Rating: 3.5 stars

I really kind of have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I did enjoy it for the most part and thought it was cute. On the other, I didn’t love the love triangle or how much this book just felt like attraction between the main characters. I get that these characters knew each other in their childhood, but it still felt like more attraction than anything else between the two. After I got about 35% into the book, I finally thought the story started to pick up and enjoyed the rest of it for the most part. If you are looking for a book where there is a strong FMC who is an entrepreneur, then you might enjoy this one.

I thought this was cute, it felt like something I've read before. It's a cute story but I was expecting most of the story

Woof! I really struggled with this one.

The MMC is like obsessively in love with the FMC little sister, who completely dicks him over, and it makes their relationship kind of come off as a consolation prize? Idk the love triangle just make it so awkward and weird. It did hold my attention though and it wasn't badly written or anything, just wasn't my jam.

Personally, I am tired of reading stories about the cynical, I don't believe in love, woe is me because I'm a woman, story. At first I like Deanna's character but it quickly passed when her entire backstory and just everything about herself seemed to contradict itself. She doesn't believe in love, but created an app for people to meet, continuously talks about how she has casual sex but also doesn't? That was another thing I couldn't take anymore, in literally every chapter there are full conversations about how everyone and their freaking grandmother, literally, has casual sex all the time! We get it, you guys have sex with whomever you want, whenever you want. I personally don't care unless it's about the couple that I'm reading about. I lost interest at %56 and quit reading.

When I saw the phrase "gender swapped Sabrina update" I knew I had to read this. I loved the characters and I loved many of the ways the story was updated. I did not want the story to end & leave the world. (The epilogue is very satisfying.) I would totally watch the movie version of this. The only negative from me is that some of the prose (esp. from River) was repetitive in a way that felt confusing and first-drafty... it was not to my liking but it might work for someone else??

This book was a good time and I mostly liked the characters. However there was just something about ut that just kind of put me off and just wasn’t my favorite. I have no clue what specifically it was, but the story, the plot, the characters all had something that just kind of made me not care too much? I’m not sure how to explain it, but overall the book just wasn’t for me. I do think that it would be a hit with the right audience and I did still REALLY love some of the aspects of the novel. I do feel it was missing something and I am leaving wanting more from the story, but it was a good time.

3⭐️ This was an almost DNF...
Thank you so much NetGalley for providing me with an eARC for this book!

I will admit that I enjoyed the last 45% of the book, but getting there was truly a struggle.

This story has two POVs, one for each of the main characters. The FMC, Deanna, and the MMC, River, have been neighbours for most of their lives. The problem is that, although they've known each other for years, River has always been in love, and frankly obsessed, with Deanna's little sister, Lexi. For the first 30% of the book, River only has eyes, compliments, thoughts and dreams of a future with Lexi. The FMC's sister takes one look at River -who after a few years living in New York and getting a few tattoos is no longer scrawny or completely invisible to her- and decides that she's going to leave her first-ever real boyfriend so she can f*ck and dump River, mainly for sh¡ts and giggles. The whole thing felt pretty gross to me, tbh.

It gets better after a while, sure, but the feeling of Lexi, Deanna and River being dismissive and weird towards both their feelings and each other was hard to get past. The writing also didn't work for me, to the point where I had to reread some paragraphs multiple times to see if I had skipped something, or a piece of dialogue because some of the conversations were so stilted and unnatural that they didn't make sense.

There are some interesting dynamics, and I think one of the only things that made me push through some of the awkwardness and uncomfortableness that the weird love triangle made me feel here, is the fact that there are open discussions about k¡nk and sexual exploration on page. It's not news that I love books with Dommes in them, and although I probably wouldn't consider this one to have a Domme, there are enough descriptions and conversations about it to make it worth it for me.

Overall, I liked the ending and the concept was nice, but I'm not sure I'd pick this book up again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️★★

This review has already been published to Goodreads :)

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was cute. Predictable and cute. I didn't get totally sucked into the story which was a bummer but I did enjoy it a lot.

Deanna and River seem destined to be together, algorithm or not. I liked seeing how they came together and fell apart, too.

Ida is a hoot and definitely my favorite character from this book. She adds a lot of heart, honesty and sex to the story.

I enjoyed the ending too, which doesn't happen very often for me. It's the best part of the book, in my opinion.

I'm torn on if I'd recommend it because it's not the best book I've read but it was good.

Thank you to netgalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC, Entangled: Amara for allowing me to read this book. I was expecting a little bit more but it never came. Overall it was just okay.

I was so excited to read this book, but what a big disappointment it was😭
I found the FMC so damn annoying you can’t even change my mind about it
But MMC so damn irritating and trust me Ive tried to give it so many chances but it just didn’t work

Thanks netgalley for the arc🫶🏻🫶🏻

Thank you Entangled Publishing and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for
an honest review.
I’d recommend this as a summer beach read. It’s a light gender bend retelling of Sabrina which I wasn’t familiar with when I requested it. I will say the inner monologue can make it a bit hard to follow the dialogue as some other people have said. It’s a 2.5 rounded up for me. Not my fav romcom but it will appeal to some.

I love a good rom-com and couldn't wait to dive into this book. The Neighbor Wager started well, but unfortunately, I struggled to connect with the characters and this story.

i really wanted to like this book because the premise was great and i love a good rom-com, but unfortunately this one just didn’t do it for me. i truely would have DNF’ed this if it was not provided to me as an ARC.
it could just be me - but i did not connect with the book or the characters, and that’s a very important factor when i’m reading.

I absolutely loved this novel. It was full of love, friendship, family loyalties, grief, insecurities. I was a fun quick read; I wanted to dive into the characters more and more after each page. I loved having the point of view of both characters, they were quirky and fun.

This book just wasn't for me. I just could not get into it. The female characters were too annoying. Thank you to Entangled Publishing, Red Tower Books and NetGalley for this digital galley in return for my honest review.

Ever since his mom ditched him and he moved in with his Grandmother, River has been in love with Lexi Huntington, the girl next door. But when he was younger, awkward, and nerdy, she wanted nothing to do with him, and Lexi's sister Deanna had to let him down gently. Now, twenty years later, Lexi and her sister Deanna have a big deal riding on Lexi's current picture-perfect relationship, and the only thing that could ruin it is River's return as a hot, brooding, sexy, experienced man. So River and Deanna make a deal--if he can convince Deanna of the chemistry of true love, he can freely pursue Lexi (who now wants him just as badly as he wants her). What Deanna doesn't expect is to fall for him herself.

This modern, flipped retelling of Sabrina was refreshing and addictive! It was about attraction, compatibility, romance, love, and fidelity. It explored what people want from relationships, what makes relationships last, and what doesn't. A sex-positive story, it portrayed strong, intelligent, flawed women that I couldn't help rooting for. A longing to understand and to be understood radiates from the page. Whereas in the film versions Sabrina was tricked, in this version River went willingly--I wonder if the wager element made the difference somehow? The stakes were still high, but there was less deception and more humanity. It was also about very, very horny people. I felt that once the open-door scenes ramped up, the plot got left behind a bit and the last 10% just rushed to wrap everything up. But otherwise I absolutely loved the characters, the plot, and the spice, and I am so excited to have been introduced to this author!

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc! This is my honest review. This book wasn’t for me. I found the writing style very hard to follow. I feel like the character development was rushed and there was too much inner dialogue. I don’t know what was up with using algo instead of algorithm but it drove me crazy every time I saw it. I did love that the fmc had a job as a programmer of her own app.

Thank you Netgalley and Entangled for the chance to give an honest review on The Neighbor Wager.

This isn't my typical go to story but I wanted to give it a shot. While there were a few moments I enjoyed but for the most part this book did not keep me interested and entertained as much as I had hoped. I think with a little more character development and a little less Lexi talk this could've been a bit better. In all, not a terrible read.

I didn’t love this one, but I didn’t hate it either. It was mostly just fine. I didn’t love the wager (I thought it was silly) and there were some parts that were pretty repetitive. The third act breakup felt forced but the grand gesture at the end made up for it! The chemistry between the two leads was there and their sexual tension was great.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I started reading this book, paused to watch ‘Sabrina’ for the first time ever as “research”, and then came back to the book to finish. I really enjoyed it (both the book and the movie, for the record), especially the second half.

Teenage River has a fantasy-level crush on the girl next door, Lexi, before leaving the California coast for New York City. When he comes back for a visit, he’s all grown up and a now-handsome man. Lexi and her sister, Deanna, are on the verge of making a deal with an investor in their start-up dating app, but the deal potentially hinges on Lexi’s relationship with her match from the app. Deanna sees River finally catching Lexi’s attention as Lexi is ready to run from the commitment of her current relationship and takes it upon herself to distract River to save their deal.

Between the prologue and the first half of the book, I wasn’t quite sure I was going to be able to get on board. River and Deanna both had a fixation on Lexi in their own way and it made me wonder if either of them could really let go to find something with each other. However, as it moved into the second half and they both became more focused on what they were building together, I felt things really excelled. River had some early minor red flags for me (emotional cheating *is* cheating and his ex calling him out on that was warranted) but I felt like his character really grew with Deanna. I enjoyed Deanna’s character and her eventual willingness to bend in the face of logic.

Overall, I ultimately enjoyed this read once things really became about the relationship between River and Deanna. It took a bit to get there, but it was worth the journey to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for eARC in exchange for an honest review.