Dahlia and Julian were childhood rivals. They competed and tried to one up each other all their lives before having a falling out a couple of years ago. Now, Dahlia returns to Lake Wisteria after years, while tending to her broken heart after her ex called off the wedding and having no idea what path her career will take after the media shitstorm surrounding her breakup.

Julian intends on keeping his distance from her while she stays in town but his mother has other plans and asks him to help her get out of the funk she is in and get her creative spark going again. Julian reluctantly agrees, thinking that the sooner he helps her out of this situation, the sooner she will leave town again.

When they come across a centuries old founder's house up for sale, they decide to ultimately work on restoring it together. While they start working together, all the pent up attraction they've tried to hide all these years starts bubbling up to the surface and they start wondering if it would be a terrible idea to act on it. Question is, will Dahlia be able to keep her feelings from getting involved and will Julian still want her to leave town once the project is finished?

This book was absolutely swoon worthy. Julian is the greenest flag for sure. He was a Billionaire but also not obnoxious or a show off but also loved spending on the people he loved and cared for.

His relationship with his mother was so sweet and adorable. He would do anything for his mother, including sponsoring all the events of the town just so his mother doesn't need to worry about the budget and plan everything to her heart's content. He also personally goes to her place to fix whatever she needs rather than hiring someone to do it and is always available whenever she needs him.

Julian lost his dad when he was 20 years old and was forced to grow up sooner and take up all the responsibilities. He was extremely close to his dad so this loss affected him deeply but he somehow suppressed his grief and put his own needs and feelings aside in order to be the person everyone else in his life needed him to be at the time. He still hadn't recovered or properly addressed his feelings after this loss but as the story progresses, we see him finally be ready to process that grief and everything he was trying not to feel in order to let that pain and insecurities go.

Dahlia was a relatable character. While she had moments where she was feisty, confident, funny, smart, sassy, strong, and outspoken, she also had moments of self doubt, anxiety, depression, feeling like she wasn't enough, self deprecation as she was going through a really tough time in her life. What made her spark come back was getting into old habits of competing with Julian every step of the way. It was familiar and she wasn't self conscious when it came to him. When Julian comes up with the idea of working on a project together, it slowly ignites her love for her work again after feeling like everything she had worked so hard for was slipping away. She didn't take shit from Julian and always gave back just as good as she got. She had her struggles, but she actively worked on herself to get better.

This story had everything. There were hilarious moments, witty banter, deeper topics like depression, anxiety, panic attacks, grief and how different people deal with it, which were all handled really well and made the story more realistic and relatable. Both these characters had their own journey towards healing and changing their lives so they could open themselves up for the good things in life.

These two were just perfect together. What I liked is that even though there were no "past" chapters giving us any dual timeline to show us what these two were like before, you could still feel their connection and the history and how close both their families were. Loved the banter between Julian and Dahlia and how it didn't stop even when they got together. The pranks these two pulled on each other were hilarious. The spice was definitely spicing and I liked that Dahlia wasn't shy to ask for what she wanted. Their competitive nature bled into this as well and made it that much more exciting. There was a lot of open communication between them about what they felt and wanted.

No 3rd act breakup cuz Julian is literally the best and would absolutely not let Dahlia push him away cuz of her fears and doubts, but also gives her all the reassurance she needed and didn't let her hide away from her feelings. He made all the necessary changes in his own life so he can do right by her. He changed his whole routine, worked on himself and his insecurities and was willing to go wherever Dahlia wanted to go so she could chase her dreams. Love how supportive he was. That con in his pro/con list literally made me melt. Also, I have to mention how Julian spent $10 Million just to be petty and piss off Dahlia's ex.

The side characters were amazing and added a lot to the story and made the book feel so wholesome and had me smiling a lot. Loved both their moms and their friendship. Super excited for Rafael and Ellie's book after getting glimpses of them in this book. Totally overjoyed to see cameos of characters from previous series.

Also, idk if it's just me, but I heard the audiobook, and every time the male narrator said "Dahlia" in this certain way, it made me wish that was my name. Definitely did things for me.