Lindsey Salinger knows that her father would not be happy if he knew that she was helping the family of the man that killed her mother in an accident, but she could not hold it against the five-year-old that needed her now.  Lindsey is forced to contact Zach to see if he can help his nephew and the grandmother that raised him.

Zach Rundle does not trust Lindsey’s motives but he comes back home to prove her wrong.  At first it looks like he is right and that his grandmother is fine, but then his grandmother is forced to ask for help.  Lindsey is convinced that Zach should become the guardian to his nephew, but he knows nothing about children and he isn’t sold on the idea, but somehow it starts looking like the right choice.

The Boy Next Door should be a staple in any Harlequin junkies book collection.  Zach and Lindsey are both well written characters dealing with realistic situations in their lives that make them both easy to sympathize with and easy to like.  The five-year-old nephew did not feel too old for his age, something I appreciated.