melbsreads 's review for:

The Boy Next Door by Jenny Ireland

4.0

emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content warnings: medical emergency, hospitalisation, death of a parent (in the past), grief, discussions of surgery, mental health, disordered eating, shitty parenting, body image issues, mentions of drug use

Okay, first things first: I've never seen a character with vitiligo on the page before. It wasn't mentioned as often as I would have liked, but it's definitely there. This was...less of a romance and more of a contemporary than I was expecting. This isn't a criticism in the slightest. I loved the romance that develops, but I also really enjoyed the way this discusses Molly's hospitalisation and her recovery and the way that the medication she's put onto impacts her life and her image of herself. 

I wanted to reach into the book and slap Molly's mother at least a dozen times, and I was thrilled when Finbar confronts his dad about the way his grief is impacting both his children. All in all? Perhaps darker than I was anticipating, but a wonderfully told story that I very much enjoyed.