The Boy Next Door

By: Ella James

Narrated by: J.F. Harding, Aubrey Vincent

A sexy and emotional Amazon Top 10 best seller from Ella James, USA Today best-selling author

The boy next door. That's what he was. Dash Frasier - my hero from the day we met, when I was six and he was nine. His sister was my best friend, the three of us one happy crew. Then one sweaty summer night changed everything.

No one understood me like Dash. No one made me feel so loved. That's why, when he skipped town, it wrecked me. Now I'm older. Wiser. I've just snagged my dream job, writing at a film studio. The lead animator on my project? You guessed it.

He's not the boy next door. Not anymore.

I'm guarding my heart this time.

But Dash has secrets that could break us both.

©2017 Ella James (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Thought provoking,filled w/unlikely sadness to HEA

First of all, the narrators deserve recognition for a great job!!! As we all know, narration can make or break any story so well deserved kudos to the narrators for a rendition that added to the writing.

The book is one of those I call a "This but That" or a "Wish I shoulda, coulda, woulda..." kind of tale. There are so many facets to the story that a person can see the different motives and even assign blame to each character. However, as I have lived life I have come to the realization that blame is useless waste of energy unless we learn from it. There are many victims in this novel including the most deeply disturbed character (who will remain nameless to avoid ruining it for prospective readers). Someting made that person that way and s/he needs professional help. One other life lesson I could identify with is how secrets, while painful to reveal, can actually cause more damage in the long run as they eat away at individuals and families if left unrevealed. Even though this tale ends with a HEA for the main characters, I was still left with a somewhat sick feeling in my stomach and pervasive thoughts about the book. These thoughts led to the "this person could/should have done this/that but was influenced by this/that/who" which leads me to my characterization at the beginning of the paragraph of the novel. But it is a mark of a good book that makes us think, IMO.

While I felt this was a well written story with much creative imagination, I deducted one point due to an underlying feeling of being emotionally manipulated by several unlikely events of the novel. There are too many sad aspects to both Ammy's and Dash's life, the unlikiness of how they meet up again later in life, the timing of the event just prior to their first date upon their reconciliation plus many other events. The plethora of sad events made me think no one has this much unrelieved sadness in their lives. In fact, the only purely positive relationship in their lives were each other and that got trashed early on as well. Then I could identify with Ammy's feelings but struggled to understand all of Dash's decisions. It might be reasonable that a 64 year old female would find it difficult to identify with an 18 year old male mind but I have a son with whom I have almost always had a close and sympathico relationship.

In the end, that 4 star rating is more of a 3.5. Would I read another book by this author? Yes but will hope it will be thought provoking and with a HEA without the overwhelming sadness I found in this one.

Better than the first

Dash and Emilia have always been secretly in love with each other but Dash is the older brother to Em's best friend, kind of typical. But the actual story of the two of them is a little heartbreakingly beautiful (sounds a little corny) but true. Em liked Dash from the first time he saved her from drowning, she was 7 and he was 10. The became neighbors and friends. Dash breaks Em's heart when he goes away to college because he doesn't stay in contact with her. When he comes home on break they spend the night together just before her 16th birthday and he promised to stay a few more days to be with her, but he suddenly leaves with no word, this would make heartbreak #2. They come across each other again because Em becomes an intern unknowingly at a company he works at. What Emilia doesn't know is the secret Dash has been keeping from her, the real reason he has stayed away, she will find out and it will all make sense and you'll fall in love with Dash.

very good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! After listening to this story,. I totally enjoyed reading this book. It’s well written and the characters were uniquely fantastic. I would suggest this book to my friends that like this sort of genera. this was a good book. The narrator was great.

The Boy Next Door

Goodness this was a beautifully sweet, heartfelt, but at the same time heart breaking story. I absolutely adored every single second of this book.
JF Harding and Aubrey Vincent are Fantastic narrators, they brought all the emotion, passion, and love to life. I loved it!

Love Ella

I just love all of Ella James novels. Thank you Ella for the rubies, tears, joy, and amazing love stories.