I received this book via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

Published by St. Martin's Griffin on 2022-01-18
Length: 345 pages
Reviewing eARC from Netgalley
Rating:
Reading Challenges: #NGEW2022, 2022 New Release Challenge, COYER 2022





Enemies-to-lovers meets HGTV in this frothy, effervescent romantic comedy from Sophie Sullivan, author of Ten Rules for Faking It.
Interior Design School? Check. Cute house to fix up? Check.
Sexy, grumpy neighbor who is going to get in the way of your plans? Check. Unfortunately.
Grace Travis has it all figured out. In between finishing school and working a million odd jobs, she’ll get her degree and her dream job. Most importantly, she’ll have a place to belong, something her harsh mother could never make. When an opportunity to fix up—and live in—a little house on the beach comes along, Grace is all in. Until her biggest roadblock moves in next door.
Noah Jansen knows how to make a deal. As a real estate developer, he knows when he's found something special. Something he could even call home. Provided he can expand by taking over the house next door--the house with the combative and beautiful woman living in it.
With the rules for being neighborly going out the window, Grace and Noah are in an all-out feud. But sometimes, your nemesis can show you that home is always where the heart is.
What a sweet story! How to Love Your Neighbor by Sophie Sullivan is a new romantic comedy about an aspiring interior designer and her sullen new neighbor. Grace Travis thinks she has everything planned out: finish design school, move into her home, get a job in the field she loves. What she doesn’t plan for is her neighbor Noah Jansen. Noah moved to California to make a name for himself, one separate from his dad’s. He buys his dream home, but there is one small problem with it. The yard is too small and the house next door is tiny and falling apart. Maybe he can convince the neighbor to sell to him? A firm no sets the story in motion and pits Grace and Noah against each other at every turn.
I like Grace. Grace is determined to live her own life away from her mother’s influence. She’s driven, stubborn, and loyal to those who love her. Because of her upbringing, she has walls around her that are hard to breach. She lets very few people get close to her. I rooted for Grace. I wanted to see her succeed in her dreams and live a life of her choosing.
Noah is as much like Grace as he is her opposite. Noah is drifting, a little lost at the start of the book. Having left his father’s company on the east coast, he is trying to make a new name for himself in California. Known for being a bit of a playboy and hopping from one contract to the next, Noah wants to prove that he is reliable, can see a job through to the finish, and is able to commit. He wants to get his hands dirty, so to speak, by working on the jobs himself, not just overseeing them. Renovating his own home is his first big project, and he’s hoping a home magazine will pick it up and run the story giving him and the company he is starting with his brother a chance to establish themselves.
Overall, I really enjoyed How to Love Your Neighbor. This frenemies to lovers delivers! The trope can be hit or miss for me, but here it is believable. The dialogue between Grace and Noah is flirty and fun. The differences between them is evident in their misunderstandings and even the things they have in common. I loved seeing how they overcame these. If you enjoy a story that is as sweet as it is steamy and will have you laughing out loud, I highly recommend it.
Ahhh, this does sound like a sweet one.
Sophia Rose recently posted…Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? By Lizzie Damilola Blackburn
It is. A little more steamy than sweet though 😉
This sounds like a lot of fun, Lillian! And I enjoy stories where the main characters antagonize each other so much that when the sparks fly, they don’t know if it’s because of good or bad chemistry 🙂
It was a lot of fun. The banter is great!
I love both steamy stories and the ones that make me laugh out loud, so I’ll keep this one on my TBR. Great review!