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A review by lynguy1
How to Love Your Neighbor by Sophie Sullivan
4.0
How to Love Your Neighbor by Sophie Sullivan is a heartwarming, humorous, and appealing contemporary romance set in Harlow Beach, California. However it is more than your typical enemies to friends to lovers story. This novel is about all types of relationships.
Grace Travis has a few months left before she graduates with her interior design degree. To make ends meet, she has student loans and works multiple jobs. She’s inherited a bungalow on the beach from grandparents she never met and plans to move into it and renovate it. It turns out the next door neighbor is a real estate developer who plans to renovate his large house and wants to buy Grace’s home so he can expand.
Grace and Noah are great characters that felt authentic. They each have their virtues and flaws, and this adds to both the realism and the humor that is contained in this book. Their determination, family issues, desire to be successful on their own, and much more made them feel real. While there is an attraction, they also challenge each other and frustrate each other resulting in some humorous moments as well as some introspection by each. The secondary characters add conflict or support. I especially liked Morty, Josh, and Rosie who contributed something extra to the story without detracting from the main theme.
This isn’t an instant love story or a steamy book. It touches on some deeper subjects such as toxic relationships with a parent, friendship of multiple types, social anxiety, giving back to the community, asking for help, learning about yourself through relationships with others, and much more. While there were a couple of slower spots, I liked the up and down dynamic between Noah and Grace. Additionally, the deeper subjects pulled the story together for me.
Overall, I enjoyed this highly entertaining and heartfelt book. It was a refreshing change from what I typically read, but it won’t be the last one that I read by this author. Those that enjoy contemporary romances, chick lit, or romantic comedies will likely enjoy this novel. I don’t read a lot of romances except for romantic suspense and paranormal romance, but I connected with this one.
St. Martin’s Press – St. Martin’s Griffin and Sophie Sullivan provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for January 18, 2022.
Grace Travis has a few months left before she graduates with her interior design degree. To make ends meet, she has student loans and works multiple jobs. She’s inherited a bungalow on the beach from grandparents she never met and plans to move into it and renovate it. It turns out the next door neighbor is a real estate developer who plans to renovate his large house and wants to buy Grace’s home so he can expand.
Grace and Noah are great characters that felt authentic. They each have their virtues and flaws, and this adds to both the realism and the humor that is contained in this book. Their determination, family issues, desire to be successful on their own, and much more made them feel real. While there is an attraction, they also challenge each other and frustrate each other resulting in some humorous moments as well as some introspection by each. The secondary characters add conflict or support. I especially liked Morty, Josh, and Rosie who contributed something extra to the story without detracting from the main theme.
This isn’t an instant love story or a steamy book. It touches on some deeper subjects such as toxic relationships with a parent, friendship of multiple types, social anxiety, giving back to the community, asking for help, learning about yourself through relationships with others, and much more. While there were a couple of slower spots, I liked the up and down dynamic between Noah and Grace. Additionally, the deeper subjects pulled the story together for me.
Overall, I enjoyed this highly entertaining and heartfelt book. It was a refreshing change from what I typically read, but it won’t be the last one that I read by this author. Those that enjoy contemporary romances, chick lit, or romantic comedies will likely enjoy this novel. I don’t read a lot of romances except for romantic suspense and paranormal romance, but I connected with this one.
St. Martin’s Press – St. Martin’s Griffin and Sophie Sullivan provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for January 18, 2022.