REVIEW: Suddenly One Summer by Julie James

In Suddenly One Summer by Julie James, Ford Dixon is a man who works hard as a journalist, enjoys downtime with his close friends, and keeps thing casual in the romance department. He’s never really been tempted to get serious until he runs into Victoria, the lawyer who is renting the loft next door to him. She’s snarky, beautiful, and is helping Ford’s younger sister with a legal case without any prompting on his part. What should be the perfect set-up for a summer of no-strings-attached sex soon becomes much more serious than he intended. And Ford’s not quite sure what to do about that.

‘Ford stood there, taking a moment to digest the fact that yes, that had just happened. Some perfect stranger who didn’t know jack-shit about his personal life had just given him a smug talking-to. All of a sudden, Victoria the Divorce Lawyer or Something didn’t seem like such a great addition to the building, after all.’

After a scary situation forces divorce attorney Victoria Slade to rent an apartment for the summer, she realizes her new neighbor is quite the handsome guy. Although he unfortunately seems to be a womanizer, what with the ‘cavalcade’ of women going through his apartment. Victoria finds herself agreeing to help a teary-eyed young woman, Ford’s little sister, with a legal issue. As she and Ford agree to pool their resources to help out Nicole, they find that once the antagonism subsides, there’s a whole lot of passion waiting to be let out. But could there also be deeper feelings hidden inside her cynical heart?

‘…Ford Dixon. Gorgeous as ever; six-foot-plus inches with incredibly blue eyes; wet, mussed hair; low slung jeans; and a T-shirt stretched across his broad, solid chest. And bare feet. She heard the tiny cry of a hundred unfertilized eggs as one of her ovaries exploded.’

Suddenly One Summer was an absolutely charming, sexy-as-hell story about two people who avoided serious relationships at all cost just to find themselves head-over-heels in love. So. Good.

Maybe I’m just having a bit of a book hangover from this one, but I was truly sad to read the final page and let go of Ford and Victoria’s romance. I had so much fun with their flirty and sexy bantering; plus the storyline was rock solid and kept me interested the whole way through. I’ll admit as well that this was my first Julie James book. (I know!!) It surely won’t be my last, though, as I really connected with her writing style. It was modern, but not too trendy or with too much slang. It was also intelligent, having a nice balance of lighthearted dialogue with the darker, more serious issues facing our protagonists.

Speaking of our protagonists, Victoria and Ford were a hoot together. There are some personalities that clash, and then some that mesh, while keeping some yummy tension alive. Ford and Victoria were definitely the latter. They had an easy bickering between them without it getting too catty or mean-spirited. Most of that antagonizing came from some crossed communication between them, which was comical, but was a nice set-up for a relationship to begin. And boy were there sparks between them! Their love scenes were passion-fueled and hot/dirty without being raunchy.

As wonderful as the romance was, thankfully it didn’t overshadow the plot. I thought Ms. James did a very nice job with the overall story arc, what with Ford’s friends being a funny and supportive addition to this book. His best friends Charlie and Tucker were hysterical, but I especially liked his BFF Brooke, who had her own story in Love Irresistibly.

Either as a standalone or as a tie-in to her FBI/US Attorney series, I think contemporary romance fans will truly enjoy the sparks Julie James created here between Ford and Victoria.

Book Info:

Published June 2nd 2015  by Jove |

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 steamy…

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…