book review: The Chad Next Door

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Five-star book review of The Chad Next Door!

Keep reading for my book review of The Chad Next Door.

Overview:

The Chad Next Door is part of Dana LeCheminant’s Love in Sun City series featuring a sibling group. They each have a book in the series, and they’re simultaneously falling in love during a particular month. There are overlapping scenes within the books.

This book is a slow-burn romantic comedy with no explicit content. It features my favorite trope, grumpy-sunshine. It is also an age-gap romance.

The Chad Next Door book cover blurb:

Torn between a quiet life and the chaos of unexpected love, Private Investigator Chad Briggs is set to find out if a snowstorm can melt his heart in Laketown. When [he meets] Hope, the all too attractive—and far too young—woman next door, Chad’s life is thrown into a whirlwind he would rather not face, but he doesn’t have much of a choice.

Trying to navigate her new life after unexpectedly gaining custody of her dead sister’s kids, Hope knows she shouldn’t be interested in her much older neighbor, no matter how easy he is on the eyes. But when a snowstorm traps them together in one house, can they ignore the sparks between them?

With every reason to think a relationship is impossible, especially with the kids in the mix, they know a weekend fling isn’t going to end well.

But their hearts didn’t get the memo, and they might be in too deep to back out.

Chad is the oldest sibling, and he keenly feels a responsibility to take care of the others.

As I get further into the series, I’m noticing how sweet the family bond is between the siblings. They really care about each other and genuinely like each other. Each book in the series highlights a particular sibling, but it’s fun to continue getting to know the others. Their perspectives on each other are so interesting.

From Chad’s thoughts early in the book, referring to his office where he works as a private investigator: “I try to be impartial, just a man finding the facts, and presenting them in the most helpful way. But I’ve lost track of the number of marriages that have ended in this room. Of the family members that have betrayed one another. I’ve lost the reasons I should be happy in a world that is increasingly awful.”

Chad has seen a lot of troubling situations in his professional life, as well as at home when he was younger. Those experiences reinforce his need to care for his siblings. They’re also the foundation for his gruff demeanor.

Hope brings her niece and nephew to live next door to Chad’s vacation home. She’s all that is lovely and sweet.

Hope’s thoughts about an older woman in town: “She is the embodiment of what I was hoping for from a small town, and I seriously hope she’s not the only kind one. It’s hard to be completely hopeful when Grizz is the only other person I’ve met so far, but I pray he’s the exception to the Laketown rules. I only have room for one gruff and grumpy guy in my life. When what I really need is all the help I can get.”

“Grizz” is Chad’s nickname among his siblings, and it’s how he introduced himself to Hope. I believe the other “gruff and grumpy guy” she’s referring to is her nephew. It’s clear that Hope is searching for support. She wants to provide a good and stable life for her niece and nephew.

Chad’s early impression of Hope, after learning the kids weren’t hers: “Hope is undeniably pretty. She has a girl-next-door vibe – I’m ignoring that irony – the kind of beauty that is natural and easy. So far, she’s worn her dark hair long and free. It has a little wave to it that gives it some life, and I wonder if it’s as soft as it looks. Her heart shaped face is young and full of life, with all the signs of her being quick to smile. I think her eyes fascinate me the most, if I’m giving myself this moment to catalog everything about her. They’re a rich brown, warm and soft and bottomless. Even when she’s glared at me, I’ve felt her gaze deep in my bones, like she’s lived a thousand lives in her short lifetime.”

They have a sweet love story, and Chad’s tenderness with the kids is a lovely aspect of it.

Dana handles the content about the kids’ trauma with sensitivity and thoughtfulness. They’re dealing with some complicated emotions, but it’s presented in a way that shows the difficulty but also offers some healthy ways of talking through it.

Special moments in The Chad Next Door:

Hope’s thought: “Each kiss is a new step down a path I am desperate to explore, each new taste another answer to a question I didn’t know I had.”

Chad’s thought: “I’ve never been known like this.”

Definitely recommend!

I really enjoyed this book. It contains a lot of insight into working together through difficulties and prioritizing communication.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my book review of The Chad Next Door.

Fondly,

Crysti