A review by bzliz
The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest

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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