To start off the new year I obviously need to start with a romance that I read right at the end of 2015. Last year about two thirds of my reads were romances, and those percentages aren’t looking to change much this year, although I do have a fair amount of non-romance that I’d like to get to.
To start the year off right we have Suddenly One Summer by Julie James, a contemporary romance that’s part of her FBI/Attorney series she’s been doing. This time we have Ford Dixon, investigative journalist at the Chicago Tribune, and his next door neighbor for the summer, Victoria Slade, divorce attorney extraordinaire. They start off not on the right foot at all, but through many incredibly contrived circumstances and automatic assumptions of the worst they meet annoyed, and slowly come around towards love.
So what I liked about this one: they both were very much adults. Ahhhh, I appreciate a romance where the characters are in their 30’s and will still admit that while they have lots of things figured out, they don’t have it all sorted. Just like actual people. Also that Victoria and Ford both have serious issues, and Victoria goes to therapy for them throughout the story. Just like actual people. The final scene of the novel is her bringing Ford with her to therapy, thereby making both of them confront their issues separately and together. Lovely.
What I didn’t like: I’m not a huge a fan of the enemies to lovers trope. It’s just not my favorite so they’re always a bit of a letdown for me in stories. Also, the ending wrapped up super fast, of them both going from “I don’t do relationships or commitment” to “I love you and want to have children with you”. Literally. That’s just too much for me. Even for adults in their mid-30s.
Overall it was a fine read. Especially for when you’re stuck sitting still for many, many hours of the day. It’s light both physically (it’s pretty short) and mentally so you’re not going to tax yourself, with just enough of an interesting plot to keep you going. By the end of the year will I remember this one? Probably not, but that’s okay. Not every story needs to be my next great read.
So, I just finished my own review of this one. I wanted to get that done before I read yours. I’m not sure I should have bothered. My review is frighteningly similar.
Don’t worry about it. When certain anticipated books are released you’ll find a flurry of reviews on the same book. We fins we each manage to put our own spin on it.