**ARC Provided in exchange for an honest review**

Title: The Aussie Next Door
Author: Stefanie London
Series: (Patterson’s Bluff #1)
Publication: August 27th, 2019
Read: July 2019
Format: Digital
Rating: 3 1/2 Caffeinated Stars
Trigger Warning: Childhood Abuse

Goodreads Summary:

American Angie Donovan has never wanted much. When you grow up getting bounced from foster home to foster home, you learn not to become attached to anything, anyone, or any place. But it only took her two days to fall in love with Australia. With her visa clock ticking, surely she can fall in love with an Australian—and get hitched—in two months. Especially if he’s as hot and funny as her next-door neighbor…

Jace Walters has never wanted much—except a bathroom, he didn’t have to share. The last cookie all to himself. And solitude. But when you grow up in a family of seven, you can kiss those things goodbye. He’s finally living alone and working on his syndicated comic strip in privacy. Sure, his American neighbor is distractingly sexy and annoyingly nosy, but she’ll be gone in a few months…

Except now she’s determined to find her perfect match by checking out every eligible male in the town, and her choices are even more distracting. So why does it suddenly feel like he—and his obnoxious tight-knit family, and even these two wayward dogs—could be exactly what she needs?

My Thoughts:

The Aussie Next Door by Stefanie London was a sweet romance that kept me entertained while reading. One thing that I loved about this book is how Stefanie London was able to throw in some Aussie slang in a way that didn’t force me to google the term. I loved that Angie was experiencing Australia through a tourist’s eyes, and I loved seeing her using all of the slang terms throughout the book.

Though I liked the characters, I never really connected with them. Angie and Jace made an adorable couple. I loved that their quirks worked together, and I also enjoyed that they accepted each other unconditionally. With all that said, I don’t understand why this book’s description didn’t mention that Jace is on the autism spectrum. I honestly think that this would have been a selling point of the book, so the fact that it did not mention it in the blurb was a little weird to me.

Something else that didn’t sit right with me was the fact that Angie could easily overcome one of her biggest fears. Overcoming a phobia at the snap of a finger is utterly unrealistic. It’s like telling a depressed person to think “happy thoughts,” and they’re magically cured. As someone who has a phobia that has worked for years to overcome it, it rubbed me the wrong way. I felt like the author glossed over what a phobia truly is.

Though I did have some issues with the book, I enjoyed it. The plot was cute, and the characters were fun to watch. This was a sweet romance that will make many readers swoon.

Did my review convince you to buy this book? If so here are the links to buy your very own copy!

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Goodreads

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