Member Reviews

For a YA book, I felt like this book covered a lot of topics without feeling too overwhelming. While it is character-focused, there was also the background plot of high school, figuring out the future, and a bit of a coming of age.

Cleo's senior year is off to a bad start. During the summer, her boyfriend Daniel cheated on her and started dating Kiki. This is bad enough on its own, but she's also thrust into the way of Marianne, her neighbor turned best friend turned acquaintance, who's Kiki's ex. Their paths overlap and ultimately, they hatch a plan to fake date after being seen together and people coming to the assumption.

This is the perfect plan - Marianne is obviously still in love with Kiki and Cleo loves Daniel, right? This will help both of them get back to the people they love and get the senior year they've been dreaming of.

This story is told in single POV from Cleo, so we only get to see one side of the story. We follow her through senior year, from her film group to her horror movie obsession to her days spent with her best friend Chris, to the fake dating scheme with Marianne to the anticipation of seeing if she got into her dream college.

I absolutely adored the side characters and loved how much we got to see of them. Cleo doesn't have much family, but her found family is everything to her. I love when we get to see other characters, how they impact the main characters, and just the growth all around.

Overall, a nice read. I enjoyed the different complexities of all the things going on.

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I have mixed feelings for this one. On one hand, I really enjoyed the fake dating and the LGBTQ+ representation. However, on the other hand, I wanted more out of the MCs' relationship with each other. All in all, I found it to be a cute and sweet Sapphic YA romance. I love seeing Sapphic representation in stories. We need more of these, I would still recommend to readers who enjoy this type of story.

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

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I really enjoyed this book.

I recently read a compelling book that seamlessly blended engaging storytelling with thought-provoking themes. The characters were well-developed, drawing me into their world and making their journeys feel relatable. The pacing was spot-on, keeping me hooked from beginning to end. The author's prose was both elegant and accessible, enhancing the overall reading experience. The plot had enough twists to keep me guessing without feeling contrived. While the ending provided closure, it also left room for contemplation. Overall, it was a satisfying and enjoyable read, showcasing the author's skill in crafting a compelling narrative that resonates with a wide audience.

In the end, "The Girl Next Door" is a beautifully crafted high school romance that explores the intricacies of relationships evolving over time. If you're a fan of nostalgic journeys, heartfelt reconnections, and the sweet ache of first love, this book is a compelling and emotionally resonant read that will leave you with a sense of warmth and a touch of wistful nostalgia.

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I received this book for free for an honest unbiased review from Netgalley.

Smart and sexy. We need more sapphic books like this. The ending was worth the wait.

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This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it! I am giving this book three stars, as I don't want to give it a good or bad rating, since I did not get to it.

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This was mixed for me because on one hand I liked the representation within this book, but on the other hand I wanted more out of the MCs' relationship with each other. I did enjoy the fake dating aspect though because that's one of my favorite tropes.

All in all, this was a cute YA sapphic romance (which I think we always need more of) and I would recommend it to fans of the genre. It just isn't a new favorite of mine.

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Something that stood out to me while reading this book was that there was never really a moment where one of the characters is bullied or talked poorly about just for being queer. I loved that within this book, the school, the families...being within the LGBTQ+ community is just so normal. Representation for the LGBTQ+ community in this way is very important and I wish the real world was like this too.

I didn't truly understand every horror reference, as I am terrified of anything considered horror. That being said, Cecelia Vinesse did such a fantastic job writing this story, that I still felt involved and immersed within the plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for the eARC!

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I really wanted to love this, but unfortunately the writing didn't work for me and the characters felt very basic and immature. DNF'ed it after a few pages.

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Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Daniel dumps Cleo for Kiki and Kiki dumps Marianne for Daniel. Cleo and Marianne form a fake dating plan in attempts to make their exes jealous and get them back. In other words, this book is a very messy, queer, YA novel. This book has: the friends to "strangers" to lovers trope, the fake dating trope, cheating, and mentioned death of a parent.

There were a lot of aspects of this book that I really enjoyed. I found myself easily following along for this rollercoaster of a novel. Though I have read a few novels that are immersed in the high school film club, I haven't read very many books, especially young adult books, that feature characters that enjoy horror movies. I liked seeing the relationship of the two love interests, Cleo and Marianne, grow, but I wish they got a lot more screen time as a couple and not in a group setting.

I do think that this book did have its flaws. Though I think that the characters were pretty fleshed out, I think that Cleo was very inconsistent with her character development. She would make some progress, then slide back. But she did have much character development in the end of the novel.

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3.5 Stars

“The Girl Next Door” by Cecilia Vinesse is a queer YA contemporary romance.

I found this to be mostly sweet but with some storytelling that isn’t my jam.

Cleo is starting her senior year and she has plans. However, her plans are railroaded over the summer when her boyfriend cheats on her and breaks up with her. Her boyfriend, Daniel, is her partner in writing and directing horror movies and they are supposed to be working towards going to NYU together. Kiki, the girl Daniel cheated with and is now dating, also cheated on her girlfriend. Her girlfriend, Marianne, is Cleo’s next-door neighbor and former best friend.

Sounds convoluted right? Well, it is a lot but it didn’t take too long to figure everything out. This story has a pretty large cast of characters. And kudos to Vinesse, they all sounded different and I was able to tell everyone apart.

Cleo and Marianne are mistaken to be a couple by Kiki and decide to go along with her assumption. They want to win back their respective partners and hope to make them jealous. What I didn’t care for was that the four of them spent so much time together. Cleo and Daniel and Kiki and Marianne were best friends before they started dating and I couldn’t believe Cleo and Marianne would want to be around the other two given the fact that they cheated. But there are double dates and all of them hanging out at in the film department multiple times.

I really wanted more time with Cleo and Marianne to see how they go from being former best friends to fake dating to having actual feelings. While there was some of that, there wasn’t nearly enough. They were sweet with each other and I liked their scenes together. I just wanted more of them. There was way too much “group time” and especially Daniel. Cleo spends the same amount, if not more, time with Daniel than she does Marianne and it got on my nerves.

There were some things I liked about this as well. Marianne suffers from anxiety and I liked how it was represented. I liked her arc probably the most, even if we didn’t get her point of view. I also liked how this sounds young adult. I read quite a bit of YA and a lot of the times it doesn’t really feel young adult, except for the ages. I also liked how much queerness was in the group of friends and how it was just accepted. There wasn’t any homophobia or anything like that.

I received an ARC from HarperCollins Children’s Books (Quill Tree Books) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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The Girl Next Door is an adorable queer romance sapphic YA romance. There are a great mix of tropes in this book and the primary one is fake dating. I'm usually not a fan of this specific trope but the way the plot was set up and the reasons behind it made it a quick favorite.

The plots were fairly predictable, but that's not always a bad thing and usually the case with YA rom coms, which I love. I recommend this for people who enjoy high school queer romances. It's a quick and fun read.

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This book builds a world where overlapping queer crushes are the norm and movie magic love can be a reality. It's sweet, emotional, and romantic!

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Fake dating that becomes real AND they were originally friends? Sign me up.

^ That is what I felt going in. By the end of this novel I was exhausted. It ended up being pretty average and the "voice" used for Cleo is so frustrating. It reminds of those late 90's/early 2000's teen movies where the teen protag is the narrator and at some point we hear "I bet you're wondering how I got into this mess". That is what Cleo's inner thoughts remind me of.

I wanted to like this, and at times I did, but the average/bad outweighed the good. I rounded up from a 2.5.

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hank you netgalley for this arc. 3.5 stars. This was just okay. I liked it. It was a pretty standard romance with its touch of cringe and cute. I don’t feel like I heavily connected with anyone, but I did like Cleo. Her young self also loved Carrie #relate. I didn’t love the ship. I felt like so much of Marianne’s story was her being focused on getting Kiki back. I get the whole fake dating plot thing, but a lot of times it just felt like Marianne wasn’t really seeing Cleo, kinda icky. The end was cute, but it was pretty mid overall. That being said, I still feel like I’d read another book by this author if one were to come out. Since the author loves horror, I’d be really interested in seeing a sapphic horror from them.

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This was a really cute book. It’s an age old story: boy likes girl, girl likes boy, boy dumps girl for Kiki the head cheerleader. Cleo could spend her senior year pouting but instead she devised a plan: Cleo & Kiki’s ex Marianne (who is also Cleo’s former best friend) start fake dating. But what happens when the fake part of their plan becomes real?

I’m such a sucker for a good fake dating story & this one was so good! The film references were a little much for me however.

This book is a must read for anyone who likes romances!

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!

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This should’ve been the perfect book for me. With all its themes and tropes and literally everything else about it, it’s my type of book in theory. Unfortunately, I just wasn’t feeling it for some reason.

Still a fun read, but I wanted more!!

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a great romcom with a fresh twist

thank you to netgalley and to the publisher for this review copy.

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This was possibly one of the sweetest books I've read this year. A YA contemporary coming-of-age book with amazing bisexual and mental health representation. Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes and adding in a revenge plot...chef's kiss.

Cleo and Marianne were strongly written characters that showed really defined growth throughout the book. I loved how unique Cleo's character is in the world of contemporary romances. Her love of directing and horror is so refreshing. I loved watching her grow as a person and become more open and loving as the book progressed, Marianne's mental health was wonderfully portrayed and I loved seeing her come out of her created shell. You truly see these two characters bloom into themselves. Adding in our merry band of side characters...amazing. This is truly a character driven plot so having these strong characters carried the book well.

The plot of the book is simple: childhood friends revenge fake dating after their respective ex's cheat and get together. Despite it's simplicity, it's executed really well. Despite it's predictability, I enjoyed every minute of the relationship's evolution. I laughed, I cried, I full on squealed. The deep embrace of acceptance for the queer characters is really nice to see, where so many coming-of-age queer stories lean into homophobia or parental rejection. I think the book was paced pretty medium, not too fast but not too slow either. Setting it across multiple months within the book set a nice backdrop to following the pace of the relationship's evolution.

Overall, this is a really well written romance with strong and unique characters, a well paced plot and an adorable relationship. Cleo and Marianne forever.

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I saved this book for my last Pride month read. What a dumb move. Vinesse's magnificent storytelling abilities really shine in this YA queer rom com. Its one of those books I wish I could have read as a teen. Here's hoping it gets a film adaption.

HarperCollins Children's Books, Quill Tree Books, and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

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