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A review by auteaandtales
The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I had really high hopes for this but, unfortunately, this didn’t give me what I was looking for. There weren’t any real problems with the book, I don’t think, most of my issues stem from my personal dislikes and I will still be reading more from this author (especially when I learnt from the back of this book that this was a debut in adult romance and there will be other books focusing on the two sisters of Lily!)
There was a conflict in the book where Nick is Strick and he doesn’t want to tell Lily through fear that it’ll ruin any chance of a relationship with her, romantic or platonic. It was dragged out for a majority of the book and, when Lily eventually found out, she was (rightfully) very upset this information was kept from her and then…got over it? It was wrapped up so fast. I also didn’t think the conflict made sense in the first place, it was a really strange reason to suddenly cut contact with someone and then hold that secret for such a long time too. At the same time, kinda realistic, I’ve done silly things out of fear as well but I didn’t enjoy it.
My other main issue was that it felt very flat. I didn’t feel any chemistry and that was unfortunate. A lot of their emotional bonding happened via emails in a chapter right at the beginning which, for me, took a lot away from my emotional investment in them as a couple. We got all of that slow burn connection condensed into a few pages, and that didn’t work for me.
A lot also did work for me! I loved Lily and her sisters. They had a lot of fun interactions and silliness, especially from Violet, that I really liked and I also enjoyed that they were all named after flowers. It was a sweet little thing. They were so supportive and sisterly, I look forward to seeing them in future books.
I enjoyed that it was set in New York, I really want to visit there one day and whenever a romance especially is set in romance, I just love it. It added to the charm, because it was very charming.
I also loved that they were neighbours! This was a really cute way to have the characters bump back into each others’ lives. They were sweet as characters together and as individuals.
Overall, I enjoyed it but it didn’t meet the expectations I had going into this, and it was mainly ‘me’ issues rather than anything particularly wrong with this book. I look forward to reading more from this author in future.
There was a conflict in the book where Nick is Strick and he doesn’t want to tell Lily through fear that it’ll ruin any chance of a relationship with her, romantic or platonic. It was dragged out for a majority of the book and, when Lily eventually found out, she was (rightfully) very upset this information was kept from her and then…got over it? It was wrapped up so fast. I also didn’t think the conflict made sense in the first place, it was a really strange reason to suddenly cut contact with someone and then hold that secret for such a long time too. At the same time, kinda realistic, I’ve done silly things out of fear as well but I didn’t enjoy it.
My other main issue was that it felt very flat. I didn’t feel any chemistry and that was unfortunate. A lot of their emotional bonding happened via emails in a chapter right at the beginning which, for me, took a lot away from my emotional investment in them as a couple. We got all of that slow burn connection condensed into a few pages, and that didn’t work for me.
A lot also did work for me! I loved Lily and her sisters. They had a lot of fun interactions and silliness, especially from Violet, that I really liked and I also enjoyed that they were all named after flowers. It was a sweet little thing. They were so supportive and sisterly, I look forward to seeing them in future books.
I enjoyed that it was set in New York, I really want to visit there one day and whenever a romance especially is set in romance, I just love it. It added to the charm, because it was very charming.
I also loved that they were neighbours! This was a really cute way to have the characters bump back into each others’ lives. They were sweet as characters together and as individuals.
Overall, I enjoyed it but it didn’t meet the expectations I had going into this, and it was mainly ‘me’ issues rather than anything particularly wrong with this book. I look forward to reading more from this author in future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment