I was hesitant about this book as I had a hard time with the first book in the series. But I am glad I kept going and picked up book 2, because I was really curious about Vaughn and Bailey's story. These two have been antagonistic since the moment Vaughn arrived in town to run a competing hotel and I was willing to jump in again in the hopes of loving the love/hate thing these two had going on. 
 Bailey Hartwell is from one of the founding families of Hartwell and runs her family's inn. She is small town through and through, and is proud of her inn, her town, and absolutely loyal to the people she loves. Her snarky wit keeps things interesting, and she is one of those women who has everything together nearly all the time. 
 Vaughn Tremaine is new in town, owing a competing hotel on the Boardwalk. He is suave, confident, and rich. He also keeps himself rather aloof when interacting with locals, even keeping his New York residence in addition to his Connecticut house. 
 The drama between these two was established from their first interaction in The One Real Thing. They do not like each other; they try to get barbs and the last word whenever possible. But when it comes to standing up to the Devlin family, these two are on the same side. Just don't ask them to admit that. Those antagonistic feelings create steam that builds throughout this book, particularly while they are trying to stay away from each other. Or rather, Bailey is trying to stay away from Vaughn. 
 Both characters narrate the story, but I noticed that her portions were told in first person, while the portions that began with his heading were written in third person. This shift made it hard at times to connect with both characters equally. It also made it hard for me to keep straight who was narrating, since his chapters felt more detached with the third person narration. 
 This was an angsty, dramatic enemies to lovers story with some depth I wasn't expecting. There were some teasers about potential feelings between a certain painfully shy barista/bookstore owner and a quasi-villain (who is acting like he has split personalities: villain one moment, hero the next, to the point I don't know what to think about him). 
 I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.