Except, as anyone who has renovated an old house knows, things are never that easy.
The walls are rapidly crumbling around them, the architect is a certified lunatic, the budget is spiraling … and then there’s the disturbingly intelligent cow to worry about.
On top of all this, the renovation is being featured on a daytime reality TV show and as soon as "Great Locations" presenter Gerard O’Keefe catches sight of Hayley’s first-floor balcony, he’s determined to woo her out of her ban on romance, whether she wants him to or not.
Will Dan and Hayley survive and sell up? Or will the whole thing collapse on them like a ton of bricks?
Haley and Dan's grandmother has died and left them a house in the English countryside. No one has lived in it or kept it up for fifty years so it's really rundown ... no one in their family even knew about the house. Their plan is to borrow money to fixed it up and sell it to make a profit. They hire Mitchell, an eccentric architect, and Fred, an gruff handyman, and his team because they are cheap. In addition, they take a leave of absence from their jobs so they can help out however they can in order to keep costs down. Mitchell knows Gerard, the host of a renovation show, and Haley and Dan agree to let him film their renovation in hopes that it will raise awareness of their house and it will sell for lots of money.
This is the second book I've read by this author and I liked it. I liked the writing style ... it was funny and sarcastic. It is written in first person perspective, alternating between Haley and Dan (the chapters are labeled so you know whose voice it is). The author lives in England so there are some English references I didn't get. As a head's up, there is a lot of swearing and some adult activity.
I liked Haley and Dan. It was interesting to see how they went from feeling that the house was a burden to loving it. The characters are amusing, especially Fred and Pat The Cow.
It was a fun read.
