The Anti-Boyfriend

3.5 Stars. Friends to Lovers is one of my favourite tropes so when I read the synopsis, I was excited to get started. I think I connected more with Deacon, who I didn't feel he was a manwhore, more that he was a guy single in his 20's having fun. I liked his personality and how he wanted to help Carys and make her life easier being a single mother and he was witty. Like the rest of us, he had some issues that made him run from time to time, but I really liked him. This book is a sweet story that unites two neighbours to friends and then hoping for something more. Carys, like Paris, is a stay at home mother wanting to open herself up to more than just the four walls of her apartment. She loves her daughter fiercely and wants to give her more opportunities so she looks for a job, part time. Their story is simple and very straightforward with little complications and stumbling blocks that can't be rectified. What I did feel though was that Carys held grudges again her ex partners longer than I thought was necessary, even after the facts were revealed. I felt she didn't have the same empathy that those men did for her circumstances towards their issues and what they were dealing with. I did enjoy the epilogue and how their story ended.

When I started reading this book it was not at all what I expected. When you hear of the guy next door with the women he takes to bed you think ok another player. That is so far from who Deacon is. From the first time Carys approaches him about his nightly activity and her being able to hear the entire thing, since her bedroom was on the other side of his bedroom, his reaction made me realize this guy is amazing and so not the playboy jerk I thought he would be. He didn’t treat it like a typical playboy would and get cute with his remarks but rather apologized to her and was truly sorry for her being uncomfortable. He even offered to move his bed to the other side of the room so as not to bother her. They developed a friendship and he instantly fell for her little girl. He tried to keep it in the friend zone since he never had any intention of having children. He didn’t want to disappoint or hurt Carys or Sunny. Better not to complicate their friendship and get involved romantically. I loved his texts to Carys whenever he ran to the store for her. This was a true friends to lovers story that happened over time and each one really never expecting it. Carys knew it would be hard for a man to accept a child in a relationship but she could not help the feelings that started to grow for Deacon. Deacon tried all he could not to let his feelings become involved either. But sometimes we don’t control our hearts and we fall in love even though we never expect to.

THE ANTI-BOYFRIEND by Penelope Ward is a contemporary, adult, stand alone erotic, romance story line focusing on twenty-five year old, former ballerina, single mother and PR rep Carys Kincaid, and twenty-nine year old, former football player and IT specialist Deacon Mathers. Told from dual first person perspectives (Carys and Deacon) THE ANTI-BOYFRIEND follows the slow building relationship between twenty-five year old, former ballerina, single mother and PR rep Carys Kincaid, and twenty-nine year old, former football player and IT specialist Deacon Mathers. After ‘hearing’ one too many night time forays from her neighbor next door, Carys Kincaid ‘politely’ notifies Deacon Mathers about his very noisy and very vocal bedroom conquests. Feeling guilty and a little bit attracted, Deacon apologizes with daily coffees and the occasional babysitting offer when needed in a pinch but Deacon Mathers doesn’t do relationships, and when their building friendship starts to turn into something more, Deacon begins to pull away, leaving a heart broken Carys in his wake. With weeks and months passing, and their dance of friendship continuing to straddle the line, jealousy reveals a mutual attraction that will be threatened when Deacon runs without looking back. What ensues is the slow building romance and relationship between Deacon and Carys, and the potential fall-out as Deacon is unable to let go of the past, and Carys is once again left heart broken when the man with whom she is falling in love, no longer wants Carys in his life. The relationship between Carys and Deacon is one of immediate attraction but Deacon’s nightly conquests are a reminder of a life of which Carys is not a part. Once an up and coming football star, Deacon’s career ended before it began mirroring Carys’s life of dance that was destroyed in an instant. Deacon doesn’t do permanent relationships and struggles with the idea of family and kids, and in this Deacon prefers a friends with benefits arrangement that is about to implode when the heart is unable to accept the truth. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text. We are introduced to Carys’ boss Cynthia; her ex Charles; Deacon’s friend Adrian, as well as Carys’ infant daughter Sunny. THE ANTI-BOYFRIEND covers several months and a few years in the life of Deacon and Carys. A slow building romance and relationship wherein weeks to months will pass where the reader is not privy to current events but you will not feel like the missing information is a necessary reveal. The premise is captivating; the romance is seductive; the characters are energetic, colorful and strong.