..at first sight! Heroine don't give a BEEP about hero

[Mikaela]

late to the party but...

I'm going to heavily second Kulti by Mariana Zapata. The hero is a grumpy jerk football coach of the heroine's team. She really admires his skills but when he is a jerk to her dad she has had ENOUGH and lays into him. The hero is the tall, dark, and handsome/brooding type but you can see as their friendship slowly develops just how deeply he cherishes her. The heroine is pretty darn oblivious.

One of my all time favourites, The Chocolate Kiss by Laura Florand is such a wonderful story. It's the kind that is written so beautifully and when they eventually get together you know it is true love, and not just lust/attraction. Hero and heroine are business rivals. She does everything she can to beat him and win back customers while he is falling madly in love with her.

Was this supposed to be a HP party? Because I can definitely recommend Sweet Compulsion by Victoria Woolf. Look, the hero does have an insta-love vibe but the heroine is not having a BAR of it. It is phenomenal because he is this wealthy CEO alpha bully who is significantly older than her and she is constantly like 'that's nice but you're too old for me so...'. She laughs at him too in a way that you kind of always want to do when men pull that 'me tarzan, you jane' thing.

Beast in Shining Armor by Cassandra Gannon is one where the hero is obsessed with the heroine but also kind of hates her because she usurped his throne and sent him to prison. She hates him because she thinks he is immoral and evil and they have had a rivalry since childhood.

Oh, also in Kissing Tolstoy by Penny Reid the MCs are mutually attracted but the heroine realises that she is on a blind date with the wrong man and bails. Turns out he is her new professor and while he is clearly into her, he blows hot cold which the heroine - in a glorious moment of glory - will NOT TOLERATE. I deeply love the sound advice and self-respect thrown around in this book. But also student-teacher is my guilty pleasure trope.

Hmm... what else? OH I KNOW. Have you read Sunshine and Shadow by Sharon Curtis? Gosh, this book though. It will tear out your heart and leave it lonely and thumping on the footpath. Mmkay, so the prose in this book is stunningly lovely. The hero is a totally jaded hollywood director and former child prodigy who is shooting a monster movie in amish county when he meets an amish woman who he MUST have in his film. As first he sets out to seduce her because he's a total cad but falls naturally, slowly, and painfully in love with her. It takes her a lot longer to fall for him (also there's the whole amishness and beliefs that come between them) but DAMN it is just stunning. You will cry cry cry so pack tissues.

Also, North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell is also a Pride-and-Prej-esque classic where the hero is into the heroine and the heroine has been thinly disguising her dislike of him. I actually prefer Mr Thornton to Mr Darcy because he is a good man whereas Darcy, other than that 'grand gesture' he does for Lizzy, is a bit of a dick.

There's a heap more but I'm done writing now x

[Nadine]

I think The Thief counts here.