Down London Road

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Synopsis

With an abusive father who abandoned the family and an alcoholic mother, Johanna Walker has been taking care of her family, particularly her little brother, Cole, since she was only sixteen. With few marketable skills, it's been difficult to earn enough, so she has always chosen her boyfriends more for what they can provide for her and Cole than for whether they ignite her desires. Then Jo meets Cameron MacCabe, and when he starts tending bar at the same club where she works, sparks definitely begin to fly. But not all of them are of the good variety, since he seems to have gotten the unjust notion that she's nothing but a gold-digging bimbo. When he moves into the flat below hers, Cam finally becomes aware of what's really going on in Jo's life and starts looking out for her and Cole. Soon they can barely resist each other, but Jo isn't sure if she should risk ditching her current, financially stable boyfriend who's never really known the real Jo for a chance at a genuine love with Cam who already knows more about her than any boyfriend she's ever had but who doesn't have much materially speaking. Before long, their passionate connection makes the answer abundantly clear, but when the past comes calling for both Cam and Jo, it could jeopardize the great thing they're building with each other.

Review

Down London Road is the second full-length novel in Samantha Young's On Dublin Street series. This one features Joss's friend and co-worker, Johanna, paired with Cameron who happens to be the boyfriend of Jo's current boyfriend's ex. If that sounds complicated, it kind of is. Jo and Cam meet in the opening chapter at an art show for her boyfriend's ex. Having grown up in an unstable family with an abusive father and an alcoholic mother, Jo has shouldered the responsibility of raising her little brother, Cole, who is ten years her junior. Knowing that she needs to provide for Cole, she's always dated wealthy men, but none of them has ever known the true Jo. When she meets Cam, he initially thinks that she's just a gold-digger like nearly everyone else she knows, but in spite of him being rude to her at first, she helps him get a job at Club 39 where she tends bar. Then he coincidentally moves into the flat below hers, which leads to them getting to know each other better. Once he starts to understand who she really is, Cam seems to see right through the facade she's put up for all her other boyfriends. She's a little surprised to find that he actually likes--even prefers--the real her. The sexual tension between them runs hot from the very beginning, and eventually they both break up with their respective partners to be together. Even though things are amazing between them right from the start, when Cam is slow to declare his love, Jo fears that she may have given up someone who could make her life more comfortable for the selfish satisfaction of having someone who knows the real her. And when another of Cam's exes resurfaces and Jo's abusive father comes back to town, both could ruin the great thing that Cam and Jo have with each other.

Jo's father physically abused her and her mother when she was a child, and he eventually ended up in prison. After that her mom moved the family to Edinburgh, hoping he wouldn't find them when he got out. However, after her mother became disabled, her penchant for drinking grew into a severe case of alcoholism, which left Jo and Cole to fend for themselves. At the age of sixteen, Jo dropped out of school and started working to support the family, but it was rough given that she had few marketable skills. The only thing she thought she had to offer was her beauty, so she started dating wealthy men who often gave her lavish gifts, which she sold on eBay to earn a little extra cash. Jo has always prided herself in being the "perfect" girlfriend in order to keep guys around, but in so doing, she was hiding everything about her that made her unique just to please the men in her life. When she meets Cam, he's pretty rude and abrasive to her at first, thinking that she's just using her current boyfriend, but between them working together at the club and him moving in downstairs, he starts to see the real Jo that she keeps hidden from most of the world, including her boyfriends. They develop a friendship with an intense sexual attraction sizzling just beneath the surface, until neither of them can take it anymore and they break up with their respective partners. From there, their relationship turns into one that is equal parts passionate and romantic. Cam is the only guy Jo has ever been able to be herself around and he soon knows all her sordid secrets and still cares about her anyway. But Jo's insecurities continue to lurk beneath the surface, so that when Cam's ex turns up out of the blue, she starts to wonder if he really still wants her.

At first glance, it might be easy for some to judge Jo for the choices she's made in life, but I never really did. I understood that she had a rough life growing up and desperately wanted a little financial stability, especially for Cole who is everything to her and who she's raised like he was her own child. She's also someone who has a lot of insecurities and doubts about herself. After the physical and verbal abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of her father and now the emotional and verbal abuse heaped on her by her mother, I thought that was very understandable and relatable. If anything, I felt she was a very strong person to get through all of that and not completely crumble under the weight of it, but it has left its mark in her thinking that all she has to offer the world is her good looks. I was saddened that none of the men she dated were able to get out of their own heads enough to realize or care that Jo was never truly being herself around them, but that's what made her relationship with Cam so special. However, with everything she'd been through in her life, her reaction to the reappearance of Cam's ex made sense. Overall, I saw Jo as a strong, selfless person who was always looking out for Cole's best interests until she met Cam and finally took a much needed and deserved moment for herself.

The entire story is told from Jo's first-person POV, so we don't really get to see what's going on in Cam's head. I didn't necessarily mind this, though, because I felt the author did a good job of developing his character through Jo's perspective. Unlike Jo, Cam had a stable life growing up with loving parents, but he was thrown for a loop when he found out as a teenager that he was adopted. After going through a rebellious phase, he settled down a little and became a graphic artist, but he recently lost his job. When he meets Jo at the party, his current girlfriend puts a bug in Jo's ear about him needing a job and him having tended bar in the past. Jo agrees to put in a good word for him at Club 39, even though he basically treats her like dirt at their first meeting. He still mostly keeps thinking the worst of her until she has a breakdown in front of him. After that, Cam realizes the truth of her situation and appropriately grovels before becoming a model friend and later boyfriend. I like how he fits into Jo's life like a missing puzzle piece and just by being there for her, he pushes her out of her comfort zone, never allowing her to hide behind the false facade she put up for all her other boyfriends. It's sweet how he gets upset any time she tries to put herself down and in doing so builds up her confidence. He's also a delicious lover who's all about bringing Jo pleasure which is something she's sometimes denied herself in pursuit of being the "perfect" girlfriend. It was perhaps just a tad frustrating not knowing what he was thinking when his other ex came back to town, but when the truth of it all comes out, it was a very romantic and swoon-worthy moment. Overall, I adored Cam and thought he was a wonderful hero.

A lot of the series' characters make appearances in Down London Road. Braden and Joss (On Dublin Street) are the best of friends to Jo, while also having a big announcement to make and some humorous moments while making plans for the future. Adam and Ellie (Until Fountain Bridge) show their support for Cam and Jo when the new couple are invited to join the legendary Sunday dinners hosted by Ellie's family. Jo's Uncle Mick, an old friend of her father's who always looked out for them until he discovered he had a daughter of his own in the States returns with that now-grown daughter, Olivia. She and Cam's friend, Nate, will become the hero and heroine of the next book of the series, Before Jamaica Lane. Jo has grown close to Ellie's younger teenage sister, Hannah, who is sweet on Marco, a boy from school but not sure if he feels the same way. The two of them will age into their own story, Fall From India Place, which is the fourth full-length book in the series. Last but not least, Jo's little brother, Cole, who is a great young man, will also be aged up to become the hero of the fifth book, Echoes of Scotland Street.

When I first started reading Down London Road, I wasn't quite sure about it. I don't think I've ever read a romance where both the hero and heroine are in relationships with other people when the story opens and for several chapters into the story at that. During that time, there are tons of heated glances between Cam and Jo, but between the other partners in their lives and him still treating her rather badly at the outset, I wasn't really feeling much of a connection between them. However, once he discovers what's really going on in her life and she starts to open up to him, that all begins to change. Granted they still continue with their respective significant others for a short time after that, which was a tad frustrating, but once they both make the mutual decision to break up with the wrong people so they can be together, the entire vibe of the narrative changes to one of swoon-worthy passion and romance. There's just so much honesty and openness in their relationship that I really appreciated, and the way Cam is always looking out for Jo and Cole is sweet and heartfelt. I enjoyed all their interactions with one another, their love scenes are nice and spicy, and I love how they just fit right in with each other's friends, gradually becoming an integral part of the other's life. Cam does shut down a bit after his ex comes back, which leads to Jo getting into her head a lot, but all the angsty goodness led to a very romantic and deeply emotional reunion for them. The book ended beautifully on a high note with Cam and Jo in a great place that left me no doubt that they'd be together for the long-haul. I may have started out with a few doubts, but Ms. Young exceeded my expectation, creating a wonderful story that kept me enthralled throughout and that I ended up loving. Now I can't wait to pick up the next one in the series.

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Samantha Young

Themes

Artists
Tortured Heroines