"If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world."
- C.S. Lewis
Bree Leake has been bouncing from job to job and hobby to hobby for far too long. She is currently sharing her Nana's house with a housemate, because neither of them are willing to give up their share of the house that was bequeathed to them upon Nana's passing. Meanwhile, she's barely hanging on to her bit part at the local theater. In the midst of this, a confounding new neighbor moves in next door, with a giant mastiff named Russell, who deems Bree his "favorite," much to Bree's chagrin. This kicks off a series of increasingly complicated pranks between Bree and Chip, the neighbor, as they both try to figure out where their personal lives are headed, and the part their neighbor relationship might play in it.
I'm not sure how to write about this book. For probably 80% of it, I didn't even like the characters. I had trouble foreseeing an ending that would wipe out the problems I had early on in the story. Chip lied and misrepresented himself and his abilities. He never even tried to understand why Bree was upset, and his lackadaisical approach to her fear, or at least dislike, of his giant dog was lacking in even basic human compassion. Their pranks could have been funny, and if the book played off of harmless pranks back and forth, that could have been a fun story. But their pranks were not entirely harmless, and they drew in other people, wasting their time and resources. If the story had delved deeper into why Bree couldn't find a path in life, or her paralyzing fear over her niece's condition, it could have taken a serious path and been a a better read. But most of that was glossed over, until it came into play to tie up the story in the end. Chip's family and his reasons for setting out on his own were super interesting, and the tragedy that brought him home clearly had a huge impact on him, but the book made it seem only tangential to the neighborhood war.
In the end, the theme seemed to have been based around the C.S. Lewis quote above, but for me, it took too long to get there, and especially in Chip's case, there was very little redemption to a character who was extremely self-focused for so much of the book. I enjoyed The Dating Charade by this author, and some of the characters do carry over, but this one was a miss for me. 3 stars.
I received a complimentary digital copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
You can find The Cul-de-Sac War HERE.You can find the author HERE.
