I sign up for several of the email lists for cheap and free ebooks. One day I stumbled across Playing for Keeps the first in the Neighbor From Hell series. I loved that story, and have since purchased every novel in the series. This story is a bit different than the first two. We get a glimpse of the first meeting of Rory and Connor when they were in preschool, and then every several years until present day. They are enemies from the get go. Their past exploits are legendary and have caused more than one establishment to ban them.
As adults (& neighbors), they are both contractors who have put in bids for the same job. In a surprise twist, they are both offered the job as there is a fast approaching deadline. They each have plans to get rid of the other, and Rory is at the same time planning to present a special job that she herself would like to contribute to the build. When Connor comes across her plans and presents them as his own they are accepted. He has plans to coerce her into a fake relationship. If she plays along, she gets her plans back. While he tells her he just wants the town “bans” to go away, he is really hoping to make a good impression on her brothers. They work for her, and he’s hoping to put her out of business and steal them away.
During the course of their fake relationship, true feelings come to light. Will their love shine through?
I have really enjoyed the first two books in this series, and this book was no exception. All of the stories follow the same line, but you know that going into the book. There are two neighbors that hate each other, and then for one reason or another they become friends and lovers. They are nice short and sweet stories that give us love, fun, sex, and some hatred thrown in at the beginning. The characters Rory and Connor have obviously cared for each other for quite awhile as it was attraction that was fueling the fire. I did think the premise of the coercion could have been stronger, but it’s still believable.
I haven’t read RL Mathewson’s other series’ yet, but I have enjoyed her writing for this series. Short, fun, and sexy is always a winning combination with me!
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