In Love And War

by Kyra Parsi

I didn’t see it coming.

But, in all fairness, you could maybe, potentially, most definitely, say that I was just a little bit... distracted.

It was the dimple. I think.

Or it may have been his eyes.

God, those eyes.

...

Alright, fine. It was the whole damn thing, okay? Head to stupid toe.

The guy was gorgeous.

Like, the type of gorgeous that knocks the breath right out of your lungs and makes you forget how to string together even simple, semi-coherent sentences.

So, no, of course I didn't see it coming.

I didn't even know the arrogant, pompous, uptight jerk could fire me without my father putting a stop to it, let alone predict that he would do it to promote his own personal agenda.

But the second I figured it out was the second I started to plot my revenge.

Seven years later, I’m back. And I’m not the same infatuated teenager he thought he could so easily dispose of.

I’m here to fight. To take back what’s mine.

This is war, and Zackary Evans is going down.

Genres: Enemies To Lovers, Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Workplace Romance, Workplace, Second Chance

233 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2023

About the author

Kyra Parsi is a Canadian author of contemporary rom-com books.
She's also a closeted romantic with a minor (read: major) book hoarding problem. But don't worry, it's under control. She pinky promises.

Keeping up with Kyra's writing shenanigans:
Website -> https://kyraparsi.com/


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Reviews

[Marita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting beginning, decent middle and absolute garbage ending.

I really wasn't very fond of Amelia's dad here. You've been filling your teenage daughter's head with unrealistic expectations of taking over your company from a young age. She makes some stupid errors during her internship but no one works with her to correct them, least of all her boss, and she's just fucking 17! Then, her boss reams her out on her work ethic and gives her an overly harsh scathing performance review to her face in front of you, and you just sit there and pile on and call her spoiled and dismiss her? Are you fucking kidding me? You're going to blame her for being spoiled and not yourself for doing the spoiling, when you've also emotionally abandoned her after she lost her mother at a young age and you couldn't deal with the grief of losing your wife? Come the fuck on. And THEN you're going to matchmake between your daughter and your star employee when your own company rules forbid them from fraternizing. Just..what?!

I also don't buy that there was much between them in the end apart from inappropriate lust. The power imbalance between them made me more uncomfortable than anything else.

And that ending was just... garbage. The most unsatisfying conclusion/resolution I think I've ever read.

[JP · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️
I love a book that grabs my attention and won’t let go! When all I want to do is ignore my family. Hide in my cozy reading spot and fall into the story. This is that book. The author is new to me and she’s writes clever, beautiful, snarky angst! My favorite, romance.
This was enemies to lovers. And this is my third workplace romance??? I loved it. I loved watching these two try to get at each other. The tension was great and the chemistry was even better. Loved, loved, loved the romance.
I highly recommend this book. Probably going to be one of my favorites of 2020.

Thank you BookSirens for this ARC, exchange for my honest review.

[Karen's Utterly Unashamed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this story and the funny banter of the female character. I wanted to keep reading and finished the book quickly but....

Parsi does a great job in the first few pages of making the reader want more of Amelia.

"The memory of the first time we met had been on a constant loop inside
my head for the last three days, fueling my nerves. Because my brain's
favorite pastime was to torture me. I was convinced of it" - Milly

"No watch, which had been surprising. The majority of the suited men that
hung around my father's office, including my father, wear the cost of my
tuition around their wrists." - Milly

"Zac was so hot. And he was going to be my boss! I just had to figure out
how to get my brain and mouth to work properly around him. Preferably
both at the same time." - Milly

So it starts out great, the chemistry is great. You want to know Zac's story and how he will stop being an ass and fall for Amelia.

But....

The sex scenes felt a little off. With all the chemistry between Zac and Amelia the sex felt choppy and not as full of emotion as it should have been.

Also the ending completely missed the mark. When they are in Amelia's fathers office (who is so amazing by the way) and he staring at her and they profess their love for each other, then it skips to the next morning in a meeting. WHAT!?!? We don't get to see and hear about the entire night of passionate love they made. I. WAS. MAD.

It goes from:

"You love me?"
I swallowed.
"You weren't supposed to hear that. I know it makes things weird for you..."
"You're stupid in love with me," He said it as a statement, his eyes searching mine.
His hands captured my face and his mouth was on mine before I could finish
the sentence. It was the kind of kiss you read about in books, times a million.
Fireworks, bells, butterflies, you name it. There was a parading circus inside
my stomach.

Then Zac tells her:

"I'm stupid in love with you too Amelia," he whispered.
"You are?" My heart was bursting.
"Stupidly, recklessly, crazily, foolishly, madly in love."

Then the book ends at the meeting with the dad. WRONG. I wanted to hear more confessions between the two of them. I want to hear more about their mothers. I wanted Amelia to confess she was jealous of the time Zac spent with her dad when they were young and Zac to understand her more because of that. I wanted to see her bestie Kai be introduced and see what Amelia was seeing. We didn't get to see Andrew figure it out. I just felt like the book ended right when it was getting good. ugh.

Just basically, the end. So sad.

So close, great elements, not quite there.

[Cerise · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story had a lot of promise and there were some bright spots, but the execution fell flat. The biggest problem is that the characters are flat and thinly-drawn; they don't have any unique characteristics outside of the roles they're supposed to play in the various tropes employed in this story, so when their enemy relationship starts to shift towards being lovers, I didn't understand what they saw in each other because they didn't have personalities. It's a total mystery when Zac's feelings developed into romantic love. It's like they hated each other, they banged, ???, Zac is being a big angsty baby (sitting in his car and occasionally standing in the freezing rain outside her apartment building for THREE HOURS? Why? Who does this?) and now they're in love.

Generally, the world of this book does not make sense. If Milly is 24 then she's 2-3 years out of college, but she's already on her second corporate position and she has an executive office next to the biggest star in the company even though she was fired as an intern? In the real world, she'd be the most hated person in the office because of the flagrant nepotism on display. I think the author could have tweaked their ages and added more detail to the actual work being done to make Milly more sympathetic in that regard; if she was in her late 20s or early 30s and she already had a few accomplishments under her belt, her being included in these massive projects would make more sense. Everyone says that Milly is very good at her job but we don't actually see the specifics of that (because I don't think the author did her research), and then she gets everything she wants thanks to her father refusing to accept her and Zac's resignations and changing the corporate fraternization policy. It screams of undeserved nepotism because we don't actually see Milly doing anything that deserves this extreme preferential treatment.

I especially disliked the inclusion of some extremely tepid other woman drama with the introduction of Milly's cousin Monica. There's enough angst to be found in the forbidden workplace romance, especially between two people whose identities are deeply tied to their professional success, and I wish the author had delved deeper into this rather than introducing another flat character who shows up for 3 scenes and poses no credible threat to the main relationship.

I would have given this story 3 stars but the ending ruined the entire book for me. Having Milly's father orchestrate the big reunion felt very rom-commy while being completely unearned. He neglected Milly for years in favor of Zac, and now things are all better because he approves of his daughter and his star employee being together, even though it's wildly unprofessional? And then Dad wants to get rid of the non-fraternization policy, which is standard at pretty much every large corporation for very, very good reasons, and reinstate them both after they both quit? There could have been stakes and consequences and real angst here but the author threw all of this out the window in favor of a pat conclusion where everyone gets what they want. And then the story just ends without an epilogue, so we don't even see if Zac and Milly go the distance. It was a wildly disappointing finish to a book that continually fell short of my expectations.

While reading, I got the sense that the author is fairly young and has not worked in the corporate world or done much research into what the culture is like there, because everyone feels far too young and far too inexperienced to be doing what they're doing. The big gestures felt very cliche and immature. People's backstories get dumped in monologues or large stretches of exposition, but that information mostly exists as after-the-fact explanations for people's behavior. I think most of these issues could be resolved if the author had given her characters enough depth to make them stand out from their tropes. Milly is just a stock rich girl character and Zac is your classic cold guy with an angsty backstory, who secretly loves our heroine for reasons that I could not understand. Because they are not unique, it is difficult to conceive of a romantic relationship between them or care about them succeeding as a couple.

The concept of the story is a compelling one, office enemies to lovers with the complication of familial relations and a long-running quest for revenge, but the author focused on all the wrong things. The relationship between Milly and her father should have been instrumental to the story, especially considering that he literally neglected her in favor of Zac for her entire childhood after Milly's mom died, but the dad only appears in a few scenes. Nearly a decade of emotional neglect is some deep fucking trauma, and it gets hand-waved away when Dear Old Dad basically says that mistakes were made. They're even eating at a restaurant where her dad goes all the time with Zac and not her! It felt incredibly hurtful to Milly but she didn't seem to register that. Emotionally neglecting your child is abuse, and experiencing that for years on end can result in complex PTSD and other massive mental health issues. Milly didn't seem to have any deep feelings about that situation, just a vague sadness about it.

I thought that Milly would have been a much, much more sympathetic character and the story would have been a lot richer and deeper if the author spent more time trying to untangle her issues with her dad and how they related to her self-worth, her worth as a professional, and her relationship with Zac. It is wild to me that she didn't seem to resent either her dad at all for literally abusing her for a decade, prioritizing his cleaning lady's son over his own daughter. Once Zac's backstory got dumped on her, she seemed to accept her dad's poor treatment without a second thought.

Man, the more I think about this book, the more annoyed I get. I have to stop reading highly-recommended books off r/RomanceBooks because I've hated them all so far.

[nikki | ཐི༏ཋྀ​​݁ ₊ ݁ . · Rating 4 out of 5]

rating: 3.5★

i low key ate this up. def agree this gave some hating game vibes, plus i love a forbidden element like boss's daughter.

the story and overall arc could've been more developed and it did wrap up quickly at the end, but parsi always nails the buildup to the first hookup so well 🤌🏼

bad billionaires bosses series is still her best but i'm desperate for more books from her 😭

[Iread · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had such a great build up only to crash and burn at the end! It's one of the most disappointing things I've ever read. It had the potential to become an amazing enemies to lovers romance where the FMC battles her love for the MMC vs taking him down for the sake of her younger self along with them competing to take over the company. But no. It just ended abruptly with dad playing matchmaker. And don't even get my started on the dad. He had a daughter he emotionally neglected and put all his paternal feelings towards another boy and then have the audacity to fire his daughter that has been preparing to take over the company since childhood all because she make some little mistakes when she's literally a teenager? And i couldn't even get over the fact that Zac worked with Amelia as a teenager and his first thought when he saw her as an adult was to get a BJ? So fucking gross. And his whole explanation about firing her when she was younger was so dumb, "I had a bad night so I'm gonna fire you, humiliate you in front of your negligent father and destroy your future all for my personal goals". Ugh it started off great with the background and the cut to present when she has the potential to turn the tables but no. They hook up like twice and all of a sudden they're in love. Where's the build up? The swooning? We could have even gotten a nice jealousy thing with Monica but it ended as soon as it started. And then at the end with the dad saying I knew you were always in love with each other and it's totally not weird and I'm gonna change my company's rules because I'm gonna play favourites. Just stop. It's one of the most disappointing things I've ever read.

[ß · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was so dry and mediocre

[Patricia's Book Kingdom · Rating 5 out of 5]

He's the spawn of Satan himself. If, you know, Satan was an insufferable, neurotic workaholic with a stick the size of Idaho up his ass."

I immensely enjoyed reading In Love and War. It was witty, entertaining and steamy, with amazing characters. Not to mention I am sucker for enemies-to-lovers type of romance, which was done so well in this book!

Amelia first met Zac when she was assigned as his personal assistant as part of her internship back in secondary school. Things do not go well and Zac ends up firing her, which propels her to do well in her studies so she can make her come back as a successful woman that makes Zac eat his words. As the 17 year old girl she was spoiled and felt entitled because her father owned the company. She thought that everything will fall into her lap without putting much work into it. However that was not the case and she felt the jobs assigned to her by Zac were beneath her. It was a good lesson to for her as that particular experience has molded her into the woman she would become 7 years later. The grown up Amelia is full of spunk and not afraid to stand up to Zac. The banter was amazing and I loved her sass. And she was not afraid to dish it out! I loved watching the transition from hate to love and how her budding relationship with Zac became more important than the revenge that has been in works ever since she was fired. She was even willing to risk her livelihood for him which really shows how much she has grown as a person.

Zac had a difficult time growing up and this has driven him to be as successful as he can be. He puts in 110% into everything he does and failure is not an option. He is quite successful professionally, having achieved things that usually take years to achieve in a record time. There's no obstacle too great for him to overcome and he does not let anything or anyone stand in his way. In all his life, his work was all that mattered and that holds true until Amelia comes back. He did not expect to have such a strong reaction towards her, but he couldn't ignore his growing feelings. The more time they were forced to spend together, the more the feelings grew. I really would have liked to have alternating POV as I would have loved to see what was going on in his head, even his first impression of her when he first met her when she was 17.

I was rooting for them from the start and I was bursting with emotions when it finally happened. The only thing I didn't like was that the book way too short for my liking and it ended rather abruptly. Especially because it was a standalone, I think it would have benefited from having an Epilogue. I would have liked to see how Zac and Amelia's relationship progressed. With the way it ended you barely had the time to enjoy the fact that they are finally together without having to hide their relationship. But I still would recommend this book as is it truly amazing!

*ARC provided through BookSirens in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

[Rime · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, I was really liking all of the author's books so far but this one just pissed me off.
We follow Amelia who, after being fired from her internship by her father's favorite employee, comes back seven years later for revenge. I liked Amelia and her work ethic, and while I wasn't sold on Zachary from the onset, I was willing to give him a chance. Boy was I wrong.
If a man ever had the GALL to say right to my face that the only reason I was put on a project was because our client wants to sleep with me, I would drive my foot so far up his ass he would taste it. Any sort of feelings I thought I had for him would shrivel up and disintegrate instantly. Zachary saw how hard working Amelia, she was the first to come and the last to leave every day, her presentations were on point, her ideas hit the mark but it didn't matter. I don't care if Zachary said it because he was jealous, an accusation of the sort means only one thing to me : you do not respect my abilities; you believe yourself so high over me that you cannot fathom I may have some sort of actual capabilities; you are, in short, a misogynist. And no author can never ever make misogyny look sexy in ANY context. And to top it all off, they kiss after their shouting match. I actually want to tear my head off right now. This situation just hit too close to home for me, and for that I cannot in good conscience give this book above one star.

[CeCe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just could not continue.
I felt no connection. Chemistry is forced. This was not an enemy to lovers story. It was two horny people who got together. The end.

Milly thinks she has an internship all set and sealed at her dad’s company, but she does something and gets fired by the hero. Zach complained about Milly to her dad and dad fires Mollie. Dad calls his daughter spoiled, but blames himself (kind-of) for spoiling his daughter after mom died.
Anyway, 7 years later, Milly gets her degree, gets some experience, and wants back in daddy’s company.
Basically, Milly hates Zach and she wants revenge.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ok read...it could have been 4 stars but just didn't quite get there.

I love workplace relationships and enemies to lovers so it would be hard for me to rate this lower, it had all the components that I look for in these type of plots but it just lacked something for me. I think it could have been more fleshed out, better world building or something.

It was cute...you didn't get Zac's pov but you could tell the brooding and mean stuff was because he was into her.

A fast easy low angst read.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

okay, but too short and questionable male lead

I’m a huge lover of enemies to romance books. This one was just ok. I wanted to love it but Zac was a bit of a bully-especially being in the management position and their initial meeting being when Milly was pretty young. I also didn’t like how incredibly fast it ended. Very “and they lived happily ever after.” Just so abrupt. It had potential but just wasn’t quite it for me.

[Pinky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trigger Warnings: Loss of a loved one from car accident, parental abandonment, loan sharks

As a fellow Canadian, I loved that this book took place in Toronto. I wanted to rate this 5 stars but it felt like it was missing some things. I loved the FMC Amelia or Milly, she is so petty and sassy, she matched the energy of the MMC Zac. Zac was your typical cold-hearted boss that was hot. He didn’t have much of a personality but that was cuz we didn’t see many conversations between Milly and Zac. I feel like the meaningful conversations happened near the end of the book. The conversations they had throughout the story were very surface-level or brushed over as a summary. Zac and Milly’s relationship felt more insta-lovey, I wish they had more of a connection. The ending was rushed, I would have liked to see more past the ending since I had questions. Despite all of that, this book made me laugh and had me smiling, it was so much fun to read and I look forward to reading more by this author.


Milly had an internship at her father’s company Bloom & Co where he promised she would be CEO one day. But after working under Zac for her internship, things go bad and she vows to take Zac down. 7 years later, Milly is back and is ready to take Zac down.


Now for spoilers


Milly is 17 and her dad lets her work as an intern at his company Bloom & Co. He promised that she can be CEO when she is older. He tells Zac to manage her and Zac is 24 at the time, Milly is instantly attracted to him. At first I was like oh hell no not an age gap like this, but luckily there is a time jump. Milly thinks she is early to work but Zac had emailed her to come at 6AM, she showed up at 7:52AM. Zac is cold with Milly and even though she does her best, she keeps messing up. He has lengthy instructions and is very particular about how he wants things. He was upset about how she coloured his tabs and hired another intern since Milly couldn’t finish everything. Milly would get his coffee early since Zac came early and left late, he was a workaholic. Milly tries to vent to the other interns but they tell her that she is lucky to work under Zac since he is so talented. Zac has made many employees cry and was creating a hostile work environment. I was hoping Milly would talk to him about this in the future but that never happens. He goes from workaholic to lovestruck. But I get why he is cold to Milly since Milly is spoiled. He worked from the bottom to the top meanwhile Milly did nothing.


Zac had messaged Milly asking her to finish a presentation that was part of a big project. Milly misread the due date and panicked when he texted her to have the stuff on his desk. Zac wasn’t in office since his mother was in an accident and is in a terrible mood. Milly rushes to get it done and does a half-assed presentation instead of telling him she misread the due date. Zac saw her submission and gets angry at Milly. He told her that she should have told him if she didn’t have the work done. He tells Milly that she is fired and that he has already talked to HR. Milly tells him that he is an asshole and it's impossible working with him. I’m not gonna lie, I could see why Milly told him this. He was cold and micromanaged everything. Milly had seen someone walk out of Zac’s office upset. Zac tells her to pack her things and called out all the mistakes Milly made. He said that Milly was treated way better than other interns since she was her father’s daughter and had so many chances. Milly goes to complain to her dad and Zac comes in. Milly says that Zac is an asshole and mentions how people cry under Zac’s management, mentioning one of the girls by name. Zac gets uncomfortable and when Milly’s dad questions Zac, Zac says it wasn’t work related. Milly’s dad says they have a strict policy against relationships between workers and Zac says he knows. Til the end of the book, we never find out what that was about. The interns think that Zac was in a bad mood because he and his girlfriend would get into fights. But we never find out more of this either, we barely learn about Zac in this book. Zac tells Milly’s dad about Milly’s disappointing work performance. Milly’s dad says that he wanted Zac to treat Milly like a normal worker since he thinks he spoiled Milly too much. He wants Milly to earn her place at the company since he wants a CEO who deserves the position. He takes back what he said of Milly getting the position and Milly realized that Zac’s goal was to become the CEO. Milly is pissed and vows to become CEO and take down Zac.


7 years later, Milly is now 24 and has gotten education and experience. She worked at another company called Yuval for her boss David who adored her. But she left the company to come back to Toronto to work for her father’s company. She had to apply to Bloom & Co like any other person and was hired by Margaret. Margaret is one of the directors of marketing and the other is Zac. Milly was told by her dad to go apologize to Zac for how things ended years ago. Milly goes to Zac and is petty, saying he aged like milk while he threw his comebacks at her. He makes her apologize and their interaction had me giggling cuz of their banter. Milly’s father made sure that Milly’s office was next to Zac’s. Zac and Milly had clear walls so she was able to see him. They had a feature to make the glass opaque but they barely use it. Zac comes into Milly’s office, he always calls Milly by her full name, “Amelia” which pisses her off. In turn, she calls him “Zackery” to fuck with him. He says they can leave their history in the past and respect each other. But when Milly says no, Zac says he has her performance evaluation from years ago and will show Margaret. Milly says fine and Zac looks at her lips and I thought it was too soon for that shit.


Milly works hard and put plants in the way of the walls so that Zac couldn’t see her well. She named him El Diablo on her phone and would avoid him. Zac was working on a big project and they had to partner up with Yuval, Milly’s old company. Zac needed to work with another person and David, Milly’s old boss, insisted that it be Milly. Milly’s dad tells Milly that she will need to work with Zac on this project but Zac doesn’t trust her. Zac meets with Milly to tell her about the project and can see how much Milly has changed, she works her ass off. They start working in the same office and Milly hasn’t eaten so he orders tacos. They have a mundane conversation where Milly finds out that Zac was taken to this taco store by Milly’s dad when he was 10 years old. Milly tries asking Zac how he knew her dad but Zac refused to tell her. This was the problem with this book, Zac refused to answer most of Milly’s questions while learning about Milly. Milly’s mother had died in a car accident. Her father was dealing with grief so he didn’t spend much time with Milly. Milly wanted to work at her dad’s company so she can see her dad more. Milly asks her dad how he knew Zac at a young age. Zac’s mother used to work at the company as a cleaner. Zac would hang around the company and Milly’s dad introduced himself. One day, Zac asked Milly’s dad for a job since scary people would call his home and he heard his mom crying, he was only 10. Milly’s dad felt bad and made an agreement with him when they went out to get tacos. He promised Zac a job if he focuses on his studies and said he would give his mom a raise if it was all a secret. Since Zac was in school, they met up for tacos sometimes. Milly had respect for Zac after this.


Milly starts to fall for Zac even though they’ve barely opened up to each other. She starts avoiding him and when their company goes out for drinks, Zac sits with her. He confronts her on avoiding him and Milly drinks to avoid answering him. He gives her a ride home and she falls on her way out of the car. Zac holds her while he says her name “Amelia”. She tells him to stop saying her full name since he says it like he owns her. Zac hints that he does own her but snaps out of it and Milly goes home. All of this happened too suddenly for me, I feel like it would have been nice to see deeper conversations take place before any of this. The attraction felt a bit forced, especially on Zac’s end. Milly has always had a crush on Zac and found him attractive. She lost those feelings when he fired her but the feelings started coming back after she heard about his past. Milly and Zac work together and they have funny banter but not enough conversations where they get to know each other. I wanted to know his dating history and her dating history. All we know is Milly finds dating rough and fucked someone 4-5 months ago.


Zac and Milly go to New York to meet David for the project. David is sweet with Milly, he is around Zac’s age but calls Milly kiddo. Zac is jealous and is cold with Milly because of it. Zac says it might be better for Milly to leave the company and go back to Yuval which hurts Milly. It’s clearly cuz Zac is starting to feel things for her and wants a relationship with her but they can’t date when in the same company (even though they barely know each other). Milly is used to giving ideas to David during meetings. During Zac and David’s meeting, David asks for her opinion and Milly gives a great idea. When David makes plans to eat with Milly, Zac says they have work to do. Milly meets Zac at his suite and he has her idea in the presentation and says she can present it. Milly is more nervous around Zac since she is starting to have feelings for him. They have the presentation and it goes well but when David asks Milly out to dinner, Zac gets pissy with Milly. She tries to ask him what is wrong but he leaves her. So Milly goes to his suite and asks him what is wrong, he was acting immature here. Zac is an asshole and brings her into his suite and they argue. Zac asks about Milly’s date with David since she is meeting him later that night and says he is pissed he has to work with her of all people. He says that David probably asked for Milly to be involved because he likes her and asks if she fucked him. She is pissed since he discredited all her work and insinuated she fucked her way to the top. I love that Milly stands up for herself since Zac pissed me off here, he does apologize later though. They argue and he kisses her and they makeout. They get interrupted since some staff heard noise complaints since they were yelling and once that guy was gone, Milly leaves.


Milly meets with David who was actually gay. When Zac asked about the date, Milly was petty and said David finished what Zac started. The next day Milly avoids Zac and once their meeting is over, Milly leaves. Zac tells Milly to go to his suite and wait for him. When he meets Milly, he asks if she will tell her dad about the kiss. He says if she doesn’t, they can fuck and not tell anyone. So Milly says she won’t and they fuck. Milly tells Zac that David was gay and she never slept with him. The second it's over, Milly leaves while Zac calls after her. Milly forgot her underwear so she asks Zac for it the next day. He was concerned he hurt her but Milly said she didn’t so he teases her about her underwear and refuses to give it back. He sends her a picture of it so she goes to his suite. He pours her wine and tells her to look for it. She gives up looking and drinks with him and he says he will give it back if she answers his questions. In these situations, it annoyed me how she would try asking him questions and he never answered her. He asks why she came to his suite after he left and she says she was curious about what would happen between them. He asks her why she left the second they fucked and makes out with him to distract him. He gets them pizza and they watch a movie together, he doesn’t wanna fuck her when she is drunk. Milly fell asleep and woke up to Zac cuddling her. She tries to get up but he says he won’t let her run away which was so cute. In the morning, he left a note saying he will see her in Toronto since he has an early flight.


Milly tells her bestie Kai that she fucked Zac since Kai knew something was up. Kai knows that Zac fired Milly in the past and how Milly wanted to take him down. So Kai said this would be a good opportunity for her to tell her dad but Milly doesn’t want to. Milly goes to her home for a family get-together and Zac is there with her dad. Monica, Milly’s cousin, flirts with Zac and Milly is used to Monica stealing all the men she is interested in. She is jealous and goes to her childhood room. Zac notices she is gone and finds her in her room and they end up fucking on her bed. Milly knows she is falling for Zac and she feels jealous when she sees girls flirting with him at work. Monica shows up and she is upset that Monica is flirting with Zac. She leaves to get tacos and sees her dad there. Milly makes sly comments thinking Monica is out with Zac but her dad says she isn’t Zac’s type. You can tell that Milly’s dad ships Milly and Zac, he says that Zac is suited with someone who challenges him, which is clearly Milly. Zac visits Milly, asking what was wrong. Milly says nothing so he drives her home. Milly cries and says they need to end things because it won’t work out. Zac barely gets a word in and she thinks that he wants to be with Monica and fuck her on the side. It was so stupid, this just showed that Milly and Zac barley know each other. Zac stays parked at Milly’s place for three hours and it concerns the security so they ask Milly if they should ask Zac to leave since they saw her leave his car upset. Milly runs down and brings Zac back to his apartment.


Zac apologizes to Milly for insinuating she fucked her way to the top and thinks she is a beautiful, smart, woman. He says that he liked Milly since she came back. His mom worked at the company and was threatened by loan sharks because of his dad. His dad took a debt in his mom’s name and abandoned them. His dad recently contacted Zac once he found out Zac is a director and has a good salary. He apologized for being harsh to Milly when she was a kid but his mom got into an accident and she didn’t wake up at the time, she is fine now. He values his job at the company and he wants Milly to work somewhere else so that their relationship could work. This was why he made that comment in New York, not because he hates her. But he knows they both want to work at the company and says Milly is right for wanting to end things. This was the first time we truly see Zac opening up to Milly, I wish we had more conversations like this. Milly tells him they should have one more night together and they cuddle. Milly has a nightmare, she wakes up to Zac holding her. Once the alarm rings, Zac kisses her and leaves. Milly and Zac avoid each other for a month and keep things professional between each other. Margaret and Zac do Milly’s performance evaluation. Margaret says Milly did amazing and when she meets Zac, he praises her and Milly’s heart is broken all over again. She accidentally takes his phone during the meeting so he has hers. Zac’s assistant brings Milly’s phone and asks for Zac’s phone. Milly is confused as to why Zac didn’t come himself. But then she sees that Zac read a message Kai sent where he said that Milly can whistleblow on Zac and tell her dad about Zac fucking her. Milly tries calling him to tell him the truth but he wouldn’t answer.


When she goes work, Zac has been gone for a week. Milly gets a call from her dad’s assistant who tells Milly that Zac gave his two-week notice. Milly goes to her dad and her dad already knows what is going on but needs Milly to admit it. Zac admitted they broke the company’s policies by getting into a relationship but didn’t elaborate. Milly lies and says that she blackmailed Zac into saying that so she can become CEO and fire him. Her dad asks if she truly wants to go this route and Milly says yes but her dad knows it is a lie. Milly says she was offered a job by David in New York and will be going there and is giving her notice so that Zac can come back. Milly admits to being stupidly in love with Zac. Zac heard the whole thing and her dad apologized for not being there for Milly enough and says Zac is on the phone on speaker. Zac comes back and Milly and Zac make up, he says he loves her too. Milly’s dad changes the company policies so that they can date. He doesn’t accept their resignations and they are both happy and the book ends. While I found all of this cute, we still don’t know who ends up becoming CEO. Zac’s goal seemed to be wanting to be CEO and Milly’s was as well. They never had conversations related to this or Milly’s hard work in the past. I also wondered how Zac and Millie would navigate the workplace as a couple. But this book ended abruptly so we don’t get to see that. I still loved this book and had fun with it but would have loved to see more. I found their cuddling cute and their banter funny but I needed more meaningful conversations.


Stay safe folks!

[Seren Song ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Kyra Parsi is easily becoming my favorite new romance author. I love her FMC’s so much - they’re fun, relatable, and usually hilarious. The men aren’t bad either. 😌

It looks like this was her second book, and she’s definitely grown since this one because her Billionaire Bosses series shows a lot of improvement. This was enjoyable and I still loved the characters, but it felt like it was missing an entire act. It needed another 100-150 pages for it to be a complete story.

It went from banging it out a couple of times, to BAM 3rd act with no warning. I was just like “where is all this emotion coming from!?” because the lovey bits sprouted up out of nothing, and then it ended kind of abruptly. (Also needed a proofreading, but that’s me just picking at things)

Still worth a read even with the issues. I can’t wait to read whatever she has coming up next. ❤️

[lena ★ · Rating 5 out of 5]

SMASSHHHHH

[Faye · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars | I am so so so disappointed. The boss-employee dynamic rubbed me the wrong way, especially when he keeps ordering her around reinforcing the power dynamic.

Both of them had no character traits. Boring shells of personalities. The ending was underwhelming.

[Shelby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amelia (Milly) Bloom always knew she would work at her family’s advertisement firm, Bloom & Co. But when she became an intern at 17-years old, she wasn’t welcomed with open arms by her boss, Zac Evans. He was rude, pompous, and unnecessarily cruel. And Milly was fired before she even had a chance to get settled.

Over the next 7-years, Milly worked her butt off to make a name for herself. Now she’s being rehired at Bloom & Co and she’s working with Zac yet again. But this time Milly isn’t a teenager and she has one goal—to see Zac gone. Except life has other plans. Instead of kicking Zac to the curb, she ends up giving him her heart.

In Love and War by Kyra Parsi is a short and steamy enemies to lovers, workplace romance. This was a quick and enjoyable read. It’s told through Milly’s POV, but I would’ve loved to see through Zac’s perspective too. I enjoyed the bits and pieces of both their touching backstories. I think I would’ve fallen in love with this story if it had been longer because I would’ve given Milly and Zac’s relationship more time to develop. With that said, this was a fun read and I’ll definitely read more from this new author in the future! 4/5 stars.

[Daniela · Rating 4 out of 5]

i went into this thinking it was a walmart hating game and it kinda was lol but the fast pace is exactly what I needed and the love interest was perfect with the right blend of mean and devoted. i love you walmart josh templeman

[Duanur · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was slowly going into a reading slump, so I needed a quick, fun book to read. I didn't love the setup with this one (24 year old boss firing his teenage intern very harshly), and I'm generally not into workplace romances. But Kyra Parsi keeps proving me wrong. The chemistry and banter are so well done. She somehow always makes me cry. At a romcom!!

I would have liked them to have more of a slow burn and maybe have hero's pov a few times since it felt like Amelia loved him more at times. He speaks very harshly and rude to her a few times, which annoyed me. But, it was quick and fun. I smiled, laughed, and teared up. A solid 4-star read!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did really enjoy this one! Had some laugh out loud moments, enjoyed the connection and spice.

I felt uncomfy with the age gap at times and with some of the incredibly rude and misogynistic assumptions made by the mmc.. I know that they resolved by the end but I found myself hesitating to root for him for a good chunk of the book.

But otherwise it's a really good enemies to lovers :)

[The Story Girl (Serenity) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good I read it all in one night! I had been feeling down and this pulled me out of those feelings and kept me captivated, so I'll give it 5 stars even though the writing was plain and nothing out of the ordinary really happened.

[window · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. A decent story but with problematic elements and a rushed, unsatisfying ending.

First off, who the hell gives a 17 year old intern a key role in a major project/client pitch and then brutally lays into her for bungling the deadline when it was changed and not only fires her, but includes scathing notes in her HR file? That would be the H, Zac.

What the hell is wrong with Millie's father? Who tells a high school kid that they will take over a massive high-profile company when they graduate high school? Who buried himself in work after her mother/his wife died when Millie was a kid, never gets her therapy, and is basically an absentee father, yet finds time to be a father figure to Zac after he learns that his mother works at the company as a cleaner and they have money issues? He finds time to take 10 year old Zac to lunches regularly but has no time for his own kid grieving the loss of her mother? Who allows Zac to fire her, a kid, in such a brutal fashion and agrees with Zac that she's spoiled and has no work ethic, yet accepts no real blame for raising her that way? Yet in the story, he's painted as a good guy. Nope.

I also generally don't like "body betrayal", as in when a character hates another character yet is so attracted to them that they can't help themselves from not only physically responding to it, but acting on that too. For most people, if you've been nursing a grudge for 7+ years and it's strong enough to motivate you to go from a slacker to an Ivy League college graduate who goes on to get a master's degree and lands a huge job with a big firm where you make a name for yourself in your industry - how do you just set that aside because "his eyes...." or a muscly chest or whatever.

Speaking of all of that, her age doesn't add up.. She's 24 when she comes back to work for her father's firm so in 6 years since graduating HS at presumably age 18, she's gotten a bachelor's and a masters degree and has a few years of high-profile experience at a major firm under her belt?

Millie quits her awesome job for the sole purpose of going back to her father's firm, this time triumphant, with the intention to be in a position to take over the company when he retires. Of course, it doesn't take long before she ends up reporting to Zac and things develop from there.

She works long hours, generally kicks ass, brings up good ideas and points, and generally excels across the board. Yet. Zac treats her like crap and accuses her of sleeping her way to the top at her previous firm, all because he's attracted to her when he shouldn't be and he's jealous that she has remained friendly with her former boss, who they now have to work with on some big collaboration project. WTAF? If someone accused me of something like that, especially in the face of obvious and clear qualifications and contributions, I would want to punt them into the next zip code. What I would NOT want to do is jump into bed with them.

Despite him being a dick to her and saying horrible things about her, and despite her grudge/hatred, they end up having sex because she can't resist the physical attraction. Hard no from me.

The fact that he's her boss, that he originally met her when she was 17 and he was around 24, and that they both work for her father - that all frankly gave me a bit of the ick with their relationship.

I also hated that the only thing that made him drop his ugly jealousy thing was her telling him that her former boss is gay. Talk about fragile masculinity. This same exact thing plays out again when they are at her father's house party, which she attends with her BFF, who is a gay man. Of course Zac doesn't know this and again gets all jealous until she can reassure him by again telling him that another man in her life is gay. So then I guess she's only allowed to hang out with straight women and gay men so he doesn't get triggered? Ridiculous.

The ending felt rushed and her father again was a jerk since he had Zac on speaker phone without telling his daughter while they were having what she thought was a private conversation. She tried to take the blame for them breaking the strict no-fraternization rule and confessed to being in love with Zac, and of course Zac heard the whole thing but never let on that he was on speaker listening. They're both jerks for that.

Her father was such an asshole to her, really, and there needed to have been an acknowledgment of that in the story instead of painting him as some kind-hearted father figure. He also said something to her about the fact that he noticed she had a crush on Zac when she was 17 but that she was a "few years too young" for Zac at that point, wink wink. Um yeah since that would literally have been a crime for a 24 year old to go after a 17 year old, not to mention gross. But now, everything's all good and it was almost like he played some sort of match-maker between them.

Everything wraps up in a few pages after she confesses her love while Zac is on speaker phone, Zac loves her too, and her father quickly amends the company policy to remove the no-fraternization rule so they can be together. Bam, the end. Very unsatisfying.

[Yasemin˚｡⋆୨୧˚ · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I enjoyed it, the relationship was definitely lacking or better there wasn’t anything. We literally got nothing, besides them going back and forth in the office and nothing outside of that. And there was no single POV from the MMC.

[Romane | Bookylicious · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Diana R. Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

yet another…

And yet another fantastic read from Kyra! I get so caught up in these novels of hers that it’s insane! Give it a read. You won’t regret it, but you might shed a tear or two.

[✨ starlit freckles ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this but the ending is so disappointing I thought my Kindle was glitching because the next page was the author's page.

It was like climbing up and up a beautiful mountain only for you to fall into a pit of nothingness. Like having a rug pulled out from under my feet. It's not a bad ending per se but I kind of went, what?! All that for nothing? I'm so sad ;(

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a solid read. I liked that the author gave both characters room to “grow up” in the unwritten years between their initial meeting. I felt like there could’ve been more development in their relationship, but it was still (...mostly) believable

🌶🌶🌶/5 spicy
Would read again?: probably not anytime soon, but I may eventually

[❥ Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t believe this book isn’t more popular! For those who loved The Hating Game, this one is a must read

This was a perfect enemies-to-lovers office rivals rom-com. The whole time I was reading it I was imagining it in my head like a movie

Bonus points for a couple well placed “good girl”s, a scene in the rain and a really cute “I love you” moment which put a stupid dopey smile on my face

Amelia first meets Zac when she is 17 and interns for him at her father’s company. She’s young and awkward, like your typical teenager, and crushes hard on Zac at first.. until she works for him and decides he’s a demanding asshat. She gets fired and vows her revenge

7 years later and a major glow up later and Amelia is back at her fathers company, working next to Zac. There’s obvious attraction & thick sexual tension between them. I liked their banter and I liked how it was always on the flirty side more than mean and petty.

Eventually they get to know each other and can’t fight their attraction anymore - but there is a non fraternization policy at work (of course) so they have to keep it secret.

There is a little bit of angst and a misunderstanding which is resolved pretty quickly and easily, making this an easy and really enjoyable read. I see it being a favorite reread in the future

[Mrs. Varela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

In Love and War will have readers laughing out loud. Kyra Parsi sets up a great premise for a love/hate relationship between two co-workers who work at the same company. Milly hates Zac. Zac sees Milly as a spoiled brat with no talent for working in an advertising and public relations business.

Being the soon-to-be high school graduate daughter of the owner Milly chooses to intern there for the summer. When her father places her in what she feels is a menial job Milly still tries to do her best for her a demanding boss. Her boss, Zac isn't happy with Milly's work and lets her know in a most humiliating way. Milly sets up a revenge plan that takes years to execute. She's the last thing on Zac's mind until she returns older, wittier, and even more attractive. The real fun begins at this point as the same old love/hate vibe begins fills the air when they are thrust together to work on an important project.

There were some explicit scenes in the book, but the storyline itself made the book a fun read. This book would appeal to anyone who enjoys a good love story with some good humor mixed in.

[Sheena ☆ Book Sheenanigans · Rating 2 out of 5]