I was a little confused at the beginning of this book, I kept having this weird feeling of deja vu and then wondering if I was missing something. And then it dawned on me that I knew some of the characters from previous books. The book starts off with the main character Parker explaining how she is bringing her son to stay with the father who she isn't married to. That would be Ethan and Lucy from the Next Best Thing. Also, later in the book we run into Maggie and Malone from Catch of the Day. Sneaky Higgins, very sneaky. It was nice to have a glimpse of characters from other books and see what's going on in their lives.

Anyway, back to this book. Parker is the daughter of Harry Welles and learns at the beginning of the book that her vast trust fund and her son's trust fund was lost by Harry. Forced to move out of her sprawling mansion, Parker learns of her own inheritance that can't be touched by the government. It's in Maine (hello Maggie and Malone!) and she makes the decision to flip the house and sell it to make money. Since her son will be with his father and stepmother (Ethan and Lucy) she has a few weeks to work on the house by herself. When she arrives in Maine she realizes how much help she's going to need as the house is pretty much in ruins. Thankfully, her father's lawyer James knows a little about construction and has offered to help Parker in her time of need. Not that she wants his help, especially when she's still trying to get past their one night stand from a few years ago.

I feel like this book was a little darker than Higgins other books. Yes it's still a chic-lit romance book, but didn't have the same light and fluffy vibe as her previous books. For one thing, Parker was a little more depressed than past characters. Also, James had a lot going on with his own family and things weren't necessarily resolved in the end for him. I liked James and Parker's relationship with each other but I did get a little sick of Parker keeping James at such a distance. She was constantly making fun of him (and I also got tired of the Thing One reference). But I liked how James kept her on her toes and made her rethink her life. James was an intriguing character and from the beginning I had a feeling he had a traumatic story behind his sarcastic demeanor. He wasn't the typical bad boy, in fact he was actually a really good guy that kind of just stumbled into situations where he did something stupid. Despite a few missteps here and there, he might be one of my favorite male characters from Higgins stories. He just seemed more realistic to me and he said the cutest things! If not for him, I probably wouldn't have been as interested in the story.

If you have liked Higgins other books, I think you'll enjoy this one as well. I look forward to more books by her!