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Sweet on the CEO Again: An Enemies to Lovers CEO Romance
The latest romance by Kate Hardy, a second chance, opposites attract, workplace romance!
Going back for seconds?
Livi is not impressed that her family has hired marketing CEO Josh to take their restaurant to the next level. Years ago, her attempts to comfort him following an accident led to her melting into his arms — until he swiftly pushed her away. Now, working together sparks even sweeter temptation...something Livi cannot allow. A chocolate course in Brussels is the perfect escape. Except Josh comes after her! Finally facing their past, Livi learns there was more to his rejection. But dare she risk another taste of heartbreak?
Mills & Boon Forever — Be swept away by glamorous and heartfelt love stories.
Going back for seconds?
Livi is not impressed that her family has hired marketing CEO Josh to take their restaurant to the next level. Years ago, her attempts to comfort him following an accident led to her melting into his arms — until he swiftly pushed her away. Now, working together sparks even sweeter temptation...something Livi cannot allow. A chocolate course in Brussels is the perfect escape. Except Josh comes after her! Finally facing their past, Livi learns there was more to his rejection. But dare she risk another taste of heartbreak?
Mills & Boon Forever — Be swept away by glamorous and heartfelt love stories.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 2026
About the author
Kate Hardy
816 books263 followersKate Hardy is the award-winning author of more than 100 books for Harlequin Mills & Boon and the Georgina Drake cozy crime series for Storm. Her novel 'Breakfast at Giovanni's' won the RNA Romance Prize in 2008, 'Bound by a Baby' won the RNA RoNA Rose in 2014 and ‘A Will, A Wish, A Wedding’ won the RNA Liberta Books Shorter Fiction award in 2021. She's been shortlisted six more times for the award, as well as for two Romantic Times awards.
She lives in Norwich in the east of England with her husband, two grown-up children, springer spaniels Archie and Dexter, and too many books to count. She's a bit of a nerd who loves cinema, live music, the theatre, ballet, history and cooking, and adores anything Italian. She loves doing research, particularly if it's hands-on and means experimenting with cooking. Reviewers say that her books are full of warmth, heart and charm - and also that you'll learn something new and interesting from them!
Kate also writes bestselling local history books under the name of Pamela Brooks.
She lives in Norwich in the east of England with her husband, two grown-up children, springer spaniels Archie and Dexter, and too many books to count. She's a bit of a nerd who loves cinema, live music, the theatre, ballet, history and cooking, and adores anything Italian. She loves doing research, particularly if it's hands-on and means experimenting with cooking. Reviewers say that her books are full of warmth, heart and charm - and also that you'll learn something new and interesting from them!
Kate also writes bestselling local history books under the name of Pamela Brooks.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 18, 2026
3.5 stars rounded up. The March 2026 #TBRChallenge is "Tropetastic!" I decided to take this as a chance to indulge in my favorite trope(s). As it turns out, one of the latest additions to Mount TBR includes several that are my personal brand of kryptonite: second chance romance, childhood friends-to-lovers, in love with sibling's BFF (or BFF's sibling, from the other side). The sample also revealed another piece of catnip: a musician main character ♥
Livi Lambert is a fourth-generation pastry chef at her family's brasserie in London. She is invited in on an off-day to attend a presentation by a marketing firm, to assess how they can bring in more business. She is not prepared to find herself face to face with Josh Garrett for the first time in 8 years. Josh is her older brother's BFF, someone who has been intertwined in her family for the entirety of her life. She had a longstanding crush on him through her girlhood and teenage years; they had an interlude when she was 20 and he was 24, a culmination of her childhood dreams but one that also ended exceptionally badly. Neither told anyone in her family what happened; Josh actually ducked out of his BFF's wedding and the christening of said BFF's first child to give Livi space.
Josh said a lot of viciously cruel things to push Livi away 8 years ago. He was in a dark place; at 24, he'd had a life-altering accident that ended his career as a classical violinist. Their one-night-stand was an impulse, and when he realized she was a virgin, he felt horrified and unworthy. Knowing of her crush on him, and that she would likely view this interlude as the prelude to something more, he pushed her away and put himself into inpatient therapy - it was the impetus he needed to really get his head on straight again. It took him nearly a decade to rebuild his life, but he managed to successfully retrain in a new career. He has walled music out of his life in order to protect his heart, and now, face-to-face with the girl he hurt so much, all he wants to do is apologize and move forward.
When Josh wins the account, and Livi's parents tell her that they want her to take the lead on the expansion project, the two are at a crossroads. Can they move past their complicated history? Do either of them really want to? Livi is extremely focused on bettering herself in her career and not letting herself be hurt again. At 28, she feels like she's seen it all, and maybe isn't cut out for relationships. Josh, meanwhile, is sorta coasting along, still dealing with the big gaping hole in his life that music once filled.
What I enjoyed about this novel: it is sweet, quiet, and very emotional, and it definitely tugged at my heartstrings. Josh is very forthright with taking responsibility for what he did to Livi when he dumped her so callously all those years ago, and he works hard to keep the lines of communication open. I really felt that he was acting realistically and authentically for his age, and where he was in life. He's done a lot of work already, and owns the fact that nobody can fix him but himself. I was a little less enamored of LIvi; she seemed quite young for her age and spends most of the book fighting the expectations of her childhood crush/dreams of romance vs the very real reality of the here and now. She is the one who has all of the plot beats of a category romance: the doubt, the running away, the inability to communicate clearly, the desire to fix her man, and it just felt like she wasn't quite ready to meet him where he was.
Unfortunately, when the two are in Brussels (Livi for a chocolatier course; Josh because he wants to talk to her, face-to-face, and she'd basically bolted out on him) there is a LOT of infodumping - none of their conversations about chocolate-making or the history of Belgian lace felt natural - and the Black Moment where Josh has to face his desire for (and fear of) music again. This plot point felt very rushed, and was unsatisfactory. There is a 2-years-later epilogue tacked on and I just didn't believe he'd gotten over all of his issues with no longer being able to perform as a world class musician.
(I also hated the epilogue, and feel like the story can be enjoyed without it, but YMMV.)
Given the state of contemporary romance these days, this was a lovely read and I'd definitely try this author's work again. It was a pleasure to have an excuse to wallow in my favorite tropes, LOL.
Livi Lambert is a fourth-generation pastry chef at her family's brasserie in London. She is invited in on an off-day to attend a presentation by a marketing firm, to assess how they can bring in more business. She is not prepared to find herself face to face with Josh Garrett for the first time in 8 years. Josh is her older brother's BFF, someone who has been intertwined in her family for the entirety of her life. She had a longstanding crush on him through her girlhood and teenage years; they had an interlude when she was 20 and he was 24, a culmination of her childhood dreams but one that also ended exceptionally badly. Neither told anyone in her family what happened; Josh actually ducked out of his BFF's wedding and the christening of said BFF's first child to give Livi space.
Josh said a lot of viciously cruel things to push Livi away 8 years ago. He was in a dark place; at 24, he'd had a life-altering accident that ended his career as a classical violinist. Their one-night-stand was an impulse, and when he realized she was a virgin, he felt horrified and unworthy. Knowing of her crush on him, and that she would likely view this interlude as the prelude to something more, he pushed her away and put himself into inpatient therapy - it was the impetus he needed to really get his head on straight again. It took him nearly a decade to rebuild his life, but he managed to successfully retrain in a new career. He has walled music out of his life in order to protect his heart, and now, face-to-face with the girl he hurt so much, all he wants to do is apologize and move forward.
When Josh wins the account, and Livi's parents tell her that they want her to take the lead on the expansion project, the two are at a crossroads. Can they move past their complicated history? Do either of them really want to? Livi is extremely focused on bettering herself in her career and not letting herself be hurt again. At 28, she feels like she's seen it all, and maybe isn't cut out for relationships. Josh, meanwhile, is sorta coasting along, still dealing with the big gaping hole in his life that music once filled.
What I enjoyed about this novel: it is sweet, quiet, and very emotional, and it definitely tugged at my heartstrings. Josh is very forthright with taking responsibility for what he did to Livi when he dumped her so callously all those years ago, and he works hard to keep the lines of communication open. I really felt that he was acting realistically and authentically for his age, and where he was in life. He's done a lot of work already, and owns the fact that nobody can fix him but himself. I was a little less enamored of LIvi; she seemed quite young for her age and spends most of the book fighting the expectations of her childhood crush/dreams of romance vs the very real reality of the here and now. She is the one who has all of the plot beats of a category romance: the doubt, the running away, the inability to communicate clearly, the desire to fix her man, and it just felt like she wasn't quite ready to meet him where he was.
Unfortunately, when the two are in Brussels (Livi for a chocolatier course; Josh because he wants to talk to her, face-to-face, and she'd basically bolted out on him) there is a LOT of infodumping - none of their conversations about chocolate-making or the history of Belgian lace felt natural - and the Black Moment where Josh has to face his desire for (and fear of) music again. This plot point felt very rushed, and was unsatisfactory. There is a 2-years-later epilogue tacked on and I just didn't believe he'd gotten over all of his issues with no longer being able to perform as a world class musician.
(I also hated the epilogue, and feel like the story can be enjoyed without it, but YMMV.)
Given the state of contemporary romance these days, this was a lovely read and I'd definitely try this author's work again. It was a pleasure to have an excuse to wallow in my favorite tropes, LOL.
Displaying 1 of 1 review