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A Love Hate Thing

Whitney D. Grandison (Goodreads Author)

3.48 · Rating details · 107 ratings · 79 reviews

When they’re stuck under one roof, the house may not be big enough for their hate…or their love.

When Tyson Trice finds himself tossed into the wealthy coastal community of Pacific Hills, he’s ready for the questions, the stares and the feeling of not belonging. Not that he cares. After recovering from being shot and surviving the rough streets of Lindenwood, he doesn’t ...more

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Hardcover, 464 pages

Published January 7th 2020 by Inkyard Press

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A Love Hate Thing
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Whitney D. Grandison (Goodreads Author)

Release date: Jan 07, 2020

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When they’re stuck under one roof, the house may not be big enough ...more

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Jan 08, 2020 Berit☀️✨ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, audiobooks, 2020, blog-tour

Whitney D. Grandison has written a compelling debut. This was kind of a mash up of the friends to lovers/enemies to lovers trope. Tyson Trice has just gone through a major tragedy and the loss of his beloved Pops. Five months away from turning 18 he goes to live with old family friends who live in an affluent area of Southern California. When they were little Trice and Mandy were the best of friends, but now Mandy is not quite certain of Trice because of his background. You don’t need to be a Whitney D. Grandison has written a compelling debut. This was kind of a mash up of the friends to lovers/enemies to lovers trope. Tyson Trice has just gone through a major tragedy and the loss of his beloved Pops. Five months away from turning 18 he goes to live with old family friends who live in an affluent area of Southern California. When they were little Trice and Mandy were the best of friends, but now Mandy is not quite certain of Trice because of his background. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist or a romance aficionado to figure out where this one’s going. Even though this story was predictable and somewhat clichéd I still enjoyed the story.

Trice, (Who prefers to go by his last name rather than his first name, because he was named after his father) was a lovable sympathetic character. Although he was constantly contradicting himself, there were some definite conflicts between his words and his actions. Then there was Mandy, what a spoiled entitled princess she was. I grew up in Southern California somewhere between these fictional cities of Linderwood and Pacific Hills. This is such a diverse checkerboarded area that I really doubt anyone would automatically assume someone was a “thug“ just because they were from a bad neighborhood. Well that is with the exception of dear Mandy. Even though we were constantly told what a sweet person she was I never saw that through her actions. I honestly thought Trice could’ve done much better for himself, possibly with her best friend. But I guess the heart wants what it wants. The story was told from both characters perspectives and I really got quite annoyed when I was in Mandy’s head. While I appreciated the diversity in the story I thought occasionally it was a bit stereotypical. I guess this is all to say I’m a little conflicted on this one. On one handI thought the characters were very vivid and well drawn, but on the other hand I really was not rooting for this couple. I was definitely wanting the best for Tyson, but I could’ve cared less what happened to Mandy. So I guess the title is super appropriate, it was kind of a love-hate thing!

this book in emojis. 📱 💰 📓 🎵 🏖

🎧🎧🎧 The audiobook was narrated by Adenrele Ojo and Barrie Buckner. I thought both these narrators did an outstanding job and really added the perfect voice to these characters (even that Mandy).

*** Big thank you to Harlequin and Harper Audio for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

For more of my reviews and bookish thoughts please visit my blog ...more

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Jan 01, 2020 Kayla Brunson marked it as dnf · review of another edition

DNF. I can’t read anymore of this. It’s 2020, can we please have books about black teens where the characters aren’t stereotypical.

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Dec 03, 2019 Ms. Woc Reader rated it did not like it

Shelves: did-not-like, black-lead, poc-ya, diversity, romance

When I first heard about this book I was excited. The cover was beautiful and I was on the prowl for a YA contemporary romance featuring black teens. I thought I would adore this book but it might be my biggest disappointment of 2019.

As I read I was transported to those Kimani Tru books(also published by Harlequin) of my young teen years. This book had all the same dated slang and similar trite writing. Except this book is set in 2020. You'd never be able to tell with all the references to the When I first heard about this book I was excited. The cover was beautiful and I was on the prowl for a YA contemporary romance featuring black teens. I thought I would adore this book but it might be my biggest disappointment of 2019.

As I read I was transported to those Kimani Tru books(also published by Harlequin) of my young teen years. This book had all the same dated slang and similar trite writing. Except this book is set in 2020. You'd never be able to tell with all the references to the early 2000s from movies to tv to music. People who are 17 in 2020 were not jamming to B2K as kids, watching You Got Served, or The Proud Family and Static Shock. All of that was popular when they were too young to be tuned in to pop culture. It's like the author wrote this book back when she was a teen and used this story to try and relive her glory days. Has she spoken to teens in 2019? This book needed a black editor or at least black beta readers so badly!

Dated dialogue and pop culture references aside this book was simply not entertaining. It floundered on and on with no real purpose and more than halfway through this lengthy story I found myself skimming to the end. Tyson was so laughable. One minute he's a wannabe thug. He's a bad boy but not really bad. His friends are the bad ones and he just tags along with no refusal but he's not really into what they do. At one point he talks about an annoying neighbor he had as a child. And his friends going out of their way to set her off. Then he says one night she was robbed and killed. He wondered if his friends did it. But he just let it go.

He's also a hotep who reads Roots and The Color Purple for fun, preaches about back when black people were kings and queens, and tries to school Nandy in black culture. Why is he is the first one to introduce Nandy to the origin of her name instead of her parents?

Nandy is a prissy rich girl who is supposed to be root worthy. She's more annoying than anything else. She spends a chunk of the time looking down on Tyson until she decides she's in love with him. Then despite having a boyfriend acts possessive over Tyson. Even to the point of being rude to her best friend who is showing an interest in him. Why did this black love book have me almost rooting for the white girl to take him away?

Our author keeps trying to sell this idea of Nandy and Trice having been in love since 7 years old. At one point Nandy reflects on Trice being her first kiss and heartbreak back when they were 7. It's a little creepy. And this idea that they held a flame for each other despite not seeing each other in 10 years is ridiculous.

One minute there would be meaningful dialogue and discussion like Tyson and Nandy expressing their thoughts on the term African-American and their feelings as black Americans. The next we got nonsense like this,

"This ain't the hood, Tyson We do not braid hair on the front step," I said."

This story had potential since it put black teens in an environment we usually don't read about them in but unfortunately it just fell flat.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://womenofcolorreadtoo.blogspot.... ...more

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Aug 17, 2019 Fanna marked it as to-read · review of another edition

As a fan of the hate-to-love trope, I'm ready for a book that has both 'love' and 'hate' in the title.

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Sep 11, 2019 rae ✌️ rated it really liked it

Shelves: rep-poc, genre-contemporary, finally-some-good-effin-rep, type-fiction, genre-romance, type-young-adult, 4-star, best-friendships, rep-mental-illness, netgalley

You were my Neverland.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and Harlequin TEEN in exchange for an honest review.

wow whitney grandison, way to come out swingin' with your debut! this was an absolute roller-coaster ride start to finish, and lowkey felt like i was watching a season of a delicious teen drama (and now reading the acknowledgements and seeing grandison was greatly inspired by the OC, it totally clicks!)

this love story is about two teenagers from completely opposite worlds. trice was You were my Neverland.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and Harlequin TEEN in exchange for an honest review.

wow whitney grandison, way to come out swingin' with your debut! this was an absolute roller-coaster ride start to finish, and lowkey felt like i was watching a season of a delicious teen drama (and now reading the acknowledgements and seeing grandison was greatly inspired by the OC, it totally clicks!)

this love story is about two teenagers from completely opposite worlds. trice was born and raised in lindenwood, the place where boys like him are destined to die. but trice isn't like the others; after getting shot by his father and almost dying, he gets a second chance to escape fate by living with a wealthy family in pacific hills, and reconnect with a girl who he thought lost to him almost ten years prior. nandy is said girl, and she's everything trice is not. obsessed with looking right in front of her peers and dating the most popular guy in school, nandy is less than pleased to be letting a lindenwood boy into her preciously upkept life, even if said boy is her first love from years ago.

the title a love hate thing perfectly sums up their relationship. they hate each other. they love each other. they hate each other again. the cycle continues, on and on and on, until eventually walls break down, revelations are found, and a long-lost love can't stay hidden any longer. grandinson perfectly takes the love-hate trope and pulls the best aspects from it, leaving you on the edge of your seat as you wonder if trice and nandy will ever get their acts together. put that against the luscious backdrop of a california summer, and you've got yourself one hell of a story.

even though i absolutely adored this though (the character work is truly amazing, and the side characters are equally as loveable as the main ones), my one gripe is that this is about 100 pages too long. the story easily could've been told in a shorter amount of time, and when half of the action is kids partying at nightclubs, it can get old fast. but, that's literally the only thing i was annoyed with. everything else was amazing, and i can't wait to have everyone else read this when it releases.

pick it up if you like enemies to friends to lover romances, teen drama, and steamy romance. ...more

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Sep 06, 2019 Last Book Marauder rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, 2020-releases

I am so sad that this book just did not work for me. It had everything going for it: beautiful cover, enemies-to-lovers, young adult. However, in spite of all of that, it felt like a chore to finish this.

Nandy is one of the worst characters I have ever read. She is a selfish, entitled, spoiled, rich girl and I never really came around to liking her. The reader is told many times that Nandy is actually very sweet and welcoming and incredibly involved in her school and her neighborhood - but we I am so sad that this book just did not work for me. It had everything going for it: beautiful cover, enemies-to-lovers, young adult. However, in spite of all of that, it felt like a chore to finish this.

Nandy is one of the worst characters I have ever read. She is a selfish, entitled, spoiled, rich girl and I never really came around to liking her. The reader is told many times that Nandy is actually very sweet and welcoming and incredibly involved in her school and her neighborhood - but we never see that. We only see her whine about every tiny thing that doesn't go exactly her way. (view spoiler) She does become slightly more tolerable after the first half of the book, but she never lives up to this character she was painted to be. If she has all these amazing qualities, as I reader, I want to see her exhibiting them.

The writing also felt a little inconsistent to me. Several times the author wrote absolutely beautiful paragraphs about race, adoption, and friendships. Then have her seventeen year old characters say things like "jump street" or complain about being embarrassed because Trice was having his hair braided outside and her house "ain't the hood."

(view spoiler)

Plus, the actual plot if the book was unoriginal and pretty bland in a majority of the book. The minor conflicts were incredibly repetitive and the major conflict was just glossed over.

There is also a lot of mentions of religion, but for no real purpose. It doesn't play a real role in the story, but is referenced many times. I kept expecting it to mean something in the end... but, no.

With all that said, I did like several things from this book. I already mentioned that parts of the writing were done well. I loved that the author touched on boys dealing with their emotions, loss, and abuse. I also really enjoyed Trice's character. Learning about his past and watching him grow and heal was done very well. I loved his appreciation for his heritage and sharing that with the Smith's.

***Copy received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*** ...more

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Dec 12, 2019 Hristina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books, first-read-arcs, reviewed, not-what-i-thought, from-netgalley, romance, ya-and-na

Read my spoiler-free review and an exclusive excerpt on my blog, illbefinealone reads.

This was an exceptionally enjoyable read for me.
I really liked the characters. Trice was so perfectly developed and brought to the page. Nandy seemed to be set as an opposite to Trice, and I really liked their interactions. A lot in this book was well executed. I really enjoyed the dynamics between the characters, as well as the writing. The plot was okay, but the connection I felt to the characters allowed me ...more

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Sep 20, 2019 Tori rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle-e-books, 5-stars, owned, arcs

Tyson Trice, you deserve happiness and a love more consuming than the deepest ocean

Review to come.

EDIT to include review - Sept 21, 2019

It was eminent. It stood against time. The love I felt for Queen was the closest I would ever feel for another person next to my mother. Looking into Queen's dark eyes, I felt peace and calm. I had found my kingdom. I was home.

CW: murder, domestic violence/abuse, child abuse, classism, racial stereotyping

Wow. It's been a while since I read a teen romance ...more

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Dec 18, 2019 Glorimar Irizarry rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-reviewed

Reviewed for a Book Nerd, a Bookseller, and a Bibliophile
ARC received through Netgally.

SO Whitney D. Grandison just gained a new fan, I am all about Tyson Trice and Nandy Smith! This was such a great story of a young man rebuilding himself after suffering such tragic events. In the beginning of this book Nandy annoyed the hell out of me and my heart broke for Tyson, but this is what had me hooked and I needed to know why was Nandy so mean to Tyson and what had Tyson gone through that he ...more

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Dec 27, 2019 Sharonda Isadora rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This book is a terribly, stereotypical written book. And that is sad considering that there are two black teenagers as the main protagonists in this story.

Tyson Trice was written as the stereotypical “hood” boy who loses “everything” and is moved into an affluent white space even though the family he now lives with is black. Tired plot.

Nandy, sigh. I didn’t like this girl. Spoiled rotten judgmental heffa. She reminded me of that black girl that was on Doctor Phil “Im not like the rest of those ...more

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Dec 17, 2019 Lacey rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arcs, 2020s-publication, netgalley, contemporary, fiction, romance, three-stars, ebook, harlequin-blog-tour, enemies-to-lovers

I received this book as a part of the Winter 2020 Harlequin Trade Publishing Blog Tour for Inkyard Press! Thank you to Kelly deVos, Harlequin Books, Inkyard Press & NetGalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

There was a lot about A Love Hate Thing that I enjoyed and a lot that I was just so/so about.

To start, Trice was a character that I was very much able to feel emotions for. His story was extreme and tough to hear, and I'm glad that I was able to see his ...more

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Dec 24, 2019 USOM rated it really liked it

(Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)

A Love Hate Thing is a story about friendship and love. Both Tyson and Nandy have their expectations of how they think the other will be. A Love Hate Thing is about our ability to see beyond the image in front of us. To fight our prejudices and memories. I enjoyed the dual POV format of A Love Hate Thing. It allows the reader to witness events from each character's point of view, ...more

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Jan 05, 2020 Genesis Sheli (Whispering Chapters) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: edelweiss, 2020-releases, earc, enemies-to-lovers

This debut was a wonderful roller-coaster! As most of you know, enemies-to-lovers is my favorite trope in the world, so it's no surprise I wanted to snatch this one up.

I didn't look the same. I didn't act the same. I wasn't the same. And I didn't care.

Nandy Smith is ready for her summer to begin. Nothing could ruin her summer, until her parents bring in a boy from Lindenwood, the bad and shady part of town. Once she finds out he's the same boy who would spend summers with her, she feels angry ...more

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Dec 18, 2019 Heather rated it liked it · review of another edition

**I received a copy of this via the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

The last place seventeen year old Tyson Trice wants to spend his summer is in the wealthy community of Pacific Hills with a family he hasn't seen in ten years. Coming from the rough streets of Lindenwood, he knows he's in for nothing but stares and judgments, but after recovering from a gunshot wound and losing his family, Tyson doesn't really care about much. Especially not reconnecting with his childhood friend, **I received a copy of this via the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

The last place seventeen year old Tyson Trice wants to spend his summer is in the wealthy community of Pacific Hills with a family he hasn't seen in ten years. Coming from the rough streets of Lindenwood, he knows he's in for nothing but stares and judgments, but after recovering from a gunshot wound and losing his family, Tyson doesn't really care about much. Especially not reconnecting with his childhood friend, Nandy Smith, whose family has taken him in.

Golden girl Nandy has it all laid out for her: she has the perfect boyfriend, the perfect grades, the perfect friends, and the last thing she needs is a thug from the 'Wood ruining the reputation she's taken so long to build. The more time the two spend bickering the more the tension and underlying feelings they have for one another grows. As the pair start to rekindle their friendship, Tyson helps bring Nandy back out of her shell, and Nandy tries to show Tyson that holding onto his anger will do nothing but hurt him more in the end. As they try to navigate through their new way of life, the ever-present pull back to Lindenwood may prove too much for Tyson to resist.

I was a huge fan of The OC back in high school/college and this gave me all the same vibes. There was all the needless drama and overreactions that you'd expect in an early '00s teen drama, as well as its predictability. While I did enjoy it, I was able to tell where the story was going before it got there, so that dropped it down a bit for me. I did really like Tyson and how complex he was. He goes through so much in this, and I love how he sought refuge in his writing. Nandy starts off being a bit of a spoiled brat, but eventually gains a whole new understanding and perspective of her world which was nice character growth. Their romance didn't blow me away, but it was cute. I also really liked the side characters, and would love to read a spin off about Shayne and Kyle. All in all, if you're craving a teen drama in your life, check this one out. ...more

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Jan 01, 2020 Ashley rated it it was amazing

This book was sent to me in ebook form by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. As always with NetGalley, the cover and description are what really drew me to this book!

This book wrecked me towards the end and I'm not sure I've fully recovered yet. It was definitely a rollercoaster and in some ways a little like Gossip Girl with all of the drama the teenagers get up to. (It's definitely an "unsupervised teens with money" type of book if you're a Bad on Paper podcast fan.)

For a debut ...more

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Sep 19, 2019 Jacquie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

My Review
What happens when the poor kid finds himself living the dream?

When Tyson Trice’s father killed his mother, injured Trice, and turned the gun on himself, it rocked the foundation of Trice’s world. Suddenly he found himself staying with a family in an expensive subdivision at his dying grandfather’s bequest.

The Smiths are good people, but they can’t possibly understand what it was like to grow up in an abusive household on the wrong side of the tracks. Trice tries to fit in, for the sake ...more

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Dec 28, 2019 Stephanie Brown rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Great debut by Whitney D. Grandison. I
Enjoyed this YA love story. It has fun moments but it also has deeper, darker moments. There should definitely be some Trigger warnings due to family violence, physical abuse, gun violence.
Nandy has her summer planned when her parents let her know that they are taking in a 17 year old from a city with a bad reputation. She doesn’t want him to spoil her plans and she is afraid of him being a thug.
She doesn’t realize that it an old family friend that she knew ...more

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Jan 07, 2020 Carmen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I feel like I have no idea where I'm going in life anymore. The page is unwritten, and that scares me, but I'm going to be strong and face it head on with a pen, not a pencil. Mistakes are bound to happen, but that's life - you grow and you earn from it. Hurt, that's inevitable, and so is growth. You have to let yourself grow and be happy - you can't wallow in this state that you're in.

A good debut! A Love Hate Thing definitely surprised me. Going into it, I was expected a typical Love-Hate ...more

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Nov 22, 2019 Sharina Welch rated it really liked it · review of another edition

*Thanks to Netgalley and Inkyard for providing me with an advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book made me laugh, cry, grin like a fool and root for Nandy and Trice.
A coming of age novel that tackles hard hitting subjects.

After his father commits a murder/suicide, Tyson Trice is sent to live with the Smiths, old friends of his grandfather.

Nandy, the Smith's daughter, doesn't want Trice to live there. Who knows what he did that got him shot? And what kind of person he ...more

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Jan 02, 2020 Mary Bronson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, young-adult, women-fiction, own, favorites, realistic-fiction, romance, arc, women-reads-2020, reading-women-2020

Wow, this book was very well written and I enjoyed the plot and characters of the story. I liked how it was through 2 different points of views, Trice who is from a rough part of town called Lindenwood and Nandy who is a rich girl from Pacific Hills. After Trice gets shot and almost dies he is sent to live with family friends in Pacific Hill. The last time he was there he was 9 years old and was best friends with Nandy. Now that he is back things begin out rough, but things get better towards ...more

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Jan 05, 2020 Andreajanel rated it liked it

I was provided with an ARC of this title from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a solid read and kept me engaged. I did roll my eyes at Nan, she was a tamer version of Cher a la Clueless, but less self-aware. Trice's character was far more interesting.
What I didn't like:
- The character development was lacking. The author fell back on stereotypical representations that were flat and did not resonate with the complexity of today's society.
- The drama and ...more

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Nov 12, 2019 rachel ☾ marked it as arc-tbr · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, releases-2020, coverporn, rep-poc

Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Blog • Goodreads • Twitter • Instagram • The Book Depository
...more

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Jan 05, 2020 Nikki S rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Review to come.

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Dec 19, 2019 A.BookNerd.Bookseller&Bibliophile.Blog rated it really liked it · review of another edition

SO Whitney D. Grandison just gained a new fan, I am all about Tyson Trice and Nandy Smith! This was such a great story of a young man rebuilding himself after suffering such tragic events. In the beginning of this book Nandy annoyed the hell out of me and my heart broke for Tyson, but this is what had me hooked and I needed to know why was Nandy so mean to Tyson and what had Tyson gone through that he literally didn't care if he lived or died.

What I appreciated about the book that it was a love ...more

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Nov 29, 2019 The Artisan Geek marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: gotta-catch-em-all

29/11/19
A black ya contemporary romance??

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Jan 12, 2020 Whitney rated it really liked it

Shelves: the-diversity-jumped-out, black-books-matter, poc-unite, heavy-content, readathon-reads, who-said-romance-was-dead, hate-to-love-tropes, arcapocalypse-2020, startonyourshelfathon, boybandathon

3.5 rounded up! A Love Hate Thing tells the story of a boy and girl, both friends at a young age, but 10 years removed from one another and on completely different paths. Nandy has grown up privileged and her life is filled with cotillions and popularity. Trice on the other hand has grown up in Lindenwood, a rough and tough urban city with a bad reputation. As far as Nandy is concerned, everyone from Lindenwood is a hardened criminal and thug who can't be trusted. This means that she is both 3.5 rounded up! A Love Hate Thing tells the story of a boy and girl, both friends at a young age, but 10 years removed from one another and on completely different paths. Nandy has grown up privileged and her life is filled with cotillions and popularity. Trice on the other hand has grown up in Lindenwood, a rough and tough urban city with a bad reputation. As far as Nandy is concerned, everyone from Lindenwood is a hardened criminal and thug who can't be trusted. This means that she is both upset and confused when her parents tell her that Trice will be moving in with them permanently. She has no clue why he's here, but she knows it's going to ruin her entire summer. She's not completely wrong. While her summer isn't ruined, Trice arriving causes a definite shake up in her summer and her life. She's faced with the boy who she hasn't seen since she was 7 and he's different that she remembered, just like she's different for him as well. He remembers a sweet bossy girl who loved to have fun, but now she's just a stuck up princess. She remembers a sweet boy who followed her around, but now he's full of hurt and anger that she doesn't understand. It won't be easy for them, but who said love or hate was ever easy right?

Overall thoughts on this is that it was a great story. Whitney Grandison touched on love, hate, family and self applied pressures, grief, abuse, and so many other things with this one book. The best part of this story for me wasn't the love interest, but the story of grief and healing. I'll be honest and say that I found Nandy's character pretty much insufferable. She was needy, selfish, irritating, and completely naive. That's not to say that she's the first teenage girl in the YA world to be that way and certainly there are girls that reflect that in real life, but it was really hard for me to find redeeming qualities in her. I understand that things are tough and she's been sheltered so she has a lot to learn, but I found her getting on my nerves more than not. Her boyfriend Chad was equally insufferable. I think my biggest issue with the Chad Nandy dynamic is that Chad is made to seem redeemable because Nandy THINKS he is, when in fact he's a complete douchebag. Nandy refuses to see it and even when Chad does obvious bone head things, she may call it out but still writes it off just as how he is. I know the story isn't about Chad, so I'll let it go, but....yeah no he's a jerk and an asshole.

Trice's story was an interesting one and it drives the entire plot. For most of the time he's stuck between making this new life in the Hills and being drawn back to his old life in Lindenwood. He struggles with the grief of losing two parents to one incident, making it out of that incident alive, trying to overcome some bad choices and abuse. For most of the story he fights his new life because he doesn't think that he deserves it. It's hard to start fresh when everything you know is gone and your inner voice is telling you that it's unfair that you made it out and others didn't. In the meantime, he has Nandy making his life very complicated. He's scared to let anyone in, but she seems to be the person who may just break down his walls.

Like I said, I loved how this book approached grief and getting a second chance at life more than I loved it for the romance piece, but it was great to see two black teenage characters in a book like this one. While the romance just didn't do it for me, Trice and his character development did and that's definitely a story that I can get behind. ...more

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Jan 07, 2020 Bridget rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley-arc, blog-tour, new-adult-young-adult-teens, publisher

Whitney D. Grandison writes very enjoyably about friendship and love in this coming of age story.

After recovering from being shot, seventeen-year-old Tyson Trice finds himself living with the well-off Smith family – Maxine (Max) and Parker their daughter, Nandy and adopted Thai son, Jordy. Having spent most of his life, so far, surviving the rough streets of Lindenwood, Trice, as he likes to be known, doesn’t care about anyone or anything. Meanwhile privileged Nandy has spent most of her young Whitney D. Grandison writes very enjoyably about friendship and love in this coming of age story.

After recovering from being shot, seventeen-year-old Tyson Trice finds himself living with the well-off Smith family – Maxine (Max) and Parker their daughter, Nandy and adopted Thai son, Jordy. Having spent most of his life, so far, surviving the rough streets of Lindenwood, Trice, as he likes to be known, doesn’t care about anyone or anything. Meanwhile privileged Nandy has spent most of her young life concerned about her image and status, in her hometown of the Pacific Hills, California. Having just discovered that her parents are bringing a juvenile delinquent into the family home, Nandy fears for her summer holiday plans, as well as her well-cultivated, golden girl reputation. With the two of them living under the same roof, will the house be big enough for all their hate and love?

A Love Hate Thing is told from the alternative viewpoints of Nandy and Trice, an approach that generally works very well for me in this type of story. I anticipated having some problems identifying with both of the main characters, not being a part of the intended audience or target group, although I was surprised to find that this wasn’t the case.

It was fascinating to learn about Trice and Nandy’s former close friendship when they were both aged nine. Both Nandy and Trice face real prejudices as they get to know each other again. I found that protagonist Trice’s viewpoints in particular, were a revelation both in the trauma of his past and the way he believes himself to be undeserving of better things. Whitney D. Grandison’s portrayal of loyal and intelligent Trice being catapulted into Nandy’s world of the über-rich is engrossing and poignant, especially as image and conventionality in Pacific Hills are everything. Trice’s strength and gentleness is arresting as is the need to hide his ingrained grief with impassiveness and a hard exterior.

I gradually grew to enjoy the character of Nandy. Although she displays class prejudice towards Trice in the beginning, I understood where her opinions stemmed from. Her friendliness, kindness, and welcoming nature gradually shone through. I really relished reading about Nandy’s diverse and congenial group of friends which was a very strong element of the novel for me.

Nandy and Trice each struggled with their vulnerabilities and it was interesting to watch them let down their guards as the story progressed. A Love Hate Thing is a gritty character driven story about the potential for change. It is about love, acceptance, friendship, loyalty, trust, and second chances. It also takes a good look at the problems society has with race and social status.

From the first chapter till the last, I found myself connecting with this compelling story. From Nandy and Trice’s personal development to their relationship with one another, I felt as though I knew them personally.

Read A Love Hate Thing if you are partial to a good coming-of-age story full to the brim with interesting characters, strong on bittersweet and sugarcoated friendships and plenty of angst.

Thanks to NetGalley, Harlequin-Inkyard Press and the author, Whitney D. Grandison for the complimentary copy. This is my honest and totally voluntary review. ...more

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Dec 23, 2019 Yolanda rated it liked it

**Review will be posted on my blog on 1/12/20**

**2.5 Stars**

Thank you to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

Nandy is the most popular girl in town and she’s preparing for her big cotillion debut when a boy name Trice comes to live with her and her family. Trice is from a rougher neighborhood, one that Nandy and the rest of her crew looks down upon. Trice has pretty much lost everything and now lives in an affluent town where he stands out like a sore thumb. Will ...more

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Jan 09, 2020 Cheri rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, netgalley, kindle

2.5 stars

This author is new to me, and though it seems she does have an internet following, it looks like she’s new to the published author’s game. So, I’ll do my best to explain how reading this story went for me. Because it was a roller coaster.

Parts of this book were amazing. I absolutely adore Trice and, for the most part, Nandy’s family. Nandy…not so much. I just couldn’t seem to connect with her character, her personality seemed all over the place. I understand putting up a front, being 2.5 stars

This author is new to me, and though it seems she does have an internet following, it looks like she’s new to the published author’s game. So, I’ll do my best to explain how reading this story went for me. Because it was a roller coaster.

Parts of this book were amazing. I absolutely adore Trice and, for the most part, Nandy’s family. Nandy…not so much. I just couldn’t seem to connect with her character, her personality seemed all over the place. I understand putting up a front, being what others expect you to be and act how others expect you to act, especially as a teenager and young adult. Those weren’t the things that confused me about Nandy. It had more to do with her inner thoughts and feelings. Part of me wondered if the author did this on purpose because of how angst-ridden teenagers can be. Let’s face it, that’s a confusing time and we don’t even understand ourselves when going through that stage in life. Yet, for how smart and well-liked Nandy was in her community, she was just so blind to certain things…especially her boyfriend, Chad.

The cast of characters, more specifically the other teens in Pacific Hills, were a lot of fun. I could see the teen rom-com come to life in my mind’s eye. (Take note: there are some gritty things that happen in this story, hence my R rating. It’s not all light summer fun.) There were your quiet nerds, your super friendly geeks, the rich douche bags, the misunderstood rich girls, etc., etc. For the most part, these characters were fleshed out enough that they didn’t seem to be caricatures, they were true players in the story.

When it comes to Trice’s “before” life, the life he left behind Lindenwood, the author did a wonderful job of painting the picture. The inflections and speech patterns, her description of the houses and families. Beautiful poetry. Of course, I hated when Trice went there. I would get a hollow pit in my stomach waiting for the other shoe to drop. That just means the author did her job in her writing.

All that being said, there were a lot of things that were repetitive in this story. I would find myself falling into the story just to be yanked out and finding myself skimming out of boredom due to the characters going over and over the same issues. On top of that, a lot of their thoughts and actions were contradictory to what had come before. So, there would be sections of this story that I was all in, and sections that I was just waiting to get to something interesting again.

I can definitely see this author’s potential. With some experience and time, I predict she will write amazing stories. She has a voice I haven’t read often, and I mean that as a great compliment. While I’m not giving this one a super high rating, I am looking forward to seeing more from her in the future.

**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely** ...more

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Jan 10, 2020 Brooke Banks rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-romance, source-review-copy, written-reviews, diversity-authors, age-young-adult, genre-contemporary, diverse, blog-tours, rating-4-5-stars, diversity-ownvoices

I received this book for free from Harper Collins in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.I'm such a sucker for a good rom-com, like 10 Things I Hate About You and To All The Boys I've Loved Before. Now, we've got A Love Hate Thing by Whitney D. Grandison. Two childhood friend reunite under the same roof and everything seems set against them, including each other, but as they say, there's a thin line between love and hate.
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About Whitney D. Grandison

Whitney D. Grandison

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Whitney D. Grandison is an American young adult fiction writer. Some of her works can be found on Wattpad, one of the largest online story sharing platforms, where she has acquired over 30,000 followers and has amassed over sixteen million reads. Outside of writing, she is a lover of Korean dramas, all things John Hughes, and horror films. Whitney currently lives in Akron, Ohio.

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