Review by Booklist Review
Fans of home shows will especially enjoy Sullivan's tale of interior designer Grace and real-estate mogul Noah. After inheriting a beach cottage from the grandparents she'd never known, Grace can't wait to start remodeling the house, though her limited funds make it a slow process. She hates that her obviously wealthy neighbor keeps offering her money and pressuring her to sell the house. Noah wants to build a bigger home with a pool, and enjoys verbally sparring with his new neighbor. When a magazine wants to feature Noah's home as he remodels it, the editor sees his feisty chemistry with Grace and includes her in the project. This could make Grace's career. Then she and Noah realize that they want to be more than house-renovation partners and start dating. Both struggle with wounds from difficult parents, and they make some missteps that they must learn to work through. The remodeling descriptions are vivid and lovely, and the romance offers terrific dialogue and chemistry. This thoroughly enjoyable read will please fans of Sara Desai's novels.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Enemies become lovers while remodeling neighboring beachside cottages in this endearing rom-com from Sullivan (Ten Rules for Faking It). Grace Travis and Noah Jansen meet cute on the beach: he sees a clumsy but attractive woman trying to wrangle a pack of leashed dogs, and she sees a Baywatch-esque paddleboarder who makes her heart beat faster. Then they discover that they're neighbors. Struggling interior design student Grace just moved into the California beach house her grandparents left her and intends to make a home of the fixer-upper. Wealthy businessman Noah is hoping to flip the house next door in his efforts to get out from his father's shadow. To achieve his vision for the renovation, he needs Grace's property--but there's no way she'll sell. With neither willing to back down, their feud turns into a war. Readers will be charmed by both characters, whose mutual animosity is partially driven by their equally dysfunctional parents. Luckily, they're surrounded by friends and family who support them along the way. The result is a refreshing romance with a strong sense of setting and a charismatic cast. Readers will fall in love right alongside Grace and Noah. Agent: Frances Black, Literary Counsel. (Jan.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A real estate developer learns what it truly means to build a home when he's forced to negotiate with an interior design student. After a childhood spent in trailers with a mother who saw her as a burden, Grace Travis is excited and anxious when she moves into the house she's inherited from her grandparents. She has a clear vision for the house and for her life: gradually bring the house back to its former glory and graduate as an interior designer with flying colors. But businessman and new neighbor Noah Jansen throws a wrench in her carefully laid plans. Noah wants to buy Grace's house, and he has his own reasons for wanting the property. He believes that the added space will enable him to re-create the kind of home in which he spent his happiest years as a child. He's tempted to use his considerable business acumen to manipulate Grace into selling him the property, but her natural charm and determination to hold on to the house force Noah to reconsider. They mend fences (literally and figuratively) after a few initial altercations, but they must confront several home truths if their instant chemistry is to lead to a real relationship. Grace and Noah map the enemies-to-lovers trajectory with just the right amount of novelty and sweetness. While their interactions with each other are pleasant, their banter with their respective families and friends is especially charming and fun. Noah's family issues seem underdeveloped and perfunctory, but Sullivan is at her best when she focuses on the building of meaningful relationships between Noah and the several new entrants in his life, including the space he hopes to call his home. Intricate details about home renovations jostle for space with matters of the heart in this lighthearted romance. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
