Mallory spies on her neighbour a hot guy who she chats about to her online friend Nicole about all the time.



When she starts at his school after persuading her parents to stop homeschooling her she makes friends with his best friend Dax's sort of girlfriend, Evie who introduces her to the teen life of parties, watching boxing, friends, and of course sneaking out of her house!



Her and Troy keep passing in school, as well as him sneaking into Her bedroom via a trellis! Talk about modern Romeo!



Then her only sort of friend from homeschooling Kaitlyn then gets held hostage and everything changes.



From a light romance read we delve into a deep murky plot with trauma, lies and identity changes as Mallory discovers her life is not at all as she thought!



Troy's dad is an FBI agent and so from there everything really stems but until the last twenty percent of the book I couldn't put it down at all and especially the last twenty percent I was gripped in the gritty plot with a hammering heart! I was truly hooked on every plot twist and breath taking moment as you didn't know if everything would work out ok at all! Each character was great and played an essential part it's clear by the end, the love between Mal and Troy is sizzling and envious despite all the sudden realizations that become apparent that just adds to their strength as a couple. One of the best romance mysteries I have ever read, easy!



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

This book seems like a YA love story but more than 2/3 of the way through it took a sudden turn that I was totally not expecting! Mallory is a high school senior who has been very sheltered and home-schooled her entire life. She watches the boys who lives next door to her, Troy, all the time. He is the same age as her and super cute. She wants to experience high school and she finally convinces her parents to let her go, she lets go a little and enjoys her first friends, parties and she actually meets Troy in real life. Initially he is not super friendly, but after awhile they get close and Mallory totally falls for him which is sweet because he has a total bad boy boxer (literally a competitive boxer) reputation and she is so innocent, and has never really experienced anything. I don't want to ruin the story but there is a sudden twist that is a real surprise, and the entire plot completely changes into a totally different story than it had been for the first part of the book. I really liked the twist and the ensuing part of the book. It made the book better because it was getting kind of boring and I was wondering what else was going to happen between Mallory and Troy.....kind of an interesting plot twist to a cute teen romance. Definitely held my interest! Thanks to NG for the ARC!!!

Don’t you love it when you’re casually scrolling through Netgalley, not really looking for anything (because you already have enough books to read and review) when a plain but elegant and relatively unassuming book cover catches your attention? That book then does on to deliver a YA story that leaves you speechless. That’s exactly what happened to me when I stumbled across I Spy The Boy Next Door by Samantha Armstrong.

A new to me author, Ms Armstrong’s writing immediately drew me in. At first, you could be wrong in thinking the story is heading along an all too familiar path with a sweet young girl coming across a boy who fights on an underground circuit. The story progresses steadily with the girl crushing on the boy next door who feels the need to protect her despite her secretly spying on him for years from her bedroom window. An air of mystery arises when the girl in question reveals that she had been homeschooled due to an overprotective mother. Her innocence is beguiling especially when trying to find her way through school life and making friends for the first time. Panic attacks have ruled her life to date but she is determined to overcome her demons.

The story progresses with readers following Mallory’s new start in life with school, friends and all the trappings a teenager faces all whilst she continues to crush on Troy, the boy next door. When Mal starts her new school, she knows she will come across the Troy but she doesn’t expect him to know who she is. The friendship and the romantic connection between Mal and Troy may seem sudden but as you read on you come to understand that their relationship was destined to be realised.

Before you know it, the sweet story between Mal and Troy turns into a mystery which delivers an unexpected punch to your sensibilities. For readers and Mal alike, the story transcends into something totally unexpected with shocking consequences for both Mal, Troy and their respective families.

I really enjoyed this story and I will definitely be reading more books by this author. I felt her writing style wrap around me like a comfort blanket and I didn’t have to work hard to thoroughly enjoy the story, always a plus with me!

Whilst a YA romance, this story had a maturity to it which will enable readers of all ages to enjoy it.

Mmmm, I am a bit confused as what to write about this book.

Mallory is 17, home schooled and very protected after a kidnap scare when she was a young child. She has a major crush on the boy-next-door (for FIVE years), Troy, but he won't even acknowledge she exists. When Mallory gets the chance to go to school for her senior year, she sees it as a chance to meet up with Troy and try to get to know him.

It seems like a cutesy YA story and in a way it was. Mallory discovers new things (like parties, alcohol and real friends - not virtual ones) and bumps into Troy several times. He is an underground boxer and after one night he brings her home when she is drunk and somehow that turns into him climbing into her window and them becoming some sort-of-friends.

The thing is: they never really communicate and suddenly there is 'something'? The story was a bit strange that way. Near the end there is a sudden twist, but somehow it is not executed very well and the story turns into something completely different and too OTT.

It did keep me reading (and rolling my eyes). Maybe if the author invested a bit more in communication between the MC's and kept the drama on the low down it would have turned out fine. Still 3 stars as the idea was good.

It felt same like many books but it was different in the end. It was light hearted but soon things changed. I never expected the twist in the end. The characters are charming and I loved reading this book.

For the most part, I liked this book. It was an easy read. I saw the twist coming. I just thought that Troy was the target, not Mallory. But not all my questions were answered. There are still some ujnresolved threads. And it was unnecessarily melodramatic. Not everything needed to be tied to Mallory's backstory and I really wish it hadn't been.

A bit cliche with bad boy and virgin but hey sometimes it is nice to read something easy. This one had some mystery thrown in too.

This story was truly hard for me to finish reading. It was over all just bland and predictable. Good girl meets bad boy with tattoos falls in love throw some drama in there and that about sums up the story. The ending felt rushed and threw together. Overall I think the plot had a lot of potential but few short.

I fantastic mature YA romance (yes there is some sex). Mallory is a sheltered, home schooled girl with overprotective parents and she spy’s on her hot neighbor Troy for 5 years. Troy does his best to hate and ignore her, but it turns out he can’t stay away from her now that she’s actually going to his school, parties, and boxing matches. The chemistry between the two is apparent from the first meeting, I loved how they grew closer and fell in love. The story had a ton of interesting twists that made the book hard to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to romance readers of all ages.

PS I think they should bring this one to Netflix, it’d be an instant hit with teens and their mothers (like me).

I made it 25% before deciding to set this aside. Mallory had one interaction with Troy and suddenly was in love and spied on him for years. She only goes to school to stalk him and fawn over his beautiful existence. Troy is hot, broody, and protective yet spiteful towards Mallory and I honestly don't care to find out why at this point. It's easy to predict that these characters are secretly in love with each other, furthering the cliche and overused trope of hot bad boy next door falling in love with average innocent girl. This reminded me of Twilight with the interactions paralleling Edward and Bella. Lots of people enjoyed this one according to Goodreads but it wasn't for me.

Thank you for giving me the chance to read this one, NetGalley.

Mal and Troy have been neighbours for the last five years but even though Mal has had a serious crush on Troy they met only once because Mal is being homeschooled. No friends, no school, no parties - Mal finally wants to experience real school and she begs her parents' permission to go to school for her final year before college. That's when Troy and Mal start to interact more and more. and it turns out that Troy may know way more about Mal than she knows about herself. With lots of plot twists, suspence and swoon worthy moments this book is one of the best novels ever!

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I didn’t like this book. I liked the beginning and a few later scenes, but most of the potential vanished.
I’ll begin with the positive.
As someone who was homeschooled until high school, I related to many of Mallory’s initial emotions, from forced friendships with other homeschoolers solely because you’re both homeschoolers to the necessity of online communities and friends. In the beginning, many of the details of her life resembled my childhood or other homeschoolers I knew.
I like how some of the teens experienced and discussed mental health issues. I enjoyed these scenes. As for the online friend mentioned earlier, I like how Nic was portrayed as a good friend and not creepy or dangerous. There’s an unexpected scene between Mallory and her neighbor which was enjoyable. As a protagonist, Mallory makes mistakes and learns from some. Kaitlyn was my favorite character, as her story was interesting.

Negative aspects of this novel outweigh the positive. The writing style is average at best. Filter words are used incessantly. Settings are sparsely described.
As for the characters, many are underdeveloped. Evie is Mallory’s first nonvirtual friend, but little is revealed about her. She serves as a plot device to bring Mallory to Troy. Mallory’s brother George exists to annoy her. Troy and Mallory have character depth, but their relationship is toxic. A significant portion of the novel is dedicated to Mallory’s excitement and anxiety about highschool, but I counted only five students she meets. As a former homeschooler, homeschooling is a small world such that any larger environment feels like a galaxy. Mallory would be fascinated or stressed by all the people she encounters, not disinterested in her surroundings.
For five years, Mallory watches Troy from her window each day. When they finally speak, he wants nothing to do with her. She keeps pursuing him, despite his clear disinterest and rejection. Mallory doesn’t take no for an answer, Finally, for an unknown reason he relents and they date. He also climbs into her room while she’s sleeping without permission or warning. They also spend little time getting to know each other or having conversations. Their relationship lacks depth Unfortunately, most of the novel focuses on this unconvincing and unhealthy relationship.
Many dramatic revelations happen in the last forty pages, leaving no time for Mallory or other characters to respond properly or convincingly. There’s some foreshadowing that leads nowhere.

I wanted to like this book because of my own experiences. However, poor writing and the romantic relationship tarnished the story.

This title was totally not for me. I read about 25% of it and then had to skip through chunks of it to get through. The premise was cute, but the execution missed the mark for me as a reader. A girl has never spoken to her neighbor but is in love because she sees him everyday and he's super hot? And then expects him to be all OMG LET'S BE FRIENDS when he firsts sees her when she starts public school? Weird. Weirder still - apparently he lurves her back! And now they've spoken only a handful of times and he's climbing in through her window? Uh... that's when I started skipping chunks. No. Chemistry. I will say, because of skipping chunks, I know I missed a ton - including a 2nd subplot about who her real dad is and prison and...? I was disappointed because it sounded intriuging, but not enough for me to go back and actually read about it. I'd be willing to read this author again though!
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Sorry to the author for it not being for me :/

This was an interesting read. I enjoyed it. The plot was unique. The author is new to me, I can’t wait to read more of her work.

I just finished I Spy the Boy Next Door and I just loved this book. I found a new favorite author in Samantha Armstrong and I can not wait to read her next boo. Mallory was a great adorable character that you'll be rooting for till the end. Mallory and Troy's relationship from start to finish is so great you'll be flipping through so fast to see what happens next. GREAT BOOK

Good storyline. Kinda unique. There were some parts in the book I found hard to believe.. Daisy kind of seems to suffer from social anxiety in the beginning of the book but suddenly she becomes an extrovert as soon as she goes to high school. I think the transition could have been described in a better way. Also the ending seemed kinda rush. Nonetheless, good effort!

A coming-of-age story about a home-schooled teen coping with anxiety attacks and the boy next door she is inexplicably drawn to. The slow burn romance has a definite twist to the ending that I did not see coming until about 60 percent into the book, especially as this started off as a cutesy YA romance!

Mallory and Troy meet first at age 12. She smiles. He scowls. She thinks its because her dog deflated his ball that sailed over the fence between their homes. They never speak again. For the next five years, Mallory watches from her window every day as Troy runs down the street revealing sculpted abs and tattoos when he tears off his shirt. This she reports back to her pen pal Nic through an online chat.

I have to admit, if I lived next door to Troy, I'd probably be spying on him, too! But, his personality would probably kill the attraction. He's so broody. Ugh. And, yet, Mallory's attraction intensifies as she gets to know him and he starts to let down his walls. While things heat up with Troy (code for lots of touchy feely!), Mallory also develops new friendships and self-admittedly becomes less "judgey" of people she didn't really know.

With all the blushing encounters between Mallory and Troy, it threw me for a loop when a murder occurs which unleashes an avalanche of memories for Mallory. All the secrets start to unravel at this point, including secrets that Troy himself has kept from Mallory. As the reader, I gotta say it was a lot to take in, but it kept the story from being overly predictable and overall it was a quite satisfying ending!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the advance reader copy of #ISpytheBoyNextDoor!

You know those books where you think it's one type of book and it turns out a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WAY THAN YOU ORIGINALLY THOUGHT?? This is that book, but in a truly amazing way! Mallory Taylor is a completely sheltered and naive character (and it's totally fitting). At first I thought, "Ugh, you cannot be THAT naive!" but those thoughts disappeared fast, and soon I was completely behind her 100% of the way as she grows as a person throughout the book. Troy Parker was an awesome character that transforms throughout the book as well. My emotions for him were all over the place, until about halfway through the book when I thought "Oh, THAT'S why he's the way he is!". I finished this book in a day. I could NOT put it down, and I am now going to devour anything else that Samantha Armstrong has written!

Mal and Troy have been neighbours for the last five years but even though Mal has had a serious crush on Troy they met only once because Mal is being homeschooled. No friends, no school, no parties - Mal finally wants to experience real school and she begs her parents' permission to go to school for her final year before college. That's when Troy and Mal start to interact more and more. and it turns out that Troy may know way more about Mal than she knows about herself. With lots of plot twists, suspence and swoon worthy moments this book is one of the best novels ever! I wholeheartedly recommend it especially for all the fans of 'The Kissing Booth' - Troy is very much like Noah from Beth Reekles's book.

This reminds me of Mean Girls meets The Kissing Booth with a twist.

The story follows Mallory, a seventeen-year-old, who's been homeschooled most of her life because she was almost kidnapped as a child, so her mother is slightly overprotective of her. Since Mallory doesn't much to do with her spare time, she's taken up spying on her next door neighbor, Troy, ever since he moved in five years ago. One day, Mallory decides she's had enough of the homeschooled life, and wants to attend the local public school to see what it's all about. She's seen movies and read books, but wants to experience it herself. After much reluctance from her parents, they enroll her in the school. Shortly after attending the school, she starts interacting with Troy.

The story continues like a typical YA Contemporary Romance novel, until the last 85% of the book where it takes this sudden dark, twisted turn where you're like, "wait, what?". It's a little far fetched, and it does give the story an interesting element; however, it was a little sudden in my opinion. There didn't seem to be many clues to hint that something like that would happen, which I can assume is for the shock value, but it also made it seem like the author was trying to spice things up and decided to add the last 15% of the book at the very last minute.

It was enjoyable, just a little jarring with how sudden things seemed to have progressed.

I gave the book 3.5 stars because it does tend to be pretty cliche in the YA Contemporary Romance aspect, and the twist at the end does have some cliche to it too, but it's still a unique twist that's not very popular, in my opinion.

I believe the characters' romance would be classified as hate-to-love, as well as, slowburn.

Some might even go as far as saying they would hate the love interest because he has "abusive" tendencies, or is just an overall asshole, but it wasn't as bad as other "Romance" books that portray toxic relationships (if that makes sense?).

Thank you to Samantha Armstrong for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.