3* I Wanted More Stars

This enemy to lover’s romance had some funny laugh out loud moments to it, however, I did find it longwinded in parts and the pace rather slow.

The romance between Grace and Noah was very slow burn and there was no steam to their relationship.

Overall, I was hoping for some more angst, tension and fiery exchanges between them given that it is an enemy to lover’s romance. Whilst it has been a popular read unfortunately it fell short for me.

3.5/5 stars
This was a great read. This book is about an interior designer who designs to move into her inherited house only to find out that her enemy next door wants to buy her house but the problem is that he's very hot and there is a connection between them. This was a greatly written novel which I think takes place in the same world as Sullivan's first novel. I enjoyed the storyline of the book as it had many conflicts with great pacing. I love how detailed the author made the character's job to be because it sounds so fun to decorate a house as a job. There is also a great amount of comedy in this book so be read. This book is written in dual povs which I was really grateful for.

This book is written in both Grace and Noah povs. Grace is the interior designer who inherited the house and Noah is the real estate agent who buys houses. Both characters had great character developments in this book as they both deal with family troubles. There were also many side characters in this book and I especially loved Grace's guardian who is so caring of Grace. This book has enemies to lovers romance but to be honest I wasn't wowed by the character's relationship. It felt a little forced and rushed to me rather than a slow burn enemies to lovers romance. Like I didn't feel my heart warm up for the character and not much steam in this adult book.

The ending was greatly done though with a happily ever after. For this rom com, the author nailed it with the com instead of the rom. Overall I still enjoyed the storyline of this book and will be reading the author's debut book as I heard great things about it. I recommend this book if you love Helena Hunting and Baraba Dunlop.

After growing up with a disinterested mother, Grace made her own way in the world and is about to graduate from college with a degree in interior design. The grandparents that she never met left her their little house on the beach south of LA and she is excited to finally move in. Noah has moved to CA to get away from his father and make a new life for himself in the big house next door. They meet the day she moves in and he asks to buy her house so that he can put in a pool for his house. Of course she says no.

This is a sweet, well written story about two people fighting falling in love because of their goals and not wanting to be like their parents. I also enjoyed the other characters in the book who added depth to the story. I look forward to reading more books by Sophie Sullivan.

I received a free copy of this book to review through NetGalley and thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is a cute sequel to the author's "Ten Rules for Faking It". Like with the first book there are things I like and others that don't work for me. This is meant to be an enemies to lovers or opposites attract. Grace Travis inherits a beach house from her grandparents she never met. When she moves into her fixer-upper she meets the handsome, wealthy, privileged next door neighbor Noah Jansen. He literally offers her twice the value of her house on day one because he wants to tear it down to have space for a yard and pool. He is the epitome of obnoxious rich privilege and when she fixes a shared fence, he doesn't trust that a woman could do acceptable work.

Grace is finishing design school and for publicity in a national magazine he hires her for the interior design of his home. (The magazine oddly changes between two different names, 'Hearty Homes' and Home and Heart' in my ARC.) Both MC's have the commonality of a terrible parent to deal with. They quickly give into their feelings of friendship and attraction which takes away any tension or build up between them. And Grace is so easy to forgive his stupid missteps that it takes away his chance to grow and change as a character. The dark moment is brief and Grace still takes some of the blame when it was just him. Sadly the more I am writing the more I can think of that bugged me about Noah.

Grace is lovely. And I did like her trying to teach him about friends helping out each other. Their date night of a room decorating challenge was cute although not totally believable that you could paint and put up wall shelving all in three hours. I like the idea of embracing family of your choice instead of blood relations too. Noah does have good brothers. One was the main character in the first novel and it was nice to catch up with that couple. But I complained in my review of the first book that side characters take up too much time in the story and that is true here as well. I was almost more interested in her BFF who takes up with Noah's assistant.

On the whole this is a quick, breezy read. I almost stopped at the fifteen percent mark because I so disliked Noah. But I'm glad that I continued on and finished. Intimacy is off the page which is usually a fine choice for me but here it was just another way that I couldn't see the connection between the MC's. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF. Do you want a romance with a hero make you think, "this man is a Republican," and not in a small town values sort of way, but in a sunk his daddy's boat during a boat parade and does coke in a shady night club with Don Jr. while whining about how no women love him sort of way? If so, this book is for you. If not, stay far far away from the it. I don't remember the last time I read a book where the hero was so horrible.

I made it 15% of the way into this book and had to stop. In 15% he has:
- mocked the heroine for being working class and having multiple jobs
- egregiously flaunted his daddy's money
- whined about his ex girlfriend
- tried to throw his money at the heroine in hopes of buying her house
- admitted he wants the heroine's house so he can expand his yard so his ex will see him as a stable, responsible adult
- demanded the heroine pay half for new fence on his property
- demanded that the heroine pay to fix part of a broken fence
- when the heroine fixed the fence on her own, he didn't believe she was the one to do it because women have no handy skills and can't use tools.
- he physically cannot speak a sentence without it being condescending

There is no coming back from this for me. He has absolutely no redeeming qualities. There is nothing compelling to me about him and I do not want to watch the heroine fall for this jerk. On top of this there is absolutely no humor and the heroine is a flat so I'm not even compelled to continue so I can see where she ends up. I'm done with this book.

When we eat the rich, I call dibs on this man's arm.

I love a good RomCom, but this one just didn’t hook me the way others have. I think from the get-go I wasn’t super invested in the development of the characters, too little info was given about them in small bits and I felt like i couldn’t fully understand who they were.

I don’t know that I totally bought the chemistry between the two. The overall premise of the plot was cute, I loved Grace’s independence and showing that woman can get things done independently.

Overall the book just fell a bit short for me though.

"This is just a house. Without you, it's empty. Without you, I am empty. A house is a shell. A blank canvas. A home is a masterpiece."

There is just something about books with home renovation plots that I just love. I don't know why I am drawn to them, but I just am.

This was a cute romance, but I never found myself fully invested in it. I liked Noah and Grace, but I didn't love them together and I was never rooting for them. I think that I liked the side characters more in this one than the main characters. Give me more of the dogs and grandpas!

Overall it was adorable and an enjoyable read, but not one that I will pick up again.

This was a quick read enemies to lovers book. Grace knows what she wants in life and will not stray from her path. Noah is used to getting his way. These two become neighbors and don't see eye to eye. Sparks slowly start to show between these two each time they interact with each other. This was a fun read. It was sweet with not much naughty parts.

Thank you to St. Martins Press for this advanced copy. I’m so excited I was able to read it because I absolutely adored it.

We have two stubborn characters when it comes to Grace and Noah, one being poor and inheriting her house and the other a rich boy trying to make his way without his father. And they are neighbors. Noah is constantly trying to get Grace to sell her house, while she feels it’s her way to make something of herself, so she refuses. They start to butt heads and than compete, while kindling feelings for each other. They both have parents they want to prove themselves to in different ways. An opportunity of a lifetime happens for them, Noah getting his mark in an upcoming magazine and he needs Grace’s interior design help; which can also rocket her name to fame. Can they continue as friends or will desire take over.. we’ll all I can say is but this book!!

I love a good head-butting, sexual tension romance. And this book has that. Has two people from different worlds who aren’t really that different at all. They want to prove to themselves they have what it takes and they slow build romance in this story is electric. I liked that you could feel the tension throughout without the need to have them knocking boots right off the bat. I also love the side characters, Morty being my favorite. A funny, grumpy, lovable old man.

I really loved the concept and execution of this whole book and can’t wait for Sophie’s next book!!!

I've said before, these contemporary romances are palette cleansers for me, I don't expect much but a nice story to soothe my mind between epic fantasies, complex mysteries and all manner of other heavier fiction.

This one didn't really have much that gripped me in any way. I didn't feel the chemistry between the two main characters in the way I'd hope for a novel without any other heavier themes. It had the female character that was disproportionally successful to the man but they were both kind of a mess. I felt like their constant “saving” of each other was an insane form of codependency and as soon as it seemed that way the author back tracked a little. It just made me uncomfortable. It wasn’t so much enemies to lovers as it was two people who have no idea how to have a relationship.

Could have just been me but I don't think this one will wow you in any way. It'll make an ok a beach read but it's not one I can see you needing to read.

There was a character named Herman though so I'm obvs happy about that...

Thanks to Netgalley for access to this novel. All opinions above are my own.

What a fun read! Grace and Noah's story was a joy to read. I loved everything about this book.
I received a complimentary copy from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley and was not required to write a revie. All opinions expressed are my own.

The butterflies and the serotonin, this one gave to me was something I didn’t know I would be having because holy cow; not only it was a perfect sunshine meets grump romance novel but also that little family dynamic was quite engaging and fun. In a nutshell, it was a very enjoyable read.

I almost didn’t finish this book, it started out a bit slow for me, but oh boy am I glad I stuck with it! What I found was some great characters that sucked me in and didn’t let me go until the very last page. Loved Grace and Noah, they both had similar situations with their childhood, although Grace didn’t come from money, where Noah did. Truly loved the whole house designing setting, reading through that process was awesome. The closeness of the side characters was great! Loved Marty, Tilly, Josh, Rosie, Noah’s brothers, Everly and of course the dogs! What a fun story, the ease of Noah and Grace working together and then falling in love played out very well. The ending soooo good. Very well worth the read.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC copy of this book.

🛠🔩🏡🏠Good start but lost momentum😕

I thought this novel started out well but once the main protagonists buried the hatchet and started cooperating I lost interest. I had the feeling that the shoe would drop and some major drama related to estranged parents would turn up but I just did not care enough about the couple to stick it out to the end for the possibility of some drama later on.

I guess there are two elements that did not click for me but, if they interest you, you might really enjoy the novel. First, the reno and home design dimension to the story. It's integral to the action, both for Noah and Grace, what they do for a living and who they are but, for me, no, not that interested. And, as part of the renovation, there were a lot of secondary characters to follow (a few too many for me).

Added to that the romance had a good deal of introspection and discussion of feelings but, for some reason, it just did not move me. Maybe the competition and games Noah and Grace played even turned me off a bit.

I had hoped it could be but, ultimately, not to my taste.

Thanks to St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

Noah is looking for something new, so he relocates from New York to California, in the same town his brother is in. He’s looking for more permanence in all areas of his life, so he buys a house he intends to fix and make truly his own. The problem? Grace, who lives next door. She’s sexy, she’s stubborn, and she’s everything he never knew he needed.

I really enjoyed this book. I love a good enemies to lovers trope and I also love when books do not unnecessarily break up couples for long periods of time.

Thank you to the author and publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!

How to Love Your Neighbor felt a little cliched. Noah is the big city rich man trying to buy Grace’s inherited home (his neighbor!), so they start off on the wrong foot. I still can’t really figure out when they transitioned from enemies-to-lovers.

It started off light and fun with witty banter and mild arguments. Noah was a hard character to like, he was often rude and snobby. Grace was better initially, but then she devolves into this immature mess. I just never believed in the chemistry between them, as it felt like I was being told versus shown.

Grace’s neighbor/adopted “Grandpa” Morty was the star of the show. He and the other side characters were more memorable than Grace and Noah and I found myself looking forward to them more than the main plot.

Overall, How to Love Your Neighbor wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great either.

I absolutely loved the cover and plot idea! However it did take me several times to get into this book because of the pacing and it was hard to stay interested.

This was a two star rating because it was just ok but might be better to read at another time. Thank you Netgalley and publishers for allowing chance to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are.my own.

Very mellow book. Not interesting to me, I expected more and was disappointed. Didn't feel the chemistry,

First of all, thank you Net Galley and St Martins Press for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a whirlwind. Neighbours to enemies to lovers to friends to enemies again and back to lovers. Talk about keeping you on your toes!

Grace’s character was easy to love. She worked hard to get where she was in life and didn’t let much get in the way - except her heart. Her big heart and desire to find family was shown with her relationship with Morty, her quasi grandfather/ friend. She had the perfect amount of sass and drive and didn't let her emotions get in the way of her life's goals.

I had high hopes for Grace's mother- Tammy- and in their ability to repair their relationship, but I’m glad her role stayed relatively small. I'm also glad Grace was able to stand up for herself and grow enough to give a second chance.

Noah was a force. Watching him breakaway from his fathers shadow and eke out his own new life was sweet to read- and watching his heart and capacity for love grow was heartwarming. I think I enjoyed his character development the most.

The chemistry between Grace and Noah was palpable from the opening chapter and stayed strong from there. There were bumps along the road, but it was a breath of fresh air to see the issues worked through as adults (besides the few blow ups which were quickly resolved).

I enjoyed the dual POV, though I wish there was a little more distinction between the two of them … I’m hoping it was just the advanced copy that didn’t differentiate. Same for the text conversations - they were a little confusing to read without distinction amongst the other text.

There was romance but anything beyond kissing was FTB, so for anyone who wants a love story without it being explicit - this is a good option!


With strong themes of chosen family, hard work, and love - this was a great read to start off the new year. And if you’re in any way into interior decorating then this is the book for you! Just over 300 pages of witnessing what makes a house a home <3

PS- My standards have officially risen. I will no longer settle for a bouquet of flowers, its a full garden or nothing now haha

This books started off really strong for me, and then seemed to hit a snag. I can generally read a full length novel in a day or two, but this one took me FOUR days and reading a short story between some chapters to get through.

I think part of the problem is that the pacing for the set-up is quick, but then the relationship part is meant to be a slow-burn storyline. Instead, the story just seems to go over the same things repeatedly. Not just a normal push/pull of the romantic leads, but also internal revelations.

And that's another problem: we spend a lot of time in the characters' heads, but I never felt connected to the characters' emotions. The author tells the reader how the character feels, but without deep POV we don't get to experience how they're feeling.

There were also a couple of cases towards the end where Noah is talking to his brother explaining an incident, and at no point do we get his realisation of how he's messed up. It's simply the brother pointing out what Noah did wrong, then Noah declaring that he has to fix the situation. No putting himself in Grace's position, no comparison to how he'd feel if the roles were reversed, no feelings of remorse. (Until they're together and Grace can see the sadness in his eyes.)

I also felt that there were a lot of secondary and tertiary characters introduced in the first half of the book, who simply disappeared in the latter half or were only referred to in passing. The "dark moment" happens around 92% and for me that's just not enough time to work past the final relationship barriers.

The book references characters from a previous book, but it isn't listed as part of a series. I didn't feel like I missed out on anything, nor do I feel the urge to seek out the first book.