Review: The Boys Next Door & Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols

Lori lives for summertime on the lake. She spends all season wakeboarding, swimming, and hanging with her friends—including the two hotties in the house next door. With the Vader brothers, Lori's always been one of the guys.

But while Lori and the "baby" brother, Adam, are inseparable friends, she can't deny a secret crush on Sean, the older Vader boy. This year Sean's been paying Lori a lot of attention, and not in a brotherly way.

But just as Lori decides to prove to Sean she's girlfriend material, she realizes that her role as girl friend to Adam may be even more important. And by trying so hard for the perfect summer romance, she could be going way overboard....

The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols

Published: June 26, 2007
Source: Bought

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes and Nobles

My Thoughts:

This was the perfect summer read, the story was light, heartwarming and funny. The author did such a great job of portraying teenagers that I felt like I was in the awkward stages of my teen years all over again.

I loved the dynamic of the relationship between the Vader brothers, Adam and Sean. The fighting between them and the jokes were all part of what made the book great, the characters were real and you could easily identify with them.

Lori was such a great main character; she was really sweet and just had this way of taking something and turning it into the most complicated thing ever. It’s almost as if chaos found her which made for a hilarious read. This book was a short read as I flew through the book in one sitting. I felt a connection with each of the characters and although at times the story was predictable I was still able to enjoy it. The writing was engaging and flowed well.

I now see what all the hype about Jennifer Echol’s books are about and I am definitely going to read the rest of her books. This was definitely a fun read!




Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols

Published: May 25, 2010
Source: Bought

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes and Nobles

My Thoughts:

This is the sequel to the Boys Next door. I can’t say I enjoyed this as much as the first because the characters  really didn’t learn from their mistakes in the first book that things don’t always work out the way you want them to. There were too many games being played and I just kind of got annoyed. But, maybe this is just me and because I’m nowhere near the age of 16 anymore maybe I just can’t relate to the retarded games that they were playing to capture the attention of the one they love.

I have to say this I was okay with the way the first book ended, it felt complete to me. I didn’t really see the need for a sequel and it actually ruined the story for me.