Readers have to relish family feuds in order to enjoy Angell’s newest novel. We’re talking Capulets and Montagues, Hatfields and McCoys, without the body count, but with snarking and innuendo instead. How much of this readers can take in a romance before the love interests get together will determine how much readers will like this book.

A stretch of the southwest Florida shore breaks into two side-by-side communities with divergent purposes: Barefoot William boasts a boardwalk with family-run concessions and a ferris wheel while Saunders Shores is a pristine, high-end community of upscale shops, five star restaurants, and high rise condos.

Shaye Cates oversees Barefoot William from her “office” on the beach with her laptop and cell phone. Trace Saunders manages Saunders Shores from his palatial office overlooking the pristine beach and his well-paid staff. Both are very, very good at managing their side of the beach.

When Shaye, sister of a pro volleyball player, dreams up an exhibition tournament with her brother as the star in order to put some life in a dead summer season, she needs to get a few hundred feet of Saunders beach to make the deal. Since she and Trace have been battling since they were kids, she knows convincing him this would be as good for his community as hers will be difficult.

What Shaye doesn’t know is that Trace has promised his current lover a beach-front space to sell her original jewelry, but he can’t put her in a Saunders Shores shop because she deals with semi-precious and not precious stones. A Barefoot William boardwalk shop would be ideal, so he needs Shaye’s cooperation as much as she needs his.

With the battle lines drawn, there’s quite a bit of point counterpoint as Shaye tries to play Trace and he tries to play her. At times their back and forth goes stale and the anticipation of them getting together fades. Their families’ century-old feud seems insurmountable and they themselves seem much too caught up in it.

Shaye as a character is described as fun-loving and free-spirited. However, her actions show her to be more controlling and pernickety. Sure, she likes to go barefoot, but oddly she seems to micromanage the community of Barefoot William much more than corporate boss Trace does Saunders Shores.

Trace, except for his bed-bouncing, is described as buttoned up and controlling, yet readers are never given a glimpse of that side of him except when he wrangles a shop for his lover. Instead, he seems much more free-wheeling and accepting of change and experimentation as he follows Shaye around her boardwalk.

Fortunately, Angell’s writing style covers up these anomalies fairly well. It’s only after one puts down the book that these problems loom since both Shaye and Trace are quite likeable and their chemistry is sound. Their interaction at Little League baseball games and in the boardwalk shops is often priceless.

Into the mix, Angell throws the seeds of another Barefoot Williams – Saunders Shores romance in Shaye’s older brother and Trace’s younger sister. My guess is they might be the couple of choice in the next book, but I couldn’t find any confirmation of that. At any rate, they seem a much more enjoyable couple than their siblings.