Bree Leake feels a little like a relative of Shrek, covered in green face paint, but she is enjoying her small role as a fairy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Except that they tiny straps holding her dress up have snapped, and the costume designer has left to get coffee. What’s a green-painted girl to do?

Chip McBride is just sitting there when a green fairy knocks into him. He’d gotten thrown out of the theater for filming her with his phone (he’d noticed her dress situation), and he decides to come to her aid with a roll of camouflage-colored duct tape. It does the trick, and she heads back to her stage. But she takes a piece of his heart with her.

Later, Bree heads home from work to find that the guy who bought the house next door has brought in a dumpster for his demolition and renovation. But as the driver of the truck pulling the dumpster drives into Bree’s yard to turn around, he hits their water pipe. Then Bree finds out that the house renovator is none other than dress-rescuer Chip.

Chip makes it right, although it takes several days where Bree has no running water, but as the days and then weeks go by, the verbal jibes going back and forth at the end of their cul-de-sac turns into a full-on prank war. Although they both have busy lives, they still find time to fight with each other. Chip’s dog shows a true adoration of Bree, which she does not reciprocate. He doesn’t really appreciate the numerous bizarre magazines that Bree signs him up for, that his girlfriend discovers. Bree takes her tap-dancing practice to her front porch (the next show is set to be Singing in the Rain). He spends time with her parents, knowing she’ll be irritated by his presence at her family dinner.

But when things get serious and Bree needs a genuine friend, Chip has to choose between his own important business meeting or helping her through a painful family situation. He has to choose between his ego and his heart. But when things get real for these merry pranksters, will they come clean to each other about their mutual attraction, or will they let this chance pass them by?

The Cul-de-Sac War is a charming rom com with lots of heart, lots of wit, and more than a few chickens. The characters are three-dimensional, like people who you would want to be friends with in real life, and the story moves forward at a good pace. Author Melissa Ferguson has taken a character from her novel The Dating Charade and created another fun rom com in that universe (but you don’t have to read them n order—they both work as stand-alone novels).

I listened to the audio on this one, and narrator Kate Rudd brought the story to life. It’s a fun story to listen to, and Rudd does a good job with it. I especially loved the way she voiced Bree, demonstrating her spirit and her courage through the pages of this story. This is a novel published by a religious publisher, but the religious conversations book were subtle, so this is a book that can be enjoyed by those who read religious fiction as well as those who don’t.

I thought The Cul-de-Sac War was a cute novel with strong characters in a creative setting. Rom com lovers will enjoy it, and listeners of audio books should try it out that way, as that makes it even more fun.

A copy of the audio book for The Cul-de-Sac Wars was provided by Thomas Nelson through NetGalley, with many thanks.