Book Review: The Enemy (It Happened in Charleston #2) by Sarah Adams

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary romance
Length: 258 pages
Author: Sarah Adams
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: August 29th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It’s been twelve years since I’ve seen him. Twelve years since he won our war of wits by outsmarting me with a tactic I didn’t even know was allowed. But tonight…I resurrect the battle.

Ryan Henderson is back in town for our best friends’ wedding, and I plan on showing him exactly how much I don’t care about him—or the almost kiss he ruthlessly dangled over me after graduation.

A lot has changed since our feuding days. I’m a successful bakery owner now, and I plan to rub every delicious detail of my life in his ugly face.

Just one problem: his face is gorgeous.

He wasn’t supposed to look like this or pursue me like a sexy guided missile. I must stay strong until the wedding is over and Ryan scurries back into whatever alternate universe he escaped from.

His interest in me is nothing but a continuation of the games we played in high school…right?

But the longer he stays, the more I wonder if I’m wrong and his tender smile and heated attentions are genuine. Maybe it’s not a game.

Ha! Who am I kidding? This is Ryan we’re talking about. Of course it’s a game. A game called war. And this time, I will win.

I WANT A DOUGHNUT NOW.

I wasn’t originally planning on reading this because I didn’t love the first one in this series. A few friends reviews convinced me this was better, and they were RIGHT. I loved this one so much more and I’m happy that I read it. I may have enjoyed it enough to read it in one day. I was that smitten with Ryan.

This enemies to lovers romance took a bit different spin that most I’ve seen. Instead of *fighting the love* until closer to the end, Ryan especially, worked towards making things worked out sooner. With their past laid out well I love how this flowed and progressed. What made me even more happy was that the conflict (that you can always expect in a contemporary romance) fit into the story and instead of taking a turn for the ridiculousness, actually worked out beautifully. Some communication between Ryan and June turned the tables and solidified a great romance.

I struggled with June’s character for at least half the book. I understood why she was written in such a matter, but maybe it was pushed too hard? I don’t know, she just rubbed me the wrong way about how she chose to treat Ryan initially and a few other things. It was nice to see her character growth over the book.

The Enemy was entirely a different story than The Match. And one that I felt had a lot more to it. You don’t necessarily need to read The Match first, but the main characters do show up in this book and it may spoil a few things.

Overall audience notes: