Amanda
Written on May 3, 2017
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.
- ISBN10 0698153219
- ISBN13 9780698153219
- Publish Date 2 June 2015
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Penguin Publishing Group
- Format eBook
- Pages 304
- Language English
Reviews
Sam@WLABB
Written on Feb 22, 2017
Overall: Another solid FBI/USA book with two sort of broken MCs, who help put each other find their way out of their pain.
nitzan_schwarz
Written on Jul 20, 2016
I really enjoyed this book! Loved Ford and Victoria, although I wish we could've jumped over the standard angsty separation because fear, I felt like in a story that they spend pretending they're not falling for each other, that's slightly annoying. But it was a lot of fun, has cute banter, and has an adorable baby (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)
kimbacaffeinate
Written on May 24, 2015
The tale surrounds two thirty-something characters whose upbringing has them swearing off long term relationships. When Victoria Slade, a successful divorce attorney suffers panic attacks after a home invasion, she temporarily moves into a condominium for the summer until her newly purchased condominium is available. A shared bedroom wall and poor sound proofing soon have her exchange banter with smexy, single investigative reporter Ford Dixon. The tale that unfolds had me consuming this in a single evening.
Suddenly One Summer is a novel the reader will easily slip into, they will soon find themselves laughing, wiping a tear and becoming fully invested in this couple. The secondary characters weaved throughout gave this novel a small-town community feel and enhanced the story. The depth of the story from the fleshed out characters to the couch sessions with a therapist both surprised and delighted me. James weaved in delicious banter, page melting heat, humor and side stories that held weight.
Both carries scars from their childhoods but are survivors with successful careers and strong social networks. Victoria’s personality and her need to be observed as “normal” by others was one I am sure many women can relate to. There is a story about Ford’s sister that I found especially touching and I loved the way it caused Ford and Victoria to interact. We do get some miscommunication but it was realistically done and not overly drawn out.
If you are looking for a feel good, swoon-worthy summer read with a small-town feel and a little heat then you cannot go wrong with Suddenly One Summer.
Copy provided by publisher. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Cocktails and Books
Written on May 3, 2015
Karen's Thoughts
Julie James writes a charming story with great dialogue and sexy chemistry flowing between the characters. Victoria Slade is a successful divorce attorney and she meets Ford Dixon when she moves in next door to him. Victoria is a strong, smart, independent woman and she doesn’t need a man in her life to feel complete. She has some trust issues and unfortunately working as a divorce attorney has embittered her. Victoria assumes the worst about Ford from the moment she sees him and has no problem letting him know exactly how she feels about him, even though her assumptions about him are wrong.
Ford works as a successful investigative journalist with the local newspaper and is an easy guy to like. I especially love his cocky attitude. Ford is a total alpha male who loves to build and fix things around his house and is also protective of those he cares about. He won my heart with the way he treats his sister and how he does whatever it takes to help her.
Neither Ford nor Victoria is looking for a relationship and they both have relationship issues, though they don’t want to admit it. Once they get to know each other, they start to open up and share their thoughts and feelings. They aren’t looking for a long term relationship, but everything seems to click whenever they are together. Ford loves Victoria’s snarky attitude. She has smart mouth and I enjoyed all the back and forth quips between them. There are also a lot of fun secondary characters which add another element to the story. There were many times Ford’s two best friends had me laughing-out-loud. The story starts a little slow in the beginning, but once Ford and Victoria meet the fun begins.
Rowena
Written on Mar 28, 2015
So this book follows Victoria Slade, a divorce lawyer who doesn’t believe in marriage and hasn’t been in a relationship in a long time and Ford Dixon, a journalist who is always the rebound guy. The hot rebound guy, but still. They’re both not looking for a relationship and when Victoria moves in next door to Ford, things get interesting.
Ford can’t believe that the girl he was eyeing at the bar is his new next door neighbor. When he first finds out, he’s excited until she opens her mouth and basically hands his ass to him because she’s not a fan of the revolving door that is his apartment. She assumes the worst in Ford and Ford is immediately not a fan of Victoria’s right back.
The back and forth with these two was too funny. I loved seeing them give each other a hard time, at the same time that they were battling their attraction to one another and when Victoria lends a helping hand to Ford’s sister, watching these two melt for each other was entertaining.
Julie James is well known for writing strong heroines who mean business and know what they’re about but it was good to see that while Victoria was large and in charge at work, she was kind of a mess personally and seeing her work through her issues throughout the book was interesting. Her background kind of made my heart hurt and I was a little bummed that we didn’t get too much interaction with her mother. I loved seeing her fall in love with Ford though. I loved that she wasn’t expecting or even wanted the feelings that cropped up where Ford was concerned but once she realized what they were, she didn’t waste a lot of page time trying to make things right.
Ford was everything that I expected him to be. I loved getting to know more about him, seeing the Ford that Brooke knew and loved. I loved his family and was really glad to see that got to see him wrap up his story, the way that I was hoping it would wrap up.
The entire book was just flat out good. I loved seeing the recurring characters come through, I enjoyed Ford’s family and Victoria’s best friends, oh and Ford’s friends too. This book was filled with a great cast of characters that were just a lot of fun and I definitely recommend this book to fans of the FBI/US Attorney’s series. It’s a treat!