Dillon left her small hometown to head to the city. I loved how Hunting comments on how everyone calls Chicago the city as if there is no other and this is 100% true! She needs to return home after her brother’s accident and help out the family business.
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Donovan returns to Pearl Lake to clean out his beloved grandmother’s home. Dillon and Van get off to a rocky start but they have the love of his grandmother tying them together. For two people who wanted a big life in the city soon come to realize that home is where the heart is, even if you have to fight for it.

Helena Hunting deftly blends humor, heart and emotion in her captivating new novel, Love Next Door.

When Dillion Stitch left her hometown, she had vowed never to set foot in Pearl Lake ever again. Dillion had kept her promise until her brother found himself getting into a spot of bother leaving her with no other choice but to go back home and reluctantly take her place at the family business. Dillion is not exactly thrilled at being back in her home town, but there are some surprising new developments and some eye-catching perks – namely her beloved neighbor’s grandson Donovan ‘Van’ Firestone!

Their first encounter is one which Dillion will certainly not forget in a hurry when she catches an eyeful of Van in all his unclothed glory. Sparks begin to fly between the two of them from the very first moment they clap eyes on one another, however, their bickering quickly gives way to an attraction that simply cannot be denied! As they juggle red-hot chemistry with relentless family drama, long-held resentments and feeling like outsiders in a town that hasn’t exactly brought out the welcome mat for the two of them, will Dillion and Van find what they are looking for in Pearl Lake? Or will they high-tail out of town the first chance they get?

Helena Hunting’s Love Next Door is a zesty, sparkling and irresistible contemporary romance that makes for perfect summertime reading. A captivating charmer about going back home, forbidden attraction and the ties that bind, in Love Next Door Helena Hunting hits all the right notes by penning a fun, emotional and satisfying romantic page-turner readers are going to thoroughly enjoy.

If you are looking for a cute small town romance this is perfect!It was a great read, I loved the characters and the secondary made the story enjoyable.It was a little bit slow in the beginning but then everything goes fast..
I loved how Dillion and Van started their friendship and then relationship it was fun!They had a great banter and there was tension, not as much as I wanted yet it was good!It has a little bit from different tropes, from neighbors to enemies, then friends turned lovers..
This is a bit different from her usual books not in a bad way , I like this side of Helena and cannot wait to read more like this.

When Dillion returns home to help out with her father's business, she's determined to get back to the city as soon as possible. It doesn't help when her deceased next door neighbor's grandson Donovan arrives at the same time. Believing his purpose of being there is to sell Bee's property, Dillion has no desire to be friends with Van. But things aren't always what they seem and they both will need to put aside their stubbornness to help each other out.

I thought this was a great small town story with a lot of issues surrounding Dillion and Van's families. Even though they had a bumpy start they realize that they have more in common than they realize. The longer Dillion stays the more she starts to feel like she may not want to go back to the city, whereas Van's life is and always will be in the city. How will they say goodbye when it's time for Van to go home? Love this story and looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley and Montlake for the opportunity to read this book.

This is a new small town romance from Helena Hunting. Dillon is back in Pearl Lake, not necessarily by choice and Donovan has his own reason for being there. What I love about small town romances is very real in this one. The towns people themselves are like a character, one that's always in your business and usually adding to your issues, but also giving that sense of community. Dillon and Donovan were okay, but I appreciate their open communication and support of one another once they got past their rough start. Overall, this book is for the reader looking for a small town romance with a lot going on.

Im loving small town romances atm. This had a bit of everything for me. It was a rom com mixed with enemies to lovers, a bit of mystery and intrigue and a sprinkle of steam. I loved the small town vibe. Dillion has tried so hard to escape her home town but when a family drama unfolds and her life has taken a different direction she comes home. Donovan is the grandson of Dillions beloved neighbour. Hr turns up to sort out the house and his grans belongings and his presence rubs Dillion up the wrong way. I loved the pairs first meeting it was full of sass and humour. The pair go out of there way to wind each other up and I loved it. I loved the family drama and the mystery that surrounded Donovan. Dillion was a great leading lady. Full of spunk and doesn't take any rubbish yet. She really comes through for her family and owns up to her mistakes. I cant wait for the next instalment and I hope its going to be about Donovans sister and a certain hunky builder. Bring on book 2

A small town romance about two childhood neighbors falling in love as adults. Lighter on the steam, this is a forced proximity novel with elements of mystery, mental illness, and family dysfunction. A sweet and easy read with summer vibes and a quaint, romantic feel about childhood acquaintances quickly falling for each other. I need more of this town and these characters!

After losing her job and breaking up with her boyfriend, Dillion moves back home to help with the family business. She’s also the executor of her deceased neighbors will. While exploring her neighbors house, Dillion runs into Donavan, the grandson of her beloved neighbor. The two are immediately attracted to each other and pursue a no-strings attached relationship, but can they make it work for longer than one summer?

The setting and circumstances surrounding Dillion and Donovan’s family drama make for an atmospheric and intriguing summer read full of surprises. I loved the added mystery behind who was stealing money and the gifts Donavan’s grandmother left behind. Hunting even left nuggets from previous books. A cute and hopeful romance with a lovable cast of characters and plot with a unique twist.

Love Next Door is the start of a new series. Pearl Lake is the perfect small town where everyone is in your business and where the townies are always up against the rich vacationers.

Dillon is called home to help out the family business while her brother is laid up. Van is also in town to take care of his Grandma's estate. In an excellent meet cute situation these two end up together. While this story was very different than HH usual it was still a sweet one. The whole "going home again" is always interesting and with a bit of mystery this book held my attention. Great vacation read!

Thank you to Montlake, Social Butterfly PR, and Helena Hunting for my advance copy of Love Next Door in exchange for my honest review.

Love Next Door is filled with sweet coincidences, that perfect friends-to-lovers chemistry, family drama, and some of that raunchy Helena humor that I love sprinkled in!

When Dillion Stitch left for college, she never intended to be back in her hometown for more than a few days at a time during the holidays. But when her brother finds himself in some trouble, and her lease is up, and she is also jobless at the moment, she gives in when her father asks her to come home for a few months to help with the family business. And she realizes that maybe it isn't so bad afterall to be back in her small hometown.
When Dillion sees Van for the first time since they were kids, it is an entertaining scene that is so very Helena... there's a lack of clothing, some snarky comments, and sparks right off the bat!

And here's a few other highlights for me:
I liked that there were several other smaller things going on in the story with both Dillon and Van's families.
There are so many great side characters! I loved Dillion's childhood friends, her cousin, Van's sister, and even the Van's grandmother that just passed away.
I really appreciated how Helena hit the point of supporting small/local businesses so often throughout the book.

Helena is one of my favorite authors and an Auto-Read author for me, so I didn't even read the synopsis for Love Next Door before reading it. Honestly, I would read anything she writes at this point, it doesn't matter what it is about! My trust was put in the right place, because I absolutely adored this small town romance. This is a must-read for all my fellow Romance readers that enjoy the trope. It just came out this week, so I hope you will pick it up soon! It is also available on KU, for those that subscribe to it!

2.5 stars
Love Next Door is the first in Helena Hunting's new small-town, contemporary series. It's been categorized as General Adult Fiction-Romance. My original interest in this book was spurred on by the promise of an enemies to lovers, small town romance but the story itself focused less on the romantic relationship between the main characters and more on their familial relationships. Those relationships were dysfunctional and problematic, but did lead to some interesting character growth for the heroine. That aspect of the story definitely felt as though I was reading more of a women's fiction story than a romance. The various subplots got to be a bit too much for me. Honestly, I could care less who was cheating on who in the town. I just wanted more romance between Dillion and Van. Grandma Bee's influence in their relationship was sweet and charming, and one of the best aspects of the story. The towns' inhabitants were largely characterized in a stereotypical way, which I found to be unflattering, and the focus on their lives took away from the romance between the main characters. While the story was well-written and easy to follow, it did become predictable and a bit tiresome towards the end. I wasn't happy with how easily the plot points were wrapped up, but the story did deliver a happily-ever-after.
I definitely think that this book will be enjoyed most by fans of small-town women's fiction series like the Cedar Cove series.

Love Next Door was such a fun read. All Dillion wanted while growing up in Pearl Lake was to leave the country life and make it to the City (Chicago). Everything was great, she had a steady job and a live in boyfriend, until it wasn't. With no job or boyfriend she makes the move back home. Donovan is back in Pearl Lake where all of his favorite memories with Grammy Bee are, and the pretty next door neighbor that he secretly crushed on. After Grammy Bee's passing she leaves Donovan her home and land. When he decides to work on the home at night, a little firecracker has something to say about that. Dillion is a feisty little thing who is all bite and bark, the spitfire had me rolling. These two and their banter. I loved it from the beginning to end.

This is the first book in the Lakeside series. Dillion has returned home in order to help in the family business after her brother gets into trouble. She never intended to go back after she left once she finished high school. And being back feels familiar but at the same time different. And when she notices someone new next door, she goes to see who it is and gets more than she bargained for with Donovan (Van)! And that starts the bickering back and forth! But these two have more issues than just the ones they have with each other. Neither feel at home in the small town, and family drama is a huge part of it. But can they figure out that they can be each other's home?

I was slightly iffy about reading this one. And part of that is the author for me, some of this author's books I love-others I am so so with. But the blurb made it sound interesting and different, so I thought why not? So this is was definitely slow for me to start. That's why I knock it down a bit because it was something that I had to push through, but once I got past that? It was well worth the read! There is so much more to it than just them going from bickering to something more. You get the back drama with their families along with the sweet and small town. Some parts were still just a little too slow for me, but they were still a good read and interesting to the overall story. So while it wasn't the best book that I have ever read, it wasn't bad either. And I am sure some people will love it as it's more to their tastes than to mine. Now with that being said, I will say that if there is a story about Van's sister, I will probably read it because she intrigues me and I want to know more!

A love story that seems like fate. Small town. Lovable hero. Bad ass heroine. Family drama.
Fun and light summer read. Very different than her other books, and love when writers can do that.

****I received an advanced reader copy in exchange for a fair review.****
I am a huge fan of Helena Hunting's books and this love started with her Pucked series that I could not put down and Love Next Door did not disappoint. In fact it is probably in my top five of her books that I've read and I can't wait for any more books that come out of the Lakeside series. I found that it was different from her Pucked series and it's related books and more like her Kiss my Cupcake book, it still had all the comedy that so many of her books have it just had a different vibe to it.
They say that coming home is hard, and that is especially true for Dillion Stitch, when she left Pearl Lake after high school she had no intentions of ever moving back again. But after the company she's been working at goes under, she breaks up with her boyfriend, and her younger brother breaks his leg in a DUI accident leaving the family construction business short handed Dillion feels she has no choice but to go home, at least temporarily. What Dillion didn't expect is her surrogate grandmother, Bee's beloved grandson, Donovan “Van” Firestone to be at Bee's home, or for him to be such an inconsiderate jerk.
When Donovan arrives at his late grandmother's cottage to clean up the house he wasn't expecting to receive a phone call saying that he is being accused of embezzling 3 million dollars from the charity he set up in his late mother's name, or to receive another call from work firing him because of the suspicion. So Van decides he should lay low at his grandmother's until everything blows over in Chicago. But when a strange woman breaks into the cottage while he's showering he isn't expecting that stranger to be the Dillion that was the executor of his grandmother's estate that he had been emailing with. Van was expecting a man, not a prickly woman who gives him nothing but grief about any and everything. As time goes on their bickering becomes sparks of attraction, but can their relationship overcome both of their messy lives?

Dillion has to move back home to help out with her family’s business. She would enjoy her time back home better if she wasn’t exposed to her next-door neighbor, Donovan. Dillion and Van have an instant dislike for one another once she discovers he is trying to sell his grandmother’s property. Dillion is rediscovery her love for her hometown as she and Van continue to fight and bicker all through the town.

I love a small town romance and then add in an enemies to lovers theme and I’m in heaven.

I really enjoyed the banter between Dillion and Van. They couldn’t help themselves. I liked that they never got too heavy and bitter with the things they said. They were both going through a lot of issues in this book. The family, medical and discovery drama at times were never too heavy in this story which ai appreciated.

The only reason why I didn’t give this book five stars is that the storyline is low angst and I wanted more drama. The author tries to throw in a twist or two but it is kind of obvious when it is first mentioned. There is no real surprise there.

There could have been a bit more character development of the main characters and even the secondary characters. I have to admit, I’m curious about some of the people in the town and what they have going on. I guess the author is keeping that a mystery for future books.

While I enjoyed this book by Ms. Hunting, it is not my favorite one. This is book one in a new series so I do look forward to what is store for this small town.

~ Samantha

My Review
Five Stars!

After Donovan’s grandma passes away he heads back (from Chicago) to the small lake town he spent his summers. Dillion has lost her boyfriend and her job and is headed back (from Chicago) home to help her dad out with his business. Growing up next door to Donovan’s grandma Dillion became very close with her so when he’s back to her home she is very cautious of his intentions, especially after the few interactions they’ve had.

This small-town romance was so much fun, it was sexy with likable characters that had you rooting for them from their first encounter. Speaking of Dillion and Donovan and their first encounter, it was pretty hilarious and awkwardly uncomfortable. I love a friend to lovers romance that checks off all my boxes. The banter was there, the chemistry was hot and just all the interactions and dialogue were exactly what I want in a book. Helena has a way with her words that just touch me in so many ways, she knows how to make you laugh when you need to, she brings in the drama, the suspense, and also in this particular book mental illness.

I lived in Chicago for almost 17 years and loved the references to it, as well as the small-town folk calling it, “The City” so true. I can’t wait to get more of this series, it was a book that I didn’t put down until the end. And I loved loved the characters that pop up in the book, it was a nice surprise.

j'ai adoré ma lecture de la première à la dernière page ! Je savais en commençant un roman de l'autrice que les personnages allaient m'emporter et me faire sourire et je n'ai pas été déçue de mon voyage en leur compagnie. Ils vont se retrouver un peu malgré eux au même moment au même endroit et l'un comme l'autre sont à un tournant de leurs vies. J'ai adoré voir Dillion et Donovan se battre au départ, ils pensent connaitre l'autre mais vont petit à petit comprendre qu'ils se trompaient du tout au tout et leur romance va alors avancer petit à petit. J'ai adoré l'ambiance petite ville, la manière dont ils nous touchent et nous font vibrer et forcément, j'ai adoré les voir apprendre à s'aimer ! J'avais assez facilement deviné certaines choses mais ça n'empêche que j'ai passé un excellent moment avec eux qui m'a redonné le sourire !! Une très belle aventure !!

Really enjoyed getting to know Donavan and Dillion’s story. We start of by getting a bit of background on their characters and we meet a few side characters that definitely peeked my interest in future books hopefully. D &D’s banter was fun to watch as they grow closer but of course in all stories it wouldn’t be nearly as fun without a few curveballs thrown in. Definitely recommend to contemporary romance readers.

Helena can always be counted on for a chemistry filled romance and a book that keeps my attention. This one features a couple of my favorite things: unrequited love, small town, and girl on the wrong side of the tracks. I love so much that Dillion may be on the lower end of the economic hierarchy but her love for her family shines through.
Dillion comes home nursing a job loss and recent break up. While she isn't devastated, she certainly doesn't want to face her past. Her brother's DUI and laundry list of troubles unwillingly encourages her return. She re-meets Van under less than stellar circumstances, but bickering turns to banter. Ultimately they begin to work together over shared interests.
This was a really quick read and I'd love to see where Helena takes us in the forthcoming books of this series.
Thank you to Montlake and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.

Dillion has always known that she wanted more than her hometown could offer so she left at her first opportunity and wasn’t looking back. The combination of her life imploding and her family needing her help has taken that decision out of her hands at least for the short term.

With the turmoil that Van is facing in his life right now return to Pearl Lake to the cottage he inherited from his grandma seems like the perfect getaway. He was expecting some time alone to reflect on his life and how to emerge from the situation he finds himself in unscathed, but nothing could have prepared him for Dillion.

Their time in Pearl Lake was supposed to be a respite are the challenging time they are facing in their lives, but it is beginning to feel like so much more especially since there is no denying the chemistry between them whether it is the sarcastic banter they exchange or the heat they can’t seem to deny. This is a sweet and sexy romance that is sure to bring a smile to your face.