From the publisher:
Falling in love is the ultimate payback in this delightful, breezy romcom about an interior designer who teams up with an enigmatic 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.
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…
https://amzn.to/3h40Dqf
I just read another HGTV-style romance – HOW TO LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR by Sophie Sullivan – I guess it’s a popular plotline. I poked around my website for other HGTV romances and wasn’t surprised to find several more pop up. And those are only the ones I’ve read and reviewed. It is a fun idea, and it works here for sure.
Dani and her ex-fiancé were supposed to buy a house together, but somehow he bought it on his own. She also wanted to purchase the small lot next door for a studio for her work, and that was ignored completely. When she catches him banging the realtor, she ends things but is still really pissed. She figures out that since her money never went into the house, she can afford the lot next door and determines to build a tiny “spite” house that will block his view. And be annoying in general what with all the construction.
Money is tight but she works for an architecture firm so figures someone will help her, but Wyatt is the last person she would expect to help her out. Known as the office grumpy know-it-all, he is supremely talented and she is reluctant to look a gift horse in the mouth. He tells her he needs her help with his grandmother’s window treatments, so it’s a fair deal.
Dani never mentions that her ex lives next door to their project, but Wyatt isn’t stupid and starts suspecting something is up. Meanwhile, working together is going way better than Dani ever expected. Turns out Wyatt is a genuinely nice guy and they start falling in love. Until he realizes that she’s been lying to him about the house the whole time.
This is a romance so they find their happily ever after, but not before a lot of crazy stuff goes down; the garden gnomes and crazy mailbox are funny but the fire is not. Spite is never a good motivator; seems like there are always repercussions, as is the case here.
This was a fun and light-hearted read, sure to please HGTV-romance fans like me. If the Hallmark Channel and HGTV had a baby, it would be this book!
2/2022 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
LOVE AT FIRST SPITE by Anna E. Collins. Graydon House; Original edition (January 4, 2022). ISBN: 978-1525899799. 320p.
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