REVIEW: The Anti-Boyfriend by Penelope Ward

In The Anti-Boyfriend by Penelope Ward , Twenty-something single mom Carys (rhymes with Paris, she likes to tell people) doesn’t have much of a social life with her beautiful daughter Sunny taking up all of her time. And she’d really have it no other way. Some adult conversation would be nice, though. The only adult Carys hears is her neighbor, Deacon, as he and his dates frequently make their presence known through the thin apartment walls while in the, ahem, throes of passion. Something Deacon had no clue about–the fact that his gorgeous neighbor could hear him. So when Carys nicely confronts him about it and he feels an instant connection, he decides to see if a friendship could be in the cards.

‘The truth was, I loved this man so much, and no amount of fear or mistrust could erase that. I would *always* love Deacon.’

Carys is once again nicely surprised by Deacon when he shows up one evening when Sunny is fussy and not feeling well: she immediately calms down. Turns out her daughter has good taste in men. As the weeks go by, Deacon and Carys form a tight bond, helping each other out whenever possible in their day-to-day routines. But when the pull of attraction becomes too much to ignore between them, Carys and Deacon must decide if it is worth the potential of ruining their friendship to see where things could lead long term.

‘The whole friendship thing would be a heck of a lot less complicated if I didn’t constantly imagine what her body would feel like under mine.’

Penelope Ward always brings the heat in her books, but with The Anti-Boyfriend she took it up another notch. It wasn’t to be outdone, however, by the lovely friendship she created between our hunky hero and strong heroine that warmed my heart.

I snorted, “Boyfriend? Deacon? Deacon is the anti-boyfriend.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he’s the opposite of someone who would be settling down any time soon–if ever. He loves the single life too much.”

I honestly had a lot of fun reading The Anti-Boyfriend. It was the type of (mostly) lighthearted, flirty romance that a lot of us need right now. And it had just enough emotional depth to keep me interested in how Carys and Deacon’s friendship-turned-romance would ever work out, plus it had a couple of plot twists that threw some surprises into the mix. Oh, and there were some awesomely comical text conversations that still have me chuckling!

Now, I’ve seen reviews online about readers being tired of the ” neighbor having noisy sex next door” trope (think: Alice Clayton’s Wallbanger), so I’ll leave it up to you if this is your cup of tea. I, myself, enjoyed seeing Deacon and Carys dance around each other. They had a lot in common from their past. And they were both kind of isolated, where Carys was a new (single) mom to Sunny who wasn’t even a year old yet; and Deacon worked from home in his apartment next door. The attraction was there right from the start. So it was fun to watch how a perpetual bachelor fell for the young mom and her wonderful daughter and all of the complications it made for them along the way.

Looking to escape into a romance with lots of laughs and a big heaping helping of sexual tension? The Anti-Boyfriend will definitely do the trick. But what else would you expect from Penelope Ward, right?

Book Info:

Publication: August 31st 2020 | Pub: Penelope Ward |

From New York Times bestselling author Penelope Ward, comes a new standalone novel.

At first, my neighbor Deacon frustrated me.

Sure, he was great-looking and friendly.

But our walls were thin, and on occasion, he’d bring women to his place and keep me awake while he “entertained” them.

As a single mother to an infant, I didn’t appreciate it.

So, finally it was my turn.

When my daughter wouldn’t stop wailing one night, Mr. Manwhore came knocking on my door.

Miraculously, at the sound of his voice, Sunny stopped crying. And when he held her…she eventually fell asleep in his arms.

Deacon was rough on the exterior, but apparently on the inside? Mr. Single-and-Ready-to-Mingle was a baby whisperer.

After that night, we became friends.

He’d go for coffee runs. Come over to chat. Normal friend stuff.

But over time, our conversations ran deeper. We got closer.

Until one night we crossed the line.

Our friendship turned into a complicated mess.

I’d gone and fallen for a guy who’d sworn off commitment and kids.

I knew Deacon was starting to care for me too, even though Sunny and I didn’t fit into any plan he’d ever imagined for himself.

He was wrong for me—so wrong that I’d dubbed him the “anti-boyfriend.”

Then why did I wish more than anything that I could be the one woman to change him?