e-Audio, 08:56:57
Narrated by: Lila Winters
Release Date: January 4, 2022
Published by: Harlequin Audio
Read from: January 8-11, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Arson
For Readers Interested In: Romance, Adult, Work place Romance, Realistic FictionFalling in love is the ultimate payback in this delightful romcom about an interior designer who teams up with a mysterious architect at her firm to get revenge on her ex the only way she knows how: by building a spite house next door
They say living well is the best revenge. But sometimes, spreading the misery seems a whole lot more satisfying. That’s interior designer Dani Porter’s justification for buying the vacant lot next to her ex-fiancé’s house…the house they were supposed to live in together, before he cheated on her with their Realtor. Dani plans to build a vacation rental that will a) mess with his view and his peace of mind and b) prove that Dani is not someone to be stepped on. Welcome to project Spite House.
That plan quickly becomes complicated when Dani is forced to team up with Wyatt Montego, the handsome, haughty architect at her firm, and the only person available to draw up blueprints. Wyatt is terse and stern, the kind of man who eats his sandwich with a knife and fork. But as they spend time together on- and off-site, Dani glimpses something deeper beneath that hard veneer, something surprising, vulnerable, and real. And the closer she gets to her goal, the more she wonders if winning revenge could mean losing something infinitely sweeter…
BETWEEN THE COVERS!
*This book is part of the new adult contemporary romance genre! It is more mature than YA. I have featured it in Between the Covers as a way to feature the few Adult and New Adult titles I am beginning to read!“
*MY THOUGHTS*
When I first heard the title for this one I was excited to read it. I thought it was going to be an enemies to lovers book, but the spite was someone else. And I was all for it. They deserved it after all. But after a while, that got a lot less satisfying.
Dani’s ex is vicious. Just as they were getting ready to start their life together, he went and cheated on her with the realtor who helped find a spot for them to build their home together. But Dani gets an idea to help assuage her ego…. Build a spite house in the lot next to her old home. She teams up with the haughty architect from job since he was the only person available to help put together the blueprint. Can they put aside their differences to build the house and maybe more along the way?
Normally I’m not excited for an enemies to lovers book, so when I first saw the title I was like, “ehh ok.” But then when I finally read the synopsis and realized that the spite was for someone else, I decided to give it a go. And I liked it. This is an example of why I should read the synopsis and not just read the title and look at the cover lol
The romance itself was cute, but I wanted more? It was mostly because of Dani. She spent so much time trying to spite her ex, it took away from what she was feeling for Wyatt. It felt like all she was doing was for her ex and Wyatt was just her rebound. And anyone with eyes could see that he wasn’t interested in just that. And seeing Wyatt being broken by this every time it happened, it was hurt the image of the romance to me. When she finally realized what she was doing, it was almost too late and they didn’t really have time to REALLY be together. The spice is a 3. We do see some of what happens, and there’s some erotic language, but it mostly them showing and talking about what they’re doing when there’s some heavy feelings (no matter what kind) involved.
Although she treated the best part of this book bad, (read: she treated Wyatt bad) she treated him right in some ways. He has a chronic/progressive disease and her reaction is to not pity him and treat him normal. Especially after his last relationship. I thought it was an accurate representation of being the love interest to someone with that illness (I’m not a love interest, but one of my uncles had it), and in the dedication, it mentions that her husband has it. Definitely saw some of the things my aunt did to help my uncle when he was alive. The other best part of this book was the elderly lady, Matt’s aunt. She was so sweet and her dogs were even sweeter. She served as the comic relief from when Dani got too into what was going on with her ex.
The narrator was ok. Enough to keep me interested and she did a great job changing her voices to make sure that Wyatt’s, Mia’s, and everyone else’s voices were different. But still, that wasn’t exactly memorable. I tried looking at the other things she’s narrated, but I don’t think I’ll listen to them. None of them caught my eye. But again, I would say this one was just ok. There wasn’t really anything that set it out from other books.
This book was a surprise, but in a good way. Thank you Harlequin Audio and Netgalley for reaching out to me with this one. You knew it was me even before I did! And also, tell Collins to write a story about Mia. She was my favorite character besides Matt’s aunt. She was there in so many ways for Dani (even when she didn’t deserve it) and I was glad Dani had someone to talk in sense to her.
Overall, I give this
