About the book
When the history and character of her Shakespeare-obsessed hometown is threatened, a powerhouse lawyer goes toe to toe with a commercial developer in a hilarious rom-com from the author of For the Love of the Bard.
Portia Barnes is the youngest managing partner in her law firm’s history, and she and her stilettos are poised to step into the role of her dreams—leading the firm’s new Boston office. But first she’s taking a summer sabbatical in her hometown of Bard’s Rest, New Hampshire, where she discovers something’s rotten in the midst of the town’s annual Shakespeare festival.
Hotshot commercial developer Benjamin Dane is sniffing around Bard’s, and while Portia isn’t necessarily a Shakespeare fanatic like the rest of her family, she’s not about to let him bulldoze the town’s beloved outdoor theater. Yet to Portia’s dismay, Ben proves as skilled as she is when it comes to outworking, outmaneuvering, and one-upping the competition. While she’s never hesitated to wage war against hyper-successful alpha males, Portia is caught off guard by Ben’s openness and lack of arrogance. As her own long-constructed walls start to come down, Portia begins to wonder if he might be more than an archnemesis.
With her heart on the line and the future of the town hanging in the balance, Portia faces an impossible decision—Ben or Bard’s?—unless she finds a way to broker the merger of her life, and ensures the curtain falls on a happy ending for everyone.
My Review
While I didn’t read the first book in this series, For the Love of the Bard, after reading the synopsis I was still curious to give this a go. While it can be read as a standalone, it is quite evident reading the first one would give some good backstory on the supporting cast. In the second offering we follow Portia Barnes, who is ordered a summer sabbatical before she starts her new role as the youngest managing partner at her law firm. She heads from Boston to home – which is Bard’s Rest, New Hampshire, a charming town that is besotted with Shakespeare. She’s just in time for the Shakespeare festival, where the whole town comes together to celebrate – and she’s never understood the hype. While her family is all actively involved in the shenanigans, Portia prefers to watch from the sidelines. In spite of her best efforts, she roped in to cover some legalities for the festival, and gets tied up in a bit of a scandal when she meets Benjamin Dane. A commercial developer with his sites on Bard’s Rest, he instantly becomes an enemy not just to Portia and her family, but the rest of the town. Determined to protect the people she loves the most, Portia goes head-to-head with Ben over real estate property – but their chemistry gets in the way of their feud.
While I had a little trouble jumping into Portia’s story from the beginning – which I think is because I didn’t read the first in the series so I felt like I was playing catch up – I soon became interested in her but more so the town of Bard’s Rest and the supporting cast. I don’t read a lot of books where the main character is almost a bit overshadowed by those around her, but that is how I felt with this one. Sometimes it was hard to connect with Portia and I also didn’t always follow the fight with Ben over the property and how that had ties back to her own law firm. I re-read a few passages to try to understand what I was missing but something just wasn’t clicking for me so it made it difficult to really get behind why Portia was so irate and irritated with Ben, who seemed like a pretty stand up guy. There are some great underlying themes like the bond of family and ethical standpoints and while I did end up enjoying the story, it didn’t become a favorite of mine. I’m not sure if there will be another in the series and while it wouldn’t be a must-read for me, if my TBR was light I would pick it up.
3.5 stars
