Verdict: A slow-burn sapphic academy romance between a scholarship outcast and the heiress queen bee who’s tormented her for years — fiery, angsty enemies-to-lovers.
Best for: Readers who love bully-to-lovers, rich-girl/poor-girl class tension, ice-vs-fire dynamics, and a long, angsty slow burn.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ (3/5 — steamy with a slow build)
Rating: ★★★★ 3.94/5 average across 6,832 Goodreads ratings — a large, engaged reader signal.
Tropes: Enemies to lovers · Bully romance · Rich girl / poor girl · Academy · Slow burn · Opposites attract
Hate, detest, despise — those are the only words Adaline and Juliette have for each other, at least at first. Loathing You by Amina Khan is a slow-burn sapphic academy romance built on years of rivalry, class resentment, and simmering tension. If you’re building a list of the best dark sapphic romance books, this enemies-to-lovers favorite is worth a look.
What Is Loathing You About?
Loathing You centers on two students at Richmond academy who can barely stand to be in the same room. Adaline Emery is a bisexual scholarship student who’s worked for everything she has, and she’s spent five years as the target of a certain she-devil’s cruelty — punished, as far as she can tell, for the crimes of being queer and not being born rich.
That she-devil is Juliette Kingston: heiress to a multimillion-dollar empire, queen bee of the academy, and the polar opposite of Adaline in every way. Juliette is ice to Adaline’s fire, handed everything where Adaline earned it, adored where Adaline is an outcast. Yet Juliette can’t seem to stay away — the urge to spar rises in her every time Adaline is near. Their loathing, it turns out, may be hiding something far more complicated.
What Makes This Sapphic Enemies-to-Lovers Work
Khan leans into the tropes readers love and commits to the slow burn. What stands out:
- Classic ice-vs-fire chemistry. Juliette’s cold control against Adaline’s heat is the engine of the whole book, and the sparks are constant.
- Real class tension. The scholarship-vs-heiress divide gives the rivalry substance beyond simple bullying.
- A patient slow burn. Years of history mean the shift from loathing to longing is drawn out and earned.
- An angsty emotional core. The hurt underneath the hostility gives the romance genuine feeling.
- Big crossover appeal. With nearly 7,000 ratings, it clearly resonates with enemies-to-lovers fans.
Book Synopsis
At Richmond academy, Adaline Emery keeps her head down and her grades up, all too aware that she doesn’t belong among the silver-spoon crowd. For five years, Juliette Kingston — the school’s untouchable heiress — has made a project of making Adaline’s life miserable, and Adaline has the scars, emotional and otherwise, to prove it.
But Juliette’s fixation cuts both ways. For all her icy composure, she can’t leave Adaline alone, and the constant friction between them starts to look less like pure hatred and more like something neither wants to name. As the two are thrown together again and again, the loathing they’ve built their identities around begins to crack — revealing the vulnerability, and the pull, hiding underneath.
My Review
If enemies-to-lovers is your comfort trope, Loathing You serves it up in full. Amina Khan understands the appeal of ice-vs-fire — Juliette’s cold cruelty against Adaline’s fierce, worked-for pride — and she draws out the antagonism long enough that the eventual thaw actually feels earned. The class tension gives the rivalry real teeth: this isn’t just mean-girl drama, it’s a scholarship outcast squaring off against an heiress, and that power imbalance shapes everything.
The angst is the heart of it. There’s genuine hurt beneath the hostility — five years of it — and Khan mines that for a slow burn that rewards patience. When the softness finally breaks through, it lands. Adaline is easy to root for, and Juliette’s gradual unravelling from queen bee to something more human is satisfying to watch. It’s the kind of book you tear through in a couple of sittings.
A few honest notes. This sits on the lighter, angstier end of the “dark” spectrum — it’s a bully-romance with real bite, but readers expecting something truly grim may find it more new-adult angst than dark. The slow burn is genuinely slow, and a handful of readers wanted the bullying reckoned with more directly. But as a fiery, emotional enemies-to-lovers academy romance, it delivers exactly what its big fanbase loves.
| Element | In Loathing You |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Adaline, a scholarship outcast, & Juliette, the heiress queen bee |
| Core tropes | Enemies to lovers, bully romance, rich girl/poor girl, opposites attract |
| Setting | Richmond academy — an elite, class-divided school |
| Heat level | 🌶️🌶️🌶️ (3/5) |
| Series | Reads as a standalone academy romance |
| Content notes | Bullying, class conflict, angst — check the author’s notes for the full list |
How Spicy Is Loathing You?
It’s a moderate 3 out of 5, with a slow build. The heat arrives later and is charged by the years of loathing that precede it, so when the tension finally breaks, it carries real weight.
This leans more angst-and-slow-burn than relentlessly explicit — the emotional payoff is as central as the physical one. If you love earned, tension-heavy heat, this fits.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you adore enemies-to-lovers, bully-to-lovers, rich-girl/poor-girl tension, and a long, angsty slow burn with a satisfying thaw.
You may want to skip it if: you want a fast-paced or truly dark read, dislike bully dynamics, or prefer high heat from the start.
In short: a fiery, angsty sapphic academy romance for readers who live for the slow burn from hate to love.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Loathing You a standalone?
Yes. It reads as a self-contained enemies-to-lovers academy romance with a complete arc.
Is Loathing You a true sapphic romance?
Yes. It’s a fully sapphic romance centered on Adaline, who is bisexual, and Juliette.
How steamy is Loathing You really?
Moderately — around a 3 out of 5, with a slow build. The heat arrives later and is amplified by the long-simmering rivalry.
Does Loathing You have a happy ending?
It’s written as a romance and follows the enemies-to-lovers arc toward a hopeful resolution, so readers can expect the payoff the slow burn promises.
How dark is Loathing You?
It’s on the lighter, angstier end of the dark spectrum — a bully romance with real emotional bite rather than a grim, heavy read. Check the content notes if bullying is a sensitive topic for you.
If You Loved Loathing You, Read These Next
If the ice-vs-fire rivalry, class tension, and angsty slow burn worked for you, you’ll find more to love in our roundup of the best dark sapphic romance books — from campus enemies-to-lovers to richer, darker rivalries.
The Bottom Line
Loathing You is a fiery, angsty sapphic academy romance that pits a scholarship outcast against the heiress who’s tormented her for years, then lets their loathing slowly crack into something more. It’s lighter than truly dark reads and takes its time, but Amina Khan delivers the earned, tension-heavy enemies-to-lovers payoff its huge readership adores — a great pick for slow-burn fans.
Check Loathing You on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
Our house scorecard, weighing the book across the dimensions that matter most to dark sapphic romance readers.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall — ★★★★ 3.9/5
- ✓ Anchored to a 3.94 average across a large 6,832 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ A satisfying, angsty enemies-to-lovers academy romance
- ✓ Ice-vs-fire chemistry with real class tension
- ✓ Lighter and slower than truly dark reads
Romance — ★★★★ 4.0/5
- ✓ Classic, well-executed enemies-to-lovers
- ✓ Earned thaw after years of rivalry
- ✓ Genuine angst beneath the hostility
- ✓ A patient, tension-heavy slow burn
Characters — ★★★★ 3.9/5
- ✓ Adaline is easy to root for
- ✓ Juliette’s unravelling is satisfying
- ✓ Believable class-driven conflict
- ✓ Supporting cast fairly familiar
Writing — ★★★½ 3.7/5
- ✓ Readable, emotion-forward prose
- ✓ Strong grasp of the tropes
- ✓ Effective slow-burn pacing
- ✓ Occasionally leans new-adult angsty
Emotional Impact — ★★★★ 3.9/5
- ✓ The hurt-beneath-hostility lands
- ✓ Angst gives the romance real feeling
- ✓ Satisfying emotional payoff
- ✓ Bullying could be reckoned with more
Heat Level — ★★★½ 3.5/5
- ✓ Steamy with a deliberate slow build
- ✓ Heat charged by long rivalry
- ✓ Emotional payoff matches the physical
- ✓ Not relentlessly explicit
Ending — ★★★★ 3.9/5
- ✓ Delivers the enemies-to-lovers payoff
- ✓ Complete standalone arc
- ✓ Hopeful, satisfying resolution
- ✓ Wraps the central rivalry well
Re-read Value — ★★★★ 3.8/5
- ✓ A comfort re-read for trope lovers
- ✓ The slow burn rewards revisiting
- ✓ Standalone arc is satisfying to return to
- ✓ Broad enemies-to-lovers appeal
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