Abandoned by Booklikes

I liked this book. I think there were a couple of things that could have been improved upon (like Ford not being a jerk because a woman doesn't want to go out with him) but overall liked this a lot. Hot and steamy romance scenes, with two very compelling leads. We had some interesting secondary characters, and a very nice ending showing our couple going forward.

Our heroine in "Suddenly One Summer" is Victoria Slade. Victoria is a high profile divorce attorney (the US Attorney for this story) and has a successful practice. Coming home late one night, she is awoken by the sound of someone(s) breaking into her home. The whole incident brings back bad memories for Victoria and causes her to move out of her home and to temporarily rent a condo until her new condo is available for her to move into. Catching eyes with apparently a man that would would have Superman envying his jaw (that whole line made me laugh and think of a friend) Victoria is intrigued, but has a policy of not dating and has no intention of getting married.

Ford Dixon is an investigative journalist. Due to some recent events in his personal life, things feel a bit upside down. After going to a bar and laying eyes on a hot brunette with legs to die for, Ford wonders if she would be available to soothe some of his hurts.

Of course readers realize that Ford and Victoria have both noticed each other (I wonder if this would count as insta-lust?) but things don't work out with them, but they quickly do meet again after both realize that Victoria is Ford's new neighbor.

I had to laugh at Victoria and Ford's bickering. If anything, I thought Victoria was 100 percent in the right, and Ford kind of sucked a bit here and there. Victoria through no fault of her own, thinks her neighbor is a philandering POS. However, when Ford corrects her, he makes it deeply personal (or at least he did in my eyes). And then gets outraged that she doesn't want to go out with him. Honestly, this type of stuff is what made me stop reading "It Happened One Wedding." Nothing sets me off more than a man asking a woman out or hitting on her and then proceeding to act like an ass when she lets you know she's not interested.

Due to what I consider a little bit of a reach for plot, Victoria and Ford are thrown together. I just hand-waved it away though and just enjoyed it. Of course sparks fly, and both start to open up to each other.

There are some references to characters in other books in Julie James series. I only know that though, because I browsed her books and recalled the first names of some of the characters in her other works. I do want to credit her though for making all of the secondary characters work in this book. Though Ford's male friends were too dude bro for me at times and kind of annoying.

There is no life or death element to this story. I am not complaining. Sometimes you want to read a romance novel period. The flow was pretty good too.

The setting of Chicago I thought worked well. I am going to say that Victoria talking about her new condo in The Trump Tower just made my lips curl in disgust every time it was brought up in the book. Sorry, due to current events I don't even want to sit around thinking about trumpets. Back to the book, Chicago comes alive in this book. It's pretty obvious the author knows about the city and the neighborhoods. I was curious about why certain things were named what they were like Wicker Park and the Gold Coast, but you can't get everything.

The ending I thought was sweet. We don't have a typical we are going to run off and get married ending (thank goodness) but instead you see Victoria and Ford moving forward with healing due to both of them having a lot of things to still process and forgive themselves and others for due to their respective childhoods.