Grace Travis is *thisclose* to finally finishing her degree in interior design, after years of delays, hardships, and a million odd jobs.  Once she's done, it's time to move into the house left to her by the grandparents she never knew and make a home for herself.  That is, if she can resist the sexy new neighbor who's desperate to buy her lot and build a pool.  Noah Jansen has come back to California after living in NYC, ready to make a name for himself in real estate separate from his father's influence.  He can't afford to get distracted by the attractive woman next door, but sometimes the universe (and a magazine editor) has other plans, and suddenly their feud is complicated by long days together, and feelings that are quickly turning from warring to warmth.

I liked this!  It was totally unclear to me that this is, if not part of a series, related to Sullivan's first book ([book:Ten Rules for Faking It|53137916]), and so I did wonder why Noah's brother was getting so much airtime for a bit.  Just checking in on the couple from the first book.  It might be helpful to read that one first, and I'm really hoping that the next book is someone coming along to flap the unflappable Wes, the heroes' oldest brother.

This is a 3.5 star read rounded down.  Overall, pieces of it felt really underbaked: Grace is 28 and finishing her degree but only moved to the area 4 years ago, and I don't think we learn what she was doing in the meantime.  She inherits her house from her mother's parents, whom she never met, and there's no mention of how they knew she was around to leave it to.  She also spends a lot of time imagining them doing various things in their home, but again - never met them.  Noah has a tenuous relationship with his father that's also underexplored.  

Anyways, this was a fun closed-door read.  I'd definitely pick up another book by Sullivan.

Thank you St. Martin's and NetGalley for the ARC!

CWs:

poor relationships with parents.