Blurb:

Ben

Love? Yeah, hard pass. 

It has the power to take everything from you—even yourself.  It’s why I stay clear. 

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a big fan of insta-lust. The kind that only lasts as long as the heat does. Come morning? It’s a whole new day. That’s why, when I meet the perfect girl at a wedding, I know, for the next couple of hours, I’m going to love every little succulent inch of her. 

That’s until she tricks me, leaving me high and dry, literally. 

It’s now my mission to find out who she is. 

Makayla

My life couldn’t be going any worse. Falling apart would put it mildly. Comparing it to a dumpster fire sounds more accurate.  And now, I’m being forced to move back home, a place I swore I would never return to. 

When the one person I’ve spent my entire life hating walks back into my life, it finally pushes me over the edge. 

He’s still so arrogant. So full of himself. And still has a way of lighting a fire inside me. 

I need to stop looking at him the way he’s looking at me. 

But everything will go up in flames once he finds out who I am.  

My 4* Review:

Enemies With Benefits by J.D. Hollyfield is a fun rom-com about Ben and Makayla. This is an enemies to lovers romance with a touch of suspense and intrigue amongst the hilarity. However, it is not all fun and games because they have both experienced tragedy in their lives which led to their worlds being turned upside down.  Although this can be read as a standalone, I was pleased I had read Worth The Chase and Kicks Man, so I knew the great friendship between these boys and all about the girls in their lives.

Makayla can’t believe she is back home after sixteen years away because she is still haunted by the dark memories of her time living there. Now she finds herself trying to start a new life after the dramatic events that have brought about her change in circumstances. Ben is a firefighter and  the last single one out of his best friends since Kip, Levi and Chase have all found ‘the one’.

The book starts with them all celebrating Levi and Hannah’s wedding. Ben is drawn to one of the guests and thinks he in luck when she reacts to his flirting, however, things don’t turn out like he hopes. Makayla thinks it is poetic justice that Ben is flirting with her and takes full advantage of the situation. She was thirteen when they last saw each other so she wasn’t surprised he hadn’t recognised her. She knows he will be cross at being deceived but to her it was well worth it for all he had put her through as a teenager.

“He’s still so arrogant. So full of himself. And still has a way of lighting a fire inside me.  I need to stop looking at him the way he’s looking at me.  But everything will go up in flames once he finds out who I am.”

Things look up for her when Makayla manages to get a Kindergarten job but on her first day the children are treated to a visit from the local firefighters. Ben is shocked to see the temptress from the wedding is their teacher. He is even more surprised to discover who she actually is. She  quickly reminds him of how cruel and mean he was to her. We hear all about what Ben was like back then but also how she did give back as good as she got, so it was a constant battle to see who could do the most damage and get the best reactions.

They keep meeting up and slowly the pull between them gets stronger.  Even with all the teasing they are both finding it hard to ignore the attraction and when the spark between them ignites, it is intense and passionate. Ben is fed up of all the back and forth between them and calls a truce, he is done denying his feelings and decides to man up and tell her.

During the flirting and game playing a series of strange things start to happen to Makayla. She thought she had left all that behind when she moved, but it all comes to a head when her life is put in danger.

The banter throughout the book is hilarious. The author not only entertains us with Ben and Makayla, we also get his best friends teasing one another and the wisecracks between the firefighters. I felt the best conversations were when the couple were younger because the ribbing and witty comebacks were excellent and held a much deeper meaning than they realised at that age.

There is so much more to both of them and as it is all revealed, you realise what they have been through. Makayla’s backstory is even sadder than Ben’s and my heart went out to her. The sexual tension was always in the air and I just knew Ben’s intentions this time were sincere. Could the past be put behind them and find the love they both deserved. Can they manage to overcome the outside influences trying to stop them being together?

A dramatic ending as everything is revealed, however, sadly I had guessed it all very early on so not that much of a surprise.