Genre 📚: Adult Contemporary, Romance
Tropes 💁♀️: Enemies to lovers, Fake dating, Forced proximity, Road trip
CW ⚠️: Descriptive sex scenes, off-page violence
Rating ⭐️: 2.5/5
Enemies to lovers and fake dating always make for a fun combo, so I was interested in seeing it play out in While You Were Seething. We’re introduced to FMC Daisy, who works PR and is reluctantly joining MMC Caleb on his book tour. They’ve hated each other since college, and they continue to hate each other as they’re on the road. But then Daisy is mistaken for Caleb’s sweetheart — the woman he dedicates all of his books to. Aaaand the woman who doesn’t actually exist. They figure they might as well go with it… even though feelings have already been getting complicated.
I adored this premise, and I adored the banter, but from the beginning, I wasn’t feeling the pacing. Certain story beats were slower than they needed to be, while others went by way too quickly. For example, it takes a long time to get to the actual fake dating, and then once we’re there, things ~heat up~ almost instantly. I wanted to stay in the fake dating phase a little longer, to really get that confused yearning. To get that connection and emotional depth. There wasn’t much room for that, but there was still plenty to enjoy here. It was fun, punchy, sexy, and just a nice, easy read.
**Much thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. While You Were Seething will be released on April 14, 2026.
Sara Bechtol 