Cannonball Read 13

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search This Site

| Log in
  1. Follow us on Facebook
  2. Follow us on Twitter
  3. Follow us on Instagram
  4. Follow us on Goodreads
  5. RSS Feeds

  • Home
  • About
    • About CBR
    • Getting Started
    • Cannon Book Club
    • Diversions
    • Fan Mail
    • Holiday Book Exchange
    • Book Bingo Reading Challenge
    • Participation Badges
    • AlabamaPink
  • Our Team
    • Leaderboard
    • The CBR Team
    • Recent Comments
    • CBR Interviews
    • Our Volunteers
    • Meet MsWas
  • Categories
    • Review Genres
    • Tags
  • Fight Cancer
    • How We Fight Cancer
    • How You Can Donate
    • Book Sale
    • CBR Merchandise
    • Supporters and Friends of CBR
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Follow Us
> FAQ Home
> Genre: Romance > Extremely Readable Romance About People Who Need Therapy

Extremely Readable Romance About People Who Need Therapy

Dear Enemy by Kristen Callihan

July 7, 2020 by Emmalita Leave a Comment

I have a lot of unread books on my kindle, but I still went looking for new books in the Amazon Prime library last night. I clicked on Kristen Callihan’s Dear Enemy, which I remembered hearing about, but I couldn’t remember what I heard. I decided to read a few pages before bed just to see if I wanted to read it. Hours later I was almost half way through and showed no signs of stopping. With a couple of breaks for naps, I finished the book in what would normally (if there is such a thing as “normally” anymore) have been my sleep hours. I’m a bit wrecked.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. On the positive side, Kristen Callihan writes extremely readable romances. The story is ridiculous, but she hooks into the lizard part of my brain and keeps me reading. Macon and Delilah were childhood enemies. Macon dated her sister throughout their teen years, and the two of them made Delilah miserable. After a humiliating prank at prom, Delilah and Macon don’t see each other again for ten years.

For complicated reasons that even they know don’t really make sense, Delilah and Macon choose to be forced into proximity with one another. They fight and bicker and in the process of doing so, clear the air and give them space to build a relationship as adults. Macon doesn’t fully understand the damage he has done to Delilah, but he does own his actions and apologize for them, while also giving her an understanding of why he was such a shit to her.

Even as I found myself unable to put the book down, I was also deeply uncomfortable with the real life implications of a romance between these people with terrible boundaries. There is an explicit conversation between Delilah, her mother and a friend of the family about the old “he must like you” excuse for abusive behavior from boys. They all agree that that is unacceptable, and yet, that is exactly the excuse Mason has for his bad behavior towards Delilah. My past life experience tells me that in times of stress, people will revert beck to bad behavior even if they know it’s harmful, especially if they haven’t spent time in therapy working on healthier coping mechanisms. Mason and Delilah are a parade of red flags and as responsible as I think Callihan wanted to be, I think she still threw a sheen of romance on an unhealthy relationship.

Filed Under: Romance Tagged With: Contemporary Romance, Dear Enemy, Kristen Callihan

Emmalita's CBR12 Review No:56 · Genres: Romance · Tags: Contemporary Romance, Dear Enemy, Kristen Callihan ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

About Emmalita

CBR13 participantCBR13 CommentsCBR12 participantCBR11 participantCBR10 participantCBR  9CBR 8CBR 7CBR 6CBR 5

Lives in Austin, Texas. She/her. Loves reading books, writing about books and talking about books. Formerly a monster to the world's greatest dog. Aspiring mini-dinosaur wrangler. Book bingo enthusiast. View Emmalita's reviews»

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.



Recent Comments

  • Ellesfena on CBR Diversions – It’s Never too Late to Have a Happy ChildhoodOn Your Toes, Susie! I had completely forgotten that book until just now. I agree about the Betsy-Tacy books too, those were so magical. Did...
  • Nart on Don’t Judge THIS Book by the Cover (seriously)Couldn't agree more. Whoever designed the cover really did the author dirty. It's such a lovely, soul filling book sold as a cheap... Well... Beach...
  • Emmalita on Spoiler Alert: This Book is Nothing but Fun & Sexy TimesI loved this, it was one of my favorite reads last year. Olivia Dade has become one of my auto-buy authors.
  • Malin on CBR Diversions – It’s Never too Late to Have a Happy ChildhoodAs a child, I loved the works of Astrid Lindgren, especially Ronia, the Robber's Daughter (the first chapter book I ever completed on my own...
  • ElCicco on CBR Diversions – It’s Never too Late to Have a Happy ChildhoodWhen I was little, the cupboard full of books was right outside my bedroom, and when I was supposed to go to sleep, I would...
See More Recent Comments »

Want to Help Out?

CBR has a great crew of volunteers, and we're always looking for more people to help out. If you have a specialty or are willing to learn, drop MsWas a line.

  • How You Can Donate
  • FAQ
  • Shop
  • Volunteers
  • Leaderboard
  • AlabamaPink
  • Contact

Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo
  3. Google Pay
© 2021 Cannonball Read | Log in