Next of Kin (2022) by Hannah Bonam-Young Review

“When did you start making your feelings smaller for other people’s benefit?”
Warren

“Sunflower sweaters are sexy on you too…” He turns, eyes sincere. “You know, this is amazing.” He brushes the back of his hand over my jacket and the velvet on my waist. “But you’re sexy as hell when you’re sunshine and rainbows too. I’lI take whatever version of you I can get.”

“A dove is a symbol of peace. That’s what you are to me… peace.”
Warren

— Story Synopsis —

Two bickering strangers trying to foster their younger siblings team up to create a stable home, but the chemistry between them threatens to undo their plans.

When people-pleasing Chloe learns that her birth mother has unexpectedly had another baby, she doesn’t hesitate to become a next-of-kin guardian. But when she fails to pass Child Protective Services’ financial evaluation, she is faced with a see her baby sister placed in foster care or participate in CPS’s new initiative, where two prospective guardians join households to qualify.

Enter Warren, a surly mechanic’s apprentice attempting to get custody of his deaf fifteen-year-old brother. From the moment Warren drives up thirty minutes late, blasting music out of his car, Chloe is convinced that this is a very bad idea. The two immediately clash but eventually agree to live together for the sake of their younger siblings.

As their lives intertwine, and Chloe adjusts to caring for her newborn sister, she begins to see a new, softer side of Warren. In fact, they’re far more similar than she could have imagined. What started as forced begins to feel natural—and far less lonely. Chemistry soon intensifies beyond what either of them can stand, but is their mutual attraction worth risking everything they’ve fought for?

Overall rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

— My Thoughts —

Hmm… 🤔 this was okay. It wasn’t extremely good, but it wasn’t bad either.

Like a few readers, I had issues with the pacing of the book. I loved the initial banter between the characters but all of a sudden, they were confessing their love for each other. I would have loved it better if the slow burn dragged on a little longer. But the book is only 300 pages, so I guess it’s inevitable that the pacing would be a little faster. Spoiler alert—the scene where Warren presented the song he wrote for Chloe is extremely cheesy 🫠 I love clichés / cheesy scenes, but I feel like if it involves any characters singing or writing a song for their partners, it’s a straight no.

That being said, the writing style made it really easy to read. The conflict wasn’t that dramatic and it was solved really quickly too. So if you’re looking for something that’ll make you gasp, this probably isn’t it.

The spicy scenes aren’t that descriptive too. If you’ve read Tessa Bailey or Ana Huang’s books before, you may find this pretty tamed 😅

In conclusion, this was a simple read. It’s quite short which means the pacing of the book is really fast.

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