Review: Down London Road by Samantha Young

Reviewer: Rowena
Down London Road (On Dublin Street, #2) by Samantha Young
Series: On Dublin Street #2
Also in this series: On Dublin Street , Before Jamaica Lane (On Dublin Street, #3), Before Jamaica Lane, Castle Hill, Fall From India Place, Fall From India Place, Fall from India Place , Castle Hill, Echoes of Scotland Street , Moonlight on Nightingale Way, Moonlight on Nightingale Way, One King's Way, One King's Way, One King's Way, On Hart's Boardwalk (On Dublin Street #6.7) , On Hart's Boardwalk, Down London Road, Echoes of Scotland Street, On Dublin Street
Publisher: NAL
Publication Date: May 7th 2013
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 373
Add It: Goodreads
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Series Rating:

Johanna Walker is used to taking charge. But she’s about to meet someone who will make her lose control...

It has always been up to Johanna to care for her family, particularly her younger brother, Cole. With an absent father and a useless mother, she’s been making decisions based on what’s best for Cole for as long as she can remember. She even determines what men to date by how much they can provide for her brother and her, not on whatever sparks may—or may not—fly.

But with Cameron MacCabe, the attraction is undeniable. The sexy new bartender at work gives her butterflies every time she looks at him. And for once, Jo is tempted to put her needs first. Cam is just as obsessed with getting to know Jo, but her walls are too solid to let him get close enough to even try.

Then Cam moves into the flat below Jo’s, and their blistering connection becomes impossible to ignore. Especially since Cam is determined to uncover all of Jo’s secrets... even if it means taking apart her defenses piece by piece.

Man, I don’t even know where to start with this book.  My emotions were all over the place while reading this one.  We first meet Jo in On Dublin Street and she’s introduced as Joss’ co-worker who is a gold digger with hidden depths.  Well, in this book we find out what those hidden depths are.  People see Jo a certain way and Jo doesn’t have a lot of time or energy to correct them so she lets them think what they think.  It doesn’t matter to her anyway.  The only thing that does matter is doing right by her younger brother, Cole.

Jo and Cole come from a very abusive background.  Their father was abusive to their mother (and to Jo) and their mother abuses alcohol at every turn.  They don’t come from a lot of money and Jo is determined to make sure that her brother has everything he needs to succeed in life.  So she’s working herself ragged and worried all the time that everything she’s doing, isn’t enough for a better life for Cole.  She’s got some serious emotional issues that she works through in this book and it was because of those issues that I loved this book so much.  Jo was such a likable character that it was very easy for me to want the best for her.

She works so hard to provide for her younger brother Cole.  Is she perfect? No because she does like dating rich men who can buy her whatever she wants but she’s not a kept woman.  She doesn’t have them paying her bills and taking care of Cole.  She works hard to do that herself.

When we first meet Cam, there’s an undeniable attraction and a whole lot of sexual chemistry sizzling the air between him and Jo.  But because they’re both with other people at the time, nothing comes of it and plus, Cam is just like everyone else where he assumes the worst of Jo and she lets him.  He’s a total jerk to her but you can tell that deep down, he’s a good guy and I ended up loving the hell out of him.  I loved the way that he came around.  Once he found out that he was wrong, he apologized and he feels genuinely bad about everything.  And once they start getting closer, I loved the way that he was around Jo, the way that he was with Cole.  The three of them bonded together and with each other and it was so good to be a part of it all.

I think I enjoyed this book more than On Dublin Street and that’s saying something because I adored On Dublin Street.  This book had a lot of things going on and every single thing was written in a way that made sense and moved the story along.  I adored seeing Jo and Cole being embraced by Ellie’s family and it was good to see everyone from On Dublin Street again.

Since I’m not obsessed with this series, I did a little digging and found out that there will be a third book coming out soon but I can’t find anything about that book.  But I did find out that Samantha Young wrote a novella for Adam and Ellie which I’m so anxious to get my hands on.

This was a great book.  It was filled with lots of drama but Jo’s journey is so worth the time it took to read this book.  I loved it so, so much.  I was a bit disappointed in Cam with the whole Blair thing but in the end, I couldn’t stay mad at him.  I loved him too much.  If you haven’t read this series yet, I highly recommend that you do.  You won’t be sorry.

Grade: 4.75 out of 5

This book is available from NAL Trade. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

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