Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - The Neighbor Favor

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest

11 reviews

annamay1021's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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kaitrates's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was a super cute contemporary rom com featuring 2 characters with a WHOLE LOTTA baggage, mistaken identities, and falling in love via email. I had a lot of of fun with this and found myself smiling like a fool most of the book. I did have some issues with it—specifically, I think Lily forgave Nick way too quickly and I really wanted to see more growth from him.

Despite that, I am hooked into this series and can't wait to immediately start book 2.

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readbykatherine's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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bzliz's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Books like this restore my faith in booktok recommendations after being bamboozled by too many authors on the platform. It was so charming and easy to love both lead characters. It’d be a perfect romcom if Hollywood could take a break from rehashing every superhero story ever made.

Lily is an editorial assistant who writes an email to a hidden gem of an author, who starts writing her back. Months of correspondence- sharing every corner of their hearts with one another- comes to a sudden end when Strick aka Nick starts to panic about revealing too much of himself. When the two end up living in the same building and Nick realizes Lily is his Lily, it’s only a matter of time until secrets get spilled.

I don’t normally love the trope where one half of a couple knows a huge secret and we all know things are going to break bad once the secret is revealed but I didn’t mind it in this case. Both Lily and Nick captured my heart so fully that I’ll forgive all their faults. The only real issue I have with this book is how long the email sequence is at the beginning. It’s important to see how deep both characters were in their relationship but it kept going on and on. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if it had been broken into smaller chunks and sprinkled throughout the book.

Content warnings:
Sexual content (on page):

Lily and Nick do have sex and it is explicit. Both scenes are relatively short and they end up feeling a little out of place because it takes so long to get there. They’re easy to skip if you’re not into any spice at all but this is barely one pepper.

Addiction, alcohol (off page):

Nick’s dad is a gambling addict who makes a slew of bad choices. This actually occurs off page but learning to cope with his feelings about his dad is a big part of Nick’s arc.

Infidelity (off page):

Lily’s future brother in law is discovered 2 weeks before the wedding to have been cheating on her sister for months. Violet throws an anti-wedding party instead.

Child abuse (on/off page):

Nick’s father financially abuses him throughout his life. We specifically see a flashback of his dad taking him out of school to be a lookout for him while he breaks into someone’s home to steal money from them. During their getaway, Nick tries and injures himself and is scarred from the fall.

Car accident (off page):

Nick’s dad gets in an accident near the end of the book and is hospitalized. Nick visits him and finally tells his parents about his book.

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onegalonelife27's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Let me start off with that I'm a huge fan of the online friendship/crush trope. The mystery of who the other person is, the sharing of so much of yourself, the fear when communication suddenly gets cut off, the pining to meet but also the desperation to keep the relationship as is*chef's kiss!* So thus I naturally drawn to this book! In this case, it's more one-sided anonymous with one using a pen name than the usual case but the relationship between the two main characters is so sweet in their emails!

I really liked both main characters, relating to both of them in ways. And it's so heart warming to see them encourage one another and help the other embrace their dreams!

That being said, the instant physical attraction they have is a bit much for me. Makes for some steamy romance later on, but that's not always my cup of tea.

Overall, great story here!

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relin's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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jtpgdavey's review against another edition

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lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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annahamburger's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Thank you, Michael Joseph Penguin Publishing, for sending this book to rate on the spice-o-meter and to write an honest review.

This book has two points of view. The first is shy, bookish and admittedly awkward, Lily Greene. She has always felt inadequate compared to the rest of her family, who strive for Black excellence. She dreams of becoming an editor of children’s books but has been frustratingly stuck in the nonfiction division for years without a promotion in sight. Lily finds escapism in her correspondences with her favourite fantasy author, and what begins as two lonely people connecting over email turns into a friendship and possibly something else Lily won't let herself entertain until he ghosts her. The second point of view is Nick Brown. He has his reasons for using a pen name and for pushing people away, he is in New York to write the second book of his series. He thinks the woman down the hall is beautiful and he soon realizes it’s the same woman who he fell in love with over email months ago. He isn’t wanting to complicate things even more between them, he agrees to set her up with someone else., though this simple favour between two neighbours is anything but, not when he can’t stop thinking about her. Lily is determined to take charge of her life, and she needs a date for her sister’s wedding. And the perfect person is right down the hall, he is charming and attractive, and she is drawn to him for unexplainable reasons. Little does she know that Nick is an author – her favourite author.

I enjoyed this storyline, and I thought it was adorable. I really felt for Lily and wanted her to stand up for herself with her family and her boss. Also, I liked the different family dynamics that were shown in this book, like Lily and her sisters and the big family parties. And then you’ve got Nick who is constantly running to avoid his toxic dad. I liked the book publishing aspect of this story, but I would have loved for it to be tone down a bit and the romance with the big gestures to be toned up. I felt like the storyline at times was a bit predictable for the secret identity trope and then it got wrapped up in a nice little bow a bit too quickly for me. I would have loved to have seen Nick grovel some more to Lily.

In terms of Spice-O-Meter, I thought it wasn’t spicy, you don’t get the spice until chapter 20. With this being a slow burn, I expect that, but once we finally got some spice it was very closed door and discreet. It went with the storyline, but I was just wanting more especially considering how much they both talk about how attractive they are and then we get kissing and then bed and then asleep. The little spice that we do get I would say is a 2/10.

This is the first novel by Kristina Forest I've read, and I enjoyed it though it took me a while to get into. I cannot wait to read about the other sisters as I loved Violet and Iris’s cameo in this book so far.

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mandkips's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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