The Neighbor Favor: A Sweet, Steamy Romance with Bookish Charm (4 out of 5 stars)

"The Neighbor Favor" by Kristina Forest is a delightful rom-com that transports you to a world of cozy bookstores, quirky characters, and undeniable chemistry. The story unfolds like a modern-day "You've Got Mail," with a charming bookworm and a reclusive fantasy author unknowingly connecting through anonymous letters. Their back-and-forth banter is witty and engaging, quickly creating a spark that leaves you wanting more.

The author's skill in building tension and anticipation is undeniable. Each exchanged letter and stolen glance adds fuel to the fire, culminating in several swoon-worthy moments that will melt your heart. The slow burn romance is perfectly paced, allowing the reader to truly invest in the characters and their budding relationship.

The steamy scenes, though not excessive, are well-written and emotionally charged, adding a layer of depth and desire to the connection between our protagonists. I especially loved the way their intellectual and emotional intimacy intertwined, creating a truly captivating romance.

However, there were a few minor moments where the narrative felt slightly predictable, and the conflict, while believable, could have been explored with a bit more depth. Nevertheless, these are minor quibbles that do not detract from the overall enjoyment of the story.

Overall, "The Neighbor Favor" is a heartwarming and fun read that will leave you feeling satisfied and eager for more. It's a perfect escape for anyone looking for a sweet, steamy romance with a touch of bookish charm. I highly recommend it not only to fans of the "enemies-to-lovers" trope, but also to anyone who enjoys a well-written love story.

One thing's for sure, Kristina Forest has earned a new fan in me. I can't wait to explore her other works and discover what other magical romances she has in store!

Lily is a shy editor stuck in the nonfiction division but dreams of working with children's books. Her escape is connecting with her favorite fantasy author via email. Then he ghosts her! Months later, Lily is seeking a date to her sister's wedding and enlists the help of her attractive new neighbor, Nick. He soon realizes that Lily is the same woman he fell in love with over email a few months ago. Little do they know, they're on each other's minds.

I should have left The Neighbor Favor on the digital shelf. But the cover is just too cute! I knew immediately that this novel featured characters of color. Then I read the synopsis and thought it would be a good charming story. Well...it was just okay and I fought the urge to not finish or skim through. And like most romances, the ending is predictable. The Neighbor Favor would've perhaps been better as a novella.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was received directly from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins. ~LiteraryMarie

THIS BOOK WAS EVERYTHING!! I will read anything that Kristina Forest writes from now on. This was such an amazing book and the fact that there was this big secret just made things even more great. Loved loved this one!

Freaking PERFECTION. 10/10. This was just so so good. I couldn’t get enough of it and wanted a thousand more pages of this. This was written just for me! The banter was hilarious, the characters were so relatable and it flowed perfectly.

The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First, I want to say how cute and wholesome this novel was. Nick and
Lilly have captured my heart. It was my first time reading a book by
this author, but I can already tell it won't be my last.

My favorite part of this book was how we see Nick living a simple and
minimalist life due to his childhood fear of not having enough.
However, the minute Lily was in trouble, he was so quick to help.
Although I can't fit the entire quote here, a small quote “ And that was true. He would do anything for her. She meant so much to him. It was why he was determined not to fuck up her life”.
quote”. There are many things I loved about this book, and you might
be wondering why it was not a five-star read if I loved it so much.
Well, I'm not a big fan of miscommunication, and I feel that it was
kind of unnecessary how the lie kept going. I just wish it had been
discovered way earlier, but maybe that would have affected the way the
book turned out. Secondly, I'm not happy with the ending Nick got with
his parents. Although I can see how the mom is trying, I just feel
like Nick deserves so much more, and he deserves more from his
parents. Lastly, everybody has their own opinion and view when it
comes to reading a story, so you might read this and give it a
five-star rating and completely disagree with me.

I loved this bookish unwitting correspondence love story! From start to finish, this book was fantastic.

Epistolary elements are one of my favorite things to see in a book, and it starts off strong as Lily begins exchanging flirty emails with her favorite author. I loved watching them meet, and it was fun as the reader to know who Nick was long before Lily figured it out. I also enjoyed the insight into the publishing world, both from the POV of Lily as an editor stuck in a position she doesn't enjoy, and from that of Nick, an author who writes fantasy books with Black main characters. They bond over their love of BIPOC fantasy, and while I'm not a fantasy reader myself, I enjoyed reading how much the genre meant to both characters.

There's obviously some miscommunication/deception in the storyline, but both characters have such strong arcs that the trope is enjoyable rather than frustrating.

Lily's relationship with her sisters was another highlight of the book, and I can't wait to read more about them. I'm looking forward to The Partner Plot, which features Lily's sister Violet, coming next year!

*I received this copy from NetGalley for my unbiased review* I absolutely loved this book! It was a sweet bookish romance with a few tropes, but I actually loved the way they were handled! I normally don’t really like when one side of the romance has a secret they are hiding from the other side, but the author did a great job at making sure it didn’t feel manipulative, and maintained the character integrity. I will definitely be recommending this to friends, and can’t wait to read more of this author!!

The start of this book was so much fun! I love when books have emails or texts included between the characters. after the initial introduction to the characters thorough the emails in the beginning then it went a little flat for me after that. I just might not like the trope of hidden identity/miscommunication. The romance was fun and the dialogue was sweet, but I couldn't stop myself from wanting to just yell at them to use their adult words and speak to each other! One simple honest conversation between the main characters would have fixed all their issues. Lily also needs to tell her family to kick rocks at some point. I'm glad she tried to finally set some boundaries in the end. This was a 3.5 for me, not my favorite but it was cute. Overall this was a quick, fun, and easy read.

I loved this book so much. I enjoyed reading about the character growth. This book gave me all the right amount of feels I wanted. would definitely recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

This book took me awhile to get through. I only had a few chapters left, but didn't care about the characters enough to finish for several months.

Short synopsis: Lily Greene is the least accomplished member of her family, when she randomly emails the author of her favorite fantasy indie author, and the connection is instant. Until he ghosts her. Nick is the author using a pen name, and just moved to New York, and finds out his neighbor is Lily the girl he ghosted. But she has no idea.

My thoughts: Oh my goodness, I just adored this one. A book about authors and editors, along with family drama and expectations. The emails sucked me in right from the beginning, and the chemistry was so organic.

I’m a huge fan of books about books so seeing a look inside the publishing and writing process (especially the lack of representation) was so well done. Also, the date idea to the book store was the cutest.

This one has a bit of everything, but probably what I loved the most was the character growth. Both had some big issues to deal with, and while not always graceful they both worked individually to improve. They were vastly different people at the end than the beginning.

Read if you love:
* Sweet romances
* Pen pals to friends to lovers
* Bookstore dating
* BIPOC rep
* Character growth
* NYC setting

Cute! Lovable characters, a You've Got Mail-inspired plot, and so many great fantasy books recommended *within* this book. Can't wait to read the follow-up!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the eARC!

Lily has historically been unlucky in love with an endless string of bad dates. Books are the only thing that have been close to her heart, which is why she decides to send an email to the author of her favorite book. The two email back and forth for a while and make plans to meet. Instead, he ghosts Lily, leaving her heartbroken. Still recovering from being strung along, Lily turns her attention back to men in the real world (her hot new neighbor).

This was a super fun read--definitely an unlikely story, but I found it completely endearing. If you're into Hallmark movies, give this one a shot!

Lily has been talking to her favorite author for weeks. Who hasn't wanted to chat with their favorite author? And fall in love? Great premise. I did not like Nick ghosting Lily - though I do appreciate how it works into the plot.
I enjoyed the fake dating - one of my favorite tropes.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I found this book to be cute but not as good as I had hoped. Great characters, but the story moved too slowly for me.

A cute story, but I am not the targeted age group for this novel and felt young. The email correspondence did feel a little long. But it was still a cute story.

This is a cute romance novel about individuals that start off as sort of pen pals and bond over a love of fantasy novels and eventually meet in reallife.

After getting ghosted by the author she was falling for over email, Lily finds herself attracted to her new neighbor Nick… who happens to be said author.

I really liked Now That I’ve Found You, so I had high hopes for this…and I was kinda let down. I didn’t really find Nick’s reasons for staying anonymous as compelling as I should have making his ghosting seemed unnecessary - which without the ghosting the whole book was unnecessary. Does that make sense? Anyways, it was just meh.

This book was so fun. The plot was crazy and I was so excited to see how they could possibly resolve such a crazy situation. I found the plot so original and I just loved it. I definitely recommend this one! ⭐⭐⭐⭐