carried on a bit too long. The conclusion was so drawn out. Yet, oddly, I didn't feel the that the essential issues were resolved.

The problem was that a suffragist who watched her mother's torment and helplessness over being forcibly separated from her older children due to a bad marriage had vowed never to marry as long as the laws continued to value the father's rights over the mother's rights.

I'm not sure that issue can be resolved. There's no way out of it. She eventually has More...

I started this book for work reasons (too long to elaborate here), i.e. I expected the usual romance, yet I found a fairly refreshing story. Yes, the characters are somewhat cliched (the Greek-god male versus the impossibly beautiful plus unconventional heroine) but their story is nicely told and their relationship builds up nicely. Some of the dialogues and situations really made me laugh out loud and the fact that the male protagonist was, for once, inexperienced in sex matters was a pleasant More...

The best part of this book were the letters between the hero and heroine. They were extremely funny. I love written correspondence in book and it's very well used here. I also enjoyed the secondary characters.

My only problem with the book was that the resolution to the conflict wasn't quite good enough for me. It seemed like everything got wrapped up too quickly. Lily needed a little more personal growth on the baggage that she had coming into the relationship for me to believe that they could a More...

A bit ‘meh’, a bit ‘blah’, a bit ‘oh-look-I’m-on-page-150-and-still-nothing-is-happening-what-else-is-on-TBR’, yeah this book just didn’t do it for me and I had some high hopes too. I was expecting a Lisa Kleypas “It Happened One Autumn” or a Loretta Chase “Lord of Scoundrels” battle of words but it was neither and just a really average ho-hum read.

It's the story of two adversaries fighting it out to get ownership of a house in five years time. The hero who was supposed to inherit the house got More...

A great story that ranges from humorous to serious to everything in between.

Our two heroes start out sending letters as adversaries both wanting the same thing. Their letters are very amusing and their relationship builds gradually and naturally. They both have their hangups and they fight their mutual attraction as much as they can, so when they finally succumb the scene is very intense.

I liked the fact that Lili wasn't the regular damsel in distress and it was an interesting experience readin More...

Picked this up for my iPad Kindle after I heard that Ms. Brockway was going to be releasing some new books in e-format only.

I really enjoyed this book. The hero and heroine had great banter via their letters and then after they met in person. I particularly liked the asthma/allergy side bits with Avery and Bernard. (view spoiler)[Lily's reluctance to get married really just rankled me at the end, and I wasn't too pleased with her sudden decision to change her mind. I did want them to be married, of course, but (hide spoiler)] More...

my dearest enemy has been sitting there tucked away for over a month now as i skipped thru genes, from historical friction to chick-lite , triller and back....we'll let me tell u pulling this one out of shelf was the best decision i had made all day .....


this being my first brockway novel and definatly not my last .....like so many other periodic authors..the storyline characters and humorus batters hv led me to find both a new fav author and definatly a new FAVOURITE book...

Highly recommened to More...

Es el primer libro que leo de esta autora. La idea está bien, cada uno de los personajes están bien, pero...no hay nada que enganche realmente. Él es un tipo genial, guapo, humilde, conoce mundo, no es rencoroso, no es mujeriego. Ella es feminista, sufragista, tiene temple, es dulce, buena persona, sensible y muy inteligente. Ambos son muy inteligentes. Tiene todo para ser una novela muy buena, pero le falta enganche. Lo que lo convierte en un libro del montón. Tiene algunos diálogos divertidos, More...

I loved both of these characters but the hero especially. He thinks he's a gentleman (and trust me he's the only one who thinks this ) he's blunt, and loud and pretty much knows nothing about being a boring old gentleman. Thank goodness! He's also charmingly imperfect, physically flawed by asthma, amazingly shy despite his loud mouth and sexually inexperienced. An irresistible combination, he was. The letters the two exchange during his travels cracked me up and touched me. A wonderful book that More...

Cute story. There were times when I laughed aloud.

The hero isn't titled nor is he a womanizer. But he's interesting and compelling, an adventurer with debilitating allergies, especially to horses.

The heroine is a woman's rights activist who does not believe in marriage due to the problems her mother had in the past. She made herself miserable sticking to her principles which clashed with her dreams of love and family.

The secondary characters are also interesting and well developed.

Entertaining r More...

So, imagine you're me, and you've just completed the greatest novel ever written in the entire history of humanity, endearingly named My Dearest Enemy.

Yeah.

I so went there! Screw logic, and reality, for Connie Brockway has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt she owns that title like a boss. I, after all, was once convinced that an historical romance written prior to 2000 could never, not ever be of good quality. I love my historical romance novels like nobody's business, but hot-damn, even I real More...

I have got to quit trying to post reviews from my iPhone! This is the second one it ate. (Really my fault 'cause of big fingers and little buttons.)Regardless, it's most annoying to try to re-create my earlier review.

First of all, I really loved this book. I think I've decided that Connie Brockway is my kind of writer. Her writing is very lush and at times overblown, but something about her style really appeals to me. She reminds me a bit of Loretta Chase and Sherry Thomas, two of my very favori More...

Now I understand why there aren’t that many books with heroines as early feminists.

Although I could completely relate to Lilly and her vow to fight for women’s rights, I still found her very annoying. I know that I have to thank women like her for the liberties I enjoy today and I understand that a woman had to be very strong and forceful to go against the tide when everybody and their mother was against her. But even understanding all that, it was really tiresome how this heroine thought all me More...

I was charmed by this book. I had my share of problems with it, but overall it was wonderful. I'll be putting it on my keeper shelf for a future reread.

The letter exchange that Lily and Avery participated in was so perfect. Their back and forth banter was one of my favorite parts of the story. I really loved the feel of the scenes when Avery would pull out the newest letter and read it aloud to his friends. Being able to see a little of his interaction with his friends in that setting really hel More...

Disappinted. That is how I finished this book. Disappointed. And it's not that it was bad, because it wasn't. It's just that I feel this book and its characters had the potential to be so much more then they ended up being. Like, the author really could of dealt with the fact that Lily refused to marry because of the fact that women and any offspring at that time ended up as property's of the husband and how she would have to trust Avery that he would never do that to her but instead she ran awa More...

This was the first book by Connie Brockway I've read, and I was completely enthralled by it.

My Dearest Enemy is enriched with witty, intellectual banter. In the case of Avery and Lily, language is a sport used as a form of foreplay. What I love about this book is that their difference of opinions and outlook in life comes in a large measure from a deep-seeded moral principal that can be found due to their complex and unusual background. Dominance had no place in their relationship. Respect, hono More...