Suddenly One Summer is the first book I've read by Julie James and I really enjoyed the book. 
 Victoria and Ford were great together and I loved how they kind of started off on opposing sides, but still they had an obvious attraction to one another. But when work throws them together and they have to be in close proximity to one another on a regular basis, they have a lot of pretty cute moments. 
 In the beginning both Victoria and Ford are self-proclaimed "singles for life" and aren't actively looking for "the one". Being a divorce lawyer Victoria has seen her share of marriages crumble and it's fair to say she's a bit cynical when it comes to relationships. Ford grew up with an alcoholic father who's affection for his children would run hot or cold depending on how many drinks he had. Ford doesn't want to put himself out there just to have the woman he's seeing change her mind on their relationship, so he keeps things very casual. 
 I liked how the issues in each Victoria and Ford's lives are explored a lot as being the reason why neither of them want to take the leap of faith, as it were, for a serious relationship. More focus is put on Victoria working through her hang ups than Ford, but both are acknowledged. 
 This is a case where I actually liked the fact that not every single issue was solved by the end, but showed a great progression towards getting to the point where both Victoria and Ford are OK. 
 There are some predictable romance moments in the story, but that was fine with me. There were also some really touching moments that I didn't really expect, specifically in Ford's quest to find the man you got his younger sister pregnant, that just elevated the story that much more for me. 
 This will definitely not be the last Julie James book I read. I think some other characters in this book appear in their own books, but I didn't feel lost by not having read the other books previously. 
 *ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.