Kyle has an unwelcome crush on his nemesis Brent. Brent has a welcome crush on his friend Kyle. As it turns out, the line between a friend and an enemy doesn’t have to be a line at all.Born on the wrong side of the tracks to the wrong family, Kyle Potter has spent his life clawing his way toward a better future. When he gets the perfect job at the perfect firm in perfect Los Angeles, Kyle is sure … Angeles, Kyle is sure there are only blue skies ahead. And then he meets perfect Brent Haralson.
Born with a silver spoon to a well-established family, Brent Haralson has never been interested in leveraging his connections. Friends, success, and dates come easily to Brent and rejection isn’t something he has to deal with in life. And then he meets perfect Kyle Potter.
Kyle despises his unwelcome crush on his lazy, arrogant nemesis. Brent welcomes his feelings for his stubborn, brilliant friend. As it turns out, the line between a friend and an enemy doesn’t have to be a line at all.
Word count: 17,127
This is a 2nd edition without substantive changes from the 1st edition, which was part of the It Was Always You anthology.
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3.5*
Rough Edges was a short and sweet read. Kyle was a hard nut to crack at first, but he quickly grew on me, once I learned about his background. His upbringing caused him to be a bit of an overachiever, and to have a big ol’ chip on his shoulder, especially when it came to people like Brent, or who more importantly, the kind of person he thought Brent was. He and Brent were definite opposites in many ways, although Brent wasn’t quite the slacker Kyle thought him to be.
I got a kick out of the back and forth between these two, even though Kyle tended to take it a little too far. I liked how Brent just let a lot of what Kyle said and did roll off his back.
Things kind of moved quickly between them, but with their history it wasn’t hard to accept. I liked the way things worked out for them.
4.5 stars. Kyle has a major case of assumption. He’s positive he has Brent figured out based on nothing but knowing Brent is unemployed and wealthy. Cue the biting snark! It cracks me up because Kyle is trying so hard to be what he assumes Brent is; a wealthy, pretentious jerk. Brent totally sees through Kyle’s attitude to his motivations. He doesn’t take any of the barbs personally, he just finds Kyle a bit amusing and seriously cute. Living together gives Kyle a new perspective and helps him see the real Brent.
Audiobook: narrator did a great job
I’ve seen many people rave about this author but I think I picked the wrong book to start off with because I didn’t like this story at all. Well, it was more Kyle’s character that ruined it for me at about 10% in.
Basically Kyle works for some prestigious firm and loves to gloat about it, dress in suits and brag about his achievements. He was getting to know a friend of his friend’s, Brent, but the moment he found out that Brent lives off his trust fund and family money and doesn’t work… he loses interest. Which is completely fine in a general sense, but Kyle was such a fucking prick about it.
…so as soon as he learned about Brent’s non-employment status, his interest turned to disgust.
Disgust, really? Kyle treats Brent like shit as a human being and it’s infuriating. He constantly makes jabs at him and acts all snarky. Apparently even his other friend, Matthew, doesn’t want to be around him either.
So when Kyle got let go from his fancy ass job because the owners were brought up on criminal charges, well… look where that shit gets you, Kyle. No job, no money, lost his condo. And who decides to help him out? Brent, the unemployed rich dude who “wasn’t worthy of respect or trust because he took advantage of his privilege and did nothing to contribute to the world.” Words according to Kyle’s POV.
Brent gives him a room for free, cooks him steak, buys Kyle his favorite drink to keep in the fridge even though he doesn’t like it himself… and this dude is still acting like a stuck-up bastard and makes rude comments. Ugh. But Brent still likes him anyway, why I have no fucking clue.
The end was super abrupt. I suppose it’s an HEA and Kyle somewhat apologized but the whole thing was just ridiculous. I’m all for enemies to lovers reads but this didn’t really have that feel to me… it just felt like Kyle was a douchebag.
I’m still gonna give this author another try with a different book though. Seems a lot of other reviewers enjoyed this so maybe it’s just me.