Last updated on 04/14/2026
The road to love is bumpy in Charlotte Stein’s WHILE YOU WERE SEETHING — a sexy and heartwarming contemporary romance filled with fake dating hijinks, delicious forced proximity, and top tier banter.
Daisy Emmett has been enemies with famous romance author Caleb Miller since they were in college together, and time hasn’t lessened their mutual loathing. So, when she agrees to maneuver him through a PR disaster of his own making, she knows it’s not going to be easy. She just doesn’t realise how not easy until they somehow end up trapped in the same truck, on an endless road trip from one book tour stop to another, bantering and butting heads along the way.
Then, even more people appear to be mistaking her for the woman he dedicates all his books to. The love of his life, his adored beloved—the one who doesn’t actually exist. Now they’re trapped into pretending she does and that Daisy is her, each fake kiss and phony embrace ratcheting up the tension to the point where enemies suddenly seems a lot closer to lovers than either of them would like.
Or so they’re telling themselves.
But sometimes it’s hard to be sure, when seething turns into something so much more . . .
Review:
A fabulous end to the (Ted Lasso-inspired) trilogy!
While You Were Seething takes the usual banter and snark (and, when the time comes, absolutely filthy, filthy not even remotely closed door scenes) we’ve come to expect from Ms Stein on a road trip! Daisy and Caleb are an antagonists to lovers (or are they?) couple with a complicated past–he’s beyond grumpy because of reasons, she’s remade herself into a quieter, less sunshine-y person than she really is because people are jerks–who are in close proximity (and occasionally, there’s only one bed) and, accidentally a fake (only of course it’s so not! They just need to get around to actually communicate about it) relationship.
So many tropes! So much snark!
Plus, our grumpy AF hero is a bestselling romance author who’s been dedicating his novels to his secret love, who our heroine assumes is made up but absolutely isn’t and I was here for it!
I full on snort laughed while reading this, more than once (so sorry, various people who were in my vicinity) and once their slowish burn turned to full on burn, was very glad I wasn’t reading this with an audience anymore 😉
Written in third person from Daisy’s POV, the reader is kept guessing what Caleb’s feelings are for much of the book–though of course we get an inkling waaaaay before she does, since we haven’t been in denial about it for years–which, IMO, is such a delicious way to deliver the story. I’m sure it’s not for everyone, but I couldn’t get enough!
Since it’s mostly Daisy and Caleb on the page here (with occasional Beck sightings), it could absolutely be read as a standalone. But in the interest of being thorough–and knowing what Daisy’s referring to when she talks about the various past dramas in Alfie and Mabel’s and Beck and Connie’s lives–I really recommend reading their books ( When Grumpy Met Sunshine and My Big Fat Fake Marriage ) too!
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.