Full of heart... Falling for the Girl Next Door by Tera Lynn Childs (Blog Tour Review, Excerpt & Giveaway)


I'm a Tera Lynn Childs fan, so I jumped at the chance to review her newest release.
Read my full review, an excerpt, and enter the fabulous giveaway below...

Falling for the Girl Next Door (Creative HeArts, #5; Sloane and Tru, #2)
Falling for the Girl Next Door
(Creative HeArts #5)
by Tera Lynn Childs
YA Contemporary
Paperback & ebook,186 Pages
November 14th 2016 by Entangled: Crush

Summary

Sloane Whitaker never expected to like living in Texas, but after a few months in the Lone Star State, she has to admit she likes the food, the school, and the boy next door. What she doesn’t like is the fact that half her family is still back in New York. Convincing her dad to relocate to Texas requires making their upcoming visit as perfect as possible. The perfect dinner, the perfect daughter…with the perfect boyfriend.

But when her not-so-perfect boyfriend Tru Dorsey is suddenly not-so-available, Sloane has to find another dad-impressing guy to show off at dinner. Tru himself suggests enlisting the help of a fake boyfriend, but the reality of another guy with Sloane on his arm might be more than Tru can manage. Add in a mysterious blackmailer and a divided family, and Sloane and Tru’s relationship might not be able to handle the heat.

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains a bad boy next door, the good girl who snags his heart, and one epically disastrous ruse-gone-wrong. Join the fun at your own risk.

(Affiliate links included.)



My Review

FALLING FOR THE GIRL NEXT DOOR was a heartfelt story about two teens trying to figure out their relationship while dealing with their own struggles and their rather dysfunctional families. The romance was sweet with some enjoyable family and friend relationships. If you enjoy sweet contemporary YA, give this one a try!

Jumping into this story not having read the first book left me at a slight disadvantage, but I quickly caught up and became familiar with these characters. Usually you start a story and the two main characters aren't already dating, so that was a unique beginning to this story (obviously I need to read the first book). I liked that it wasn't the usual and that it was easy to like these characters and figure out who they are even if they're still struggling with that themselves.

This story definitely pulled some emotions from me. There were definitely some swoon-worthy moments, some that were just sweet and sincere (like between Tru and his mom, Sloane and her mom, and Sloane and her brother), and some that really got up my ire (I don't like cheating or abuse or unreasonable expectations). Then Tru's journey was emotional all on its own. Heartbreaking. I couldn't help feeling so proud of him too for coming to terms. I liked the place where these characters arrived at the end and that their futures would be bright and change for the better. Hopefully.

In the end, was it what I wished for? This was sweet and enjoyable. I wanted a little more, but at just under 200 pages, definitely worth my time. If you enjoy contemporary YA with plenty of heart, then I'd recommend this one.

Content: Some innuendo and a handful of s-words.

Source: From NetGalley through YA Reads Blog Tours, which did not require a review nor affect it in any way.



Excerpt

A few months ago, if someone asked me to name one good thing about Austin, Texas, I would have laughed in their face. Serious, can’t control it, gut-wrenching laughter. Never in a million years.
Apparently a lot can change in a short time, because now I can name three.
1. The food. As a vegetarian, Austin is a wonderland. There is a seemingly endless array of meat-free options. Back home in New York I had my favorite haunts, but here I’m finding new places to yum practically every day. Plus, there is my new obsession: Tex-Mex. There is no such thing as too much guacamole.
2. The school. When I first saw Austin NextGen Academy, all shiny and modern, I thought it would never compare to the School of Drama and Art where I spent my first three years of high school. I was wrong. Between the advanced-level classes and the experimental teaching methods, NextGen has totally blown my mind.
3. The neighbors. Or, more specifically, the neighbor boy. Tru Dorsey. He didn’t exactly make the best first impression—climbing up onto my roof to disrupt my angry solitude had not endeared him to me. And thanks to a bunch of propaganda from my mom and his parents, I’d been pre-disposed to dislike him, anyway. But the boy has definitely grown on me. So much so that he’s been elevated to full-on boyfriend status.
So there it is. The three reasons why I’m not unequivocally hating my parent-enforced exile in the Lone Star state. Enough to make my sentence here more than bearable. Dare I even say enjoyable? I’m not saying I’m ready to apply for permanent Texas citizenship, but sticking it out here in weirdsville for the duration of my senior year won’t be the worst thing in the world.
Cue the guilt. I feel like I’m cheating on my hometown with another city. A girl can’t spend almost eighteen years as a New Yorker and then just walk away. But Austin makes me want to try.
There’s also the family guilt. While Mom and I are living it up in Austin, Dad and Dylan are back in our Big Apple brownstone. Dad is a workaholic who is almost never home. It’s kind of hard to miss him when I never saw him much anyway. But my baby brother is another story. He’s like the missing puzzle piece in my daily grind. I know Mom feels it, too.
The guilt was bad enough when I could blame my parents for sending Mom and me away. It was me against them. I was the sane one who wanted to go home.
Now that I’m actually content to stay in Austin…now it’s kind of my fault, too.
My family is broken in two, with half a country separating us. And I’m partly to blame.

Other Books in the Series

Ten Things Sloane Hates About Tru (Creative HeArts, #1; Sloane and Tru #1)How Willa Got Her Groove Back (Creative HeArts, #2)Crazy, Stupid, Fauxmance (Creative HeArts, #3; Mariely and Cabot #1)The Secret Life of a Dream Girl (Creative HeArts, #4; Dahlia and Keegan, #1)

About the Author


Tera Lynn Childs is the RITA-award-winning young adult author of the mythology-based Oh. My. Gods. series, the Forgive My Fins mermaid romance series, the kick-butt monster-hunting Sweet Venom trilogy, and the Darkly Fae series. She also writes the City Chicks sweet chick lit romance series and is co-writing the Hero Agenda series with Tracy Deebs. Tera lives nowhere in particular and spends her time writing wherever she can find a comfy chair and a steady stream of caffeinated beverages.


Tour-Wide Giveaway

Paperback copies of Ten Things Sloane Hates About Tru + Falling for the Girl Next Door
(Open Internationally)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Have you read any of the books in this series or in the Crush line? Any favorites?

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