Review: A sweet romance that kept me reading to the end!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 15, 2012
"Adversaries and Lovers" is about a man and woman who are at odds with each other.  Ben Stassen owns a sports outfitting company and has plans to build his new company headquarters in a historic area Kate O'Conner doesn't want touched.  She has good reason for trying to stop him.  Her family and many others she is close to have lived in the area for decades don't want to lose the place they have called home for so long.  If Ben has his way, it will all be gone and re-zoned so the locals won't be able to afford living there anymore.  This puts Kate and Ben on a collision course, but not exactly in the way they expect.  The two are determined to get what they want yet they find themselves undeniably attracted to each other.  They can only hope there is a way to work things out so neither loses what they want, but that may be more difficult than it seems.I must admit I enjoyed this book from beginning to end.  All the characters involved were endearing in their own way and they were people you could relate to for various reasons.  The author did an excellent job of creating well rounded characters who had deep histories affecting their current behaviors.  I liked learning the various details as they unfolded.  Ben comes off as a over-confident jerk initially, but something about Kate brings out another side to him.  I do think his behavior change to a (somewhat) sweeter guy was a bit rapid and could have been done in slower increments, but the sparks that flew between him and Kate were so fun to watch that I didn't get all that upset about it.Kate was a great character as well.  She came off as determined, stubborn, and independent much of the time, but also had a softer side and could be emotional (in fact she admits this several times in the book).  A weak heroine would have annoyed me, but she had enough underlying strength so that having the occasional meltdown didn't seem so bad.  Sometimes her behavior bordered on irrational, but I understood it because in real life we make some stupid decisions when our emotions run high (at least I know I do).  Despite this, you had to admire her for sticking with her beliefs and not backing down.  She didn't let her feelings for a man she just met make her lose her resolve.The novel had many other points that made me enjoy it as well.  The banter between various characters ranged from serious to light-hearted and felt natural while also keeping me entertained.  There was a secondary romance that took place and you had to root for those two falling for each other as well.  The story didn't focus on that one as much as the main characters, but it was a nice bonus.  I also enjoyed how the author developed Kate and Ben to bring out their talents, hobbies, and interests.  While Kate had always known she had a love for art, she was forced to put it on the back burner in favor of working a job that paid a steady income.  Ben, on the other hand, had a knack for building artistic masterpieces in his free time while denying it was art.  He preferred to think of his work as something to do to kill time and otherwise meaningless.  It was only once the couple met that their hobby became something more.  I liked how the art angle developed as the story progressed.  By the end of the novel, all the pieces fell together and I finished the book with a smile.There is so much more I could say about why I liked this novel, but I'll stop from revealing more and just say you have to check it out for yourself.  Don't be deceived by the book cover.  I really don't think it fits the story at all and led me to believe I was buying something totally different.  Thankfully, I enjoyed "Adversaries and Lovers" even more than expected.  It is a great story with depth and heart.  One that is well worth the time to read if you are into sweet contemporary romances.