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Boy Next Door #includes 1-2
Boys Next Door: Omnibus
A scandal tore apart the boy band, Vocal Growth, leaving Ru in disgrace. Hiding out in a midwestern suburb, he comes face-to-face with a high school student he hopes can look beyond his past. Can a former pop star find romance with the boy next door? ♥♥♥♥ Dane joined a boy band to escape a rough childhood, only to have it all fall apart when the band broke up. When he lapses into the depths of his eating disorder, fellow bandmate, Tommy, sends a friend to help, filling Dane’s life with glitter, sprinkles, and unicorn magic. Will Dane’s unwanted guest become his savior? ♥♥♥♥ The band fell apart and everyone turned to Tommy, but when he caves to the pressures of celebrity life, who will save him? Lost in the depths of alcoholism and drug addiction, Tommy finds his friends hurt and distant, his family at war amongst themselves, and himself locked away in a rehab facility. His biggest supporter is a girl he barely remembers, who hides a few secrets of her own. Can Tommy work through his past to find a future? ♥♥♥♥ Tory spends his life snapping pictures, hiding behind the lens, and trying to see the world like everyone else. Autistic and with a strong dislike for being touched, he is surprised when a boy he admires kisses him. Confused by the feelings, Tory is launched into the chance to step out from behind the camera, explore who he is, and find love and acceptance.
Stories feature teens in love with boy band stars or other teen celebrities and real life issues. Sweet romance, teen romance, LGBTQIA+ on the spectrum for teen readers. Novels are re-edited and expanded, previously published under the pen name Sam Kadence. See the look inside for possible content triggers.
Stories feature teens in love with boy band stars or other teen celebrities and real life issues. Sweet romance, teen romance, LGBTQIA+ on the spectrum for teen readers. Novels are re-edited and expanded, previously published under the pen name Sam Kadence. See the look inside for possible content triggers.
- GenresLGBT
660 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 24, 2021
About the author
Lissa Kasey
75 books682 followersLissa Kasey is Ace/Aro and ENBY. Lissa's storytelling specializes in in-depth characters, detailed world building, sweet and spicy romance, and twisting plots to keep you clinging to the page.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
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December 4, 2021This was a very interesting and enjoyable collection of YA characters
First off I want to say that I have always enjoyed the characters and environments that this author brings to life so I expected no less from this Omnibus. I wasn't disappointed and I'm very glad to have come to know these young people. I also want to mention that Lissa Kasey writes from both real world experience and obvious research. It's evident in how mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and panic attacks are handled in these stories and I can personally directly relate to a lot of those feelings, triggers and how to use a "toolbox" full of coping techniques to manage them.
I cared about all of the Boys Next Door as well as their friends and family. l think that having stories with a range of students going through questioning their gender identity, sexual orientation, and learning how to navigate the world when they don't fit the norm is very important. Adam and Ru, Bas, Dane, Tommy and Paige, Lucas and Tory each have endearing messages to share without being heavyhanded or too full of angst.
I truly believe that this Omnibus could help someone who might be on the edge while still being an interesting and fun read for anyone. I'm looking forward to reading whatever Lissa Kasey writes next.
First off I want to say that I have always enjoyed the characters and environments that this author brings to life so I expected no less from this Omnibus. I wasn't disappointed and I'm very glad to have come to know these young people. I also want to mention that Lissa Kasey writes from both real world experience and obvious research. It's evident in how mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and panic attacks are handled in these stories and I can personally directly relate to a lot of those feelings, triggers and how to use a "toolbox" full of coping techniques to manage them.
I cared about all of the Boys Next Door as well as their friends and family. l think that having stories with a range of students going through questioning their gender identity, sexual orientation, and learning how to navigate the world when they don't fit the norm is very important. Adam and Ru, Bas, Dane, Tommy and Paige, Lucas and Tory each have endearing messages to share without being heavyhanded or too full of angst.
I truly believe that this Omnibus could help someone who might be on the edge while still being an interesting and fun read for anyone. I'm looking forward to reading whatever Lissa Kasey writes next.
November 27, 2021
This was a fantastic set of four young adult stories! Each of the main characters must deal with their own demons and issues. The stories have an uplifting quality to them. I think I liked Tommy’s story the best if I had to pick just one. Overall, fantastic!! The stories were really well written, highly recommend! I’m voluntarily reviewing from an advanced copy that I received. My reviews are solely based on my thoughts and opinions.
November 26, 2021
this was a good omnibus.. it was sweet and interesting.. sexy and curious.. i enjoyed the characters and the writing was wonderful. very good!
December 22, 2022
I loved this. It was so complicated and wonderful as characters were fleshed out and made real. The turmoil, hurt, and heartache was so well done. There are some truly harrowing topics in this book that are definitely trigger so be warned! IF you are okay with that, and enjoy a well told story, or several stories in this case, then PLEASE read this. It is so amazingly well done. The rollercoaster of good and bad, of loving and indifferent, of being true and being fake - are all so very well told.
The only thing I wish was that there was more. Particularly the Tommy story, it felt like it ended mid-story and that unfinished feeling was jarring. Otherwise it was just unbelievably good.
The only thing I wish was that there was more. Particularly the Tommy story, it felt like it ended mid-story and that unfinished feeling was jarring. Otherwise it was just unbelievably good.
July 14, 2022
I don't generally read young adult romance novels because I'm uncomfortable with the idea of reading about people younger than most of my friends' kids having relations, but this one promised very low steam and it was quite innocent, so that was okay with me. I'm also taking a Teaching Young Adult Literature class in this, my last semester in grad school, so I felt interested to know what the world of m/m romance had to offer in the genre.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't really recommend this omnibus for teenagers because I don't feel it meets the minimum criteria for intersectionality or relatability that is necessary to either allow teens to identify themselves in the writing or feel empathy for characters who are somewhat but not completely like themselves.
The entire omnibus is also filled with ableist language. Even the about the author blurb didn't escape the ableism, where the author identifies that their books are filled with "emotionally messed up characters." That sort of language is stigmatizing already marginalized people and IT IS NOT OKAY. No one is "messed up." We all have problems. Sorting someone into a dehumanizing category like "messed up" is wrong on so many levels, particularly in young adult literature where younger readers don't have enough experience with sorting through discriminatory thoughts and language to identify that this type of language is flat-out wrong to use.
Please seriously don't let your teenagers read this book. 55% of all young adult literature is purchased by people between the ages of 18 and 40 for their own personal use, so if anyone buys this book it should be someone who is older and able to understand the shortcomings of this author's writing and wouldn't take it as much to heart. A better editor may have perhaps been able to pick some of these problems out for revising, but the editing in this omnibus is not great. There are plenty of typos, extra words, missing words, and other errors, so it's not surprising that the end product is disappointing. The only book I thought was okay was the first. Keep reading if you want a book by book breakdown.
Book 1:
Pros: good, sweet, cute, kept me turning the pages.
Cons: Preachy, characters are somewhat two dimensional, don't believe most teenagers would relate to either character, as one is excessively innocent and the other written as an adult.
Suitable for teenagers: Yes (no overt on page steam)
Book 2:
Positives: few and far between
Cons: too drawn out, too many issues being covered with not even close to enough research or depth, cluttered plot, romance was not believable/felt forced, and the very serious issues of rape, bullying, and domestic abuse were treated far too cavalierly to be excusable. This book is a disaster zone and my darling Bas deserved so much better than what he got here.
Suitable for teens: very little on page steam (frotting scene), but I would STRONGLY caution that any parent who has a kid going through any of the stuff portrayed in this book think twice about letting their kid read this book. It is not only psychologically unsound, but there's also a lot of talk of "fixing" the one MCs eating disorder or even "making him better." It's disgustingly ableist and I believe that the author should scrap this book entirely as it seems to me that the author crammed as many mental health issues into this book as possible in order to increase the angst and melodrama for sales and then "solved" them so the characters could be "happy." In my opinion, that's really gross, and I had a very hard time moving on to the next book in the omnibus.
Book 3:
What is UP with all these romances between MCs starting during the early recovery process? I know it's fiction but it just leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.
Pros: I haven't read MF romance in a long time and I didn't think this one would be my thing at all, but there was practically no steam or the traditional MF romance dynamics that drive me nuts, so it was okay that it was MF.
Cons: more manufactured melodrama, more ableist language (if the author had written the words "fix" or "broken" about a character one more time I would have thrown my tablet at the wall), more teenagers acting like adults. I didn't feel the need to skim this story like I did at the end in the last book, but from a standpoint of giving this book to a young adult who struggles with similar issues, just no. I honestly can't say that reading all about how the characters need to fix what's broken in themselves to be "normal" wouldn't make people feel worse. It's a very negative self-view to perpetuate and not something a reliable therapist would ever recommend. We don't fix. No one is broken. We work, we strive, we continue to try. The author mentioned that the idea of this story stemmed from their own battle with addiction, so maybe that's something the author needs to hear, too.
Suitable for teens: No, I don't think it would be good for kids to think alcoholism or any other kind of addiction should be or could be "fixed." I equally think it's not good for them to believe that addicts are "broken."
Book 4:
Meh. It felt a lot like the author Googled "autism" and then threw some of the characteristics at one of the main characters. The other MC might as well have been a cardboard cutout for all that he was developed. I didn't feel anything for this story or from this story. It was just words on a page. The pros were that it was short.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't really recommend this omnibus for teenagers because I don't feel it meets the minimum criteria for intersectionality or relatability that is necessary to either allow teens to identify themselves in the writing or feel empathy for characters who are somewhat but not completely like themselves.
The entire omnibus is also filled with ableist language. Even the about the author blurb didn't escape the ableism, where the author identifies that their books are filled with "emotionally messed up characters." That sort of language is stigmatizing already marginalized people and IT IS NOT OKAY. No one is "messed up." We all have problems. Sorting someone into a dehumanizing category like "messed up" is wrong on so many levels, particularly in young adult literature where younger readers don't have enough experience with sorting through discriminatory thoughts and language to identify that this type of language is flat-out wrong to use.
Please seriously don't let your teenagers read this book. 55% of all young adult literature is purchased by people between the ages of 18 and 40 for their own personal use, so if anyone buys this book it should be someone who is older and able to understand the shortcomings of this author's writing and wouldn't take it as much to heart. A better editor may have perhaps been able to pick some of these problems out for revising, but the editing in this omnibus is not great. There are plenty of typos, extra words, missing words, and other errors, so it's not surprising that the end product is disappointing. The only book I thought was okay was the first. Keep reading if you want a book by book breakdown.
Book 1:
Pros: good, sweet, cute, kept me turning the pages.
Cons: Preachy, characters are somewhat two dimensional, don't believe most teenagers would relate to either character, as one is excessively innocent and the other written as an adult.
Suitable for teenagers: Yes (no overt on page steam)
Book 2:
Positives: few and far between
Cons: too drawn out, too many issues being covered with not even close to enough research or depth, cluttered plot, romance was not believable/felt forced, and the very serious issues of rape, bullying, and domestic abuse were treated far too cavalierly to be excusable. This book is a disaster zone and my darling Bas deserved so much better than what he got here.
Suitable for teens: very little on page steam (frotting scene), but I would STRONGLY caution that any parent who has a kid going through any of the stuff portrayed in this book think twice about letting their kid read this book. It is not only psychologically unsound, but there's also a lot of talk of "fixing" the one MCs eating disorder or even "making him better." It's disgustingly ableist and I believe that the author should scrap this book entirely as it seems to me that the author crammed as many mental health issues into this book as possible in order to increase the angst and melodrama for sales and then "solved" them so the characters could be "happy." In my opinion, that's really gross, and I had a very hard time moving on to the next book in the omnibus.
Book 3:
What is UP with all these romances between MCs starting during the early recovery process? I know it's fiction but it just leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.
Pros: I haven't read MF romance in a long time and I didn't think this one would be my thing at all, but there was practically no steam or the traditional MF romance dynamics that drive me nuts, so it was okay that it was MF.
Cons: more manufactured melodrama, more ableist language (if the author had written the words "fix" or "broken" about a character one more time I would have thrown my tablet at the wall), more teenagers acting like adults. I didn't feel the need to skim this story like I did at the end in the last book, but from a standpoint of giving this book to a young adult who struggles with similar issues, just no. I honestly can't say that reading all about how the characters need to fix what's broken in themselves to be "normal" wouldn't make people feel worse. It's a very negative self-view to perpetuate and not something a reliable therapist would ever recommend. We don't fix. No one is broken. We work, we strive, we continue to try. The author mentioned that the idea of this story stemmed from their own battle with addiction, so maybe that's something the author needs to hear, too.
Suitable for teens: No, I don't think it would be good for kids to think alcoholism or any other kind of addiction should be or could be "fixed." I equally think it's not good for them to believe that addicts are "broken."
Book 4:
Meh. It felt a lot like the author Googled "autism" and then threw some of the characteristics at one of the main characters. The other MC might as well have been a cardboard cutout for all that he was developed. I didn't feel anything for this story or from this story. It was just words on a page. The pros were that it was short.
January 27, 2022
Fantastic Collection Of Stories.
MM, LGBTQ, YA, Contemporary, Romance. Covers slot of difficult and possibly upsetting to some topics, easy to read collection of page-turners. I couldn't put it down and binge read the entire collection. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to any of the characters and would love to read more about them at some point, perhaps a few years later.... Lots of twists and turns and action throughout. Thoroughly enjoyed.
MM, LGBTQ, YA, Contemporary, Romance. Covers slot of difficult and possibly upsetting to some topics, easy to read collection of page-turners. I couldn't put it down and binge read the entire collection. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to any of the characters and would love to read more about them at some point, perhaps a few years later.... Lots of twists and turns and action throughout. Thoroughly enjoyed.
December 17, 2022
Hard reading but oh so good
If you can handle the triggers these books are so very worth reading.
The continuity across stories was wonderful, I never felt like I had to miss a character that I loved.
If you can handle the triggers these books are so very worth reading.
The continuity across stories was wonderful, I never felt like I had to miss a character that I loved.
July 4, 2022
i did not like this book at all
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews