Title: How to Love Your Neighbor
Author: Sophie Sullivan
Series: n/a
Pages: 352
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Date: January 18, 2022

Summary:

Interior Design School? Check. Cute house to fix up? Check.

Sexy, grumpy neighbor who is going to get in the way of your plans? Check. Unfortunately.

Grace Travis has it all figured out. In between finishing school and working a million odd jobs, she’ll get her degree and her dream job. Most importantly, she’ll have a place to belong, something her harsh mother could never make. When an opportunity to fix up—and live in—a little house on the beach comes along, Grace is all in. Until her biggest roadblock moves in next door.

Noah Jansen knows how to make a deal. As a real estate developer, he knows when he's found something special. Something he could even call home. Provided he can expand by taking over the house next door--the house with the combative and beautiful woman living in it.

With the rules for being neighborly going out the window, Grace and Noah are in an all-out feud. But sometimes, your nemesis can show you that home is always where the heart is.

Review:

I have read this book twice and it was definitely better the second time. I think that is because Noah is not a likable person at the beginning of the book. Knowing how much he grows emotionally made the second reading more enjoyable.

Both Grace and Noah have relationship issues due to each of them having parental horrors for parents. Grace’s mother lets the men in her life define who she is and never takes responsibility for any of her problems. Now that Grace is an adult, her mother expects her to be the one to bail her out financially whenever the need arises.

Noah’s father is a millionaire who collects trophy wives. He uses his money and influence to control his sons. Noah, finally, has had enough and moves from New York to the west coast. Unfortunately, what he knows about relationships, he learned from his father. He thinks any problem can be solved by throwing money at it.

As I said to start with, Noah is not a likable person. However, the changes he makes are what made me really like the book on the second reading.

Although Grace has issues to work through, she is a strong character from the beginning. She has friends and knows how to be a friend. She knows what she wants and is willing to work as hard as necessary to meet her goals.

I liked Grace a lot, but it is the way that Noah grows that makes this book so good. As a reader, I have a hard time overcoming a negative impression of a character. Noah is an exception.

This book was sent to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Grace Travis inherited a beach bungalow from her grandparent’s that she never met, she’s been holding off on moving in and renovating however, the time has finally come. She’s busy working multiple jobs and finishing her design degree but she’s determined to make her house, a home.

Noah Jansen, a wealthy real estate developer lives next door knows exactly what he wants, Grace’s house so he can expand his place and build a pool. When the two meet, Grace instantly rejects his offer but, he’s not willing to give up. The two begin a full out feud…



How to Love Your Neighbor was a cute and quick paced enemy to lovers rom com. Grace and Noah were great characters that were realistic, sarcastic and shared undeniable chemistry. It took me a while to root for Noah, I always DNF’ed the story because I couldn’t stand him or his chapters at the beginning. I'm glad I continued reading the story though. Their friends were awesome; and everyone’s banter was hilarious. My favourite character was Morty, he’s full of attitude and had me laugh out loud several times. The topics discussed were so relatable to me, especially Grace’s relationship with her mother. I enjoyed the overall story because I do love home reno shows on HGTV. Overall, it’s a cute, heartfelt story that covers complex family dynamics. Thank you st.martins and netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For fans of HGTV and closed-door happily ever afters.

I really liked Sophie Sullivan’s first book, Ten Rules for Faking It, so I was excited to get a chance to read an ARC of How to Love Your Neighbor. A couple of the characters from the first book show up in this one, but it is a stand alone and doesn’t need to be read in order.

Grace and Noah each have their own family drama and are learning how to stand up for themselves and distance themselves from the drama while also figuring out if they can open their hearts to the girl/boy next door.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Griffin for a digital ARC of this book.

Thanks so much to the author, Netgalley, and St. Martin's Griffin for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog

TW: emotionally abusive family, loss of family members

Oh my gosh, this was such a sweet read! As cheesy as it sounds, this was a book that really made me smile a whole lot while I was reading it. And who doesn't need more of that these days, right? It was heartwarming, and happy, and honestly it has everything I could have been looking for at the time - enemies to lovers, slow-burn romance, large cast of loveable and slightly silly characters, some really touching friend/family love moments, AND cute HGTV style home reno montages? Come on, who wouldn't love that!

Let's talk about our main cast of characters. Grace is such a fun leading lady! She is sweet while also having a really sharp tongue, which is one of my favorite types of characters. The one that you'd never quite expect to be as sassy or quick-witted as she is, but she is and she isn't afraid to put you in your place. Grace also has a really complicated (and fairly abusive, tw) relationship with her mom. While I am lucky enough to have a really amazing relationship with my mom, and most of my immediate family in general for that matter, I could definitely relate to this part of her story with some other members of my family, which immediately put me on Team Grace. I fell in love with her as a character and wanted to support her and watch her succeed from the word go. I also really enjoyed Noah - I love getting to watch a show or read a book and see characters becoming better people. And while Noah doesn't start off as a bad person by any means, he goes on a journey and has an arc that I really enjoyed.

I will say, it took me until about a third of the way through this book before I realized that this Noah was the same brother Noah from Ten Rules for Faking It, which was very silly of me. Throughout the beginning of this book Noah is talking to his brother Chris with his sweet and shy girlfriend, Everly. And even though I read (and loved) that book last year, it took another character saying "oh yes, you're the couple that fell in love on the Bachelorette-style radio show" for me to put two and two together. It was embarrassing. So save yourself from my mistake, and know that they are connected going in!

Overall I would absolutely recommend this book to others! While I did make a point of mentioning it above, you definitely don't need to read Ten Rules before you can understand or enjoy this one, so read them together as a series or just as a stand alone, either way I think you'll really enjoy it. I think the best way to read this one would be on a super comfy (but not overly fluffy) couch with HGTV in the background (listening to, but not watching) and a warm cup of coffee.

I enjoyed this story quite a bit! It is a well done sunshine/grump. I loved that it included some heavier subjects like toxic parent/child relationships and social anxiety.

I thought Grace was well written and I loved that she had a strong backbone and she wasn’t ashamed of where she came from. Noah was a little wishy-washy but overall he’s like able enough and he provided plenty of swoon-worthy moments.

The whole cast of supporting characters were great… especially Morty! There are so many great relationships here, I’d love to see more books with these characters.

I’d recommend this if you’re looking for a lighthearted romance that’s light on the steam and maybe a little cheesy at times.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s for the e-arc.

In a nutshell - I didn’t like our hero, Noah. His behavior is called out several times in the book and the shoe fits - to the point I find the romance unbelievable. Grace is independent to a fault, but I at least enjoy she gives Noah grief and does not bow down to his manipulations. While I enjoyed many of the secondary characters, I could have done without the drama around their parents. Grace’s mom and her story is one done in many books and I’m tired of reading it. The conflict with Noah’s dad could have been better incorporated - everything with him happens outside of any scene and is not really resolved, but could have made for more compelling reading and storyline.

Overall, not my favorite. Thanks to the publisher for a review copy via NetGalley.

This was a fun book! A glowing example of the sunshine and grump trope.
Grace is trying to make the most of her present after struggling in her past with relationships, including a troubled relationship with her mom. While Noah is trying his best to get out of the shadow of his powerful father but not having much success. He is used to getting what he wants just by throwing his name and money around but his strong willed neighbor Grace is testing his patience by not selling him her new home. They have to learn how to compromise and get along if they are going to be living so close to one another.
I enjoyed learning about Grace's backstory and it gave her character depth and I understood her choices in life. Unfortunately, Noah's backstory was a bit more brief and though I understood how he wanted to get out of his father's shadow I didn't truly get a feel as to who he really wanted to be after he was free of his father. The supporting characters are amazing! They added so much to the story and I enjoyed every moment that their friends were included.
The romance between Grace and Noah is sweet and their chemistry is apparent from the very beginning. Overall, the storyline is heartwarming and enjoyable. Although I struggled a bit to stay interested in the middle and perhaps some of the parts were unnecessary I was well rewarded by a strong ending.
This is a fun continuation of Sophie Sullivan's Ten Rules For Faking It. I was pleased to see a few familiar characters included in this book but it can, without a doubt, be read as a stand alone. Although, I highly recommend the first installment because it is a fabulous book and will give you a bit more knowledge of Noah's background.
I am extremely grateful to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read an ARC of this heartwarming book in exchange for a honest review.

How to Love Your Neighbor is a sweet, enemies to lovers story that’s set in one of my favorite backdrops, the beach. Overall, the theme of the book, being responsible for your own happiness, stood out and resonated with me. Unfortunately, while sweet, the romance was sort of forgettable. The secondary characters were entertaining and I’d gladly read any romances featuring them.

This book has zero chemistry between the main characters. I’m having a hard time even writing a review because I barely got through the book.

The story starts almost in the middle, as we’re meant to understand what is going on and who our MC is, yet I felt very left in the dark. I don’t like starting off already behind.

I absolutely hated the male lead and found him insufferable. His POV was written in a very choppy manner; again, we were thrust into the middle of this story and had to play catch up. It was obvious the author wanted us to like him, but I can’t even remember his name.

I received an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

You all know how much I love a great rom-com right?! Whether it’s a movie, tv show, or book, I am always down for romantic comedies. If you are a fan of the genre, you will also know that the market is full of great rom-coms and I feel like there is always a hot new release just begging for me to read it. It is always so hard for me to pick which ones I want to read first.

So how do I decide which ones to pick? Sometimes it’s by feel and if I have openings on my calendar, other times I have to choose based on my favorite romantic comedy troupe (enemies to lovers). When this book came up for review that was what steered me in this direction. I love enemies to lovers because I think it sparks electric chemistry between the characters, so it’s always a hard troupe for me to pass on.

This one had the extra element of house fixer-upper added to the mix and of course I love home improvement shows so this book hit a couple of high notes for me just based on the description. I also know that this is Sophie Sullivan’s sophomore novel, while I haven’t read her first book I know a lot of others who did and all raved about her wit and storytelling so I jumped at the chance to read this one!

Summary

Most Anticipated for 2022 by: PopSugar * Buzzfeed * USA Today

Enemies-to-lovers meets HGTV in this frothy, effervescent romantic comedy from Sophie Sullivan, author of Ten Rules for Faking It.

Interior Design School? Check. Cute house to fix up? Check.

Sexy, grumpy neighbor who is going to get in the way of your plans? Check. Unfortunately.

Grace Travis has it all figured out. In between finishing school and working a million odd jobs, she’ll get her degree and her dream job. Most importantly, she’ll have a place to belong, something her harsh mother could never make. When an opportunity to fix up—and live in—a little house on the beach comes along, Grace is all in. Until her biggest roadblock moves in next door.

Noah Jansen knows how to make a deal. As a real estate developer, he knows when he’s found something special. Something he could even call home. Provided he can expand by taking over the house next door–the house with the combative and beautiful woman living in it.

With the rules for being neighborly going out the window, Grace and Noah are in an all-out feud. But sometimes, your nemesis can show you that home is always where the heart is.

“This is a novel you’ll want to read over and over again.” – USA Today (summary from Goodreads)

Review

I felt like this one was going to be more enemies to lovers, and it was that but only at the basic level. This one felt more like a sunshine and the grump troupe to me. Grace is vibrant and energetic while Noah is basically a grumpy Gus about everything— I loved this troupe more than I was expecting. The novel started off strong for me with lots to giggle about and enjoy. Grace was a wonderful character and I loved how she came from humble/wrong side of the track beginnings. She worked hard to achieve her dreams and her future and never shied away from hard work or a challenge. I loved her character and totally connected with her very early on in the book. Noah was the complete opposite of Grace in some ways. He came from money and basically thinks he can throw money at Grace to make her sell her property to him. But he has this other redeeming side to him that I loved. He wants to make his own way in his world free from his family influence etc. I appreciated that about him and I found that clearly opposites attract in this one! Grace and Noah together had outstanding chemistry together.

The story overall flowed pretty well but I did feel like it lost some momentum in the middle. Overall it was a super cute story and had a lot of little giggles but the middle just slowed down a bit for me and I am not really sure why, I just felt like it needed a little something more to keep it moving along. The beginning and end were paced well, it was just something in the middle felt lacking. I think a lot of people go into rom-coms expecting to read more of a literary rom-com meaning there is a lot of character development and flushed out backstory etc but often in romances (comedy or otherwise) the focus is on the romance story rather than on the characters themselves. This one is similar in that regard. The characters a relatable and have some great qualities but we don’t really get into lengthy and detailed backstories and MAJOR character development. What we do get to see though it the meet cute, the attraction and chemistry between the characters that makes up the love story.

Stories like this are so great for quick reading whether it’s by the pool or on a plane to your vacation destination. It’s a quick, easy read that will give you some laughs, characters to enjoy and some funny scenarios to enjoy plus a HEA! For me that’s all I was looking for, something fun, happy, and funny and that is exactly what I got in this one. If you love romantic comedies this is a great one to pick up, plus it’s been on all the ‘most anticipated’ lists for this year and for good reason! It’s a solid, well written, charming romance that I throughly enjoyed!

Book Info and Rating

Format: 352 pages, paperback

Published: January 18 2022 by St Martin’s Griffin

ISBN: 9781250624185 (ISBN10: 120624185)

Free review copy provided by publisher, St Martin’s Griffin, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.

Rating: 4 stars

Genre: romance, rom-com

Who doesn’t need an enemies to lovers, slow burn contemporary romance?! There really is something about predictable romances that I can’t get enough of 😂

She moves in next door, he’s a rich asshole who thinks he can buy anything, including her house, with money and won’t take no for an answer (insert eyeroll here)! Noah, aka the rich asshole, gave me bad vibes!! If I moved in beside him I’d definitely pretend I wasn’t home if he ever rang my doorbell BUT I did love Grace who was really just trying to mind her business, live her best life and finish school. This book is giving us competition and a bit of tension but it is fade to black so for that it gets one chilli pepper out of five for spice.

Thank you to the author and @stmartinspress for this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was my first Sophie Sullivan novel, and I quite enjoyed it! Noah and Grace are a fun couple, and I liked the competitive spirit between them, while not overwhelming the plot. The secondary characters were fun and I hope to see more books in this series.

This was a fairly good book. It wasn't the best but it was entertaining and I did enjoy it.

I recommend it.

I have a little dilemma with this one… Although this book includes everything I like in my romances, there was a constant feeling of missing something. I love grumpy/sunshine, enemies-to-lovers tropes and a good laugh during my read, but unfortunately this book wasn’t that funny or captivating. And although the author tried to convince me that there’s super fiery chemistry between Noah and Grace, for me it was completely undetectable. Another downside was the lack of tangible passion. There's nothing more disappointing for me that fade-to-black scenes, especially with non-existent connection or sexual tension between the characters. So, would I recommend this book? As a time-filler, yes. As an amazing and memorable romance? Not necessarily.

This one is a no for me. This is sold as either an enemies to lovers or grumpy/sunshine and my word it is a hot mess of those two things. I typically like those tropes but they just do not work here. The main couple have a myriad of emotions every time they see each other. It starts with hate, then because they "see something in each other's eyes" or "feel a tingle clear to their toes" they start to soften and then one or the other says something wrong and they both blow up and run off.

This has happened AT LEAST seven times in the first half of this novel And I just can't with it anymore. Sometimes when a book is like this I can at least find a side character to hang on to but no. While there's a group of side characters there weren't any that really spoke to me or made me want to keep reading.

Honestly, I feel like both of these main characters are realizing they have things wrong with themselves due to past trauma and rather than seeking out therapy and helpful coping mechanisms, they've decided that having sex with the neighbor they don't really like is going to cure all of their problems. You know because they'll bring the best out of each other and all of their terrible personality traits will just magically disappear and it's just dumb. So dumb.

After absolutely adoring Sophie Sullivan's previous book, I was very excited to dive into this one. I think I made it to 25% in this book and I couldn't stand it anymore. Both of the main characters are absolutely insufferable, completely whiny and have no redeeming qualities. I couldn't find anything to care about in this book at all, maybe because I don't care about home renovations or interior design or spoiled rich kids, but this book was a HUGE miss for me and I won't be finishing it.

Loved this story! It was funny, sweet, heartfelt, and full of sparkling chemistry.

"Whether he was fighting or flirting with her, she made him feel alive."

Noah Jansen is trying to make a name for himself away from his father's shadow. Grace Travis is working multiple jobs, as well as finishing her college degree. After a funny meet-cute on the beach, when they finally meet properly, Grace is disappointed that the hot surfer guy is a jerk. What follows is how these two neighbours fight the spark that's obviously between, whilst becoming friends and work colleagues. The journey for both of them was heartwarming, tender, and a little fiery.

"She felt like she had a hundred heartbeats and he was controlling every one."

I loved that neither had been looking for love, yet love came snapping at their heels. I adored that they both brought something to the table. Grace believed in Noah and his ability to see things through. I loved that she brought real meaning to his life and made him think about what really mattered. In turn, he showed her that he was willing to put her first and be there for her - that her heart would be safe in his hands. I swooned at all the gestures he made for his apologies. This was such a heartfelt story brimming with close friendships and family, humour, creativity, and happy love.

I adored this romance between Grace and Noah. This is a perfect book to pick up for the sunshine and grump trope.

We're introduced to Grace who is almost done with her interior design degree and she unexpectedly inherits a house from her grandparents she never knew. So in addition to several other jobs she holds down to pay for school, she is planning to fix up her house.

She runs into Noah on the beach when she's walking dogs. So she's surprised when later she runs into her next door neighbor, Noah. He puts on his charming work persona to try to buy her property outright, but she's not budging.

From there, they develop a somewhat strained friendship through some misunderstandings and chemistry they are trying to avoid. But their friendship grows and evolves, and they eventually start to wonder why they were rivals in the first place.

I loved their relationships with their friends and the family that they've made. I enjoyed seeing them work through some of their personal struggles as well.

I really enjoyed my time with this book and would definitely recommend if you like the sunshine and grump trope and a feel good friend group.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

How to Love Your Neighbor is the kind of book where you just pause and immerse yourself in the story. The book is very character driven and focuses a lot on Grace’s and Noah’s growth.

I loved getting to know both Grace and Noah. After a tumultuous childhood, Grace is desperate for family, and to belong… Enter her maternal grandparents’ house that they willed to her. Never mind that Grace never met them, she’s desperate to hold on to it, because it’s the only tie that she has to family left. It was rewarding seeing Grace eventually realize family isn’t always confined to just blood, and that sometimes, it’s the people we meet along the way who are deserving of the title.

Noah, meanwhile, wants to be taken seriously by everyone around him. Not satisfied with being just the face of the family business, he sets out to do business away from his father. Noah is used to getting what he wants, and one of my favorite scenes in the book is where Grace called out how manipulative he can be, and Noah realizing that he doesn’t want to be that guy. He makes the conscious choice to change, and it’s always gratifying seeing a character realize that he needs to grow.

I enjoyed reading about Grace and Noah’s romance. There was a very entertaining meet cute, and then they realize that Noah wants to buy the house that Grace isn’t interested in selling, we shift to fun enemies to lovers scenes. Soon after, Noah and Grace become friends, and there’s nothing I love more than when characters take their time in getting to know each other. They’re so supportive, and I love how they always supported and encouraged each other.

All in all, I enjoyed reading How to Love Your Neighbor. There were times however in the latter half of the book where I felt the pace slowed down too much, and I wish we could have had more scenes with Grace and Noah as an actual couple. They’re such a perfect match!

I can't wait to see what Sophie Sullivan writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin’s Griffin, and Sophie Sullivan for the e-arc of How To Love Your Neighbor in exchange for an honest review.

I did not like Noah Jansen starting out, but that is the whole point. He is very self-centered and entitled, but quickly changes his ways after meeting Grace. I didn’t feel the tension that I like in a book that is supposed to be enemies-to-lovers. That portion seemed very short, but the romance was still good. The interior design aspect was really cool and definitely made me want to clean and redecorate my own house.


I enjoyed that the characters communicated and there was very little of the miscommunication trope that is so prevalent in the Romance genre. Noah and Grace encouraged each other and pushed each other towards their goals.