I normally am not the biggest fan of romance novels but I decided to pick this one up on a whim and I'm really glad I did! I really enjoyed this book but kept yelling "JUST TELL EACH OTHER THE TRUTH!!!!" while reading it. This is a fun and light hearted read that I could see myself picking up again whenever I need to be pulled out of a reading slump.

beyond excited to see this books hit my inbox- this is one of my most anticipated books of 2025 and i will be sure to post my review on all retailers!! 💞

A nostalgic hometown romance that hooks you right from the start. Every character in Girl Next Door has something to hide, and those secrets get revealed in the midst of a juicy love story full of twists and turns. Rachel Meredith has crafted a moving story about reckoning who you once were with who you want to be.

Okay, when I tell you everything going on in this book, you're going to think Rachel Meredith is simply Doing Too Much — but you would be wrong! She stitches together every element of this second-chance romance with deftness and elegance!

In high school, MC and Nora were kinda friends/kinda colleagues at their high school's literary magazine. Nora was cold and bossy, which MC thought was because Nora didn't like her. Turns out Nora was *extra* cold and bossy to MC because she super-duper liked her. They haven't talked in almost a decade, but when MC finds out Nora wrote a secret best-selling romance with their high school friendship as the thinly veiled plot, she heads home to find out why. What she discovers is that she's remembering part of their relationship right and part of it wrong because she was too insecure to see what was actually happening with her and Nora when they were teenagers. MC starts falling for her all over again, almost immediately. The flashbacks of their high school years made me swoon, their present day romance made me swoon, their texts made me swoon, the way Nora wrote their fictional counterparts made me swoon, even the POETRY made me swoon. I always say that the best romances feel like getting sucker-punched, and Girl Next Door did it to me MULTIPLE TIMES.

My only issue with this book is I think Joe's a real villain! Other than his quick forgiveness subplot, I absolutely adored it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the opportunity to read this book and provide an honest review.

It’s gay and it slaps! My penchant for queer romance has led me to read a lot of just okay books, but every so often I hit a gem. Girl Next Door is one of those gems. The premise is fantastic: M.C. 's best friend Joe, a culture writer, discovers that the anonymously-published bestselling book “Girl Next Door” is essentially a direct retelling of their high school years with M.C. 's analog starring as the love interest opposite her real-life neighbor Nora. The kicker? Nora and M.C. never dated. According to M.C., they were barely acquaintances. Joe, desperately looking for the big story that will save his career, begs M.C. to return to their small town and get the scoop on Nora so that he can reveal her identity for clicks. This reconnaissance mission goes awry when M.C. finds herself catching real feelings for Nora.

All of the characters in Girl Next Door felt incredibly real. Our main love interests and the supporting cast all had history and the relationships between them were complicated and messy. Girl Next Door doesn’t just explore a burgeoning romance – it also explores the complexity of sibling relationships and the lack of direction that comes from being in your mid-twenties.