A review by wilybooklover
The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

3.0

This was cute, but ultimately the secret identity plot did not work for me. I think You’ve Got Mail retellings can work for me if both characters find out the truth around the same time, but when one character knows and lies about it, I just can’t. I don’t care how sad your backstory is, don’t wait months to tell people who you really are, especially if you’re going to go around kissing them!! The main characters were quite lovely and sweet outside of that plot though. I loved that they connected over books. 

My main bugbear: I am so tired of side characters trying to push the main character(s) into dating and setting them up when they don’t want to be. STOP FORCING PEOPLE YOU SUPPOSEDLY LOVE INTO DOING STUFF THEY DON’T WANT TO AND LISTEN WHEN THEY TELL YOU TO STOP IT. It really pisses me off and puts me off ever wanting to read books about those characters (in this case, Lily’s sisters) when it makes the protagonist so miserable and reduced to desperate measures to get them to stop. She does stand up to them in the end, and I get that it's a plot device, but that doesn’t prevent the rage building every time I encounter it on page. 
 
It did amuse me that Nick’s fake English accent was written more accurately and convincingly than most American authors write supposedly real ones lol. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings