I loved her first novel and was super excited to receive this one. This smacked hard. Love an enemies to lovers add in neighbours and tension. I’m in.

Grace Travis is attending Design School while working various odd jobs to pay for it. She never thought she would own her own home, but when her grandparents die, they leave her their little house on the beach. Grace has plans to fix it up and live there. Unfortunately, someone else has their sights set on Grace's house. Noah Jansen is a real estate developer, who purchased the house next to Grace's. He wants to buy her house, knock it down and put in a pool. She has no plans to sell her home. They go toe to toe for awhile, but as they get to know one another, they actually begin to help one another and realize that each of them have a reason to want their houses to become their homes.

How To Love Your Neighbor is an Enemies to Lovers Romance/Chick-Lit story. I really liked Grace, right from the first page and wanted everything to work out for her. She has had a tough life, but never gave up, never expected anything to be handed to her, was creative, caring and just an overall nice person. Noah comes off as a selfish, demanding rich brat who doesn't care who he steps on to get what he wants, at least at the beginning of the story. I really enjoyed getting to know him, his background, his family issues and the reason behind his drive. Once they started working together, I really wanted them to get together. I do love a home reno show, so that aspect of the book was a lot of fun. My one complaint is that the switch in their relationship was pretty quick. It was a fun story, with some angst, a bit of family conflict, some found family, friendship and some older characters that added a bit of fun and some spice.

LOVED THIS BOOK! I am now obsessed with Sophie Sullivan's rom coms and will auto-buy forever. I read Ten Rules for Faking It last year and loved the Everly/Chris cameos. I actually did a double take when I first saw their names because I didn't realize these books were in the same universe!

This book gave me everything I wanted from a DIY/home improvement rom com (looking at you Honey Don't List) and I will recommend forever.

Sophie Sullivan (Ten Rules for Faking It) presents a sunny Southern California romance in How to Love Your Neighbor. Things are looking up for Grace Travis: she's close to finishing design school, she's moving into the tiny California beach house her grandparents left her and her toxic mother seems to be (mostly) leaving her alone. But Grace discovers that Noah Jansen, the handsome surfer she collided with on the beach one morning, is her new neighbor. He is stuck-up, rich and determined to demolish her house so that he can buy the property and install a swimming pool.

Sparks fly as Grace and Noah engage in a series of battles and negotiations in their ongoing war over renovations. But when Grace's best friend starts falling for Noah's assistant and love is in the air, Grace can't help but think a bit differently about Noah.

Loosely connected to Ten Rules for Faking It but easily read as a standalone novel, How to Love Your Neighbor is a fun, frothy romance. Both Noah and Grace grow as they learn more about each other and face the dysfunction in their respective pasts. Fans of Sally Thorne or Sarah Hogle are sure to enjoy the enemies-to-lovers angle, and the vibrant Southern California setting makes this an easy, breezy read. As for the design themes, anyone who has ever binged a home improvement show or spent too long on Pinterest will appreciate how the homes, as well as the relationships, are renovated.

How to Love Your Neighbor had all the makings to be one of my next favorite books....enemies to lovers with some unique twists. Grace is one of those girls you can't help but cheer for. She comes from humble beginnings and has little but she's worked hard and is finally on the cusp of realizing her dreams. She meets Noah who was literally born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He's never known true struggle in the same sense that Grace has. However, he's continually trying to prove himself in other ways. Neither understands the other person or their motivations which lends to the storyline and their ability to jump to quick judgements about each other.

I felt like the book started strong but somewhere along the way it began to move slowly for me. It could be that there was too much detailed discussion about the remodel for my taste. I'm not sure. I just know that it felt like I had to muddle through the end of the book in comparison to the first half.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

This was a cute book. It started out pretty strong. Interesting characters. Funny banter. But hate turned to like too quickly for me...especially since its suppose to be a "hate to love" trope. The middle kinda dragged as it was a little too sweet, a little too typical. It took me longer to read than I would have liked for that reason. While there was nothing about this book that was bad there also isn't anything about it that is memorable.

***Copy obtained from St. Martin's Press via Netgalley***

Perfect for fans of HGTV and interior design, this sweet romance will be sure to have you smiling, laughing, and itching to redesign your bedroom (and maybe the rest of your home too). ⁣
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I really loved Grace’s character - she’s stubborn, passionate, and incredibly kindhearted. Noah took some time to grow on me (the first few chapters I hated him) but I ended up really liking him, especially when he showed how much he cared for Grace. ⁣

Sophie Sullivan knows how to write a romance that delivers the perfect emotional punch, with just the right amount of sexual tension and sweet romantic touches. This story is a perfect feel good story with lovable and relatable characters, full of passion and charisma.

Super cute, fun read. Loved it! Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

I loved the main idea/story of this book. Grace and Noah remind me of how Skip and Joanna Gaines might have met. Interuor designer do it yourselfer Grace and silver spoon business owner Noah are quite the pair.

I liked the concept and the tropes used in this book, but unfortunately, there were just too many things that didn't feel fleshed out. The main characters and their relationship just didn't feel like there was enough time for them to develop, and the same with the side characters. I also felt that the pacing was off, at some points I was bored and at others, I felt like things were moving too fast.

So, I actually really enjoyed this one and it was a perfect pairing with me currently bingeing the last few seasons of Flip or Flop.

I liked the characters and it was fast paced. I liked that it had some family issues that the main characters had to work through.

I also liked that there wasn't a huge blow up. However, I feel like the disagreement could have easily been avoided. I feel like it was added just to have the argument, because that's the formula.

I loved that Grace had to learn to set boundaries because that is hard and it isn't something that is talked about enough in books.

Overall, I really liked this one and think most people would enjoy it as well.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for this eARC.

Super cute book! It was a light easy read a lot of little laughs. I absolutely adore Noah and Grace! I'm glad I read it!

The constant undermining that Noah says and does about Grace drives me nuts.

The constant references to her being fresh out of school, green, inexperienced. How many more times will we have to listen to him speak down about her and her talent.

He keeps having to apologize for hurting her but yet continues after feeling bad to say he doesn’t want to work with her because she’s too new to design.

I love Grace, her personality and drive. Morty is the best side character ever.
Overall I enjoyed the book and would read more from this author.

Having never read Sophie Sullivan before I was excited to read How to Love your Neighbour - one of my favourite tropes, enemies to lovers and this absolutely did not disappoint.

Choc full of feels and choc full of banter, this is one of those books that is a curled up in a comfy chair, favourite blanket and hot cocoa read. Really, really enjoyed it's freshness and sweetness. I would highly recommend.

Now need to read Sophie's first book - The 10 Rules for Faking It.

I can so imagine this as a movie and would love to watch it!

How to Love Your Neighbor has a cute idea, and on paper, I should've loved it. But the actual execution fell flat. Didn't care about the characters or what they go through, the pacing felt off, and on the whole it wasn't fun or charming - which really ought to be a minimum for a romcom.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you SMP romance for my gifted copy. I enjoyed How to Love Your Neighbor, but don’t love it as much as Ten Rules for Faking It. I enjoyed the banter between Grace and Noah. I think I liked it better when they were sparring and then they seemed to quickly become more than that. I loved the interior design elements and learning more about Grace’s work and how she worked on Noah’s house. I loved seeing Everly and Chris. There were also a lot of great side characters. This wasn’t my favorite, but I still enjoyed it and will definitely check out more books from Sophie Sullivan.

I will update when I share the link to my bookstagram page.

The Review

This was such a unique and engaging romantic comedy. The chemistry between Noah and Grace is so fun to watch develop and grow over time. The way they butt heads and get under each other’s skin plays so well into that rom-com style narrative, while the way they help each other grow and evolve over time brings the heart and romance that readers are so eagerly looking for.

The fantastic spin on the rom-com style narrative by featuring an HGTV style story was inspired to say the least. The infusion of humor and wit into the story and the interior designer knowledge that the characters brought to life made the narrative feel unique and special, allowing it to stand out from the crowd of rom-coms that are sure to hit bookstores this year. Yet it was the exploration of each of them dealing with toxic relationships with a parental figure that allowed the protagonists to bond and gave their relationship a depth that readers will instantly connect with.

The Verdict

A memorable, heartfelt, and entertaining read, author Sophie Sullivan’s “How to Love Your Neighbor” is a must-read novel to kick off 2022! The emotional impact of these characters' stories and their connection to one another is equally matched by the funny commentary each gives to their meetings early on in the narrative, making this such a fun read.

If you are a Hallmark person then you will enjoy reading this book. Full of snark and banter as these two neighbors, both struggling with family dynamics, learn to get along. Noah, who’s handsome and rich lives next store to Grace, who is pretty but broke. She moved into her Grandparent’s old home, while his has newly been built. He is in need of an interior decorator and after a few quarrels, he finds she and her best friend are in their last semester of interior decorating school. He hires her and they both start on the journey of decorating his house. To make matters more interesting, a famous magazine is going to follow them and share their progress with their readers. When the article comes out, their readers find the magazine not only followed the progress of the house, but of Noah and Grace’s progress as well.
I received and ARC from Netgalley, but this review is on my own.

Really enjoyed this book! Such a fun read with great character development! Such a fun one and great to grab!

Enemies to lovers in a home renovation type scenario makes for one good and entertaining book. Love that we got to see how some characters from earlier in the series are doing and the dynamic between the two main characters developed over time.