Discover the top 10 enemies to lovers books packed with sizzling tension, witty banter, and heart-melting romance. The enemies to lovers trope’s magic ignites from conflict, not attraction. It’s a dance of tension, passion, and emotional transformation, where hate masks hidden longing and rivalry flirts with romance. These love stories don’t start with meet-cutes; they begin with insults, misunderstandings, and grudges that eventually unravel into kisses, confessions, and love. Whether it’s bickering colleagues, cold CEOs, or fierce exes, here are 10 unmissable enemies-to-lovers books that deliver heart-pounding chemistry and slow-burning affection wrapped in drama, desire, and vulnerability.
Beg, Borrow or Steal by Susie Tate
- Author: Susie Tate
- Series: Beg, Borrow or Steal #1
- Pages: 316 pages
- Publisher: Nielson Title Editor
- Goodreads: 3.94 Stars
- Buy Link: Amazon
Beg, Borrow or Steal By Susie Tate follows Libby, who has learned to survive in a world that never played fair. As a single mother clawing her way through medical school, sleep is a luxury, and pride is a risk she can’t afford. When her exhaustion causes her to doze off during a tutorial, Jamie, her arrogant, magnetic medical educator, is livid. She’s just another lazy student in his eyes. But a child’s innocent kick and a mother’s breaking point force Jamie to look again, and what he sees shatters his perception.
Libby is strong, desperate, beautiful, and utterly off-limits. He’s used to control, to logic, to walls. She’s raw emotion and iron will. Their worlds are incompatible, and yet, irresistible. When he discovers her secret life, desire collides with shame, and attraction with redemption. Libby won’t fall again; she can’t. But Jamie won’t back down. In a story as tender as it is searing, two broken hearts clash until the only thing left standing… is love.
Top 10 Enemies to Lovers: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
- Author: Sally Thorne
- Series: NA
- Pages: 365 pages
- Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
- Goodreads: 3.86 Stars
- Buy Link: Amazon
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne follows Lucy Hutton, who is sunshine in polka dots. Joshua Templeman is storm clouds in a suit. They share an office, a job, and an intense mutual loathing. Every day is a psychological battlefield of petty games and cutting glares. But beneath Lucy’s bright smile is a fierce competitor, and behind Joshua’s icy demeanor is a man driven by something more than hate.
When a coveted promotion throws them into a high-stakes face-off, the tension between them ignites. But then comes a kiss, a toe-curling, breath-stealing kiss that flips their world upside down. Suddenly, hatred feels a lot like hunger. And as Lucy digs deeper into Joshua’s layers, she finds vulnerability where she expected arrogance, desire where she expected disdain. Is this just another game… or something dangerously real? A whip-smart romance bursting with banter, heat, and heart, The Hating Game is a tale of love found in the most unlikely battlefield, making it one of the best enemies to lovers romance books.
Desire or Defense by Leah Brunner
- Author: Leah Brunner
- Series: D.C. Eagles Hockey #1
- Pages: 384 pages
- Goodreads: 3.72 Stars
- Buy Link: Amazon
Desire or Defense by Leah Brunner starts with an NHL’s bad boy who is a powerhouse of rage and reputation. After a suspension rocks his career, the last place he wants to be is a youth hockey rink. But that’s exactly where he ends up, bruised ego, scowling, and stuck. Enter her: a firecracker of a woman, all sass and spark, storming the ice to protect her little brother from the “rude coach.” She’s beauty wrapped in defiance, and he hates how she makes his pulse race.
She thinks he’s an arrogant jerk. He thinks she’s a distraction he doesn’t need. But day by day, practice by practice, their ice-cold disdain begins to thaw. Her protective love and bold heart chip away at his fortress of solitude. And he realizes something terrifying, he doesn’t want to just coach. He wants her. Raw, emotionally charged, and sizzling with slow-burn tension, making it a very good enemies to lovers books.
Top 10 Enemies to Lovers: The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
- Author: Christina Lauren
- Series: Unhoneymooners #1
- Pages: 432 pages
- Publisher: Gallery Books
- Goodreads: 3.90 Stars
- Buy Link: Amazon
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren follows Olive Torres, who is the unluckiest woman alive. Ethan Thomas is her smug, irritating nemesis. But when food poisoning knocks out the entire wedding party, including Olive’s twin sister and Ethan’s brother, the two sworn enemies are the last ones standing. And the all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Maui? It’s now theirs. Alone. Together.
Sunsets, charades, and close quarters test their hatred. As their fake honeymoon plays out, Olive’s luck begins to change… especially when she starts falling for the man she once swore she’d never tolerate. But secrets, lies, and past misunderstandings lurk beneath the surface, threatening to ruin their delicate truce. Can love grow in paradise between two people who can’t stand each other, or will their vacation fling crash harder than a Hawaiian wave?
Taming Mr. Walker by Rosa Lucas
- Author: Rosa Lucas
- Series: London Mister #1
- Pages: 336 pages
- Publisher: Page & Vine
- Goodreads: 4 Stars
- Buy Link: Amazon
Taming Mr. Walker by Rosa Lucas is a sizzling tale of ice meeting fire, of past wounds and present tensions reigniting into something neither expected. At the center is Danny Walker, a cold, calculating tech tycoon with a reputation as untouchable as the empire he’s built. He’s also the best friend of the woman he once had a crush on, his best friend’s little sister, whom he rejected eight years ago.
Now, fate throws them back into each other’s orbit when Danny purchases the company she works for, becoming her ultimate boss and her worst nightmare. He wants her gone. But she’s no longer the smitten, naive girl from years past. She’s fierce, chaotic, full of heart, and she’s not backing down. What begins as boardroom battles and icy stand-offs quickly turns into a smoldering war of wills. As the layers peel back, so do their defenses, revealing pain, passion, and the possibility of a second chance.
The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas
- Author: Elena Armas
- Series: Love Deception #1
- Pages: 487 pages
- Publisher: Elena Armas
- Goodreads: 3.80 Stars
- Buy Link: Amazon
The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas follows Catalina Martín, who is out of options. Her sister’s wedding looms, her white lie about having a boyfriend has spiraled, and her smug ex will be there to gloat. The only man available to play the role of perfect fake boyfriend? Aaron Blackford, her infuriating, stoic, insufferably hot colleague. She’d rather fake the flu than fake love with him… but desperation wins.
As Cat and Aaron fly to Spain and step into the swirling chaos of her passionate family, Catalina is shocked to find that Aaron plays the part of doting partner flawlessly. Too flawlessly. Behind his sharp suits and cool words is a man who might just care. Each lingering touch and stolen glance chips away at her resistance. Could he be more than a façade? Maybe even the love she never expected? A slow-burning enemies to lovers masterpiece of longing and redemption, it is a story where hate burns bright, but love burns brighter.
Top 10 Enemies to Lovers: Bookworm and the Beast by Tru Taylor
- Author: Tru Taylor Stars
- Series: Eastport Bay Billionaires #1
- Pages: 278 pages
- Publisher: Oxford South Press
- Goodreads: 3.91 Stars
- Buy Link: Amazon
Bookworm & the Beast by Tru Taylor takes place in a secluded mansion with a surly author and a trapped bookworm. When the charming but clumsy journalist is sent to interview the famously grumpy writer Jack R.R. Bestia, she expects a brief, icy encounter. Instead, she’s bound by a strict NDA and stuck in his brooding seaside fortress until he finishes his overdue manuscript.
Jack is every bit the beast the tabloids warned her about, snarling temper, locked doors, and a heart encased in armor. But the more time she spends in his moody company, the more she senses something beneath the gruffness, something raw, aching, and magnetic. He’s hiding more than just his next bestseller. Trapped in a forced proximity fairytale, she finds herself falling for the growling man in the tower. But can a girl who lives in love stories write her happy ending?
Top 10 Enemies to Lovers: Bully by Penelope Douglas
- Author: Penelope Douglas
- Series: Fall Away #1
- Pages: 333 pages
- Publisher: Berkley
- Goodreads: 3.84 Stars
- Buy Link: Amazon
Bully by Penelope Douglas follows Tate and Jared, who were once inseparable, best friends with laughter in their eyes and secrets whispered under stars. But something shattered between them. Jared returned from a summer away twisted by anger, determined to make Tate’s life miserable. High school became Hell. Pranks. Rumors. Cruelty. She escaped to France, but now she’s back, stronger, and she refuses to cower anymore. Their animosity crackles like fire, but beneath the venom is a pull they both feel.
Jared hides behind walls of resentment, but Tate is done playing victim. She pushes back, and with every clash, their hatred starts to resemble passion. Old wounds reopen. Pain resurfaces. But so does desire. Is it possible to hate someone so much because you once loved them even more? A gripping tale of teenage heartbreak, revenge, and redemption, making its way in the Top 10 enemies to lovers list..
The Ex I’d Love to Hate by Nadia Lee
- Author: Nadia Lee
- Series: The Lasker Brothers #3
- Pages: 474 pages
- Publisher: Four Isles Press
- Goodreads: 4.12 Stars
- Buy Link: Amazon
The Ex I’d Love to Hate by Nadia Lee starts fourteen years ago, when he shattered her heart with a single, cruel truth: she was nothing more than a bet. Grant Lasker was her first love, the boy who made her believe in forever, then turned it into ash. Now, fate has a twisted sense of humor. Because the job she desperately needs to keep her grandfather safe? It’s working for him.
Grant hasn’t forgotten. He’s convinced she betrayed him. And he’s determined to make her life a living hell. But as they clash, the past bleeds into the present, and the lines between hate and heartache blur. Sparks fly. Old wounds ache. And somewhere between spiteful barbs and stolen glances, they begin to remember what they once were, and wonder if it’s possible to rebuild what was broken.
Top 10 Enemies to Lovers: The Fine Print by Lauren Asher
- Author: Lauren Asher
- Series: Dreamland Billionaires #1
- Pages: 448 pages
- Publisher: Bloom Books
- Goodreads: 3.81 Stars
- Buy Link: Amazon
The Fine Print by Lauren Asher follows Rowan Kane, who builds dreams for others. Theme parks. Fantasy. Perfection. But in real life, he’s cold, detached, and dangerously rich. Zahra Gulian is his opposite: vibrant, imaginative, and refreshingly real. After submitting a brutally honest proposal, she expects to be fired. Instead, she’s promoted… under one condition: she must work directly with Rowan, the irritable CEO who sees her as a liability.
Rowan and Zahra’s working relationship is volatile, electric, and laced with unspoken tension. But then he kisses her. Then he lies to her. And suddenly, the fairytale starts to crumble. Rowan’s secrets threaten everything Zahra believes in, but her heart isn’t ready to let go. Because behind his cool facade is a man who’s never known love, and behind her fiery spirit is a woman desperate to teach him how.
Conclusion
Enemies to lovers books give us the most delicious kind of drama, the kind where pain meets passion and loathing turns to longing. These ten stories are not just about fiery arguments and snarky banter; they’re about healing, transformation, and love that rises from the ashes of conflict. So if you’re ready to watch sparks turn into fire and hate melt into heartfelt devotion, pick up any of these page-turners and get lost in the beautifully complicated journey from enemies… to everything. Share your thoughts below – we’d love to hear your take on these captivating stories!
Don’t miss out on these astonishing Top 10 Enemies to Lovers books to read. Dive into these brilliantly written worlds and discover your next obsession!
