🔖 REVIEW BLITZ 🔖 At First Hate by K.A. Linde

At First Hate by K.A. Linde

Release Date: September 7th 2021 by K.A. Linde Inc.

Series: Coastal Chronicles #2

Pages: 296

Genres: Romance, Contemporary

A new stand alone enemies-to-lovers romance from USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde…

Derek Ballentine and I have always been on opposite sides of everything.

I went to a public Savannah high school. He went to a private Catholic school. I went to Duke on scholarship. He went to UNC as a legacy. When we both end up at Harvard for graduate school and we’re finally on a level playing field, I think it’s all going to change.

I was wrong.

The only thing that changed was ending up in his bed.

Now my grandma has passed away, and Derek is the attorney helping the people trying to steal her legacy. I’ll do anything to stop that from happening. Even take on my lifetime enemy.

I hate him at first sight…but I also want him at first hate. 

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My Review:

At First Hate by K.A. Linde is the second book in the Coastal Chronicles Series is an enemies-to-lovers romance that will hook you from beginning to end.

At the beginning of the story we are introduced to Marley “Mars” Nelson, a Neuroscience college professor at Emory. She is back to her hometown of Savannah on sabbatical to take care of her sick grandmother. But she is too late and gets the news that her grandmother has passed away. This crushes Marley as she was raised by grandmother growing up. She was the only motherly figure in Marley’s life and for that reason she wants to protect the legacy that her grandmother left her and her brother, Maddox. In the will, their grandmother left them the house they grew up in and they have no intentions on selling it. Until their is a knock on the door and Derek Ballentine shows up in her life again. He is there to represent his clients, her mother and aunt, as they are contesting the will and want what they think it's rightfully theirs.

Marley knew that Derek was trouble the minute he asked her to come to his Halloween party in high school. She was the public school girl, while he was the private Catholic school rich guy with the reputation of getting around. She has always known that they were different, but the minute he kisses her their lives take a different course. It’s suddenly his reputation that it’s ruining hers and they keep ruining each other’s relationships over the course of the years that they meet back and forth. But then it becomes so much more, it would take a different turn of events to break them apart and reunite them again after her grandmother’s dead. Now they face new obstacles and Marley will have to decide if having a future with Derek is worth it or it’s time to move on.

I really enjoyed reading At First Hate, we get to see the characters growth over the course of fifteen years. From meeting in high school all the way to adulthood. They come from different background, attend different colleges and then fate brings them back together when they are in graduate school in Harvard. Marley thought that they were finally going to be together, until he breaks her heart and they part ways. It would be years later for them to come back together, this time Derek is set on to prove to Marley that he is not the same boy that she met in high school. He has grown and is ready to put her first. I loved the interaction between the two of them, they have such a strong chemistry from the start and it’s hard to deny as years go by. The story does jump from back to present giving us a better picture of the whole story. It’s also mainly in Marley’s POV, that I do wish the author could have added a few more chapters with Derek’s perspective. The cameos from previous characters in different series made the book that much enjoyable to read. The ending was sweet and the story comes full circle. All in all, it was a great romantic read that I would highly recommend checking out. :)

**I received an advanced copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own***

My Rating: 4.5/5

Meet K.A. Linde:

K.A. Linde is the USA Today bestselling author of the Avoiding Series, Wrights, and more than thirty other novels. She has a Masters degree in political science from the University of Georgia, was the head campaign worker for the 2012 presidential campaign at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and served as the head coach of the Duke University dance team. She loves reading fantasy novels, binge-watching Supernatural, traveling, and dancing in her spare time.

She currently lives in Lubbock, Texas, with her husband and two super-adorable puppies.

Visit her online at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @authorkalinde.

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