Sunday, August 14, 2016

Book: Suddenly One Summer by Julia James

★★★★/★★★★★
 
“Maybe I’m no one’s idea of Mr. Right.” 
“I’m not even going to stroke your ego by responding to that.”

This was my first book of Julie James and definitely not the last. Turned out I'm loving her writing more and more and well, I wanna read more of her amazing characters!

I'm a fan of contemporary romance and Suddenly One Summer was one of those I instantly liked because of its plot, humor and strong characters. And don't get me started with how much I liked Victoria Slade! She's smart, confident, ambitious, sassy and she's my kind of girl. The type of character you can relate with and that kind of heroine always impressed me. 

We can say that Victoria and Ford have started off on the wrong foot. That is too bad considering that Ford was actually attracted to Victoria that first night he saw her at the bar and Victoria can't deny that she was attracted to Ford too. They didn't have the chance to introduce themselves to each other and they could have been just a sexy girl and hot guy to each other but to their luck, they happen to meet again.

“Maybe. But, deep down, there would’ve been a part of you that would’ve been attracted to me, nevertheless.” He slowed down as they reached her front door. “Which means you would’ve said yes when I asked to walk you home that night, and we would’ve ended up right here, on your doorstep. With you wondering if I was going to give you a good-night kiss.”

Victoria Slade is a successful divorce lawyer who happens to lease a new place after robbers broke into her house one night. The incident somehow triggers a panic attack on Victoria and now she's having trouble sleeping, riding a train and attending her exercise class. Reluctantly, she decided to talk to a behavioral psychiatrist to whom she eventually tells the incident about her mother that had caused her first panic attack.Thinking that moving into a new place, with more neighbors and tighter security, will help, Victoria moves out of her townhome and decided to lease a new place temporarily. It just so happens that she moves right next to a man who likes late night parties and renovating his kitchen for the whole summer. So much for goodnight sleep and peace and quiet for Victoria. 

“So far, F. Dixon was turning out to be a real pain in the ass.

Ford Dixon works as a reporter at Chicago Tribune. He's good at what he does, he looks after his sister Nicole and niece Zoe and he happens to have a new neighbor. And oh, he's charming! But he also deals with his own family drama and it somehow affects him on having a healthy adult relationship. But he's game with casual dating and you know, casual sex with someone. No obligations, no expectations kind of thing. And things could've been different if only he introduced himself to that sexy girl at the bar that night. But he didn't and now that girl is living next to him and he realizes that she's actually snarky.
  “Doubtful. I was about ten seconds away from walking over to you before the blonde sat down, and if that had happened . . . Well, let’s just say I’d planned to be pretty charming.” 

Now that Victoria and Ford are living next to each other, they have to accept the fact that they would see each other one way or the other. Like it or not, there's only a wall separating their bedrooms. And when an unexpected situation gives Victoria and Ford no choice but to work together, things will somehow have a way of getting them closer than what they would have wanted to be.

 I loved that this book didn't focus solely on the romance side but it actually had good background stories. We were given a background about Victoria's past and Ford's issues growing up with an alcoholic father. Then there's that story of a confident lawyer who doesn't want to be seen having a panic attack in public and having issues about having serious adult relationship and then there's that sexy reporter who cares about his sister and niece and agreed to work with a sassy lawyer just so he could find the man who impregnated his sister.

The characters were also amazing and funny! Victoria's friends were the typical supportive friends and Ford's friends were the typical men who always want to know if you have a friend you can introduce him to. Ford's relationship with his sister Nicole and niece Zoe was also sweet. He was that protective-brother/uncle-who-will-punch-anyone-who-messes-with-his-sister/niece! Ford-Zoe moments were adorable! Confident that he was, Ford had to admit that somehow looking after a baby for a couple of hours (or seven) could feel like hell. Lol. But he was a good uncle. 

Nicole rolled her eyes. “Of course she smiles for you. Is there any member of the female species who doesn’t adore you?”  

And Brooke! I've read that Brooke has her own book but by just knowing that she was Ford's bestfriend, I feel like I would be liking her more when I get to her book. She was a lawyer like Victoria and she was Ford's good bestfriend. And I like that Ford can talk to her about 'feelings' unlike with his guy friends. 

 “You know, if you were a guy, and I’d just told you that I’d had fantastic, no-strings-attached sex with a hot woman, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. You’d simply high-five me and ask if she has any single friends.”  

The sexy romance between Victoria and Ford was perfect. They had their moments and I loved that they were always bantering and bickering. Victoria was always denying her attraction with Ford and Ford was always making Victoria want more. They agreed to just play around, no obligations, no expectations, but as they continue to spend time together, things were starting to get real. And seeing the ugly side of marriage as a divorce lawyer, it didn't really help her situation with Ford.

 “I suppose I could stop by your place tonight, after work.” 
She paused, her lips curving up at the corners. “That is, if I can squeeze my way in between the cavalcade.” 
 “Couldn’t resist getting that in one more time, could you?” He stood up. “You know, you are going to be so disappointed when I turn out not to fit into whatever ‘womanizing player’ box you’ve put me in.” 

Overall it was a good read! An entertaining sexy romance with a touch of lawyer/reporter game. And after reading this book, I decided I need to read Julie James's other books!

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