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A review by readundancies
Next To You by Hannah Bonam-Young
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
3.75
This romance felt a little bit too long, but that stays true to the slow burn.
I liked it quite a bit, but I didn’t ultimately fall for the story and the couple.
Were they easy to ship? I think so, but the inevitability of it made it hard for the slow burn to really shine. There was nothing inherently wrong with the execution but I felt the pacing wasn’t my cup of tea in this instance.
Trope-wise this has the guy falls first, which is always cute, but something felt very obvious about it and it rankled me a bit that the lead MC, Lane, wasn’t cluing the fuck in. Denial? Hell yeah. But the fact that most of it wasn’t on page? I think that’s what bothered me most.
I think this could’ve been written as a dual POV and I may have enjoyed more. Like, Matt was very obvious in his thoughts, intentions, words and communication in general that I needed him to be a bit more flawed to explain his reaction to Lane’s decision to work on herself before really deep diving and committing to a relationship with him.
I liked it quite a bit, but I didn’t ultimately fall for the story and the couple.
Were they easy to ship? I think so, but the inevitability of it made it hard for the slow burn to really shine. There was nothing inherently wrong with the execution but I felt the pacing wasn’t my cup of tea in this instance.
Trope-wise this has the guy falls first, which is always cute, but something felt very obvious about it and it rankled me a bit that the lead MC, Lane, wasn’t cluing the fuck in. Denial? Hell yeah. But the fact that most of it wasn’t on page? I think that’s what bothered me most.
I think this could’ve been written as a dual POV and I may have enjoyed more. Like, Matt was very obvious in his thoughts, intentions, words and communication in general that I needed him to be a bit more flawed to explain his reaction to Lane’s decision to work on herself before really deep diving and committing to a relationship with him.
But all in all, this was enjoyable, easy to get through and relaxing, which is all I really wanted from it.
So, win!