Review: The Professor Next Door – Jackie Lau
The Professor Next Doorby Jackie Lau
Series: Cider Bar Sisters #3
Also in this series: Her Big City Neighbor, His Grumpy Childhood Friend, Her Pretend Christmas Date
Publisher: Jackie Lau Books
Publication Date: June 8, 2021
Genres: Romance
Source: the author
I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
My rating:
Friendly neighbors can have their benefits…
Nicole Louie-Edwards enjoys the nightlife and bringing men back to her apartment, although lately, she’s gotten tired of the chase. Her quiet new neighbor, David Cho, isn’t her type, but after they get trapped in an elevator together on her birthday, she develops a friendship with the kind geology professor.
Then, blushing, he tells her that he can hear her having sex but tries not to listen. Except it’s clear he’d like to, and she’s surprisingly turned on. They embark on a friends-with-benefits arrangement hotter than any she’s had before. She didn’t expect him to be so naughty between the sheets.
David becomes a bigger part of her life outside of the bedroom, too, bringing her desserts and going viral on TikTok with her grandmother, but she can’t imagine he wants to be her boyfriend, and it’s not like she wants that, either. She’s convinced she’d lose her identity in a relationship, like she did ten years ago.
Yet she can’t help getting more and more attached to the professor next door…
Content warnings: View Spoiler »
I’ve been reading Jackie Lau’s books for what seems like forever, and there’s three things I love about them: the food, the family, and the humor. This one hits all three marks!
“In high school, she’d been the good student, the nerd with few friends. Now she was…what?
The sexy, lonely career woman?
She’d been happy with her life for so long, but now, things had changed.”
Nicole likes sex, but isn’t interested in a relationship, but the hamster wheel of finding someone interested – and interesting – is getting old, especially since it seems like the guys she has long term arrangements with end up finding someone else for a relationship. Nicole had a bad relationship with an overly controlling older man in college, and she thinks all relationships will end up with her losing herself. Since the end of that relationship a decade ago, Nicole’s found that she likes being single and being solely in control of her own life, but she’s started getting lonely recently.
“A man like this belonged in a relationship, and she did not—and besides, he’d given no indication he wanted anything else with her.”
David was married, but divorced when he realized his wife would always side with her racist parents. David’s the sweet and geeky type, which suits his career as a geology professor. He’s the sort of person who keeps favorite rocks on his bedside table, buys a birthday cake for a neighbor he just met on the elevator, and patiently puts up with Nicole’s grandma trying to talk him into shirtless cooking TikToks. In other words, Nicole labels him straight off as the husband material type, something she usually avoids. With both of them carrying baggage from previous relationships, a friends with benefits situation seems ideal… until it isn’t. There’s a lot of resolving not to catch feelings (from David’s side) or worrying about the potential hurt once David moves on to someone more suited for a relationship (from Nicole’s side). I did like watching Nicole develop feelings for him (while being completely oblivious to those feelings) but I also felt bad for David. Unlike Nicole, he recognizes he’s falling in love with her, and understandably reads the signs of Nicole’s growing interest in him as meaning that she wants one as well.
I feel like this series has definitely been steamier than her previous series. Nicole’s a fan of sex toys, and, well, before long David is, too. I really liked the inclusion of toys and how overall sex-positive the book is, but some of it felt almost clinical. For example, there was a particular scene where David decides to one-up the amount of orgasms Nicole’s ever had in one night that just read really oddly to me. It felt more competitive than sexy (or romantic) and maybe I’m just old, but the thought of double-digit orgasms just sounds exhausting! I did like the reverse Clark Kent thing David had going on, where Nicole went absolutely mindless every time he put on his glasses.
Of course, there was so much delicious food! Nicole and David’s friendship starts when he drops off an ube cake for her birthday, and then they start meeting up for dinner “not-dates” every Friday. He always brings her dessert, whether that’s tarts or a macaron shaped like a cactus. Absolutely everything sounded delicious and I was ready to book a trip to Toronto after reading the descriptions of two Friday dinners. Unfortunately, that’s not happening right now, so I just made some instant pot jook instead and called it good.
“I can’t imagine you letting someone walk all over you now,” Amy said. “If that happens, you’ll kick his ass, right? We can help.”
And also as usual, there’s a good cast of side characters. The previous couples all make an appearance, as do the remaining women in the cider bar friend group. Nicole’s family also doesn’t disappoint, especially her Po Po and cousin Kelsey (who I want a book for as well). I think the author has a thing for hilarious grandmas, but it’s always something new every time. I especially loved how Kelsey and Po Po interacted, and how they brought Nicole into it as well. There was lots of humor throughout the rest of the book, but the scenes with those two really shone.
Overall, while it’s not my favorite Jackie Lau book, it’s definitely another enjoyable one, certain to leave you smiling and hungry.
