Review: Enemies by Tijan

Enemies by Tijan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Enemies follows Dusty, a girl who is running from some serious traumatic experiences, but we don't get to find out what those are until much later in the book. She ends up in Texas to pursue marine biology at college to get away from what she experienced and start to heal. Unfortunately her new school just happens to be in the same town as her former best friend and now enemy Stone who is now a famous NFL player. Stone dropped Dusty for no good reason when puberty hit, and his family did some not so nice things to hers. When Dusty's stepmom starts hinting that they should reunite and maybe crosses a few lines with her insistence that Dusty reach out to Stone, their reunion does not go as planned. Meanwhile, Dusty is having a rough start to her new life at school, her new housemates are not as welcoming or tame as promised and finances are tight making things stressful. She does love marine biology though and is determined to make it work out.

When yet another tragedy befalls Dusty, Stone is the only person in town that knows her is there to help her pick up the pieces of her fractured life. In her heightened emotional state, Dusty lashes out at him and unloads all of her hate that she's been holding onto for years for him, his family, and for her situation. Stone is determined to make things right as best he can, even if it is to let her hate him and use him to feel better. Those scenes were pretty steamy. While he's supporting her, they rediscover the friendship they once had and their banter is pretty great. He helps Dusty through one of the toughest times in her life to date and while he does get a bit alpha on her at times, it is for her own good because she is falling apart and not taking care of herself.

I will say that the writing felt a bit disjointed at times. It wasn't bad, there were just details I felt were left out. In the end they weren't necessary, but I was left feeling like I missed something a few times. Overall I really enjoyed it though, Stone and Dusty's story is solid and I didn't want to put it down. I loved that the group of housemates eventually became a support system for Dusty as much as Stone was. I wasn't exactly sure about them for a while, but they came around in the end. Dusty found her place and was able to heal from her ordeal, which was pretty overwhelming and find her tribe. She was also able to voice when she was ready for things and when she wasn't and what she wanted.

Overall this is a solid enemies to lovers story and I really enjoyed it.

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