Romance

Review: Home Is Where the Hate Is by Chantal Roome

April 18, 2026

Synopsis:

Maya Parker’s life is safe, simple, and predictable. She has a roof over her head, friends she can count on, and a cat she’s hoping will actually like her one of these days.

The only thing that could make it better is teaching her surrogate Nana’s neglectful grandson, Liam Bishop, a lesson she wishes some had taught her parents—you don’t abandon family.

But when Liam finally strolls back into Carlisle Creek—infuriatingly handsome, aggravatingly likable, and far less punchable than she would have liked—everything she thought she knew about herself, about him, and about family begins to crumble.

Maya’s once predictable life is now anything but.

Her Nana is matchmaking.

Her friends are meddling.

Her cat almost certainly has murder on his mind.

And the revenge Maya’s been dreaming of? She can kiss it goodbye. Because the only thing worse than Liam’s return … is how badly she wants him to stay.

Review:

We meet our FMC as she’s trying to escape a past life and start over by managing a small-town bookstore. She’s clearly running from something, but she slowly begins to enjoy this new chapter. She makes friends, builds a life for herself, and finally feels settled and safe. Then the store owner’s grandson shows up, and everything starts to fall apart. He turns her life upside down – messy, complicated, and borderline unbearable. Or does he?

The banter at the beginning of the book was fantastic. I laughed out loud more than once and honestly wished I were that quick and sharp with comebacks in real life. It was obvious early on that they were both surprised by how strongly they disliked each other—and just as surprised by the undeniable connection underneath it. They absolutely got under each other’s skin in the best way, and I loved every second of it.

As the story progressed, they started to truly get to know each other, and their interactions gained more depth. The initial hostility slowly shifted into something else. The friendships and connections both characters had with others were refreshing and added a lot of warmth to the story. Did the usual third-act conflict feel a bit over the top to me? Yes. This was the point where the story lost me slightly. I didn’t fully understand why it had to be such a big issue.
While life experiences do shape us, the conflict felt somewhat overused, and the FMC’s reactions weren’t entirely believable to me. Otherwise, this would have been a five-star read.

Overall, this book has one of the funniest and strongest openings I’ve read in a while, even if it lost a bit of momentum along the way. Still, it was a very entertaining read.

🌙 Recension: Home Is Where the Hate Is by Chantal Roome
📚 Genre: Romance
📅 Release Date: April 15, 2026
📱 Read as: Kindle
📗 available as Kindle
💸 I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
🗣️ Language: English
📆 Pages: 300
⭐️ 4/5