Reviews

Next to You by Hannah Bonam-Young

Only show reviews with written explanations

emoryalexander99's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

crispycritter's review against another edition

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2.0

I was initially going to rate this book much higher, but after marinating on this and reading some other reviews, I’m going to have to rate this much lower.

The good:

Started off a bit slow, picked up quite a bit and I really got invested in Matt and Lane’s relationship.
Writing was overall enjoyable

The bad:

Introducing infertility in the epilogue with no warning. Why? You’re just going to claw back some of your characters’ happiness for no reason?
Matt eventually becomes a soulless vessel for Lane’s wish fulfillment. I don’t understand the appeal of reading MMCs who are doormats.
Lane’s mental health rep was . . . Inconsistent. Weird. Unsatisfying. Some other reviewers brought up her agoraphobia disappearing halfway through and I literally forgot it was even a thing. So yeah.
Other reviewers brought this up, it’s something I side eyed a bit but didn’t think too critically about at first - Matt’s mom the mystical Samoan woman. She tells Lane about her alternative view on grief. Lane has a mental breakthrough. She talks to her dad who is speaking via a storm? Bam. Unaddressed grief solved.
Lane’s hesitancy for not wanting to be in a romantic relationship- big side eye. The devaluing of other relationships. The hypocrisy.
Dating your grief counselor: no. It wasn’t cool in HIMYM either.

bookishalexis's review against another edition

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3.0

Idk just didn’t connect with this book like I did the first in the series

gmj59's review

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emotional inspiring lighthearted medium-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

5.0

ewatt33's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-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

4.5

Content Warnings

ruja_reads's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

This isn’t my favorite book — mainly because I don’t love the friends with benefits trope — by this author but I still really enjoyed it and finished it in one sitting. Matt is a perfect golden retriever book boyfriend and my heart hurt for him several times but I love that he never gave up and continued to show his love for Lane. The letters! 😍

lauramcsherry's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Next To You

3.5 ⭐️

Last year I read Next of Kin and I enjoyed it so much I figured I should try the second in the series when I saw a copy of it. I didn’t like this one quite as much but still a full feeling romance.

Lane is trying to figure out what is happening with her life when she starts getting closer and closer to her friend Matt. While renovating a bus together, they share movies, books and long car rides and start to grow closer.

This book had a lot of grief in it, and I wanted to somewhat shake Lane when she just kept saying she needed to work on it and then didn’t. Matt is sooo lovely in this book.