Next to You
One wild birthday, a fixer-upper bus, and a friends-to-lovers romance packed with forced proximity, emotional baggage, and a broody handyman
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4.3 • 10 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Lane is in the middle of an identity crisis. Her friends are all partnered up, her career is leading nowhere, and she's just not happy. So, after a night out celebrating her birthday, she makes one hell of an impulse purchase: a giant yellow forty-eight passenger school bus that she intends to make a home.
With little-to-no renovation experience, but a large sum of inheritance money, Lane enlists the help of her friend Matt – mechanic by trade, handyman by practice, and hottie by nature.
While their mutual attraction is undeniable, Matt's a total family guy with 'settle down with me' tattooed across his forehead, whereas Lane is entirely commitment averse. Matt and Lane have silently agreed that friendship is the only thing that can ever exist between them. So when Matt offers to help her with the bus, and in the bedroom, Lane's sure it can never work… can it?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bonam-Young packs her diverting sequel to Next of Kin full of pop-culture references and witty banter. Twenty-somethings Elaine and Mattheus meet at a New Year's Eve party hosted by mutual friends. Both self-described "anxious extroverts," their attraction is intense and their connection is easy to see. They spend the night making each other laugh before sharing a tender midnight kiss. Despite this meet-cute, a relationship would never work—Matt is a serial monogamist while Lane is commitment averse. Though attraction lingers, they decide to keep things strictly platonic: "He started calling me ‘kid' shortly after our kiss and has even noogied me once," Lane explains ("The universal gesture of the friend zone"). When Lane impulse-buys a school bus hoping to convert it into a home on wheels, she recruits handyman Matt to help with the renovations, bringing the two closer. Things heat up further when Lane needs a date to her sister's wedding and turns to Matt, who has always found it impossible to say no to her. The personable Zillenial characters and fast-paced plot make this friends-to-lovers romance sing. It's an ideal comfort read.
