The Cul-de-Sac War by Melissa Ferguson Book Review

“So. How long have you two been neighbors?”

“A little over three weeks,” Bree replied. Her doting smile turned Chip’s stomach. “But already it’s starting to feel like a lifetime.”

(pg 154)

About

Author: Melissa Ferguson

Genre: New Adult Contemporary

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Synopsis

Bree Leake doesn’t want to be tied down. She’s had more jobs than she can count, and she plans to move as soon as the curtains fall on her less-than-minor stage role at The Barter—the oldest live performance theater in the US. But just when it’s time to move on again, Bree’s parents make her an offer: hold steady for a full year, and they will give her the one thing she’s always wanted—her grandmother’s house. Her dreams are coming true . . . until life at the theater throws her some curve balls. 

And then there’s Chip McBride—her handsome and infuriating next-door neighbor. 

Chip just might be the only person whose stubborn streak can match Bree’s. She would move heaven and earth to have him off her cul-de-sac and out of her life, but according to the bargain she’s struck, she can’t move out of her house and away from the man who’s making her life miserable. So begins Bree’s obsessive new mission: to drive Chip out of the neighborhood—and fast. 

Bree isn’t the only one who’s a tad competitive, and Chip is more than willing to fight fire with fire. But as their pranks escalate, the line between love and hate starts to blur—and their heated rivalry threatens to take a hilarious, heartwarming, and romantic new turn.

Review

Spoilers Contained Below

To the neighbors,

Gosh, you know how there are stories where a protagonist has a hot neighbor and then they fall in love—-you know, the typical boy–next-door kind of love story? I’m a sucker for those type of love stories. When I read the synopsis and saw the title for The Cul-de-Sac War, I thought, “Wow, that sounds interesting! Let me read!” So I bought the book to read . . . and let me tell you, it did have the protagonist falls in love with the hot neighbor storyline, albeit a haters to lovers story, which again, I’m a big fan of, but there was just something that wasn’t as fun between these two neighbors. Now, now, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the story or that I don’t admire or respect Melissa Ferguson’s writing, because gosh knows I DO, but this story just wasn’t for me.

I wasn’t a huge fan.

First, Bree was kind of hard to understand. I feel like we didn’t know the full story with her or her personality. She just seemed angry all the time or like she was picking a fight with her neighbor, Chip, without giving him a try or letting him explain himself. She just had this vendetta against him because of his atrocious driving in the beginning of the book and how he had all these offensive sticker on his car. The car wasn’t even his and she should have let him explain that to her or he should have mentioned it at some point. Because other than that, I really did not understand why she was SO FREAKING PEESED 🤪 at Chip for the ENTIRETY of the book. Like, I get it. You liked him because he helped mend your dress in your time of need and then he cuts you off when driving and he’s not the person you think he is based on assumptions you made and then he has a supposed “perfect” girlfriend, so now you’re jealous, angry, and bitter to him just because of all these assumptions you have? 🧐 Like, sis, CALM DOWN! Get off your high horse and actually get to know the person before you judge them and try to wage a war with them because you want to hate him?

I just didn’t get her anger?!

And her anger was very petulant and uncalled for. I think she was being ridiculous to Chip because he didn’t do anything except move in next to her. Sure, he could have apologized for his appalling driving skills, but other than that, I don’t see why she wanted to bring fire down to his house!?

OOOOOH, and don’t even get me STARTED on how she’s a dog HATER! 😖 I will admit, I get scared of the big, burly looking dogs—especially Pit-bulls or Rottweilers, and I shy away from tiny, angry dogs that bark and snap at you, but this dog, this dog (Russel), was a loving, energetic, bundle of joy! And she didn’t like him!!! 🙁 She was a dog hater and I was not here for it 🤪. I will give her grace the first time because Russel did pin her over and lick her to death, and that would terrify me too. Bu then over time, I would have hoped she would get over her fear of Russel, but gosh she had it out for the dog!!! The dog was not harming her or doing anything wrong, Russel was just excited to see her. But she literally Chip put a fence in, move the fence, and whatever else she wanted because she was soooooo terrified and angry at Russel. I just didn’t like that. I don’t judge you if you’re scared of dogs because I get it, but I felt like Bree’s fear wasn’t a fear, but just an inconvenient anger she projected on Russell because she wanted to hate Chip. I honestly, said to myself if she did not learn to love Russel by the end of the book, I won’t like her.

I don’t like 😂.

I also don’t understand what was soooooo WRONG about a landline that she would get sooooooo worked up about it to Chip?! I get it, we live in the 21st century, but hey, if you like landlines, you do you! She was ridiculous.

I also thought her war on Chip was ridiculous. She just wanted to start beef over nothing and she had this whole monologue speech to herself like she was waging a world war, which was dramatic for me! Fits her personality because she’s in theater, but my gosh was it just absurd. But hey, it made for an interesting read.

But the reason Bree has so much passion and fierceness in her tiny little body was because she wanted to keep her Nana’s house. She shared the house with her cousin Evie who also owned shares to the house. Bree had a close connection with her Nana and she would stay at the house during the summers. This was something I could relate to because when my parents were working during the summers and I didn’t want to stay home alone, I would stay at either of my Grandma’s house. So I understood how keeping the house was like keeping the memories of her Nana. Also, that house was her second home—-where she felt comfortable and happy with. And you know how people say hoeme is a person not a place, I was thinking maybe for Bree, her Nana was her home and that’s why her place mattered so much to her.

Bree’s also been through a lot. I mean, that has to be painful, beyond painful, to find someone you love the way Bree did 😢. I wanted to hug Bree. Because yes, she had her crazy moments, but she was hurting deep down by the loss of someone she loved so much and it took a harder toll on her than people knew. She needed to talk to her family about how she felt because they wouldn’t know what she felt unless she told them. And they would understand how losing someone like her Nana would be hard. I also felt like Bree could have benefited from maybe talking to a therapist to get some healing and clarity. Bree was also going through a lot with Anna. Anna, my sweet Anna 💙. Bree lost her Nana and now she had someone else in her life she loved who’s life was uncertain and Bree didn’t want to be the one to watch it like she did with her Nana. So I understood why Bree avoided seeing Anna, but I think doing so might have made Anna feel like Bree didn’t care as much. But I don’t know, I’m only assuming because that’s how I would feel. But I liked how Bree still took calls from Anna and how much heart she had in her to always think and care of Anna’s well-being. I loved how Bree would buy things she knew Anna would love. Anna was special to Bree and Bree could have showed that love more to Anna. But again, it was hard, and I get it.

So she wanted to keep the house, so her parents made her a deal that they would give her their shares of the Nana’s house if she stuck to one job and to the house for a year—she would basically get her dream of owning her Nana’s house then. Of course, that was a shiny deal Bree wanted, so she learned how to tap dance for this role in the Shakespeare play company she worked at because she knew she had to keep her end of the bargain if she wanted her Nana’s house. I loved her whole rehearsal outside, blasting her music to irritate Chip. I wondered if her music was that loud, how her other neighbor weren’t complaining as well? I don’t know.

But I give Bree credit for her determination and finesse.

There were conversations between Bree and Chip about Bree felt like she had no purpose and how she would always flit from one career to the next because no career made her happy of felt like it was for her. I watched Soul recently and they talked a lot about purpose. There was a character named 22 who reminded me a bit like Bree—not felling like she had one sole purpose. And after watching that movie, I learned that sometimes we try to live for this purpose or goal—-job, career, a life, etc.—and we can get so lost in working ourselves to the ground for this purpose that we forget to live. And 22 didn’t have a sole purpose, but when she went to Earth in the guy’s body, she learned to enjoy and live life. 22 danced around on the streets, 22 found joy in eating food, and found joy in life. We forget to live and think about how life is a gift with so many wonders we take for granted because we get so used to it and think we have to chase this purpose or dream. But life is a gift, life is our purpose to live and enjoy life. I felt Bree would have loved watching this movie—that she could relate to it. She did not need to have one job to be happy or successful to have a purpose or to see purposeful in the eyes of other. Bree was doing just good enough, trying to constantly evolve and try new things. It takes great risk to try new things, so I admired how she figured out wha she liked and didn’t like. Because as much as people say find what you love, you have to also know what you don’t love. Bree didn’t like working with kids, she didn’t like all these menial jobs. She liked newness and excitement in her life. She was living life.

I had to admire that 💙.

Chip had a lot of finesse too. He started his own construction company after breaking away from the family company. I respect that. Like Bree, it takes great risk to stray from the path that people set before you or want you to follow. Chip wanted to create his own path on his own term, which is admirable. Starting a company or business from the ground up is no easy feat, and Chip worked to get his name out there. I thought it was funny the lengths he went through to land the Barter redo of the theater and how he pretended to be an artist and learn all these artist terms. Monochromatic, hue, foreground 😂. More like poser! I couldn’t stop laughing at how he kept getting the wrong artist name to Mr. Richardson. He wasn’t impressing no one. Or how he had to excuse himself to the bathroom to look up what Mr. Richardson was talking about as his inspiration for the redo 😂. We love a quick Google Search 🤪.

But hey, you have to do what you have to do to get your name out there. Oh, his business card moment and his orchestrated pitch of himself. Credit, my friend, good for you 👏🏼.

I would have liked to seen more respect from his family for what he was doing because they were very hard on him. I get they would be angry at Chip for leaving the family business, but at least Chip had aspirations bigger than himself. I hoped his dad would see him beyond just his kid who needed protection or saving. But what the dad did, he did out of love because if Chip fell into debt or the project didn’t go well, it would ruin Chip’s name and he would have a lot of money to give but no way to give it. So the dad bid him out of the Bard project so if anything happened, his name and money took the blow instead of his son who was just starting up.

So Chip was a big dreamer and an independent person, but he should have thought this whole company through because it was built on false promises in the first place and I didn’t see how he could do the redo all by himself when he didn’t really have a construction crew with him—-none that I could tell. He just wanted to do something for him and rushed it to prove he could do it, and he did. I get it. I thought it was better he didn’t take on the job because he didn’t know what he was doing yet. I think he should take on smaller jobs first, build a crew, and grow from the ground up to do these big, billion dollar jobs. Because most companies don’t just start with the billion dollar deal, they work towards it. But we all have to start somewhere, and it starts with us.

You know the saying of launch and adjust later?

Well, Chip did well on that. The launching part, but he needed to adjust later. I’m happy he did something for him.

With Chip, I would have liked to know him better—his history, likes, dislikes, why he was so adamant to start his own construction company. Because I feel like we didn’t get to know our main characters enough.

If there was on thing I genuinely liked between Chip and Bree, it was their intimate conversations. I liked how honest they were about their hardships and experiences because it humanized them to each other. Chip opened up about starting his own construction company, while Bree talked about her Nana and Anna. I loved how Chip was just there for her when she needed it, and when she cried, how he held her and showed her kindness instead of rousing up this love-hate relationship they had. She really needed someone, and he was there for her. I loved that.

When he was there for her that night, it shifted their relationship somewhat where they wanted to be nicer to each other. They still hated each other’s guts for some reason, but they knew when to turn it off and on and be there for each other. I would have liked more intimate conversations between them to understand their connection. To be honest, I didn’t really like them together/ship them hard-core. I just didn’t feel the connection because of their unjustified anger towards wanting to make each other angry or get a rouse out of the other. I would have enjoyed more conversations where they got to know each other, where they helped each other, or did something nice with each other. More than half the story was them taking unnecessary jabs at each other because they “supposedly like each other,” but if a person really likes you, then tell them or at least act like you like them and not play this whole game to irritate each other.

Truly, their relationship was childish.

It reminded me of how people say when you’re younger that boys mess with girls they like—-they pull the girl’s hair, they tease the girl, etc. And that’s what I felt like Chip and Bree did. I mean, they were adults. If you really wanted to make a relationship happen, just ask each other out or do something romantic instead of pulling each other’s hair.

“The reality was, he could already tell annoying her was going to become one of his fondest hobbies. He was starting to love it with every fiber of his being.”

(pg 106)

I swear, if annoying a woman or a person makes you happy and you “love it with every fiber of your being,” you need to check yourself. That is no way to love a person.

But I will say, I respect Chip for breaking off things with his girlfriend when he knew he had feelings for Bree. I give him credit 👏🏼 . He might be a childish man, but he was a honorable man. We love that for him.

I also liked how understanding his ex was to know that she wasn’t going to wait around for him. Love that self-respect for her too. Sad, that she thought he was going to propose with the ring magazines 😂.

Bree was the opposite because she lead Thomas on when she couldn’t stop talking about Chip. I loved the self-awareness of Thomas to know Bree liked Chip and how he let her go. Good for him. He seemed like a good man, a bit creepy, but a good man. And Bree needed to come to her senses and ask herself why she was so enamored in making Chip’s life a living nightmare.

Now, their war? It was COMICAL 😂. It was the content I came for.

She was honestly being a bit ridiculous, asking Chip to move the fence two inches. I liked the whole sending each other mail part because, maybe I will sue that one day 😂. But the Craigslist? OOOOOH, Sis went a bit too far with that one 🙁, especially after the peace they sort of had with each other. I mean, I think it’s illegal to sell someone’s house that’s not yours? I don’t know, but. I hope it’s illegal because it sounds gosh darn wrong. The situation was kind of crazy because so many chickens came in and it was basically a farm at this point. The buying trees to block Chip’s view was funny too, but a bit rude. I also thought it was funny how Chip inspired Evie’s journey of being eco-friendly, which I’m all here for because how great for her! Their fight was short and sweet, but I would have loved to seen more funny jabs at each other because if this was a battle, it was kind of an anticlimactic battle and very short.

I liked their whole Taylor Swift You Belong With Me thing they had going on with the paper on the window. Cute, but didn’t both have phones or something to . . . I don’t know . . . actually talk to each other 😂. I mean, Chip had a landline, bro what are you doing? It was kind of creepy how they would stare into each other’s rooms too. Have they ever heard of curtains? Privacy? 😂 Weirder that they knew each other’s layout of their houses without ever really being in each others houses. I get they were neighbors, but they need to umm . . . I don’t know . . . have some privacy of sorts? What else are they viewing with each other’s houses?

CREEPY 😆.

But they had their sweet moments.

I liked how even though Bree put Chip’s house on Craigslist in trade for chickens, he missed his bank interview to drive her to the hospital to see Anna. I loved how he was there for her in her time of need and how he put her first. It was also kind of funny when Chip finally gave her her space, she craved some sort of reaction from him. I didn’t think that was healthy—their whole relationship didn’t seem healthy—-but at least he knew when to stop. I don’t know, but Bree just seemed like she wanted attention from Chip, so maybe that’s why she raged this whole war on him. I also don’t know why he was so interested to fight back except to just peez her off. I don’t get them. I don’t get love 🤪. I don’t know.

The ending wasn’t as satisfying as I would hope. Their war was off, Bree was warming up to Russell, but she didn’t like Russell, and she got the part she wanted in the play. They met up again and went to each other’s houses. A cute ending between them, but I didn’t feel the love or connection. I just felt they were two angry people who wanted to hate each other so badly they liked each other and that didn’t make sense to me despite their good moments. Honestly, the synopsis didn’t connect with the book for me because I didn’t feel like its as Bree’s obsession to drive Chip out of the neighborhood, more so to tick him off. Because if that was what she was doing, it didn’t come across that way. I mean, was she trying to drive him out? I don’t know. I also don’t get why Chip moved there in the first place. It sounded like he was doing a fixer-upper but not really. He seemed lonely and sad because he wasn’t motivated to fix his house. I think he was just lost and confused because he wanted something of his own, but didn’t know how to do it.

The epilogue felt rushed to me. They apparently moved in with each other and now Bree’s the dog mom to Russell. I mean, good for her I guess. I would have liked to explore Anna’s story a bit more because the Nana and Anna story seemed a bit disconnected from the story and like it didn’t fit with everything going on with the cul-de-sac war or Bree and Chip’s serrate story lines. Anna just seemed like such a light and I would have loved to know her past what we read. It felt rushed too how she was in the hospital one moment and then the next she’s okay. I mean, I loved that she was okay, but there was something missing in between that I wanted to read. There was something also missing between Anna being in the hospital and being out.

I liked how they solved their little war with the houses and how Bree got her Nana’s house in the end.

But yea, I just wanted more of these missing pieces from characters that would have helped me understand them or connect with the love in the story.

Again, not that it wasn’t funny or had good moments, just a lot of gray area I needed to read. I also thought the story would be a lot funnier than it was, but it didn’t laugh as much as I thought I would. I thought this story would be like You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle where the laughter was omnipresent and the love-to-hate was everywhere. But that’s okay, it was still a good story ☺️.

Anyway, what was your favorite part of the book? Least favorite part? Anything I mentioned that you want to discuss more about?  Have you ever had a neighbor like Chip? Have you ever been a Bree sort of neighbor? 😆Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕

I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and wherever you might be reading this 😊.

And as always, with love,

Rating

2.64 Full Bloom Flowers

Characters: Bree and Chip were two characters we needed more from to understand their story better. But they were both good people, but Bree was okay. She was a dog hater and I can’t look past that 😆

Writing: Easy to read, but the beginning was a kind of slow

Plot: Interesting haters to lovers relationship

Romance: Didn’t really feel the romance and would have liked to know Bree and Chip better as people and why they would like each other