Thursday, January 25, 2018

Bad Neighbor

I know you're hoping this is a story about a really terrible neighbor but NOPE, it's a great book. Like super great.

Bad Neighbor - Molly O'Keefe

He's sexy... He's dangerous... He's right next door. 


I gave up everything to save my sister from a monster, and now I’m lying low in this rundown apartment so I can stay out of danger. Hiding from everyone.
Except for the guy in apartment 1A.
He’s rude. Silent. Muscled, mysterious, and hot as hell. I don’t know if he likes me or hates me, but the more time I spend with him, the less it matters.
I want him.
And for the first time in my life I'm going to go after what I want.

She doesn’t belong in my world.

From the second 1B moves in, I know she’s keeping secrets. She doesn’t belong here, much less with a street fighter like me.
But that doesn’t stop me from craving her. Her softness and sweetness. She’s a drug, and suddenly I’m addicted.
I know someone is going to try and hurt her and I can’t let that happen. But unless I push her away and get her out of my world, that someone could be me… 

I'm going to make a little confession. When I was 16, I would ride the city bus all over town. I came across some pretty nice people and of course, some sketchy people, too. I used to always talk to this guy, I can't remember his name anymore, but he was always at the downtown stop so we'd get on at the same time every day. I was coming from my dance/baton class and who knows where he was coming from. But we'd talk, every day, at the stop and on the bus. We had a lot in common, we were always listening to our own Discman's but we'd compare CD's, my bag was always full of them. But one day, he wasn't there anymore. In the place he always stood waiting was a copy of Nicholson Baker's Vox. (Links below) I immediately thought it was from him so I picked it up and decided to start reading it on the bus.

I could not put it down.

It was filthy. Bizarre and filthy. I can't remember details but it was basically about two people having a conversation over the phone, connected through a number in the back of a random magazine, talking about their sexual fantasies. I can't remember all of them but I remember reading a scene where she was effectively having sex with three painters in a hall way and it was so strange but I couldn't get it out of my head. Even now, almost twenty years later, I remember that part of the book so well.

I never saw the guy again, I don't know what ever happened to him, but I still have the book. I'm convinced it was from him and this was some strange sexual thing for him. He was probably a straight up pedophile and I should be grateful I wasn't molested on the bus or something but... yeah. Still have the book.

Which brings me to this book. Strange intro to this, but oddly appropriate. In this book we have Charlotte (which is a great name to use here because it's almost too good girl sounding), running away from her sister's "sociopath" boyfriend. Then we have Jesse (kind of bad boy sounding), a hot guy who does illegal fighting in the basement of their building, he gives off "I hate everyone and am bad news" vibes" and scares the bejesus out of Charlotte. Kind of. She's both attracted and terrified, and a lot curious about him. With their early run in's being completely volatile, Charlotte doesn't know his story or why he's like this. Jesse knows he's not good for her, knows she's hiding something, but dammit if her softness and bumblebee curtains doesn't lure him in like a siren song.

There is a scene where a couple are doing various sex acts on Jesse's bed and Charlotte comes storming in to complain about music, only she sees all of this. She sees Jesse in the corner watching them, watching her. That scene made me think of Nicholson Baker's VOX immediately and that alone  made me love this book so much. I can't tell you what happens beyond this moment but just know this book is ridiculously HOT, Jesse is bad boy heightened because you never know where he's going with his mood, and I liked Charlotte. She had the potential to be annoying but nope, I kind of loved her. She reminded me of myself and this book led to some great moments with my husband later. We'll leave it at that.

Five stars. Easily. I'm reading the sequel, I'll post the links for that below, but review will come later.

   https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Neighbor-Molly-OKeefe-ebook/dp/B01N8ZH4NN/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1516464345&sr=1-1
   
   

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