A Love Hate Thing is a powerful story about prejudice, acceptance, and recognizing illusions. What is the line we draw between our past, present, and our future? How do we fully embrace a second chance?
Summary
When they’re stuck under one roof, the house may not be big enough for their hate…or their love
When Tyson Trice finds himself tossed into the affluent coastal community of Pacific Hills, he’s ready for the questions, the stares, and the total feeling of not belonging in the posh suburb. Not that he cares. After recovering from being shot and surviving the mean streets of Lindenwood, he doesn’t care about anyone or anything. He doesn’t even care how the rest of his life will play out.
In Pacific Hills, image is everything. Something that, as the resident golden girl, Nandy Smith knows all too well. She’s spent most of her life building the pristine image that it takes to fit in. After learning that her parents are taking in a former childhood friend, Nandy fears her summer plans, as well as her reputation, will go up in flames. It’s the start of summer vacation and the last thing Nandy needs is some juvenile delinquent from the ’Wood crashing into her world.
Stuck together in close quarters, Trice and Nandy are in for some long summer nights. Only, with the ever-present pull back to the Lindenwood streets, it’ll be a wonder if Trice makes it through this summer at all.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
TW: Drug use, domestic abuse, murder
A Love Hate Thing is a story about friendship and love. Both Tyson and Nandy have their expectations of how they think the other will be. A Love Hate Thing is about our ability to see beyond the image in front of us. To fight our prejudices and memories. I enjoyed the dual POV format of A Love Hate Thing. It allows the reader to witness events from each character’s point of view, their inner thoughts, the stillness under the surface.
Tyson’s POV broke my heart, the way he doesn’t think he deserve nice things, the trauma of his past. Used to nights with gunshots, coming into Nandy’s world of the uber rich is an adjustment to say the least. Not to mention that in Pacific Hills image and conventions are everything. A Love Hate Thing is about Tyson seeing both the good, the bad, and the potential for change within these gilded streets. A Love Hate Thing is a character driven story about people who never leave our hearts. Our battles with the past, and our challenges in accepting the future.
A Love Hate Thing also features a m/m side relationship and an adopted side character which I was pleased to read. Through this perspective, we are asked about what connection we have to our home, to where we were born. How much do we carry over? A Love Hate Thing examines the connections that bind us. How do we break the cycle of our past? To honor where we are from, but also acknowledge where our future could be? While A Love Hate Thing is very much a story about Tyson and Nandy, it’s more about their individual stories and identities. The effect of one person, one moment.
Overall,
I adored the themes of female friendship, the discussion of toxic masculinity, and racism. A Love Hate Thing is a multidimensional. Are we going to let the past hold us back? To eliminate the possibility of a future? There has to be a way we can reconcile our past without destroying our future. A Love Hate Thing is about moving on and choosing our future.
Find A Love Hate Thing on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound & The Book Depository.
About the Author
Whitney D. Grandison was born and raised in Akron, Ohio, where she currently resides. A lover of stories since she first picked up a book, it’s no surprise she’s taken to writing her own. Some of her works can be found on Wattpad, one of the largest online story sharing platforms, where she has acquired over 30,000 followers and an audience of over fifteen million dedicated readers.