Melissa Ferguson (The Dating Charade) has written a lighthearted, wholesome romance in The Cul-de-Sac War. Bree Leake has always been a free spirit, much to the concern of her mother and stepfather. Bree has finally gotten a good job at the Barter, a live performance theater in Abingdon, Va., and she's living in her grandma's former house, which she partially inherited. The only problem is her super-annoying new neighbor, Chip, who is renovating the house next door.
Chip's dog won't leave her alone. He makes all kinds of noises at weird hours, and he seems to love tormenting Bree. She's tempted to leave--except that for her birthday her parents offer to give her their share of her grandma's house if she agrees to stay in the house and at her job for one year. All Bree has to do is settle down and survive a year of her aggravatingly attractive neighbor. Until the owner of the Barter announces that he's switching shows, and the whole cast will have to re-audition. Can Bree pull it together? Or is it just easier to move on?
Funny and sweet, this cute romance will have readers chuckling. Melissa Ferguson does an excellent job of making Chip's and Bree's pranks on each other seem believable in spite of their ridiculousness, and the escalating war between them makes for an enjoyable escape. Readers of Christian fiction or romances are sure to enjoy The Cul-de-Sac War. --Jessica Howard, bookseller at Bookmans, Tucson, Ariz.