Book Review: The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols

The Boys Next Door
by Jennifer Echols
317 pages - Paperback
Published June 26th 2007 by Simon Pulse
ISBN: 1416918310 (ISBN13: 9781416918318)

Summary:

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 girl friend to Adam may be even more important. And by trying so hard for the perfect summer romance, she could be going way overboard....

Review:

After 15 years of being treated as one of the boys, Lori McGuillycuddy has had enough. At 16, she decided that it was time to girl up and maybe, snag Sean Vader, the boy whom she has been pining after for more than 10 years. But with Adam Vade, the youngest of the Vader brothers, and his ex-girlfriend on the side, Lori’s summer was about to get more awkward than she already thought it was.

I wasn’t too fond of Lori’s character in the beginning. I know the whole point of girling up was for Sean to finally notice her, and maybe, for him to realize that she was a girlfriend material and finally, to hook up together. But I thought Lori’s obsession with this was a little too annoying. Most especially when I found out why she has liked Sean all those years.

Adam, on the other hand, was very adorable. Excuse my weirdness, but having ADHD and refusing to take medications because it would make you feel dead is adorable in my opinion. And he also bounces on his feet! He also never backs down on any dare even if it breaks every bone in his body. He was really adorable and brave, if not stupid. I guess he strikes me as adorable in the little-baby-brother sort of way.

One thing I never understood in the book though was how Lori (and even Mrs. Vader!) often mistook Sean for Adam and vice versa. Even though they have the same hairstyles and facial features, surely, there’s a way to tell them apart? Especially when they’ve been together since they were kids. It gets annoying whenever Lori mistakes one for the other.

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed Echols’s Forget You and Going Too Far. But nevertheless, The Boys Next Door was still an enjoyable read and definitely worth a go.

Rating: 3/5 stars