1.5 - 2 stars

This was not it. A lot of the stories were very bland and just "meh", which made it hard to feel interested or engaged. The sad part about it was that a handful of the stories had very intriguing concepts and set ups it's just that the piece itself couldn't live up to what advertised.

book given in exchange for honest review

Sometimes the most intriguing girls are right next door—BFFs, ex-girlfriends, new girls in town, party girls, study mates, teammates, and sexy strangers. All it takes is a night out, the right moment, or an accidental kiss to discover what's been there all along—the perfect girl for a love that lasts a lifetime. Best-selling romance authors tell it from the heart—sexy, romantic stories of falling for the girls next door.
This was an anthology full of a variety of stories straight from the heart. They were all quick and easy with well-liked characters. I highly recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

I was unable to review this book because of a conflict in my schedule. Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused the publisher or the author of the work. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review for you and I look forward to reviewing for you in the future.

I received this ARC from Bold Stroke books in exchanges for a review. I liked some stories and hated others. Longer review will be written tomorrow.

I will review each story and then the book as a whole.

Cupcake- literally the sweetest story in the book. We have all been there, you know some minor stalking of a woman to see if she notices you. Overall well written and the best story this book could have started with. I would live to go to that bakery.

Guilty Pleasure - it was cute, but ultimately not anything to write home about. The writing was an it choppy, but otherwise a solid story.

Hooper Street- Now this was a well written story, with a good beginning and a great end. It only takes one person to change how people feel about their neighborhoods. And the love story was adorable. We have all been that jerk at one point in our lives.

Snow Day- Good story, great characters, but also something I have read in other books. It's a popular trope, liking the hottie that lives downstairs. Cute. It not terribly memorable.

Knocking on Haven's Door- Such a good story and probably my second favorite. I liked the twist about Haven's job cause that is not what I thought she did. I really liked the characters and I plan on reading more by this author.

Gold- I did not like this story, I thought it was again too familiar and like I have already ready it somewhere written by someone who wrote it better.

Love Unleashed - Great story for pet lovers.

Bat Girl- This story was not only adorable but also very funny. I will definitely look up more by this author to read. She writes so well and is so very funny.

The Aisle of Lesbos- Another story that I didn't like. Maybe it was the protagonists unique way of speaking that annoyed me, but this story just wasn't that great.

Kiss Cam- The best story about not knowing what you have till it finds someone else. What great comeuppance Suze did not deserve her and I'm glad she got with "pickle girl" in the end.

The Girl Next Door- cute enough but not my favorite. I just fee like a lot of these stories are similar and this is another one of those. Girl meets girls, Girl hunks girl is too much of everything, in the end they fall in love. Too formulaic and cookie cutter.

October Moon - cute story about lost love finding itself again. Really good story.

Chemistry- Another story about falling for the wrong girl until you figure out the girl you have been hanging out with was perfect all along.

Black Out- cute but not too memorable.

Dog Day of Summer - Another good love story about people and pets. Cute and written well and I feel like I could read an entire book about these two or even a series and never get sick of them.

Welcome to the Neighborhood- so this story just felt so fresh. I like that we got an entire story from when they met to the engagement and it was such a cute story. I loved both women and even Olivia who although a minor character was awesome.

Neighbors- I just can't with this story. The anger I feel right now is immense. This was so ridiculous. Are hose three just gonna go beach town to beach town picking up women to join their harem. Such a dumb story.

Black Sheep- Great story to end on and it rounds out my three favorite. Cute, good story, great passion and two ver likable character.

So overall the book was a four there was a lot of lines for me and not too many misses. I will be looking into these authors other works.

Well first off I’d like to mention that I failed to realize that this book was actually a collection of short stories which is one of the reasons it took me so long to read. I didn’t enjoy it all that much and there were quite a few chapters that I actually ended up skipping because I either didn’t really get what was going on or didn’t find it very interesting. I actually did quit on this book for a while but came back to finish it in the end. I enjoyed 2-3 stories in the book but it wasn’t the best book.

I'm sure everyone will enjoy it but it was a bit jumbled to me and I had a hard time so eventually I just kind of stopped reading it.

This is just simply an anthology of stories with the theme of "the girl next door" with contributions from a pretty wide set of current lesfic authors. There are some good ones, odd ones, a confusing as hell story, and maybe one or two standouts that you wouldn't mind an entire novel crafted around. In particular I enjoyed the Hooper Street story because it felt like there really was a bit more to it than looking next door and bumping uglies, as well as the final story of the book which may have just put me in a good mood to have ended the book on a high note. None of the shorts feel longer than 10 or 15 pages, which is the perfect length to breezily take in a few quick stories with very light plot. This is a good one to read on a plane, during a commute, or the beach. Nothing serious, but entertaining enough to pass the time. I do commend all of the authors and the editors for keeping these stories so short and on point.

This is a collection of short stories featuring lesbian romances. There are some well-known lesbian romance authors in the collection, and some excellent short stories. The stories all featured the girl next door, and ranged from sweet romances to more explicit erotica.

There are twenty stories in all, and there was only one that I didn’t finish. There were a couple of 3 stars efforts, soundly written and quite engaging, but the ones that stick in my mind were a fabulous 5 stars. I guess I’d pick most to be about 4 stars, hence the rating.

Short stories are a treat. They are often really well written and encapsulate enough of the story to tantalize, and some luscious characters to guide you through it. And this group was a variety, from the really sweet, girl next door romance, to the hot and heavy just moved in next door thing. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed the mix.

Stacia Seaman has written a lot of short stories and she knows how to manage the short form really well. This comes across in the selection of stories, of which all but one is very readable. I really enjoyed this set of stories, and will no doubt re-read it many times.

Advanced reading copy provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

A collection of shorts, some written by familiar authors and some by new ones. There were a few stories I wasn't a fan of but overall, I enjoyed most of them. The anthology itself explored a wide variety of themes. It's a nice summer read.

I enjoyed this collection of stories about finding exactly the woman you need unexpectedly. Sometimes the girl next door is overlooked until she is right there in front of you and it all feels so right. I especially enjoyed 'Black Sheep' by Nell Stark as it was really sexy and fun. Brey Willows wrote a very hot story with a twist that grabbed my attention. This anthology is a collection of lovely stories by some talented writers.

I was given this ARC by Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books in return for an honest review.

This is a book full of short stories. Some shorter than others. But overall not bad. Some are funny. some are romantic, others serious.

It is a good read. It is also a book you do not need to read all at once. Yes it is because they are short and sweet. It is a good collection and a nice variety of authors some of which are well known. I did not know all of the authors, so some were new to me. They all made me want more.

I liked some more than others but to be honest I'm not going to list them. You should make your own mind up. They are all good in their own way. Enjoy!!


*ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley*


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1999295313

https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R38YMDOUE0ZBB7/ref=pe_1572281_66412651_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

I really enjoyed these short stories. There was such a wide variety of stories that it was a beautiful thing to read. I of course wanted more from several of them, so I had to find more from the authors. I highly recommend checking this one out.

I'm don't read a lot of short stories (because I am a greedy reader and I always want more) but I was really happy to be able to read this little adorable and sexy collection!

It was really great to discover some authors I haven't read before and get a little taste for their writing. I have a ton of books and authors to add to me to-read list now! Thank you for that!

Of course it was a treat to be able to read some stories by my favourite authors, to get a little fix of their writing until their next books come out in the fall. Here's looking at you Aurora Rey! I fell in love with Brey Willow's writing with her first book this year and I loved her addition to the collection.

This was a really well put together collection, not too repetitive. There's a little something for everyone in here!

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Every so often I get in the mood for an anthology collection. This one is a great set of stories from some of the best writers out there. To help give an idea of what's included in this book, as it sometimes helps me figure out how many I'd be interested in, here's a quick summary of each.

Cupcake by Georgia Beers
Cute story about a woman having a crush on the Baker next door to the yoga studio she’s goes to. Great short flirting story by Georgia Beers, who always producers nice little reads.

Guilty Pleasure by M.Ullrich
A hotter story about a quiet androgynous woman and the college student next door.

Hooper Street by Anna Larner
British story about an unhappy brokenhearted woman and her brand new cheery neighbor.

Snow Day by Missouri Vaun
College aged girls who live in the same building finally hooking up during a snow storm.

Knocking on Haven’s Door by Brey Willows
A woman first moves in and meets her hot new neighbor with an interesting job.

Gold by Giselle Renarde
A short story that reads as a first chapter in a novel about a gold digging Gardner and her overlooked coworker.

Love Unleashed by Karis Walsh
Woman has a crush on the dog walker from a few houses down but doesn’t want to get to know her so her fantasies aren’t ruined.

Bat Girl by Laney Webber
Cute story about two coworkers and a crazy bat in one of their apartments.

The Aisle of Lesbos by Allison Wonderland
Two women who use to work at a food bank together meet up again. Lots of food words and food analogies.

Kiss Cam by Lisa Moreau
A woman wants to kiss her ex on the Kiss Cam but an interesting twist occurs.

The Girl Next Door by Beth Burnett
A cute story about wrongly judging the perfect blond neighbor next door.

October Moon by Sheri Lewis Wohl
Two old best friends get a little push from their Wiccan mothers.

Chemistry by Lea Daley
A nice tale set over a longer period of time than most of the stories. It’s about a woman not noticing the perfect someone whose been there all along.

Black Out by Ronica Black
Steamy erotic tale about a black-out and the neighbor next door showing up out of nowhere.

The Perfect Blend by Iron Woolf
Two co-owners of a catering company who have been working side by side for years.

Welcome to the Neighborhood by Aurora Rey
A woman has a huge crush on the next door neighbor but doesn’t know how to say ‘welcome’.

Neighbors by Elizabeth Black
An uptight woman knocks on the door of her new noisy neighbors and gets a two for one special.

Black Sheep by Nell Stark
A Senior in college goes back home for Christmas and re-unites with the girl next door who has grown into the woman next door since she last saw her.

Some I wasn't that in to, some of them I thought were extremely charming. There is a good mix of cute vs. erotica/PWP stories so you won't feel like sex is always where it's leading but at least some of them give you the good stuff :)

I mainly believe these types of books help readers find new authors they haven't give a chance to yet, so I'll always recommend these kinds of books just to expand horizons.

This was a bunch of shorts from authors we know from Bold Strokes Books, and a few that were new to me. Overall, this collection was just okay. There was one short I loved, five I liked, ten I thought were okay, and three, I did not care for. Since I rated ten of the books a 3, that's what I am giving the book, as an overall score.

I think it would be too boring to mention all the shorts, so I will just stick to the few I liked:

M. Ullrich- Guilty Pleasures, was by far my favorite. It almost makes up for the last book of hers that I did not care for:)

Georgia Beers- Cupcake. Just a real sweet short, very indicative of Beers' writing.

Karis Walsh- Love Unleashed. I'm a fan of Walsh, so not surprised I liked this one.

Lea Daley- Chemistry. I own a book by Daley, but have never read her before, this reminded me I need to give her a try.

Kris Bryant- Dog Days of Summer. A story about a run away dog. It was cute and the characters had some chemistry. I also like Bryant so again, not surprised I liked this.

Black Sheep- Nell Stark. I'm a fan of Stark's paranormal series. This was about two college students who parents refused to accept them being gay... and a little fun they have right under everyone's noses.

Overall and okay read, some shorts were definitely better than others. I did like the chance to find some new authors. There was one author named Allison Wonderland. I gave the short a 3 rating, but she wrote so uniquely, that I will keep an eye out for her in the future.

An ARC was given to me by BSB, for a honest review.

Quite a well done and with certain authors, absorbing. The tales that stood out the most were "Hooper Street" by Anna Larner, "Knocking on Heaven's Door" by Brey Willows and "Dog Day of Summer" by Kris Bryant (who is one of my current favorite authors), each was tautly written and had characters that left me wanting full length works featuring the introduced characters. I appreciate any volume curated by the involved editors-quality is usually assured.

It is usually difficult that an anthology can satisfy completely our tastes, not everybody will be pleased with all of it. This one has this, too. It can be found stories that are sweet, hot, funny, hotter, weird. But definitely it can be some that awake your interest. My favorite? Knocking on Haven’s Door. Or Bat Girl. Or maybe October Moon?

Review of Girls next door by Sandy Lowe and Stacia Seaman (eds.)

Short stories are a great way to try new authors or enjoy a short read of your favourite ones. The idea of "the girl next door" as a unifying theme is original for a lesfic compilation and allows a wide range of creative possibilities. Most of these stories can be read in 15-20 minutes so it's never too long if you don't enjoy them fully but if you like them, the good feeling stays for much longer. I've enjoyed more than half of these stories which was good considering there were nineteen of them. I'm sure everyone will have their own favourite, mine was Hooper Street by Anna Larner. Definitely worth a read.

Overall, 4 stars.

ARC provided by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun collection of short stories. It was a nice mix by various authors. I think it's a good way to get a taste of each authors style of writing. Some stories were longer than others, some were funny and some erotic. It's a good mix.

Like most anthologies, this is a mixed bag, but among nineteen stories I disliked only one. The other eighteen stories ranged from two to five stars, with the average rating of 3.47 stars. That is really good for an anthology, and I think that Girls Next Door has stories for everyone's taste.
My favorites are (in order of appearance): Hooper Street by Anna Larner, The Girl Next Door by Beth Burnett, October Moon by Sheri Lewis Wohl, Chemistry by Lea Daley, and Dog Day of Summer by Kris Bryant.