Good Girl Next Door

A Jetty Beach Romance, Book 6

By: Claire Kingsley

Narrated by: Sebastian York, Ava Erickson

He’ll teach her to be bad.

The new girl next door? She’s adorable, but totally off-limits. I don’t do commitment—been there, done that, got the broken heart—and sweet-as-pie Becca is too close to girlfriend material.

But she asks me to help her find her naughty side, and I’m the perfect guy for the job. She wants to take some risks and face her fears, and I have all kinds of ideas. I just need to keep my d*ck—and my heart—out of it.

After all, we’re just two friends having fun. What could possibly go wrong?

Suddenly single, and on my own in a new town, I decide it’s time to stop being so predictable. I’m tired of being the good girl. And who better to help me out of my shell than my new neighbor, Lucas?

Sure, he’s sexy as sin. And as our adventures in naughtiness escalate, my lady parts are not complaining.

We agreed to stay just friends. We wouldn’t let this get complicated. But Lucas is kind of amazing. And the more time we spend together, the more my heart wants things he can’t give.

Good Girl Next Door was previously titled Could Be the One.

©2017 Claire Kingsley (P)2022 Claire Kingsley

See ya, Sandy!

After getting dumped instead of engaged, Becca needs a change of scenery pronto and moves to Jetty Beach, where her bestie Juliet has relocated. Luckily for Becca, Finn's pal, Lucas, has a vacancy in the building he owns. They hit it off when they cross paths (again, having briefly met before), and strike up a friendship. When Becca decides it's time to lighten up her play-it-safe, good-girl, Sandy-from-Grease ways, Lucas is all too happy to oblige in corrupting her... and it doesn't take long before friendly adventures like karaoke and surfing become adventures of the friends-with-benefits sort.

Naturally, feelings get involved despite both agreeing that their sexcapades would come with no strings attached. I love the player-falls-in-love-without-even-realizing-it trope, and Claire does it well. Lucas' determination to not let himself be vulnerable ever again is totally relatable, and I felt every ache and pain and awkward moment that Becca went through. I was so cheering for these two to work out their own issues and find their way back to each other! And the twist with Becca's ex-boyfriend? Didn't see that one coming!

Narrators Sebastian York and Ava Erickson are ON FIRE in this story! I coincidentally have listened to a few books in a row with this same pairing and I just adore the combination of SebYo and Ava. They each brought a very nuanced performance to Lucas and Becca’s story, and it was a delight listening to them!

I received a complimentary copy and voluntarily left a review.

Entertaining

Cute story, Of a good girl kind of meats bad boy. Learns to live in a room and be around grown up. Dad boy of course gets tamed so to speak. I loved Ava and Sebastian they certainly know how to bring a story to life. To me listening to Sebastian's like comfort food. You just love it.

Lucas and Becca

Amazing narrators! They both were perfect for the parts and really brought the chara9 to life. It has been a long time since I originally read this series but the audible made it even better. Sweet and innocent Becca who needed someone to bring her out of her shell and to teach her to allow herself to just let go and take chances and that's exactly what Lucas has done for her. Both still dealing with heartbreak they needed the other to put them back together. This was a fun story with a ton of chemistry and sparks. I'm a huge fan of the sweet hero who isn't all broody and angry! Great book and I'm so looking forward to the next book coming out on audible.

This couple is relationship goals!

There are many attributes that can make the Hero in a romance novel top notch. In Good Girl Next Door, the hero, Lucas, is so supportive of the Heroine Becca, and it is so unbelievably swoony. Without romantic intentions, he helps her shred her good girl, safe decision, self. Becca is the sweet girl who has always done what others expect of her, and plays it safe. He creates an environment that makes her feel safe enough to take risks and do things she wouldn’t normally do. He is not even a little judgemental of her fears and is so supportive of her victories. Her accomplishments make him happy. His support is everything a reader could want in a book boyfriend.

I love the way these two come together and become a couple without even realizing they are actually together. They are fun and perfect. Their “friendship” is relationship goals, and the way they overcome things to truly be together is so good! I love them!

I love Lucas, but add Sebastian York in, and his character is even better! His voice is the perfect blend of playful, a bit cocky, sweet, and kind. Ava Erickson is so good as Becca. She really makes me want to be friends with this Heroine. This audio is fantastic!

Finding love outside your comfort zone

I loved this friends to lovers, opposites attract, good girl-bad boy romance. It had a great mix of love, spice, humor, angst, and feels. Becca and Lucas are portrayed as real, relatable people who have flaws and past wounds, but are really just trying to do their best as messy humans. Becca has lived a very sheltered safe life and is reluctant to stray from her comfort zone. But when her long time boyfriend breaks up with her instead of proposing, she decides to move to a new town and be different. Lucas is a confirmed bachelor who has no interest in a relationship. He is Becca’s new landlord, neighbor and best friends with Becca’s best friend’s fiancée. Lucas and Becca slowly become friends while he helps and encourages her to do things that she normally wouldn’t. Of course feelings start to happen despite their agreement to only be friends. What follows the friendship agreement, is a swoony, spicy and emotional journey of leaps of faith and trust, baggage unpacking, inner voice finding, and life course correction. I loved Becca and might be as beginning Grease Sandy as she is. As always with this author’s books, the story was well written with engaging dialogue, three dimensional characters who grow and a swoony storyline. I love this series. 4.5 stars.

Sebastian York and Ava Erickson did a wonderful job narrating the story and characters into life with enough change of inflection, tone and cadence to voice multiple characters quite convincingly.