Love Redesigned

Love Redesigned (2023) is a contemporary romance novel by Lauren Asher and the first story in her Lakefront Billionaires series. Love Redesigned centers on the contentious relationship between childhood rivals Dahlia and Julian as they work together to renovate a historic house. Throughout the novel, Julian and Dahlia must navigate their changing relationship and their own insecurities, while also dealing with their two families scheming to get them married. By employing many classic tropes of contemporary romance, Asher explores themes of change, grief, and family.

This study guide uses the 2023 Piatkus edition of the text.

Content Warning: The source text features discussions of loss of pregnancy.

Plot Summary

Dahlia Muñoz and Julian Lopez grew up together in the small town of Lake Wisteria, constantly spending time with one another because their mothers—Rosa and Josefina—are best friends. Unlike their mothers, Dahlia and Julian have always had a troubled relationship that often involved taunting, pranking, and competing with one another at every turn. Their relationship took an abrupt turn when Julian returned from college, and their families don’t know why they have been trying to avoid one another since.

In the meantime, Julian became a successful businessman, taking over his father’s construction company after his death and turning it into a local empire. Dahlia became a celebrity interior designer, and she and her fiancé Oliver had their own television show. Dahlia never moved back to Lake Wisteria after college and seemed happy living in California, which is why Julian is surprised when he runs into her just outside of town.

Despite the clear tension between the two, Julian’s mother Josefina tries to push her son toward Dahlia after news breaks that her engagement to Oliver has ended. Dahlia has been depressed because of this rupture, leading her to come back to Lake Wisteria to get her bearings. Julian agrees to his mother’s plan to help distract Dahlia on the condition that Josefina stop meddling in his romantic affairs. As they both work with houses, Julian starts to develop a plan to restore a home in town.

Though being at home somewhat helps Dahlia, she is afraid of having the people she has known all her life witness her failure. She is also hiding the secret that Oliver broke up with her because she discovered she had fertility issues, leading her to feel insufficient and defective. She has several approaching deadlines for her interior design collection and is trying to produce another TV show without Oliver, so she feels she doesn’t have time for Julian’s antics. However, when she discovers that her dream home is for sale, Dahlia can’t miss the opportunity to renovate it, even if it means working with the man who broke her heart nearly a decade ago.

It is gradually revealed that, after the two went off to college together, Julian and Dahlia nearly had a romantic relationship and had kissed just before Julian’s father died suddenly. After his death, Julian dropped out of college and returned to Lake Wisteria to help with the family business. Consumed by his grief and his new role in the family, he pushed away Dahlia, who in turn didn’t make an effort to regain his friendship in the years since. Just after he left, Dahlia formed a relationship with Julian’s roommate, Oliver.

Julian deals with his past feelings for Dahlia by trying to avoid her and attempting to finish their project as soon as possible. Despite her promise, Josefina continues to scheme to get Julian and Dahlia together, eventually leading them to get stuck out of town in a hotel room with only one bed. During their time at the hotel, the mutual attraction between Julian and Dahlia becomes clear. Though both know their feelings for one another are deeper, they agree to have a casual physical relationship until Dahlia returns to California in a few months.

The relationship quickly becomes more than casual for Dahlia and Julian. Though they keep up their competitive nature, they must navigate the changing dynamic of their relationship and their past and present feelings for one another. Both end up apologizing for how their relationship ended in college and what became of their friendship afterward, and Julian eventually admits that he is falling for Dahlia and wants her to stay in Lake Wisteria. Dahlia grapples with this idea; though she is also falling in love with Julian, she fears that she will not be enough for him.

Dahlia feels herself pushing Julian away just like he did to her in college, and though she knows he doesn’t deserve this, she does so to protect herself from getting hurt. Julian understands how Dahlia’s past and her relationship with Oliver have hurt her, and he doesn’t give up trying to convince her that they can be together. When Dahlia gets an offer to make another TV show in California, Julian gets ready to move with her.

Dahlia briefly returns to California to discuss the production of the new show, which she hopes can take place in Lake Wisteria rather than San Francisco, but the production company turns her down. Considering Julian’s willingness to give up his life for her, Dahlia decides she needs to turn down the TV show and return to Lake Wisteria.

Back at home, Julian uses his connections to get Dahlia another TV show deal in which she has full creative control and can stay in Lake Wisteria. They finish restoring the house, and Julian reveals that he has bought it for Dahlia and wants to make it their home. Six months later, Julian proposes, and he and Dahlia get married at their new home.