The Boys Next Door (The Boys Next Door #1) Review

The Boys Next Door and Endless Summer (Romantic Comedies) by Jennifer Echols

Book description...
Cute, available, and one cabin over....
Lori lives for summertime on the lake. She spends all season wakeboarding, swimming, and hanging with her friends—including the two hotties in the house next door. With the Vader brothers, Lori's always been one of the guys.
But while Lori and the "baby" brother, Adam, are inseparable friends, she can't deny a secret crush on Sean, the older Vader boy. This year Sean's been paying Lori a lot of attention, and not in a brotherly way.
But just as Lori decides to prove to Sean she's girlfriend material, she realizes that her role as girlfriend to Adam may be even more important. And by trying so hard for the perfect summer romance, she could be going way overboard...

Obviously I love to read and while I do have preferences as to what I like to read, I have to admit that those preferences change.... When I first got E. Luke (my kindle) I was big into Young Adult novels for many reasons... they're easy to read, they're entertaining, and most of all... they thrust me back to my younger years and remind me of first loves, parties, friendships... and high school drama!  I have reviewed a few YA novels on this blog but not many because I have been in my adult contemporary romance phase for about the past year... but... here lately I've gotten myself into a little funk, from emotional reads, to down right hysterical reads, to books that have left me with that whole "just not feeling it" vibe.  So I decided it was time to take a trip back in time and read a YA novel... one that has that sweet little love story, but also has that LOL drama that we all went through and can all laugh about now... The Boys Next Door took me there and has gotten my mind back on track!  Well at least it will be back on track after I read and review Endless Summer (the sequel to The Boys Next Door)....  

On a little side note.. if you click the link above to purchase the book on Amazon, I just want to forewarn you that  the link will take you to Endless Summer (so the cover will be different)... now you're probably thinking... "Lori, why in the world would you send us to Endless Summer instead of Boys Next Door?"  and my answer is.... "Well because if you purchase Endless Summer, you get The Boys Next Door with it".... awesome right?  Well, yeah!  And it's awesome because while you can buy The Boys Next Door for $5.99.. you can not purchase Endless Summer without getting The Boys Next Door with it... so yeah it's a little more expensive but you get BOTH books!!!


Okay so about this book... Let me first let you in on a little secret... Like most people I use reading as my escape, I have 2 kids who are 6 and 2... love them but watching Blues Clues or Good Luck Charlie all day gets old real fast and since my hubby works all the time, I use reading as my own way to escape the every day stress that comes with life.. Sooooo, when I read a book, I almost always read this book as if I am the heroine and my dear sweet (HA!) hubby is the hero.  So when I read The Boys Next Door and the heroine's name was Lori I was like... RIGHT ON!!!!  It's okay if you don't want to admit that you do this too but I have no problem admitting how silly and crazy I really am... seriously!!!  I need to quit rambling and actually review this book before I make you lose interest so here we go....


I can't really say if I loved Lori or not... there weren't really any situations where I could say, oh she was such a lovely girl who is caring and thoughtful.. the book was mostly about her coming into herself and learning from mistakes... so with that said I'll go with.. I thought some of the choices she was making were stupid but I was proud of her for learning her lessons!  Lori has had a crush on Sean for years and now that she is about to turn 16 she has made it her summer mission to make him hers!  Typical teenage girl stuff right?  Always wanting the boy who is not only unobtainable but who in all reality doesn't look at you as the "girlfriend" type.  So when she catches Sean doing something he isn't supposed to she comes up with this little plan to make him jealous... the only problem with her plan is it includes crossing a line with her best friend Adam.


Now, Adam, I loved... he's adorable and just bursting with life.  He isn't that 16 year old boy who has swagger, he's just himself and in being himself I found him irresistible.  He's just broken up with his girlfriend and when Lori talks to him about her plan to make Sean jealous, he can't help but take her up on it... Only problem with this decision is... his heart is on the line.  Now, normally I wouldn't tell you that because it would be giving something away about the book, but I have to say... whether it's intuition, a guess, or just seeing how Adam responds to Lori... I knew right away where Adam's heart was in all this... which in all reality just made me like him even more. 


So they go forward with their little plan.... but Lori is so focused on Sean that she doesn't see what's happening right in front of her own eyes.... and that was what I thought was the biggest shame in the book... she had a wonderful thing right in front of her, an adorable boy who's ready to hand her the moon if she asks for it and she basically misses all of it until it's too late.... but in all reality her too late really wasn't too late because things weren't exactly what they seemed.... and here is where I seal my lips, well other than to tell you that Adam and Lori make sense and make an adorable couple!

The Boys Next Door and Endless Summer (Romantic Comedies) by Jennifer Echols is a great little read... the story is sweet and easy to read... it's got a perfect amount of drama and an even better amount of humor that had me chuckling throughout the book.  I felt all those warm and fuzzy feelings by the time I was finished and realized this was exactly what I needed to give my head a little break from adult contemporary and emotional reads!!!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!  Keep and eye out for my review of Endless Summer which will publish in a few days!


Happy Reading!