The Deadbeat Next Door

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Title: The Deadbeat Next Door
Author: Katharine Sadler   
Publication date: 12/11/2017
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Cliffhanger: No


This book has a couple of things that could’ve made it a train wreck for me. #1: the fake fiance trope can go horribly awry if not handled properly because it’s so implausible. (See the movie The Proposal if you don’t believe me. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, but this movie was awful and the plot was unbelieveable to a staggering degree.)

#2: Small towns in romance, along with their nosy, annoying, intrusive, ridiculously quirky neighbors can REALLY get on my nerves. So, I was a bit skeptical when I read the blurb. But overall, I’m really glad I gave this one a chance. I found that it surprised me in a number of really pleasant ways.

Here’s what I liked the most:

• I liked that both parties in the fake engagement benefited equally. They both went into the arrangement with their eyes open, and they were honest with each other about expectations. There weren’t any stupid misunderstandings to complicate matters.
• Cody was a GREAT hero. He was kind and considerate and sexy...basically everything a good romance hero should be. Did he have a little fear of commitment that made me want to smack him upside the head a few times? Yes. But he wasn’t a manwhore, so I found it easy to forgive him for his relationship cold feet.
• I love that Carrie never once hesitated to help people in need. She was giving, sometimes to her own detriment, but she wasn’t a martyr about it. There wasn’t any oh-poor-me whining going on in Carrie’s house.
• Dilly was AWESOME. (Sidenote to the author: if there is a Dilly story in the works, I’ll 1-click the crap out of it. I mean, I’d read Aubrey’s story, too, but Dilly was a whole other level of interesting, in my opinion.)
• There’s no instalove. These two definitely DON’T fall in love at first sight. They get to know each other at what feels like a super realistic pace.
• The story itself was well written. Not too many irritating errors, good pacing, realistic dialogue. Not too much to complain about from a story construction standpoint.      

    
But, because no read is perfect, here are a few things that irked me:

• Carrie, the heroine. There were times that I thought she moved from the “assertive heroine” category into the “bitchy heroine” category. It’s a fine line in some stories, and at times in this story, I thought Carrie walked right over it. I thought she was a little judgy when she assumed (after only a couple of short interactions) that Cody was a pretty-but-dumb, unemployed, party boy loser. Further, I thought she got violently angry with him over some relatively minor teasing. She’s lucky he didn’t press charges, frankly. I also thought she was a little too blunt with her date in the beginning of the book. I mean, I totally understand how depressing a bad date streak can be, and I agree that there’s no reason to lead a guy on if you have no intention of seeing him again--but shit, you don’t have to crush the guy beneath your boot heel just because he prattles on about books and you aren’t overly attracted to him.
• The quirky small town people weren’t terribly intrusive in the story like they can be in so many small town romances I’ve read, but their meddling did manage to irritate me a bit from time to time. (Especially the landowner. Geez, dude, do you wanna sell your property or not? I’ve sold 4 houses, and if I tried to make sure everyone moving in was a good person, I’d still be living in the first one! And the thought of still living in my first 750 sq foot house with all the crap I’ve accumulated since…*shudders*)      

But, my complaints were relatively minor and didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the story. This was a new-to-me author, but based on the strengths of this story, this won’t be my last Katharine Sadler read.  

Note: we received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?
It might not strongly crush the myth, but it’s well written enough to discourage it. No rehab needed.

Other reading suggestions
I’ll probably be checking out the author’s backlist. But, for other fake fiance/boyfriend reads, you’ll want to check out our top picks. And, for other “hot neighbor” reads, check out this list.

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