Sam Ferreira, an old friend of Bran’s brother, Jory, is a disgraced academic desperate to leave his dead-end job. When Jory asks him to take over as curator of a planned exhibition on Edward of Woodstock, the fourteenth-century Black Prince, Sam leaps at the chance to do what he loves and make a fresh start.
But Bran’s funding the exhibition, and though sparks fly between the two men, they’re not all happy ones. Bran idolises Prince Edward as a hero, while Sam’s determined to present a balanced picture. With neither of them prepared to give ground, a hundred years of war seems all too possible. And if Bran finds out about Sam’s past, his future may not be bright, and their budding romance may be lost to history. (Pub Date: Sep 03, 2018)
This is the 9th book in a series written by various authors, taking place in the historic little town of Porthkennack. And it's a rare case the ninth book is much better than the first one.
I'd say this was a 3.5.
We meet Sam, who has a phd as a historian, but his fame went the other way and now he's been unfairly disgraced by his peers, forced to work as a waiter. And there's Bran, who's always been as infamous in Porthkennack as he does his best to keep his family going and taking care of their legacy. After being attacked on the street, he's hospitalized and his younger brother seizes the opportunity to give Sam a second chance for his career and make him the curator of the exhibition Bran has been planning. But Bran's and Sam's views on the subject are as different as the two themselves.
I've only read the first one in the series, and I felt very underwhelmed then. It was a darker story, compared to everything I've read by the same author, but it was also all over the place. If the first was like that... and that's the thought that made me skip the second book she's written for the series, starred by Bran's younger brother. I was just craving for some LGBT read and decided I could give this one a chance, despite my expectations being the lowest. Nevertheless, these low expectations weren't the reason I did enjoy Love at First Hate.
The two characters were very well built. I knew Bran from the first one, he's been in the closet in the name of his family and I was sadistically looking forward when I found out he'd finally have to come out here. Especially when the other character is so different. I also like how Sam is indeed young but he's not super young, he's actually around my age, which made it very easy to relate to him. He's in his thirties, and he's lost his chance of doing what he loves, unable to find a stable career or even to pay his debts.
Now for the low points. I think the book started very slow, it took the two a lot to even meet. And for a book with such a title, I couldn't say they hated each other that much. At least their arguments were credible, not forced like so many books from that trope. I appreciated the history bits, they were actually interesting, I liked how we see Sam working hard to do the exhibition, but it sometimes took too much of the focus, making the scenes drag. I also don't like how Sam's ex-boyfriend's troubles don't seem to be completely solved—unless there are plans for Doug to show up in a later book, I think that was a plothole. I also wish Bran's nephew would have showed up, considering how much they talk about him—he's the protagonist in the first book, so there wasn't a reason not to have him back for a few pages.
As you see, the story would drag for some parts and skip solving others, plus the romance could have been more exciting. But the main of it was very well done, I finally got the Merrow story I wanted.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
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