"HateLove:
Book Two" by Anna Jane, summary Automatic translate

Anna Jane’s 2019 novel returns readers to the story of Dasha and Dani at a moment when their former closeness has been shattered by resentment, jealousy, and the will of others. This is the second book in the story, and its tension stems from the gap between the characters’ long-standing, almost familial affection and the mutual hatred with which they now disguise their love.

The plot

The prologue introduces Vlad Savitsky: in a noisy club, he suffers a painful blow to his pride, loses his composure, and quickly turns a personal grudge into a desire for revenge. This scene immediately sets the tone for what follows, as Vlad proves to be a man who readily exploits others’ weaknesses and loves to press their buttons.

The narrative then returns to Dana Matveyev and his memory of Dasha. He recalls that she was there since childhood, that he was used to protecting her, and that his feelings for her arose very early, almost before he could call it love. Alongside these memories, Karolina also appears: Dana once decided to protect her, too, but their connection with her was tinged differently from the very beginning and doesn’t displace Dasha from his inner life.

Breakup

In the present, Dasha lives with the conviction that Dania has betrayed her and chosen Karolina. Her pain gives rise to a stubborn desire to reciprocate, and she approaches Vlad Savitsky, hoping to prove to both herself and Dania that she can move on from her former love. Vlad willingly accepts this game because it gives him access to two goals at once: Dasha and the opportunity to torment Matveyev.

Dasha’s interactions with Vlad quickly become less and less harmless. Trips, parties, the Krylia club, conversations bordering on provocation, and ostentatious gallantry reveal Savitsky to be a disturbing mixture of charm, calculation, and cruelty. During these moments, Danya maintains a cool demeanor, argues with Vlad, enters into dangerous agreements with him, and increasingly reveals that behind his outward indifference lies a constant control over the situation.

The culmination of this phase occurs when Vlad attempts to cross the line and force intimacy on Dasha. Dania intervenes and saves her, after which their relationship again becomes almost unbearable: Dasha hates him for his previous deception, yet in his presence she still feels the protection she had long been deprived of. Matveyev, too, can no longer hide the fact that he still considers her his greatest pain and his primary choice.

Rapprochement

The book then transports the characters to a strange, almost theatrical setting, a staged wedding, into which Stas draws them. The preparations for this event — buying rings, fussing at the restaurant, dancing, traveling together, and forced intimacy — break the usual distance between Dasha and Danya. They are once again forced to act close, argue over trivial matters, catch each other’s thoughts mid-sentence, and realize that the feeling hasn’t gone away.

These chapters are important because love returns here not through loud declarations, but through everyday life, physical memory, and old, almost automatic care. Dasha sees that Matveyev still reads her state without words, and Danya again finds brief moments of peace when she’s near and stops pushing him away. Kisses, outbursts of jealousy, and rare truces don’t heal the old wound, but they make the simple "traitor Danya" narrative no longer sufficient.

After the wedding scenes, the tension doesn’t subside. Vlad Savitsky continues to interfere in their lives, and Karolina increasingly finds herself the link between old lies and the current threat. Dasha notices oddities, hears hints, sees photographs and details that don’t fit together, and gradually approaches the main question: what exactly was Danya hiding from her and why did he spend so long breaking both her and himself.

Secret

The answer comes in the part of the novel where Danya finally tells the whole truth. He admits that after certain events, he was forced to feign love for Karolina and stage an affair in front of Dasha so that Savitsky would have a better chance of getting closer to her. Danya explains that he acted under pressure and fear: he was reminded of Liza’s story, which had led her to survive the accident and lose her child, and he was terrified that Dasha would also suffer because of his decisions and the cruelty of others.

This confession doesn’t bring immediate relief. For Dasha, the truth is poisonous: she sees that Danya genuinely wanted to protect her, but he did so through lies, humiliation, silence, and the destruction of trust. Two truths collide in her mind — he is a man who betrayed and saved her at the same time, and it is this duality that strikes harder than any previous blow.

After their conversation, the characters struggle to speak frankly for a long time. What’s important aren’t the loud gestures, but the scenes where they sit next to each other, tend to their wounds, drive home, go to the store, argue, make up again, and gradually regain their right to be honest. Danya, for the first time, chooses Dasha out loud without reservation, and Dasha stops pretending her feelings have died.

Denouement

At the same time, Karolina’s true colors are revealed. At the beginning of the book, she still seems like a figure from an old school story, but towards the end, it becomes clear that her envy, resentment, and desire to keep Dania have made her a participant in a dangerous game. Against this backdrop, Vlad finally sheds his charming cynic mask and acts as a stalker and puppeteer, determined to subjugate others’ will.

The final chapters build to a direct confrontation with this lie. Savitsky loses control, Karolina suffers defeat, and the chain of intrigue, blackmail, and omissions disintegrates under the weight of the truth. For Dasha and Dani, this means not a miraculous forgetting of the past, but a difficult, conscious return to each other after all they’ve been through.

In the final chapter and epilogue, the book shifts the tension to a quieter tone. Dasha and Danya are already together, and their happiness is conveyed without flashy effects: through calm, physical intimacy, a sense of home, and the clear knowledge that they are traveling the same path. This is especially evident in the scene with the letters to her future self: Dasha reads an old letter asking him to maintain her connection with Matveyev, and Danya shows his short note — "I hope she became yours" — and this gesture closes a long story of mistrust, jealousy, and fear.