Stevie‘s review of The Girl Next Door (Bend or Break, Book 3) by Amy Jo Cousins
Contemporary Bisexual Romance published by Samhain Publishing, Ltd. 16 Jun 15
Opposite-sex romances with bisexual protagonists are few and far between outside of full-blown ménage stories, which I tend to avoid since my experience of polyamory is nothing like the way it usually gets written. I have a gut feeling that bisexual heroines are even rarer than bisexual heroes, so this story’s premise particularly appealed.
Cash Carmichael walked away from the easy option of a career in his wealthy family’s business to work with kids from impoverished backgrounds – somewhere he feels like he’s really making a difference. He copes cheerfully with living in a similar neighbourhood to his charges, and has resisted the urge to ask his parents for help when things get tough – although the birthday cheques they send come in handy and he still goes back to see them at holiday time. His life gets turned upside down, however, when a younger cousin turns up on his doorstep, having run away from home because his parents think that being gay is just a phase.
Cash is very open-minded but knows far more about ensuring that his pre-teen soccer players have warm clothes and food than about angsty teenagers. So he calls up two of his old college friends – the gay couple who partly inspired Cash’s cousin to come out – and they suggest a fourth member of the old gang to help out until they can visit: Steph, who previously had an on-off relationship with Cash, and now lives in the same city.
Steph is a great character, and I would have loved to have read her point of view as well as Cash’s. I’d also have liked to see more of the people she deals with in her work caring and campaigning for LGBT senior citizens. On the other hand, seeing her problems through Cash’s eyes gives us the opportunity to figure out why they broke up before at the same time as he does, although there were times I wanted to shake a little sense into him as he struggles to build a relationship with her. This story is very much about Cash and Steph, even though they do arrange a threesome with one of Cash’s co-workers who is moving away – the pair are most definitely a couple who like to try things and then move on if the experience doesn’t work 100% for both of them.
All in all a story well worth reading and which stands alone admirably, in spite of being the third in a series. I’d just have preferred if the whole thing hadn’t been in Cash’s point of view.
Grade: B
Summary:
Charles “Cash” Carmichael traded his high-rise condo and family-firm career for a job coaching soccer for Chicago’s inner-city kids. He’s adjusting to living on minimum wage when his young cousin, newly out and running away from home, shows up on his less-than-luxurious doorstep.
Angsty teens definitely aren’t Cash’s thing. He needs local backup, and there’s only one name he can think of: Stephany Tyler. Back in the day, the bisexual Steph was the perfect friend with benefits until she fell in love with a woman.
To his relief, his former friend steps up to the plate. Soon, though, Cash finds himself feeling the familiar need to keep her in his bed, and in his life. But Steph, burned by the ex-girlfriend and by the absentee dad she’s been trying to connect with, won’t risk her heart again.
Good thing Cash believes in leaving it all on the field. If he can just convince Steph to get in the game, there’s a chance they can both win.
Warning: This book contains ex-friends with benefits crossing boundaries a second time, several steamy encounters on staircases, copious discussions about gay sex from a “straight” guy, a shout-out to magic buttons, and an especially memorable going away threesome.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
