This Time Next Door by Gretchen Galway

Narrated by Tanya Eby

Originally titled The Geek Who Loved Me, This Time Next Door is about 26-year-old Rose Devlin, who moves with her best friend Blair from New York to San Francisco. Blair was recently knocked up by Rose’s ex-boyfriend John (it’s complicated), but John’s mother, desperate for a grandchild, has offered a rent-free house in the bay area to Blair. Rose moved with her so Blair would not have to be alone, because when Blair announced her pregnancy, John did a runner.

Rose is a plus-sized girl. She is a size 18, so she’s still smaller than many people but she isn’t petite like her good friend Blair. For the most part Rose is happy withher body, and this aspect of the story I enjoyed very much. It did wobble a little – I felt that her self-acceptance was a little inconsistently drawn but I was very glad to see no dieting or makeover was needed for Rose to get her HEA.

Mark Johnson lives next door to Rose and Blair, with his mother. He’s a software engineer working from home and sometimes he forgets to wear pants. Initially he has a bit of a thing for Blair, but then he and Rose become friends. They have a great deal of chemistry between them and it isn’t long before Mark isn’t having romantic thoughts in Blair’s direction at all.

Mark is definitely a beta hero. He stands up for himself when necessary but he’s not a pushy alpha type at all. He is genuinely sweet and kind, and after noting that Rose was a “big woman” on initial meeting, he spends pretty much the rest of the book joyously appreciating her curves. I loved that it was never a thing between them that he wanted her to lose weight or be anything other than the wonderful curvaceous woman she already was.

There was a joke about lesbians/transsexuals in the beginning of the book that I didn’t really like but I can’t tell if I’m being oversensitive or if it really was over the line. For me it was and I didn’t like it but I suppose mileage varies in these things. I’d prefer to err on the side of sensitivity – being wrong about not telling a joke never hurts anyone I think whereas the reverse is not true. However, that aside, I enjoyed Rose’s and Mark’s journey to their HEA.

I did think the ending was a little anticlimactic and kind of abrupt but I did enjoy the story and, with the caveat about the possibly transphobic joke, I’d definitely recommend the story to anyone who likes a beta hero.

I appreciated the way that John, the ex-boyfriend and Blair’s baby-daddy, was portrayed. He was often a jerk and he was far from perfect but he wasn’t evil and even though he wasn’t all that nice to Rose (particularly in the beginning) he was (once he got his head out of his ass) very good to and for Blair. I really liked how he didn’t fit neatly into either a “good guy” or “bad guy” category but was somewhere in between (as people often are). I don’t see that a lot in romance fiction and it really stood out to me here.

One of the reasons I chose this book for review was because I had confidence in the narrator. Tanya Eby gives a consistently solid performance and I’m more likely to take a chance on a new-to-me author (and a self-published audiobook) if I know the narrator’s track record.

Mark’s voice was softer than Ms. Eby’s usual hero but was easily differentiated, and it fit well with his less forceful personality. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the other male characters in the story – they kind of blended together. However, the females were distinct and easy to identify.

For the most part, this is a light-hearted contemporary romance and Tanya Eby’s smooth tones made the listen very pleasant. There was a note of tragedy within the story so it wasn’t all wine and roses but Ms. Eby conveyed the deeper emotions well without overdoing the pathos.

I’d definitely try another Gretchen Galway story and my appreciation of Tanya Eby’s narration is well known I think. I count this as a win.

Kaetrin

Narration: B

Book Content: B

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence: Minimal

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Gretchen Galway

This Time Next Door was provided to AudioGals for review by the author.