Flipped! Paperback – May 26, 2015

Beautifully written, this enemy to friends romance made me laugh and want to meet the quirky characters of Spinning Hills. Their initial meeting was a disaster of epic proportions, so much so that Dan Amador did not recognise Holly Bell the next time he saw her. Dan is driven to flip a house that he overrode every other offer to purchase, despite not wanting to live there himself. Holly, on the other hand, has dreamt, saved and planned for the day when she could buy the rundown house, and just as her dreams are realised, they are swept out from under her. Dan doesn't have time for the wacky granddaughter of a woman who believes in magic, as he just wants to get the job done and beat a retreat from the town he never wanted to see again. Despite her extreme disappointment, Holly just does not have it in her to hold grudges and ultimately offers Dan the ideas she has so carefully put together. Both Dan and Holly have secrets and as they get to know one another better, they start to emerge and could just upset any possibility of a relationship. Dan and Holly are loveable but flawed characters, each with their own baggage that needs to be dealt with. The supporting characters in this novel are just as charming and bring humour as well as a slice of small-town life. I purchased this book some years ago but also received this book as a gift from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.

This book was mostly clean with no explicit sexual scenes. They were suggested, but not described. I plan to read more by this author. Her writing is about real people with real problems. I especially liked the older women and their advice to the book’s younger characters.

I loved this story! The characterization is detailed and believable, the setting is well-thought out, and the plot is a wonderful mix of humor, romance, and drama. The romance between Holly and Dan has external and internal obstacles. Both hero and heroine grow internally, overcoming their pasts and hangups in realistic ways. Externally, this story premise is delightful and timely, taking advantage of the hugely popular house flipping craze. I've not seen a romance take advantage of this premise before. The picturesque town is peopled with quirky minor characters that lend believability and further the plot. I'm looking forward to reading more from Ms. Saint!

Enjoyed the book.Fun love story.

I really enjoy this book. I have to admit that Ines Saint is becoming one of my favorite authors. I really like the flow of her story, how the characters develop in it and I enjoyed reading how Holly finds a way to get in awkward situation. I even like reading Dan’s change of heart, he remember me of Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. You start hating him, but end up loving him.

Enjoyed the world Ines Saint created. Unique and whimsical. I’m in the train a lot and this really made my crowded morning commute a lot more enjoyable. Highly recommended!

Flipped! has an okay premise, but I had to force myself to keep reading. I didn't really connect with the main character Holly. Dan was alright, but their tepid (at best) chemistry and nonexistent relationship made the ending weird and rushed.Spinning Hills, the setting for the book, grabbed my interest more than the characters and story.

I’m a little torn about this book. On the one hand there were parts of it that I really enjoyed: Holly, her daughter Ella, her grandmother, Dan’s brothers, the other fun friends and family members in town; the renovation of the house; Holly’s business; Spinning Hills itself. And then, on the other hand there's Dan, who has more than a few jerkish moments. I don’t care if he had his reasons in his emotionally stunted childhood, his superior (and incorrect) snap judgments made him look and sound like an... er... not nice guy.More on that later. Let me first talk about those good things. And there are many. This is a lovely small town romance of the type I thoroughly enjoy. Holly is a warm heroine with a gorgeous little girl and a successful business. She’s had her troubles in the past, but she’s on the right track now and her next goal is to by the house of her (and Ella’s) dreams. Except she gets gazumped. But instead of turning bitter over it (I might have) she instead tries to help out, because Holly’s a good person and tries not to waste energy on things she can’t change. I liked her a lot.The story itself is full of humor from the opening scene, right up to the end. I loved the three women running the bakery. There’s a magical one, a pious one and a skeptical one, they rarely agree on anything, but they’re kind and fun and dole out invaluable advice whether people want it or not. Then there are Dan’s younger brothers, Sam and Johnny, who are funny and supportive and tease in the way that only family can. I loved getting to know both of them and cannot wait to read their books.Which brings me back to Dan. Eh. He waltzes in to the story so certain that he is right and Holly is wrong. He doesn’t care that owning the house was her dream, he just assumes she’s a terrible mother and that her business is an empty indulgence. He also mocks her expertise, and although he does come around on these things throughout the story, I never really feel like he genuinely apologizes. It’s just that Holly chooses to be the better person and forgive him, even when he doesn’t really deserve it. I hate a hero who undermines the heroine or doesn’t believe in her. He’s so scathing of her hopes and dreams for the house at first that it made a very bad impression on me.For the most part, however, he does improve. He’ll never be a favorite hero of mine, but he’s tolerable by the end. Sure, he makes another huge judgmental mistake, but the ending is almost cute enough to make up for it. The rest of the characters, the setting of Spinning Hills and Holly definitely do. In all this is cute and warm and funny and everything I could expect from a small town romance, though the hero in this case wasn’t for me. It might also have been nice to have seen a little more of the work on the house, but what I did read I enjoyed. I definitely want to return to Spinnning Hills soon – even if this book did leave me singing Toto’s Africa…(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

Sorry to give this 1 star, it was barely a 3 but then came the Ozzy Osbourne reference, literally making me feel ill."Did you pull an Ozzy and eat a dove for breakfast?"He laughed, and she looked out the window again. A mental picture of that disgusting man biting off a live doves head is NOT what I want from a romance book. It isn't humorous in any way, shape or form. It was already slow with an unlikable hero but that was it. Disgusting.DNF