Review: Hated

Hated by Christine Manzari
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Frankie DiGorgio was the tomboy sister with three older brothers. Brought up by her mother and then by her nan whilst her ne'er do well father spent most of her life in prison for one con after another she was the original girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Her great passions were dirt bike riding and Austin Stone.

Growing up, Frankie's BFF was Austin the boy next door, a nerdy cello-playing musical prodigy who, with his twin brother Dallas went on to win a talent show and took their duelling cellos act to a sell out Vegas show. Austin and Dallas' mother was your typical pushy mom and she hated Frankie. Over the years their opposites attract friendship turned into first love, but something happened on the night of the premiere of Austin's show in Vegas which changed everything.

Four years later Frankie returns to her nana's home in Texas for the first time since Vegas, nana is in a nursing home and the family has made the decision to sell her house to pay for the best treatment they can. Beset by the memories of the past, Frankie is surprised to find that Austin has moved back into his family's home. Tortured by the secrets she has kept Frankie can't help but be attracted to the man her first love has become. But Austin is bitter and angry, lashing out at her. Does she have the courgae to tell him the truth about that night four years ago?

Told in a mixture of present day and out of sequence flashbacks from both Frankie and Austin's POV this was a surprisingly enjoyable NA second-chance romance. I say surprisingly because at first Frankie came across as too brash, she also indulged in just a leetle bit of slut shaming (or at least calling total strangers sluts just because they were flirting with Austin). Also Frankie became a little self-righteous and claimed that Austin didn't deserve to know the sacrifice she had made for him whereas even at that early stage in the book I suspected his attitude was a direct result of what she had done. There was also a cringe-worthy moment for me when Austin described himself thus

"Need some help?" I asked, my voice a low growl of amusement.

I mean really who EVER describes their own voice like that? But these were minor niggles. Luckily, as with many other NA books, Frankie's 'attitude' toned down a bit as the book went on and it became much more enjoyable as a result.

As a devotee of romance I didn't think that Frankie's big sacrifice/ secret was all that much of a surprise, maybe it wasn't meant to be, although then why tell the story through flashbacks?

What I did love about this book which elevated above the rest of the run-of-the-mill NA genre was the pranking. As a chid Frankie would get even with people who slighted her by pulling a monumental prank. Now, faced with packing up a family home full of memories with a hostile former lover next door she resorts to pranking Austin. as the tit-for-tat pranking escalates Austin and Frankie start to unravel their issues from the past.

This is the third book in a series, I haven't read any of the others and I felt this was easy to read as a stand alone.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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