A review by kmanos
The Trouble with Hating You by Sajni Patel

3.5

I thought Liya was such a strong lead character, and she has reasons she wants to move on from her past and for it to stay hidden. She wants to protect those she loves (her mother, mainly) from the things people will say if this traumatic event is twisted to lies and spread through her community. And then there's Jay. Sweet Jay, who still blames himself for something that happened twenty years earlier, and doesn't feel as if he deserves a happy ending. Hate to love sometimes doesn't work for me, but I was on board pretty much the whole way through (I thought Liya was sometimes a bit too stubborn for her own good, but then I remembered how truma can cause people to build up tougher ways than most so I could forgive it). It was tough to read about how Liya's community had shunned her for misconceptions they had been fed about her past, and how the one person who was supposed to protect and believe her decided not to play fair, but I appreciated the trust when Liya and Jay finally wanted to share their stories, and felt they had an appropriate outlet without judgement to do so. I did have some issues with it, but overall a solid read.

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