Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read The Neighbor Wager. I enjoyed the book because I really liked the characters and the love story between Deanna and River. I struggled with the dating app and their wager I never bought into the app being serious enough to be a big business for the sisters. Even when Deanna fell in love with River she still put her feelings aside for the logic of the app. Everything else about the book was great! I was thrilled about Lexi and Jake truly being in love and they really were an app match.

So I didn’t really know what to expect going into this, since it was described as a gender bent version of Sabrina, and I (sadly, admittedly) have not seen that classic film. However, after reading this I think I definitely want to give it a watch because I really enjoyed this book.
I did find it funny that River was essentially horny for Deanna like 70% of the book, but it’s okay because she definitely felt the same way and they did build a deep connection. I loved that Deanna learned that there’s nothing wrong with being picky, and there’s nothing wrong with her. She has high standards, she is a certain type, and not everyone is meant for her. But when the right one comes along, she won’t have to change for anything. River learned that a teenage crush is sometimes just that— and that something better might have been in front of you all along.

Quick summary, River has had a crush on Deanna’s sister, Lexi, since they were teens. Now that he’s older and hotter, he feels he finally has a chance with Lexi. He didn’t come back to town for Lexi, but it is a perk. However, a curveball is thrown his way when Deanna is sent to “distract” him, and he realizes how attracted he is to her in all the ways— physically, emotionally, mentally. They had been friends before, but it feels different now. Suddenly Lexi is in the rear view mirror, and Deanna and River try to figure out how to navigate their budding relationship. They’re friends with benefits but can they be more than that? River is going to back home to New York soon, and he doesn’t fit into Deanna’s mental algorithm. Also is he her perfect match on the app she invented? The algorithm is supposed to be really successful in predicting successful relationships. What if they’re not meant to be? Or worse… what if he and Lexi are the better match instead?

Thank you Entangled and NetGalley for the early copy of this one!

This should have been a fantastic romantic comedy about falling for somebody unexpected... But that was ruined by how truly awful River, the male main character, was. Both Lexi and Deanna deserved better, and I spent most of the book hoping that the next twist would be River getting out of their lives forever.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

This is one of those stories that should have been five stars, I so nearly gave it five, but I’m gonna have to go with four. It has great characters and a plot you can get behind, but it flails about a bit and just needed a little more touching up. I adored River and his grandmother and their relationship, you could tell how close they were and the insecurities he has and understand them as well. It had a flow, but it felt like that flow drifted off on another path at times, and you were pulled along with it. Lexi irritated me a little, I suspect she was written that way to feel more for Deanna, but it didn’t for me. I am so sure that so many people will love this, and I am being overly critical, As I do like this author and other things they have written I would have expected that quality.

I have to start this by saying that the MMC is absolutely insufferable. He’s so an artist who skips meeting a Marvel artist because of his obsession with a girl who wouldn’t give him the time of day in the past. Some of his thoughts in the beginning of the book lean into stalker/creepy behavior that makes me more scared of him than anything else. Throughout the story he says things that are so strange and out of pocket (like justifying cheating on his past girlfriends because he wasn’t physically cheating on them, just emotionally…which is arguably worse).

Justice for my girl Deanna, the only well developed character here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled for the ARC!

I was instantly drawn to this book from the title and the cover. Thank you to the publisher for providing me this ARC.

This one is a tougher one for me to review. I'd give it around 3 stars. This book had a promising plot, perfect for a rom com, but execution fell short.

The tone/language of the writing just felt off. At the beginning River gives off very creepy vibes. His infatuation was questionable at times. As the story progresses, a love triangle dynamic is introduced. I'm not a big fan of that but was relieved to get past River's initial fixation. The switch of focus brought some relief and some cute moments, but the dialogue and writing still was off. The story dragged quite a bit and book was longer than I would have anticipated for this plot. I did not connect with the characters and did not find them very likeable.

This one is a pass for me but overall, an average book. Not bad, just not great.

At the 40% mark, the book became a melodramatic internal monologue focused entirely on sex. There was very little depth to the conversations. The plot elements and “twists” to follow felt contrived. I found myself extremely disappointed overall.

The writing flows well (although a round of line editing wouldn't hurt), the premise is amusing, and that cover has me swooning.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled for the ARC.

River is obssessed with the girl next door. She's rich, popular, beautiful, and has no idea who he is. His grandma suggestes he move for a while to get her out of her system and he moves from CA to NYC for ten years before his grandma gets sick and he feels the need to return. Upon his arrival, he discoveres that she and her sister are still living there, but moved to the attached apartment. Meanwhile the sisters have a startup buisness they are trying to get funded and River will be a distraction to their end goal, so his obssession's sister decides to distract him and her sister so they don't start dating.
I enjoyed this book, but wasn't draw in enough to need to finish it right away. The characters are cute and I really liked the ending. I spent the beginning of the book wondering which sister he would be drawn to as an adult. Overall, it is a cute romcom.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me this arc.
2.5 stars

I am so confused on my feelings with this book. I feel like the epilogue ruined the ending. The epilogue shouldn't even exist. The romance was so cute even though it was quite predictable. The female characters in this book are annoying. Not a great read at all.

Sisters Deanna & Lexi are on the brink of making their dating app a massive success with the help of a new investor. The problem is that the new investor wants to meet Lexi and her perfect match that she made on the app, which sends Lexi into a tailspin as she has never done a long-term relationship before. Former neighbor, Rivers comes back to town and Lexi wants to use him to prove a theory about her relationship & her sister Deanna does NOT want that to happen. Lots of scheming, forced proximity, and unlikely relationships make this romcom enjoyable to read. I loved the dual perspectives that allow us to be further involved in the story and leave us rooting for happily ever after!

" She's the sun and I'm a planet in her orbit."
I read that and I thought, this is going to read like a barbie movie ( the animation not the live action) but I couldn't have been more wrong.
The story is told from the point of view of the two main characters: River and Deanne; neighbour's. Quite far from each others orbits ( well sort off ) in the beginning and how they start to sway a little closer. River is in love with her sister and what starts out as a way to save her app turns into something else entirely.

The story is refreshingly, honest about love in the real, but awful for dellu readers like me who are in love with the idealistic love story the way River was.

This digital ARC was obtainable via NetGalley for an honest review!

"The Neighbor Wager" by Crystal Kaswell grew on me. The first 25% was rough as I got tired of hearing how the main character's sister, Lexi, was bright as the sun (or she was the sun). I didn't like how everything revolved around her. River's infatuation with Lexi was a bit unprovoked. Gratefully, the story picked up and I began to like River & Deanna. Their banter was nice, and I could believe the chemistry between them. I will say this is a spicy one!

The Neighbor Wager is the kind of romance book where the characters, writing, and overall execution succeed despite the book having a convoluted premise.

River Beau arrives at his grandmother's house after years of being away from his hometown and almost immediately falls under the charismatic spell of his neighbor - his high school obsession and lifelong fantasy girl - Lexi. He's in luck, because between his tattoos, his leather jacket, and her recent panic over her too-perfect boyfriend, Lexi notices River and decides to seduce him. Except she doesnt get the chance, because Lexi's sister Deanna decides to run interference between them. Deanna is worried that Lexi will put their dating app startup at risk if she splits from her 95% compatible boyfriend, so she sneaks away with River to distract him and ends up engaged in a bet with him about whether love is logic or magic.

Like I said, the premise is a little bit convoluted for me, but I still enjoyed the book. I loved River, Deanna, and Ida, Rivers's erotica writing grandmother. The author does a good job of building emotional intimacy between River and Deanna, and the physically intimate scenes are sensual and well written.

The overall story moves quickly, predominantly taking place over the span of about a week and a half, but the chapters themselves unfold very slowly. There is a lot of dialogue, and the conversations feel longer and more wordy than necessary. I also frequently found myself getting confused about who was speaking and having to re-read sections of dialogue to understand them.

Overall, I recommend this book for readers who enjoy rom-coms and spicy contemporary romances that have main characters with strong family ties.

Not having seen the movie Sabrina, I went into this book a little blind. But I have to say I am a sucker for gender-bending.
The story follows River the typical dorky boy next door who is in love with his neighbour Lexi. He moves away and returns to take care of his ailing grandmother to find he is still very much in love with Lexi. His feelings for Lexi become a problem for Lexi's older sister Deanna, as they have recently started a dating-app business together and Lexi and her boyfriend are required to be the 'poster board' for the company according to their investor. But queue in Lexi's commitment-phobe tendencies and her newly returned and now super hot neighbour- Deanna is worried.
Deanna throws herself in the line of fire and ends up spending lots of time with River to keep him away from Lexi and along the way things get SPICY.
I have to say I really enjoyed that River was the atypical boy next door who goes through a mad glow up. So often it's the woman so this was very refreshing. It was cute, I did find that River seemed to get over his life long love of Lexi relatively quickly which was a bit surprising, but overall a very cute book! The book does mention some darker themes but nothing overly jarring and it stays to true to its rom-com roots!

thank you to netgalley and Entangled for an e-arc of this book. all thoughts are my own and not influenced in any way.

this is a hard one. i am unable to push through because I'm not a fan of the writing. The constant mention and conversation about Lexi, the sister, is throwing me off because I'm about 15% in and most of it has been about Lexi, and how she doesn't date and how she's the kind of person who likes to have sex. i.... genuinely do not care. i am not being introduced to the main female lead enough in this to be invested in her story. the only thing i know about her is everything she knows about her sister. that's not something that appeals to me in a romance book.

the writing could also use some editing. the inner monologues are so repetitive and dry and pull you away from the flow of the writing and story.

sadly, a miss for me because the cover is a winner.

This was a cute read! River has always been a little nerdy and Lexi was the girl next door he crushed on. But when life has River returning back home, he has a chance to see her again, as the man he has become. But circumstances have changed and suddenly he sees Lexi's sister, Deanna in a new light. Both River and Deanna are smart and don't always fit in with others. But I liked how they understood each other.
I enjoyed River's relationships with his family members and how supportive they were of each other. I also liked how Lexi and Deanna were there for each other and watched out for the other. These sisters wanted to make sure the other achieved what they wanted. They worked well together but were very different.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc!
This is the first book I’ve read from Crystal Kaswell. It was great! Had a great mix of spice and storyline! It kept a face pace and was a good unexpected romance story. I was invested to see how things worked out in the end and was not disappointed! I would highly recommend this book!

“There’s no one who fights harder to survive than a mom.”

I really loved this one. Something about the cover and the blurb immediately pulled me in. And I honestly couldn’t, and didn’t wait to read it.

While this story is fun, it also touches on some really important topics and real life circumstances.

Deanna is a strong FMC, who is confident, and wants to find someone who loves her for her. River is the former boy next door, turned hottie and has finally caught the attention of Deanna’s sister. River believes in true love and Deanna does not. In an effort to convince her they create a “wager”. And in return end up writing their own HEA together.

This is not one to miss and will definitely be appearing in my wraps for 2023 and 2024!

P.S. There is no cheating 😉😘

I loved this book! The dual POVs were well written and the love story was so perfectly woven. I'd definitely recommend this to other romance lovers.

I'd like to thank the publisher for this Netgalley copy for review.

We love a grumpy/sunshine romance over here! I definitely enjoyed the book, with the wager between Deanna and River. I'm choosing to give this a 3/5, as I liked it but didn't truly LOVE it. If anyone else asked me if they should read this book, I'd say that it was a cute one. There were sometimes during my read where dialogue wouldn't make sense with what directly happened before the conversation, so I found myself going back to see if I missed something; so I'd say that there were times during the book that it didn't feel like it flowed.