Read if you like:
🚲 Childhood Friends to Enemies to Lovers
💋 Forced Proximity
💗 He Falls First
🥵 Spice/ Open Door
📺 TV Writer FMC
🏡 Boy Next Door
🤳🏻 Internet Viral Sensations

If you like spice, childhood friends to enemies to lovers. Forced proximity, and lots of petty back and forth, this one is a great pick!

I really loved how the diversity of our FMC was written and how the author used the character to talk about being biracial in the Midwest, in Hollywood, and then to be female on top of that as well. I felt like this narrative was so well written!

The relationship between Collins and Nathaniel was so well written and loved how their dynamic grew and changed throughout the book.

I did feel like this one’s third act break up is one that most can get behind the way it was written as well.

All in all, this was a solid romance by a new to me author that I think many will enjoy! Thanks so much to Berkley for my ARC in exchange for my review!

(4.5/5)

This was such a quick and fun read! I loved every second from the very first page, but I think the feisty, fierce FMC had to be my favorite. I related to her in so many ways, from her snark to her preference to avoid human interaction when possible.

Friends to enemies to lovers has never been so much fun - Collins is home licking her wounds after going viral for all the wrong reasons, only to find out that her best friend from high school - and her now enemy - lives just down the street. When he tries to get her to leave, her defiance flares and she decides that it's time to show him who he's messing with.

The banter is funny and sassy, the tension definitely builds, and the story is sweet and enjoyable. I loved the side characters - especially Collins's parents - and thought they brought so much to the story. I also loved the character progression for our FMC as the plot unfolded.

Now let's talk about the spice - solid 2/5 peppers for me. It wasn't super frequent or overly graphic, but it was definitely hot and steamy. There's one scene in particular that had me in need of a glass of water...

I took a half star away because, while this was cute, it didn't evoke an emotional response (ex. tearing up, heart squeezing, chest tightening, etc.) But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it and I wouldn't recommend it to a friend, because I absolutely would if you love any of the following: small town, opposites attract, feisty fmc, banter, friends to enemies to lovers, good spice

Alexa Martin switches from her football based series to a down-home neighborhood rom-com in which estranged childhood friends vie for the same position on the HOA board. Written with wit, humor, and an openness to the messiness of humanity, readers will surely fall in love with these characters and this story.

I was provided an ARC of this book via the Berkley Besties program and Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This follows down on her luck screenwriter Collins after a horrible breakup sends her back to her hometown in Ohio. She had big dreams to make it big in California and leave Ohio behind. I can totally relate to that, I said I was never coming home when I left for college and I live an hour from where I grew up. Collins former best friend, Nate, happens to life in the same housing plan as her parents and is a successful realtor and a member of the HOA and he takes his duties a little too serious sometimes. Nate and Collins had a falling out in high school and they both are holding on to some deep rooted feelings that have had a long time to fester. Collins loves nothing but to get under Nate's skin, and in her latest attempt to rattle him she decides to run for the recently vacated HOA president position. As they try to outwit and undermine each other at every turn, they start to get to know each other again and rekindle their friendship and chemistry they had as teens.

This was a cute frenemies-to-lovers second chance romance read. It was quick and had some fun banter. I really loved Collins relationship with her parents and her friendships with Ashleigh and Ruby. Collins read a little immature and petty for my personal taste in a main character Some of her behavior and the way she spoke was more relatable to a teenager or college student than an adult in her late 20s or early 30s. Nate on the other hand takes himself too seriously. I think for some it will add to the comedy of the book, and it will appeal to a broad range of readers. I do think that having a war over the HOA president position is hilarious. That is certainly a plotline I haven't read before and it made for a nice backdrop for our main characters to get to know each other again and rekindle their feelings for one another.

If you are looking for a fun rom-com that you can devour in a weekend pick this up. I enjoyed the quirky characters and comedic situations we find out characters in throughout the book.

I kept going back and forth on this one. Sometimes, I really loved the story and the characters and then I'd grow bored and want to be done with it.

I liked the banter of the main characters! Martin was great about making situations that felt new and familiar at the same time by bringing familiar banter into new situations. And I loved that this was high school rivals (and former best friends) meets adult versions of themselves.

The HOA plot was fun and felt original. I haven't read any other contemporary rom-coms that revolve around an HOA. Plus, going back to the banter. The fact that so many arguments and bickerings revolved around it was so funny.

Overall, this was an okay read for me. I loved so many parts, but disliked or felt completely indifferent to so many others. I wish it all could have felt more cohesive or been paced a little better.

Looking for a romance wrapped in laughter and hijinks, then look no further! What do you do when your life has gone up in outrageous viral flames? Run home and hide with you parents of course! The only problem is that you find yourself face to face with the first friend to stab you in the back and crush your trust in people and boys especially. Add in a tyrannical HOA board and you have laughter for hours! The characters were a bit petty and childish, but that honestly added to the humor and helped them work through their demons faster. The plot was hilarious and prank filled to add to the humor. If you love a good rom com or funny sitcom, then this book is absolutely for you!

4.5 ⭐️

This was my first book by this author and definitely won’t be my last! This book was the perfect combination of enemies to lovers, next door neighbors, banter, spice and was down right hilarious! Collins ends up having to move back home after her life blows up. Little does she know her high school friends-turned-enemy lives next door. The shenanigans and banter between Collins and Nate had me laughing so much! I did find Collins to be a bit much at times but still loved her character. Absolutely adored Nate and really wish we had gotten his point of view through the book. Overall this was an easy and enjoyable read with the perfect amount of spice. Highly recommend!

+ Second-chance
+ Friends-to-enemies-to-lovers

I’m a big fan of Alexa Martin. She weaves such interesting and entertaining romcoms and Next-Door Nemesis is no exception. In her newest novel, Alexa Martin weaves a hilarious, romance story involving - wait for it - a neighborhood HOA election.

Collins Carter has moved back to her small Ohio hometown with her parents. Is this a way to save money? Did something happen to her parents? Oh, no Collins has returned after her writing career, and her long-term relationship imploded. Oh, and a video of her vandalizing her boyfriend's car went viral.

Her return home puts her directly in the path of her ex-best friend-turned-nemesis, Nathaniel Adams. Nate is a local realtor, who loves a good sweater vest and khaki combo and most importantly rules and order - ingredients to a quiet life. Collins represents chaos.

Their run-ins are a series of juvenile pranks and shenanigans that caused me to kick my feet and giggle. Ultimately, the pranks lead to Collins running against Nate for the position of HOA president, and all bets are off. But of course, their hate turns into something more. I honestly never thought a HOA election could be sexy. Now, I’ll admit some of their antics are very immature, but it’s so well-written it didn’t bother me as much as it should.

In addition to Collins and Nate, I loved the secondary characters. Ashleigh, an MLM maven, and Ruby, Collins’ best friend, a force of nature who happens to be a lawyer bring additional laughs and much-needed support to our main character Collins. I would also love to read Ruby’s story in the future. One thing, I also appreciated was the perspective and information about working in Hollywood as a writer, especially with the recent writers' strike.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Next-Door Nemesis and highly recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC. Next-Door Nemesis will be released on November 14, 2023.

A cute fun Rom-com! Loved the characters! Enemies to lovers is always a favorite trope and this one is well done. Collins and Nate have that perfectly balanced love-hate vibe. Lots of laughs mixed with some tender moments culminating in a thoroughly enjoyable read. Thank you to Berkley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy-all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Next-Door Nemesis gave me all the enemies-to-lovers vibes I was looking for. The banter and sass between Collins and Nathaniel was (chef's kiss) perfect. It made me laugh out loud many times and I constantly had a smile on my face with all the shenanigans Collins was pulling.
Alexa Martin did an amazing job not only with the main characters but the side characters are so great as well. Her friends are amazing, and her parents are super adorable it almost makes me wish I lived in their small town in Ohio..
This is the first book I've read by this author and it won't be the last.

Next-Door Nemesis is a lovely, fun contemporary romance that will put a smile on your face and provide a few hours of escape from the stress inspired by the oncoming holidays.

They were once best friends. Collins Carter and Nate (Nathaniel) Adams were nearly inseparable during their elementary school years, but high school saw a rift form in their relationship when Nate became popular and essentially ghosted Collins. That was just one of the many reasons she was thrilled to leave her suburban Ohio town and become a writer in California. But after going viral for having a screaming tantrum where she threatens to bury her lying, thieving ex while wearing nothing but stilettos and a silk robe, her years of screenwriting experience mean zilch. She’s jobless and with LA prices as they are, rapidly homeless as a result and therefore back at her parent’s house in their saccharine sweet small midwest town. In her mind, it’s a stopgap before she moves on to better things, but a small, dark piece of her soul fears it may turn permanent. Fortunately, she’s made a new friend in former classmate-turned-next-door-neighbor Ashleigh. Unfortunately, Nate still lives there, and they still can’t stand the sight of each other. He’s now a well-known and beloved realtor in their community, as well as an HOA board member for their neighborhood. Avoidance isn’t just futile, it’s literally impossible. They run into each other everywhere.

Then Nate comes up with the genius plan to force Collins to leave town by using the subdivision bylaws against her and her family. He promises to allow her father to keep his against-the-regulations landscaping if she scoots back to California. Collins is horrified by Nate's lack of scruples (me, too) and is determined to fight fire with fire. She already allowed one man to steal her dreams, drive her from her home, and wreck her life, so she sure as hell isn’t going to let that happen twice. Her solution? If Nate wants to use the HOA to force her out, why doesn’t she use the upcoming election to become president of that body? She can both strip the tyrannical Nate of his power and maybe smear his (unearned) goody two-shoes reputation in the bargain.

Things don’t work out quite as planned, however. The more Collins and Nate bicker their way through the campaign, the more they realize how perfectly matched they are. Could their opposition really be hiding an irresistible attraction?

As a writer, Martin does several things very well. One of them is her secondary characters, and here she does an absolutely fantastic job with Ashleigh, Collins’ other bestie, Ruby, and Collins’ parents, especially her mom, Kimberly. Each of these women has a unique, interesting personality that serves as a great foil to Collins without them in any way being simple sycophantic cheerleaders for the heroine. They all challenge her to be better, but each has a different way of doing it. They also fit naturally into the story and don’t show up only to solve some problem but are an everyday, realistic part of Collins’ life. I loved them and hope to see them all again in a sequel.

I thoroughly enjoyed how Martin depicts suburban life as well. It’s a lot more 1950s sitcom than 2023 reality, but in a good way. It showed neighborhoods as we would like them to be, gives a charming sense of community to the story and provides a reason for both Collins and Nate, who grew up there, to be as wholesome as they are.

Martin weaves some wonderful humor into the tale, too – there’s a scene involving a flamingo and an inflatable Ben Franklin that had me literally laughing out loud. The underlying emotion of the story is an effervescent cheeriness that makes it fun to peruse.

My quibbles come with the moments that clash with everything I’ve written about above. Collins and Nate, as mentioned, are wholesome, down-to-earth midwesterners who are typically amiable, well-adjusted adults. I loved them and loved their low-key everyday romance, except at the start of the story, when they both act like unhinged lunatics, and their relationship is so childish it’s almost cringe-worthy. It’s as though they suffer from multiple personality disorder that is (mostly) miraculously cured at the thirty percent mark. Typically, when a big misunderstanding such as the one that caused a rift between them in high school occurs, I feel the author blows it out of proportion. In this case, I felt it was underplayed a bit. The underlying issue of communication, which, frankly, crosses over into their interactions as adults for the first portion of the book, wasn’t addressed quite to my satisfaction. Also, if you are in the nerd zone, it’s less easy to join the popular crowd than it is made to seem here.

Martin writes that new hybrid type of narrative, which is part women’s fiction, part romance. She’s brilliant at it - the female friendships she creates are awesome, and she does a simply fabulous job of giving her female leads a life. Collins has family, friends, acquaintances, work, opinions, and hobbies. Too many romances are just about lust or about getting consumed by love, but a believable HEA requires the couple to have a life connection, which requires actually having a life. Collins is definitely given that. However, a small problem arises from that which impacts the romance - an almost absentee hero. I loved what I saw of Nate, and he seemed like he would be perfect for Collins, but for the first half of the story, Nate is essentially missing in action. Aside from the rather slap-sticky moments we see of their feud, he just isn’t present in a way that allows the reader to really get to know him and understand why he’s a mentally unbalanced jerk around Collins (in fairness, she’s a crazy bitch around him, but at least we know why). Fortunately, that problem is more or less solved in the second half of the story, but we still had too little of him for my taste.

Not being perfect doesn’t mean you aren’t pretty darn good, though, and that is certainly the case with Next-Door Nemesis. If you are a fan of the author, a fan of humorous contemporary romance, or just looking for a good book with nice vibes, this is the story for you.

Did you ever feel like the world had turned against you? When you are having a seriously bad day....week....month, what do you do? You run home to the last place you felt safe and loved. Back to the place you swore you'd never run back to.....oh well. While the plot line may not be original, Alexa Martin has given it a kick or two that made me giggle a couple of times. The characters have an attitude that they are happy to share with each other. When their back and forth gets a little too intense, they will face each other in a race for HOA president. As the race turns personal, these two move from foe to friend to much, much more. This was an entertaining read that anyone who enjoys a bad day that turns quickly to romance will love. Alexa Martin has another hit on her expanding list.

Thanks to Berkley for my advanced copy of Next-Door Nemesis by Alexa Martin.

I love Alexa Martin's books so was looking forward to this romantic comedy about HOA drama, especially because I had some crazy HOA drama a few years ago.

Collins has returned home to suburban Ohio after a little bit of a viral blow-up with her boyfriend. She's unsure of her next steps but when she realizes her childhood bff turned high school nemesis has moved into the neighborhood and is on the HOA board, she decides to run against him for HOA President after they receive a violation.

Collins was a bit juvenile, but I liked seeing her grow and loved her relationship with her parents. I loved her friends and seeing her and Nate actually talk about what happened in high school to cause them to drift apart. I love Alexa Martin's comedic style and writing and it had me laughing so many times!

If you're an enemies-to-lovers fan or love some good HOA drama you'll enjoy this!

Ahhh, I read and listened thanks to PRH and I absolutely adored this one! It was so cute and captivating, and I didn’t wanna stop!

Thank-you to NetGalley, Berkley, and Alexa Martin for the eARC!


This was my first Alexa Martin and though admittedly I wasn't as into it right away as I'd hoped I'd be, I'm definitely encouraged to check out her previous works and keep an eye out for future ones.

I think it just took me a long time to get on board with Collins and Nate as a couple, but I can see this book being VERY popular with the rivals-to-lovers group. I'm more of a friends-to-lovers girlie and was hoping we'd get more of the friendship, but alas.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher for an honest review. I really enjoyed this sweet romcom. I've read Alexa Martin before and have enjoyed her sense of humor interlaced throughout her books and this one was also funny, It doesn't break new ground in the genre but it's a great read when you really want that HEA.!

Next Door Nemesis was a light, cute and quick romance read - I could easily see grabbing this one to read on a flight or as a beach read on vacation.

I was initially drawn to this one having read and enjoyed Martin’s football romance series and the premise of this one sounded promising. Small town, former friends turned enemies and a rivalry over the HOA presidency? Sounded like a good set up.

As I’ve seen before Martin delivers a book that reads at a good pace, her writing style is one I enjoy and I love her inclusion of positive female friendships as a part of her books. The friendship between Collins and Ruby, Collins and Ashleigh, and eventually the three was a highlight for me.

Collins was a bit of a mixed bag for me, she had some more endearing/ fun moments and some where I wanted to shake her a bit. I would have liked this to be a dual pov story, since I feel like Nate would have been an interesting pov and someone I’d have enjoyed seeing fleshed out a bit more.

I did feel that the pettiness at times got a bit much, and the evolution from enemies to lovers felt like a bit of a shock / abrupt. I needed more less in there. I did find myself disengaged at times, I wasn’t as invested as I would have liked to be with the characters. However, I did want to find out the resolution and was satisfied with the HEA.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own and freely offered.

This was such a light and lovely book! After betrayal, embarrassment, and heartbreak, Collins moves back to her small town. As she tries to get her life together, she is confronted with her old nemesis, Nate. In an attempt to get back at him, she volunteers to run for HOA president. Obviously, hijinks ensue. The characters were written with a deft hand and the assorted cast of side characters were a delight - I'm hoping Ruby's book is next!

After an unfortunate video went viral Collins is heading back to Ohio to stay with her parents. She thinks things couldn't get worse until she runs into Nate. Nate used to be one of her best friends till he randomly ghosted her and now she wants nothing more than to annoy him. That leaves her with only one thing to do, run against him for HOA president.

I thought that this was a cute read. Collins drove me nuts at times, but she made me laugh. I really loved her friendship with Ruby and Ashleigh. They were there for Collins for so much. They supported her and her shenanigans, where there when she needed to vent and they told her the truth even if she didn't want to hear it. It's nice to see such strong girl friendships. And Nate. I really liked him. I thought he was such a cute character. I couldn't help but love him at the end.

This was my first Alexa Martin book and it won't be my last! Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for my ebook!

Have you ever read a romance centered around an HOA? I haven’t either until this book. 😂

Short Synopsis:
After her career in LA burns to the ground, Collins returns home to stay with her parents for a bit. What she doesn’t expect to find Nathaniel - her childhood friend/nemesis - living in her neighborhood and making her life miserable with his HOA power. Collins decides to run against him for President of their HOA.

My Thoughts:
This novel had some great one-liners that had me chuckling. And I loved the themes that were brought up. I did feel mostly disengaged in the book though. The silly pettiness felt immature.

Read if You Like:
🏡 Childhood friends romance
🏡 Enemies to lovers
🏡 HOAs
🏡 Interracial romance
🏡 Entertainment Industry