Reviews

Hard Feelings by K.M. Galvin

tinasabolo's review

4.0

So I probably would have given this book 3 stars, but when a book makes me cry (like this one did) or elicits a strong emotional reaction I’m much more likely to up my rating, so I went with 4 stars.
It did feel more like a miscommunication trope than the enemies to lovers I felt like it was trying for, but I enjoyed it anyway and I love a good happy ending. I loved the soulmate/childhood sweethearts element, and although they were 18 before anything spicy happened, I felt like a little bit of a creep reading the spicy scenes when they still live at home with their parents.

tahiradsrs's review

4.0

This book was one of the cutest reads of the year so far. It was a sweet book about two childhood friends who became kind of enemies after some family situations, but then Killian (the guy) realized he made a mistake, so he puts all his effort and time into making Glory forgive him and give him another chance. It was wonderful how the story developed and how realistic the characters were in their reactions to the situations presented. The only reason this book isn't a five star book is because I personally don't like it when characters break up at the end of the book for the most insignificant reason. Even so, this is a book I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys a fluffy romance (with just a little bit of hot but not explicit moments) and the trope of friends to enemies + enemies to lovers ☺️❤️

m4nda_beth's review

4.0

I am not usually a fan of books in a high school setting, but Galvin did a great job adapting the characters and their emotions (often immaturity) to align with their age and how many of us would have handled similar situations. It was easy to understand and relate to Glory, and I struggled to put this book down because I wasn't sure how things were going to play out. I do wish we had a dual POV and not just bits of Killian's perspective from his journal entries as I think that would have helped to fill some space in the book that moved too slowly or was repetitive. Overall, a great read with characters I absolutely fell in love with.

thebookishdogmom's review against another edition

3.0

Glory and Killian were childhood best friends until Glory's mom and Killian's dad has an affair and ran away together, causing a huge scandal in their small town. With Killian's family basically running the town, he was seen as a victim, whereas Glory and her father were ostracized from the community. On top of that, Killian turned his anger on Glory for years, making high school a less than pleasant experience.

At the start of their senior year, Killian realizes that he doesn't want to hate Glory anymore. He misses his best friend, and is ready to make amends. He makes it know to everyone how he feels, he gives Glory his journal so she can understand his feelings over the years, and they slowly rebuild their friendship. And their friendship develops into a relationship, which is how they were always meant to be together.

The concept of the plot was really good. But I felt it could have been executed better. When K handed over his journal to G, it really seemed like the story of them finding their way back to one another through reading his journals was how it would go. That would have been a great way to develop the story. But, it fell flat. G would read an entry or two, and then misplace the journal or forget about it for months at a time. Like… the guy handed you his deepest secrets on a silver platter and you just forget about it like a post-it? I really think that was a missed opportunity.

I also felt like Glory allowed the people who hurt her back into her life too easily. I expected more groveling from Killian before she forgave him. And we could have used a lot more focus on Glory repairing her relationship with her mother. It almost felt like we should have had only one relationship be the focus of the story, rather than Killian AND her mother… I don’t think we had the right amount of time available to really deep dive and make the reparation to both of those relationships.

I do think this was a very sweet, coming of age love story. I did see the strong bond that Glory and Killian had with one another, and they had several sweet and passionate moments. I just wanted a little more depth to the characters and the plot. But overall a solid read!

I received an advanced copy from Grey's Promotions of this e-book, but the review is my own.

Tags: childhood friends to enemies to lovers, second chance, new adult
Spice: 2 peppers
First person/single POV

heymichelle360's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

georgia_sara93's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Glory and Killian grew up together as best friends, until her mother, and his father, had an affair breaking up both marriages and the friendship of the two children right before high school started. It’s now Senior Year and things begin to shift again after Glory is injured playing soccer by a girl trying to win over Killian’s feelings. Too bad he’ll do anything to protect Glory. As they begin to reconnect, big, hard to manage feelings come into play as well.

Swoon! Friends to enemies to lovers? Yes please!! A very adult YA romance that managed to hit me in all the right feels! I loved this book and if I wasn’t sick when I was reading it probably could’ve devoured in 1-2 days max instead of 4-5! If you’re looking for your next hard feelings story - look no further! 😍

Thank you to NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for this ARC!

teacupsandtropes's review against another edition

5.0

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved EVERYTHING about this book. First, the cover is absolutely gorgeous. The colors, the couple... *chef's kiss* Utter perfection for me. And the first chapter starts off with a bang, literally. Like, we find out that Glory and Killian were best friends ever since she moved into the little town of Galway. And then her mom and his dad had an affair and left their significant others to go start a new life together. E X C U S E M E? The amount of feelings I had for them, and for Glo specifically. Ugh.

Glo gets basically ostracized and Killian stops being her friend and kind of bullies her. It's brutal, but then things change. Somehow this book wrecked my soul but then put it back together again and I loved every minute of it. Glory is strong and independent and the discussion around therapy and trauma was particularly personal for me. And Killian guh. He's hot and protective and jealous and swoony and I ended up loving him.

The side characters (particularly Cassidy and Tanner) were great and Cassidy's enemies-to-lovers romance is next. I cannot wait to pick it up!

bookishobsessedmama's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this book! It was engaging and the banter was funny throughout the entire thing.

TW - Infidelity

I really felt that Glory’s character was so relatable. She suffered from such heavy anxiety as well as debilitating migraines which i can personally relate to a lot! I will say there was a huge section at the beginning talking about the frequency of the migraines and then there was only 1 episode mentioned throughout the book, so i was surprised that it wasn’t a more constant occurrence.

I really loved the dynamic between all these characters. I think sometimes people don’t realize how small towns are and when something like infidelity happens to a “big name” family it’s huge news and is constantly brought up. I feel like for the most part Elizabeth, Glory, Killian, and Glory’s dad really has such a strong dynamic and all individually went through such a huge amount character development throughout the book.

I would have loved to see a DUAL POV aspect to this book, a couple chapters from Killian’s perspective would have lifted it to a 5 star read for me!

Overall, It’s giving: Small Town Romance, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Soccer/Football Romance, Miscommunication, second chance romance and he falls first & HARD.

I’ll definitely be looking for more books by this author!

cassmoaka's review against another edition

3.5

FMC: Glory- a soccer-loving girl who moved to Galway and met a group of friends who would change her life. Her mother had an affair with her best friend’s dad and left town- leaving Glory as the one to take the wrath of the town and make her and her father social pariahs. Will they ever get back to being friends?
MMC: Killian- the golden boy of his school and part of the most beloved and powerful family in Galway. As tensions grow after his father and best friend’s mother leave town, he abandons his friendship with Glory making her free game for torment through her high school years. He’s doing his best to ignore what could have been with them, until he overhears comments from guys on the football team… will things change for their senior year?
POV: 1st person, single POV
HEA: yes
spice: yes, several open door spicy scenes
TWs: parental abandonment, cheating (not MCs), pregnancy troubles (not MCs), divorce, bullying
standalone: yes
final thoughts: this book had so many ups and downs, likes and dislikes, but overall was a very entertaining read. I really don’t love on-again-off-again relationships that stem from miscommunication but with a high school setting it felt very fitting. There was a ton of high school drama, but I loved the friendships that were portrayed throughout the book and the focus on mental health. And those spicy scenes? WHEW they sure had some chemistry that was so sweet!

read this book if you love
🤜 friends-to-rivals-to-lovers
💞 childhood crush
2️⃣ 2nd chance romance
🏫 high school to college setting
😬 angst
🤐 miscommunication
⚽ both MCs play sports
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 technically step siblings?
🧠 mental health

 

readilf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0