Lilly dreams of becoming an editor of Children’s books, but she feels stuck. She is stuck in her job, stuck in her personal life and stuck compared to her sisters. Her comfort food is the fantasy novel that she takes with her everywhere. On a whim she emails the author and they strike up a correspondence. The email section of the book is actually my favorite part of the entire book. I absolutely loved their correspondence!
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Then, he ghosts her. Now let me tell you, miscommunication is my least favorite troupe but it didn’t bother me in this because I did enjoy the story. I enjoyed this one and I’m really hoping for books about her sisters!
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Huge thank you to @berkleypub @berittalksbooks @thephdivabooks @dg_reads and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I didn’t personally vibe with the MC. I felt there were some immature moments for their age, and them finding each other as neighbors semi pulled me out of the story. While a work of fiction, it just didn’t seem believable how they found each other again.

This book was just so insanely cute and sweet. As a bookworm I love rom coms with a bookish lead and I adored Lily and Nicks story.

This book was a miss for me unfortunately! I rated it 2.5, rounded up, sorely because the ending was nice-ish. I felt absolutely no connection to either of the main characters or any of the secondary characters, and this had one of my most despised tropes of LYING which I felt the love interest never really redeemed himself after that. But bonus points for character growth and the love interest going to therapy lmao.

💛 REVIEW: The Neighbor Favor 💛

⭐⭐⭐.5

SUMMARY: Lily Greene has always felt that she falls short of her sisters, who seem successful both in work and in love. She’s an editorial assistant to a demanding boss with no chance of moving up, but her life suddenly changes when she cold emails her favorite fantasy author. Not expecting a reply, Lily is stunned when he actually responds. The two begin a regular correspondence that starts to feel like something more, when he suddenly ghosts her. Months later, Lily still can’t seem to get over what could have been when Nick, a mysterious new neighbor (who seems weirdly familiar), moves into her building…

This was a low-stakes romcom about mistaken identities and taking a risk when it comes to finding love.

Read it if you’re looking for:

💛 BIPOC main characters
💛 Books about the publishing industry
💛 Friends to lovers
💛 Email banter
💛 Low-drama storytelling

My favorite part was the initial correspondence between Lily and Nick; their banter was charming and entertaining to read. What I didn’t love is that the characters read as much younger than their late twenty-something ages. 🤷‍♀️

This was a light-hearted book that could easily have been a made-for-Netflix movie. If that’s what you’re in the mood for, check it out!

Once I got past the pages and pages of email correspondence, I finally connected with this book. Don't get me wrong, I understand why the email correspondence was there, the novelty of it just wore rather quickly for me. Nick and Lily's story though mostly cute, did lose me from time to time. I kept wanting more depth from the two for them. It all seemed to be scratching the surface for me. That said, I want to see what Forest does in her next book following Lily and her sisters.

I loved the premise of a book editor and a fantasy writer falling in love! But it's a bit of a "You've Got Mail" situation — they first meet via email and strike up a correspondence! But when they meet later in real life, Nick keeps his identity a secret from Lily. I enjoyed the premise and the supporting characters, but the middle of the story dragged a bit for me. I also feel like the reconciliation from the "third act breakup" was somewhat rushed. I'm looking forward to reading more by Kristina Forest!

This was an adorable and well done romance! The premise of a book lover who works in the publishing world and a fantasy writer with his second chance to publish his book had a smidge of rags-to-riches and a nice redemption arc. The third act break-up wasn’t too dramatic - paving the way for a realistic reunion. There were a few extra storylines that felt a little distracting at times, but overall really enjoyable! I’m looking forward to the next sisters story. Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book to read & review.

This book was okay. It started out really cute, but then I don't know what happened. I enjoyed Lily, but Nick was annoying. The writing style didn't work for me.

My favorite romance of the year so far! I'm not usually a fan of epistolary novels, but the way the author approached it was really engaging and easy to get into. The romance between Nick and Lily was so sweet to watch and I love that there was no third act breakup! If you are a book nerd who loves romance you will definitely love this book.

This book was great! It was relatable, sweet, and a fun read. It kept a smile on my face and I’m glad that I had the opportunity to read it.

This went through a lot of tropes but I really liked it and enjoyed both leads immensely, and I always love a book that takes on publishing issues.

This was a really fun romance to read! It was so easy to lose myself in this story every time I picked it up.

The chemistry between Lily and Nick feels so natural, so organic, and unforced. They have a very refreshing connection, whether it’s the relationship they started in their emails or even how they connect in person. Seeing how they interact just feels *good* to read.

The story is kind of chaotic in a way, because there are so many subplots going on. All the weird situational stuff surrounding this relationship can seem a little far-fetched at times, but that’s also what makes it interesting to read. The whole "mistaken identity" trope would be a complicated scenario on its own, but then you layer in all these other parts about how Nick is Lily’s favorite author, and also her hot neighbor, along with the whole wedding date set up. It’s a lot when you pick apart all the different pieces, but for some reason it never *feels* like a lot on the page.

I think the reason why all of it works is because each plot point is serving a dual purpose of not only making the romance fun by throwing in some more obstacles and more opportunities to connect, but also by reinforcing the thematic concepts.

The whole mistaken identity aspect through the emails illustrates where the two characters are starting from. Writing anonymous emails is safe, it doesn’t require any risk, it doesn’t have “real-life” consequences, and it ties into the impostor syndrome they both feel. Both characters have trouble owning up to who they are and standing proudly in all of their messiness, uncertainty, and imperfection. So hiding behind a screen makes a lot of sense.

The wedding date bet that Lily has going on with her sisters ties into the pressure she often feels with her family—the fear that she’s the only one who doesn’t have everything figured out and therefore is not taken seriously. She feels like she has to prove that she can find her own date, and by extension her own happiness, without them trying to offer unsolicited help or advice.

All of that is necessary and all of that is adding to the development of this relationship, which makes it feel satisfying, even as it gradually comes to the natural conclusion you would expect.

There were some minor things that I noticed as I was reading. First, I kind of felt like Lily’s sisters were being shoehorned in a bit because there’s a strong likelihood that this will continue as a companion series. Which is fine, but I just feel like the set-up of that distracted from the story's central focus at times.

Something else that wasn’t super satisfying is the fact that you know exactly where the breaking point is going to be. You know what’s gonna cause the third act break-up. From the very beginning, you know that the truth about these emails is going to come out, and then it’s just a waiting game as to when that’s going to happen.

There's nothing necessarily "wrong" with that, I was just hoping there would be more to it than there was. But again, that’s perfect fine. It’s a perfectly serviceable plot point, and overall I still had a great time reading this. Overall, it’s a fun, escapist, heartfelt romance that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

Kristina F I love you. One of my favorite authors of this generation. The slow burn story line usually isn’t my favorite but this one was done perfectly.

Was very cute but ultimately was an average romance for me. I don't love when the secret identity trope is used in romance and it just slowly devolves into one party lying to the other for half the book.

What a fun read!

This book is sweat and is very clearly romance. I wish the slow burn wasn't quite so slow, but overall it was solid.

I love the pretend-to-date trope. The Neighbor Favor is a good example of this. Kristina Forest paint a fun and loving picture of two people who need an excuse to get together, add in a book-crush and you have a sweet enjoyable read! If you like pretend relationship tropes, this book is for you!

This was such a cute love story! Lily is shy and introverted, and dreams of working as a children’s book editor one day, and on a whim decides to write to her favorite fantasy book author.

As emails are exchanged between Lily and Nick, they begin to open up to one another, and I loved how their friendship and relationship began to develop. As fate would have it, Nick also happens to be the cute new neighbor that Lily has no idea is also her favorite author.

Featuring:
Neighbors to friends to lovers
Email exchanged letter format
Cute romance featuring books

*many thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Romance for the gifted copy for review

2.5 stars

This was a bit of a struggle to get through and I spent a lot of time debating on DNFing, so that's where we're at today.

I liked Lily and Nick well enough. They're both good people with good intentions, but she's a bit of a pushover and he's a bit of a push-away-er. Both of their POVs were on the bland side and did sound more like YA than adult romance.

Plot wise, it was okay. The big secret took up a lot of Nick's inner monologue, while Nick took up Lily's inner monologue. I will say that I loved Lily's sisters with a sickness and could have done with a million more scenes with them. The chemistry was okay, the push and pull was ridiculous, and while the last couple of chapters were good, it did feel like it was too little too late.

Overall, something kept me reading, but I have no idea what that was.

**Huge thanks to the publisher for providing the arc free of charge**

This was my first Kristina Forest book and I will for sure be reading more books by her. I loved how this online romance turned IRL was written. The love of books was very cute and relatable. I had a great time reading this.