Suddenly One Summer by Julie James (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Also by this author: Thing about Love
Published by Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated on April 28th 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance
Pages: 304
From the New York Times bestselling author of It Happened One Wedding comes a novel about a man and a woman whose summer is about to get very, very hot... Divorce lawyer Victoria Slade has seen enough unhappy endings to swear off marriage forever. That doesn't mean she's opposed to casual dating—just not with her cocky new neighbor, who is as gorgeous and tempting as he is off-limits. But once she agrees to take on his sister's case, she's as determined to win as ever—even if that means teaming up with Ford.... Investigative journalist Ford Dixon is bent on finding the man who got his sister pregnant and left her high and dry. He's willing to partner with Victoria, despite the fact that the beautiful brunette gets under his skin like no other woman. He might not be looking to settle down, but there's no denying the scorching attraction between them. Still, the more time he spends with Victoria, the more he realizes that the one woman as skeptical about love as he is might be the only woman he could really fall for…
3.5 stars
I just have to start with saying that I loooooved Ford in this. Like… absolutely. I haven’t read every book in this series, in fact, I think I’ve actually only read one other, but whatever. He wins. Everything.
Victoria Slade is one of the city’s most successful divorce lawyers… her mantra ‘what do you need to move on from this marriage and start building your new life’ provides her with a goal for her clients and she’s pretty successful at it. A break-in at her home opens up some of her past issues … issues she’s buried way down deep, and it also forces her to change her life drastically. Moving into a condo isn’t ideal, but it will have to work for the summer. Even if her cocky neighbor drives her nuts.
Ford Dixon is determined to help his sister find the guy she had a one-night stand with that resulted in his amazing niece Zoe. As an investigative journalist he has the means to help but he begrudgingly accepts that his irritating new neighbor is necessary in this process too. He’s willing to work with Victoria to help Nicole but that’s as far as it goes… only, the more time he spends with Victoria, the more he’s drawn to her and they can only resist the chemistry between them for so long.
Here’s the thing. I was completely into this story. I loved the dynamics between Ford and Victoria… I loved the side story about Nicole and finding the father of her child… I loved the chemistry between the main characters.
I know… you’re waiting for the “but”.
BUT
When everything finally came to a head, it just didn’t work for me. It didn’t make sense to me. I couldn’t figure out why she was letting him go. I guess maybe I was supposed to understand that she was pushing him away because he finally got to see something real about her, he finally was getting under the superficial and she didn’t want to let him in… but I don’t think that was really conveyed all that well here. I felt like everything is going well, this one thing happens, and then boom sorry… see you around hot, sexy investigative journalist.
Plus… ugh this is set in Chicago and there was a lot of references to a subway… Which just was bothering me, because I don’t know – it’s the El right? I mean I guess some people might call it the subway, but it was distracting because the first few times it happened I had to double check to make sure it was actually set in Chicago.
Okay – so all that said, I did enjoy the story. The characters were fairly well-developed, I really enjoyed the plot, and Ford and Victoria were fun to get to know. I absolutely loved Ford (please see the first sentence of this review) and I am positively becoming a Julie James fan. I’m definitely going to be checking out some of her previous stuff that I haven’t read yet and I will be looking forward to seeing what she has in the future.
Thank you to Berkley / NAL for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts!
I just have to start with saying that I loooooved Ford in this. Like… absolutely. I haven’t read every book in this series, in fact, I think I’ve actually only read one other, but whatever. He wins. Everything.
Victoria Slade is one of the city’s most successful divorce lawyers… her mantra ‘what do you need to move on from this marriage and start building your new life’ provides her with a goal for her clients and she’s pretty successful at it. A break-in at her home opens up some of her past issues … issues she’s buried way down deep, and it also forces her to change her life drastically. Moving into a condo isn’t ideal, but it will have to work for the summer. Even if her cocky neighbor drives her nuts.
Ford Dixon is determined to help his sister find the guy she had a one-night stand with that resulted in his amazing niece Zoe. As an investigative journalist he has the means to help but he begrudgingly accepts that his irritating new neighbor is necessary in this process too. He’s willing to work with Victoria to help Nicole but that’s as far as it goes… only, the more time he spends with Victoria, the more he’s drawn to her and they can only resist the chemistry between them for so long.
Here’s the thing. I was completely into this story. I loved the dynamics between Ford and Victoria… I loved the side story about Nicole and finding the father of her child… I loved the chemistry between the main characters.
I know… you’re waiting for the “but”.
BUT
When everything finally came to a head, it just didn’t work for me. It didn’t make sense to me. I couldn’t figure out why she was letting him go. I guess maybe I was supposed to understand that she was pushing him away because he finally got to see something real about her, he finally was getting under the superficial and she didn’t want to let him in… but I don’t think that was really conveyed all that well here. I felt like everything is going well, this one thing happens, and then boom sorry… see you around hot, sexy investigative journalist.
Plus… ugh this is set in Chicago and there was a lot of references to a subway… Which just was bothering me, because I don’t know – it’s the El right? I mean I guess some people might call it the subway, but it was distracting because the first few times it happened I had to double check to make sure it was actually set in Chicago.
Okay – so all that said, I did enjoy the story. The characters were fairly well-developed, I really enjoyed the plot, and Ford and Victoria were fun to get to know. I absolutely loved Ford (please see the first sentence of this review) and I am positively becoming a Julie James fan. I’m definitely going to be checking out some of her previous stuff that I haven’t read yet and I will be looking forward to seeing what she has in the future.
Thank you to Berkley / NAL for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts!
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