The lovely Pippa Roscoe joins us on our blog today to chat about the trope of the moment… enemies-to-lovers! Pippa is the co-author for Meet me at the Wedding, as well as writing sizzling romances for our Modern series.

Read about why she loves stories with enemies-to-lovers and the perfect recipe to build tension between the characters…

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Ingredients:

One hot, angry and rich hero

One indignant, passionate and brilliant heroine

A beautiful setting that neither can escape from

A pinch of spice

A dash of salt

A handful of shared past

And a double helping of longing

Method:

Mix together all your dry ingredients and then slowly stir in some fiery dialogue, being careful not to over work.  Once combined, leave to brood for at least half the book until temperatures have risen to a fine hot heat. When ready, knock through some intense passion and put in the oven for the remainder of the book. When done, remove from the oven and before cooling and top with a ring.

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I love writing the ‘enemies to lovers’ trope! Nothing is more fun than two take two characters butting heads and have them fall for each other! Whether it is Beatrice and Benedict from Much Ado About Nothing, Elizabeth and Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, there’s always something magical about the moment when two enemies cross the line of fiery fury into incendiary passion. Because every reader knows the harder they fight, the harder they fall and the sparks flying in anger and frustration are nothing compared to the embers that burn between the sheets!

In Meet me at the Wedding, Lily is the sweetheart of her friendship group. A born people pleaser, she is generous, giving and hardworking – even to her own detriment sometimes. But the moment that Henry Hawkesbury returns to Hawkes Cove he turns Lily’s perfectly ordered world completely upside down by cancelling the plans for her best-friend’s wedding! And what’s worse is that he has the gall to look so good while doing it! Safe to say mild-mannered and always happy Lily is furious.

Henry, still reeling from the tragic events that defined his young adulthood and saw him exiled from his father’s home, wants nothing more than to sell the Hawkesbury Estate. But it seems that every where he turns Lily is there. And no matter how hard he tries, even he can’t ignore the fact that not only is she the key to what he wants, she is also alluring in all the ways he never expected.

As sparks fly and tempers rise it quickly becomes clear that they can only get what they want if they work together. And this is the bit that I really love to see – when the characters are fighting not only each other, but themselves AND they have to work together now? Yes, this is when the kitchen gets really steamy!

Another reasons I love the enemies to lovers trope so much is that because the characters are at such extreme odds with each other it forces the characters to act in extreme ways themselves. As a consequence, we see them doing things they never would normally do. It is this fiery push from the other character that peels back all the social niceties and proprieties that finally allows our beloved characters to be utterly and completely true to themselves.

In Playing the Billionaire’s Game Duke Sebastian has cost Sia Keating her job as an art appraiser – a job she worked against all odds to get. With her father’s criminal reputation hanging over her, Sia has never put a step out of line… until now. Desperate to prove that Sebastian stole a famous painting and get her job back, she agrees to fourteen days with the dissolute duke!

In a heartbeat Sia is whisked away from her carefully ordered world and given entrance to luxury, wealth, and exotic destinations she could never have dreamed of. But when the battle of wills heats up from ice cold to red hot, Sia must decide what is right and what is wrong – with nothing less precious than her heart on the line.

Quick fire banter, anger that turns to molten heat, passion and power, these are a few of my favourite things about this trope. But what are yours? I’d love to know!

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Playing the Billionaire’s Game by Pippa Roscoe

Fourteen days. That’s how long exiled Duke Sebastian gives art valuer Sia Keating to try and prove he stole a famous painting. Once she has proof, she’ll demand her job back! She’s worked too hard to build her reputation and throw off her father’s corrupt shadow. She won’t go down without a fight.

But having complete access to his life doesn’t mean Sia can breach the gap Sebastian keeps between himself and the world. That’s something only embracing their dangerous attraction can do…

By Lauren Gardiner