REVIEW: 'The Boy Next Door' by Kate McMurray
Title: The Boy Next Door
Author: Kate McMurray
Published: July 22, 2016 2nd Edition
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Aaron Anderson
Genre: Erotic Romance; Contemporary Romance
Length: 200 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; Light Angst; Coming Out; Friends to Lovers; HFN
Blurb:
Life is full of surprises and, with luck, second chances.
After his father’s death, Lowell leaves the big city to help his sick mother in the conservative small town where he grew up. He’s shocked to find himself living next to none other than his childhood friend Jase. Lowell always had a crush on Jase, and the man has only gotten more attractive with age. Unfortunately Jase is straight, now divorced, and raising his six-year-old daughter. It’s nice to reconnect, but Lowell doesn’t see a chance for anything beyond friendship.
Until a night out together changes everything.
Jase can’t fight his growing feelings for Lowell, and he doesn’t want to give up the happy future they could have. But his ex-wife issues an ultimatum: he must keep his homosexuality secret or she’ll revoke his custody of their daughter, Layla. Now Jase faces an impossible choice: Lowell and the love he’s always wanted, or his daughter.
4 HEART READ
REVIEW:
I have to give a big shout of kudos to Kate McMurray for re-releasing The Boy Next Door. If not for that I would have missed this fantastic little gem and the two men whose chemistry and charm kept me engaged throughout.
If you are looking for a book that will grab you by the heart strings while at the same time tempt your erotic side and leave you feeling joyful at the end, The Boy Next Door is it.
McMurray starts the story off with two high school friends reconnecting after many years apart. What held my attention from the get go is the fact that the author uses such simplicity in her writing, which is not easy, that the conversations just seem to flow with a familiar ease. I could connect with the feeling of moving back to your old stomping grounds and trying to catch up with acquaintances and changes in the surroundings. I found that the dialogue was like any everyday chat many of us might have and it made for an easy, comfortable read that left me hopeful for things to come.
I even enjoyed the third person narrative that reflected both points of view. It works here because it’s almost like you are the outsider looking in yet able to see and feel everything Lowell and Jase are.
Add to this the fact that there is this realization of six degrees of separation. In a small town everyone always seems to be connected in some small way and this is demonstrated well as McMurray draws you into the cast and characters. Even to the point of touching on the challenges of being gay in a tiny community.
Lowell and Jase’s story really could be anyone’s story.
Childhood friends who drifted apart coming back together to discover they were never far from thought. Two men on different paths yet looking for the same thing. A tale of determined love that must overcome constraints. Constraints of self and perceived restrictions of those around them.
Throughout The Boy Next Door it is evident that Lowell and Jase have this uncontrollable, all consuming yearning for the other. Intellectually as well as physically. It is actually raw in its revelation and it keeps you on the edge of your seat rooting for a happy ending.
And their delicious, frenzied, primal lovemaking - yes lovemaking - is explosive! Who doesn’t like when one forces another against a wall and blocks them in with their hands around their head. Yep, sizzling!
Even better: Lowell and Jase are two masculine men who never let you forget it. In their interactions, conversations and in their coupling. And the twist? The man one might predict to be the weakest, the most needy, in fact is not. Not stereotypical and I loved that nod to reality. Additionally Kate McMurray puts Lowell and Jase in compromising positions, displays of affection, even conversations that could implicate - always on the verge of discovery - superb in creating tension.
McMurray also magically pulls out the feels through Jase’s daughter, Layla. Not only with how wonderful a father he is but her interactions with Lowell. Coming out is not easy and most assuredly when you are consumed with protecting another. And this consideration is the catalyst for many a misstep.
The only hiccup in my reading experience that prevents an all out five from me was some repetitive use of the same words throughout sentences or repetitive phrases such as “electric pulse through his body, under his skin”. But the story as a whole is well crafted.
The Boy Next Door has it all. Ferocious need, obstacles, discovery, and determination.
It is a relationship journey of sorts. Not just about what one might think is unrequited love, but a story of finding self. Learning to give of yourself to another. And most of all realizing that your needs, your desires, deserve to be fulfilled as well. I’m certainly glad I did not miss reading The Boy Next Door as I am still left with this beautiful feeling of happy in my soul.
A copy of The Boy Next Door was provided to Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, by Dreamspinner Press, in exchange for our fair and honest opinion.
Kate McMurray is an award-winning romance author and an unabashed romance fan. When she’s not writing, she works as a nonfiction editor, dabbles in various crafts, and is maybe a tiny bit obsessed with baseball. She has served as President of Rainbow Romance Writers and is currently the president of the New York City chapter of RWA. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
