Genre: Romantic Comedy
~Blurb~
Joey:
They say you never get a second chance at a first impression. That is, unless you’re my gorgeous temporary neighbor.
My first impression of Theo Crawford was anything but wonderful. He was discourteous, anti-social, and a drunken mess.
My second impression wasn’t much better when he inconsiderately woke me on a Sunday morning.
But by my third impression, my views toward Theo began to soften. Maybe he isn’t as bad as he seems.
And now? Well, let’s just say my defective heart doesn’t care that he’s gay, because I’ve fallen for him.
~Book Review~
3 Stars
Joey Hughes can’t figure out the deal with the guy next door, Theo Crawford, 26. He’s living with one of her gay friends, and she’s under the impression that they are in a relationship, yet he’s also showing signs of interest towards her. And she’s got a major crush brewing on him.
While the blurb hints that the story might be a love-hate neighbors romance, it’s really a friends to lover tale, and that’s fine too. This started out as a possible 4 star read but then it began going downhill. Theo was a sweet book boyfriend in the beginning. He’s an average guy and had a realness about him. He wasn’t a manwhore and he preferred committed relationships to meaningless hook-ups. He seemed to have a lot of integrity. Until he didn’t. While there was some good relationship build-up in the first half as the pair got to know each other, the romance got waylaid later on by two major issues.
One, the OW drama. With a chapter title like “Dealing with exes and sex-crazed co-directors” it should give readers a clue what I mean. The clichéd, scheming other women troupe cheapened the tale and made Theo appear to be lacking a backbone.
Two, the incomplete sex scenes. I don’t know what the heck was up with that. A decent editor in the contemporary romance genre should have pointed that out. Their first sex scene, ya know the thing most romances build up to, is literally skipped over. Then it’s attempted to be told via flashback the next morning in italic. Did I mention italic is really annoying to read for pages? But even the retelling gets cut short just like about all of their encounters. And this isn’t what I’d classify as a “clean romance” either so I couldn’t figure out if I was supposed to be reading an adult book or one geared towards teens.
Speaking of immature, with Joey it really showed in the ways she handled her students, didn’t cope well with her job, and thought jeans were a proper dress code for a professional in an authority role. I had to agree with her on one thing though; teaching wasn’t the career for her.
Told via Joey and Theo’s alternating first person POV, this is a light-hearted tale that’s silly rather than funny, and by the end I was pretty blah on it.
Told via Joey and Theo’s alternating first person POV, this is a light-hearted tale that’s silly rather than funny, and by the end I was pretty blah on it.
Since self-publishing her first erotic contemporary romance in 2014, Sierra Hill found her creative passion, writing about the fictional characters that live in her brain, who constantly shout for their own love stories to be told. Sierra is a sucker for cheap accessories, enjoys traveling to see live concerts, and loves good seafood. Sierra resides in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of twenty years and her long-haired, German Shepherd. She is currently working on her next HEA.
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