Competing authors become dueling lovers in Ladies in Hating. Plagiarism and passion meet, cultures clash, and the reader goes home amused and satisfied. It’s an easy-to-adore one-two punch, and if you like enemies to lovers stories it’s a combination that can’t be beat. But the book is saddled with an unenthralling mystery and late-book family drama that distract from the sexual tension between our leads.

After successfully publishing gothic novels under the pen name Geneva Desrosiers, Lady Georgiana “Georgie” Cleeve has a problem. Someone has begun to publish tales with details stolen straight from her unpublished manuscripts and selling them as their own for cash under the name “Lady Darling,” and Georgie, understandably, is fit to be tied. She loves a mystery – and so there’s nothing for her to do but ferret out the criminal. She sacrificed everything after all – including a connection to polite society and her two brothers – when her identity as Geneva was revealed.

Unfortunately for her, “Lady Darling” is the pen name for Catriona “Cat” Lacey – her former butler’s daughter. Back when they were teenagers. Georgie was infatuated with Cat, but it went poorly for multiple reasons. Why has Cat been writing stories drawn from Georgie’s notes? Cat claims she has done what she needed to do to keep her family from falling into penury. To say they resent one another is putting it mildly.

Now determined to out-scoop each other, they both close in on the purportedly haunted Renwick Castle – the place where they’re both planning on setting their next books. Georgie brings her dog, Bacon, and they both bring their simmering sexual tension. Bacon keeps barking at the air, they keeps seeing phantom servants, and an assortment of spooky noises keep occurring. Push will come to shove, and shove will lead to murder – but will love win out in the end?

Ladies in Hating is a likeable romance with two leads that are relatable, understanding people. It’s hard not to sympathize with Georgie and with Cat – Cat for her impoverished past and desire to succeed, Georgie for all she has done to remain true to herself. Their romance is sparkly and initially has momentum but once they get over themselves midbook, the story has little to no tension. The rest of the plot is taken up by a pretty weak murder, and a pretty weak conflict between Cat and her brother.

The setting is fun, though, as always, this is lighter on intense historical study. Though this is a part of the Belvior’s Library series, it reads well on its own. I’ve enjoyed most of Alexandra Vasti’s work, but she hasn’t quite crested over a B yet for me. Still, Ladies in Hating is a fun book that’s just a bit imperfect. I think many will enjoy it.