Hannah Bonam-Young
Books: Romance | Queer
Next: Next of Kin (2022), Next to You (2022)
Next
Next of Kin (2022)
Chloe is on her own with her college degree and the desire to prove she can make it as a self-employed graphic designer.
But all that is thrown into chaos when she receives a call from Child Protective Services.
“The baby was premature. The doctor who called us earlier said they will make a full recovery, probably after a two- or three-month NICU stay. The baby… will not be placed with your mother. We are looking into different care options.”
Chloe has choices, but the only one she can see is to adopt her new sister and give her stability and love.
Except that she is young and self-employed and has no proof she has a stable income and can provide for a new baby–especially one with such a rough start to her life. So Chloe agrees to try the CPS program “Partner Up” where she’ll cohabitate with another young adult trying to care for their sibling.
It doesn’t begin well.
I stop myself as Warren leans back to rest his arm along the back of the couch.
“I’ll stay out of your way; you stay out of mine. That’s all I ask.” He looks at me, and his blue eyes look more gray than they have before. Clouded by judgment, it would seem.“Fine.” I look at him and match his stare, our eyes fusing a connection that grows steadier each time it occurs. “Get off my couch then.”
And, to his credit, he does.
This is single POV, which means we have absolutely no idea what Warren is thinking, and see him only through Chloe’s stressed–and soon overtired–lens.
Warren studies me for a brief moment, and then speaks only in sign language. “He is mostly excited to live with a hot older girl.”
I lean back in my seat and meet his stare. “Well, I hope he isn’t too disappointed,” I sign back.
…
“Rachel didn’t mention you could sign. I—”
“She didn’t ask,” I interrupt. His brows crease, waiting for an explanation. “My adoptive father is Deaf.”
It is initially very hard to like Warren. Except that he is obviously doing everything he can to get his brother out of foster care. And were slowly learn that Warren has grounds for not trusting anyone, after spending much of his youth in the foster care system.
And you can see Warren realizing his ideas about Chloe were wrong, and his tentatively reaching out to try and help.
Warren takes Willow from me, freeing my hands so I can lift the car seat and diaper bag onto the dining table. He boops her nose when he thinks I’m not looking.
One of the things I particularly liked was that–despite being overworked and underpaid–Odette and Rachel were doing everything they could for Chloe, to help her keep Willow, but Odette also just listens, giving Chloe space.
There was this passage which, for obvious reasons, brought me to tears:
“Good to see you, Panda.”
Panda has been my dad’s pet name for me since the day the CPS worker dropped me off at their home. They had put a stuffed panda on my pillow, and when I’d told them it was my favorite animal, they took it as a sign that we were meant to be a family.
In reality, I preferred rabbits. Still, I learned to love pandas. They were gifted to me by my father after every business trip.
Quickly, a collection began to grow.
It was a sweet story, and I enjoyed the single-POV, which I don’t often come across in MF romance.
Characters: Chloe, Willow Walden, Warren Davies, Luke Davies, Rachel Feroux, Odette, Constance Walden, Martina, Tom, Calvin, Joy, Dr. O’Leary, Bryce, Lane, Emily, Ram, Belle, Tyler, Giorgianna, Cassie, Caleb, Matt
Cover illustration: Leni Kauffman
Publisher: Dell
March 2026 | Rating: 7.5/10
Next to You (2022) #2
Lane
doesn’t really know what to do with herself. She’s not unhappy, but
she’s not happy either. So after her birthday she decides to purchase
and renovate a bus–a far cry from her twin who got respectably engaged
to a respectable guy.
A guy who seems to be an asshole.
She also made sure to tell me multiple times I had to RSVP sooner rather than later if I’d like to bring a date. She made sure to specify that the date should be a man because Phillip’s parents are “quite conservative.” So, that was fun.
But Lane has issues she doesn’t want to dump on other people, so she convinces herself she’s happy with having good friends.
And really, she doesn’t have issues issues.
“Just ask, Matt.”
“How did your dad die?” he asks bluntly, as if he needed to force it out.
“Yeah…uh, a car accident.”
His hands tense around the wheel.
“I wondered,” he says. “When you mentioned texting and driving and being a nervous passenger.”
My anxiety spiked and stayed high for two whole days after getting home. I stayed in bed for nearly eighteen hours before I felt brave enough to venture out to my bathroom.
Strangely, I didn’t have issues with the anxiety in this story. Possibly because Lane knew and admitted she had anxiety, and was trying as best she could to deal with it, and it never felt like it was spiraling out of control, but was just a part of her life she had to deal with.
Affirmations, medication, daily walks, and basic hygiene. Nothing that should be work, but for me, it is.
We get the characters from the previous book, but nothing that would make you feel as if you were missing something, but rather glimpses of how those characters are doing–and how they support Lane.
“There’s this quote that I like about grief…about how it’s really just all the love you want to give to the person you lost, building up until it hurts.”
I like Lane, and I like Matt–and I especially like Matt’s outlook on the world.
“Maybe if I slot myself into a lifestyle or a way of life, then it’ll just become what I’m supposed to do.”
“Why do you think there is something you’re supposed to do?”
“Isn’t there?” I laugh pathetically. “Sometimes it feels like everyone else has a script, and I’m doing improv.”
“My parents always taught us that life is what you do between what you have to do.”
As with the previous book there is all kinds of rep in this story, which I absolutely love. I have other books by Hannah Bonam-Young, I just need to read them, but I feel like this is an author who might end up being an auto-buy for me.
Characters: Lane/Elaine Rothsford, Mattheus Tilo-Jones, Chloe, Emily, Warren Davies, Willow Walden, Liz/Elizabeth Rothsford, Ram, Amos, Luke Davies, Tabitha Tilo-Jones, Mrs. Fetu Tilo-Jones, Mr. Simon Jones, Aaron Tilo-Jones, Ruth Tilo-Jones, Ian Tilo-Jones, Emma Tilo-Jones, Joanna Tilo-Jones, Ms. Katherine Rothsford, Phillip, Oliver, Jean-Paul, Dr. Cope
Cover by Leni Kauffman
Publisher: Dell
June 2026 | Rating: 8.5/10