I didn’t realize this was a part of a series so I went back and read the first part of the series first. I’m glad I did. 4.5 stars for me. Slow burn story yet fast paced while uncovering secrets and challenges Marlene and Ruben face. The electrical connection the two of them face is FIRE! And I loved watching it unfold. I love this authors writing style. Keeps my engaged and flipping pages because I can’t wait to read what happened next. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

This book has a lot of different triggers and touches the surface of a lot of types of abuse and addiction. I was surprised to see an author trying to be realistic with this tough theme, and for being brave enough to do so. Marlene running into her neighbour is possibly a good thing in her mind. However it may change everything she has ever tried to hide. Ruben is a man that just wants to decompress but a chance encounter can be a beginning to an end. I found it difficult to put this book down.

This suspense romance was well-written but its darkness? Was too much and somehow the character's voice was easily forgotten.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book received from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book, at first, it was pretty slow and took a little time getting through but once it picked up, I was hooked. I also really enjoyed watching the two characters as they unpacked all the things they had going on in their lives, I definitely will be adding a physical copy to my library soon.

i dnf'd at 22%.
it's such a slow start and while i do see what the author was trying to do, i wasn't enjoying the writing style of the book.

I really love and get so much from dual points of view. The topics and depth of every character Sophia Karlson explores has so much more of an emotional impact getting both voices. I was a bit hesitant to read Marlène’s story. She was spiteful in The Apartment and was going to need a strong redemption story. It’s been a few years and Marlène was as opposite as you can get from her earlier introduction. Sweet and playful at times contrasting with pain and vulnerability. At first I was confused with the H’s name Ruben since it’s the same as Mika’s brother’s name. No relation. I was a little concerned with Marlène’s dependence on Ruben and if she was trading one for the other but that’s all part of her growth. Ruben’s own development and actions were as engaging to read as hers.

The story finished a bit abruptly. I’m left wanting to see the justice they all deserve and what happens with a minor character. On the other hand I’m not sure how it could or should ever be wrapped up nice and neat with a bow. Hopefully there will be some updates in the next book about Bryce. And I hope there’s a story for Damien.

This book does need a trigger warning as it deals with sexual abuse and similar.

An advanced reader copy of this book was provided by the author/publisher with no expectations and in no way influences my review.

This one is ending up in the DNF pile. I gave it 18 chapters (34%) and I just can’t get into it. There’s too many “secrets” that are hinted about too many times - and I know this is supposed to be a suspense, so that’s to be expected - but that’s my least favorite storytelling technique and I can’t deal with it right now. I need light and funny and something that pulls me in, and this story isn’t doing that. Whenever it’s more appealing to scroll Instagram for workout TikToks and healthy recipes, I know its time to walk away. So I am.

* thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I went into this book blind. I didn't read any reviews, the synopsis or blurbs.
Marlene and Ruben are neighbors but to his surprise he knows her more than he realizes. Their lives become entangled, Ruben being forced to take time off work and Marlene wanting to get clean. The more Ruben knows about Marlene, the more he wants to take care of her. Marlene is the key to solving his case and helping others from going down the same path.
This book being part of a series can be stand alone. I enjoyed the romance between the characters and how Ruben became Marlene's protector from the beginning. This book also mentions drug addiction, sexual abuse and sex trafficking.

QOTD: Do you have any tattoos?
My A: Yes! 4! One along my collar bone, one on my left wrist, one down the right side of my neck and one between my shoulder blades! 😍
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If you've been on my page, especially my TikTok, for any amount of time, then you've heard me talk about The Shrink by Sophia Karlson. The Shrink was one of those books that left such an impact on me as a reader and a woman, that I think about it daily. I loved that book so much and Sophia is an absolute GEM! I feel so lucky to get to know her through social media! All that's to say, I was REALLY excited for book #3 in her Love Nests series!
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Tackling tough topics (TW: child SA), The Neighbor takes readers on an emotional rollercoaster. Following a recovering addict and her neighbor, a secretive and private detective home from Paris. Together they fight to get Marlene clean while slowly uncovering secrets that threaten the fragile connection they are fighting against. The Neighbor is a gritty, raw and real look at what it means to forgive, heal and love unconditionally!
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BLURB:
Marlène Desrosiers has only one goal: get clean and stay clean. And when she stumbles over her attractive neighbor one fateful Friday night and their lives become entangled, it seems she might finally succeed. Ruben Scott appears only to want to stay close and help her. Every time her past tries to drag her back to the dark, he keeps her afloat and she can’t help but fall for him.

Ruben Scott is on forced leave after an incident at work, triggered by the case he’s battled to crack for almost a year. All he wants is to get back on the job and put criminals behind bars. Helping his neighbor quit will fill those empty hours when he should be working on his own issues.

But as Marlène and Ruben get to know each other, his growing feelings for her are soon overshadowed by the uneasy suspicion that she could be the key to solving the very case he’s been unable to close for so long.

When Marlène learns the reason behind Ruben’s seemingly good intentions, she questions the motives behind his every gesture and each intimate moment they’ve shared. At a crossroads, Marlène needs to choose between life, love, and moving forward, or drifting back to the past that will keep her prisoner.

Marlene has to get clean in a very short amount of time or she loses her job. Ruben has to get anger management while he's on forced leave because of a violent outburst. Honestly, both of these people have darkness in their pasts that have shaped them into the people they are, and both really do need outside help. She runs into him in the hall of their building, and she instantly knew that he was the protector that she needs in her life. He wants to help her but he also ends up suspecting that she may be the person to finally break the case he had been working on for a cool minute (which led him to this place) wide open.

This was a great story about Marlene finding her strength and Ruben helping her get there. This is a well written story which is emotionally charged, intriguing, secrets, twists, healing, and love, which leads to and entertaining and riveting page turner. I look forward to reading more from this talented author whose work I highly recommend.

This review was posted to Goodreads on April 28, 2022.

Marlene bumps into her neighbor, Ruben, during a difficult time in her life. While Marlene attempts to get clean, Ruben is right there to support her through it. While they get closer, dark secrets come to the surface. Are they able to overcome them or will the secrets drive them to rock bottom?

This book is dark and contains some trigger warnings. Overall, the book was well written. Sophia Karlson truly knows how to create characters with difficult backgrounds and hardships. The characters were well developed. I love that it has dual perspectives. I always enjoy going from one characters mind to the other. I felt like this could be a standalone book; however, I would have liked more details on certain situations.

This was a good book and I wouldn’t mind reading the rest of the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and Backlit PR for the ARC copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Sophia Karlson has done it again. And oh so well. The Neighbor is about as intense a book I've read in a good long while. I felt many emotions while devouring this slow-burn kind of story that has two lost souls facing not only their own demons but each other's as well. Complete strangers who literally collide with one another one fateful night that changes their lives for both the worse and for the better. And the ride that ensues is filled with trepidation, passion, and regret. But it is so engrossing that you'll find it hard to look away.

This isn't a happy kind of story. But the way Ruben and Marlene are able to uncover their most dire of secrets kept me riveted. Marlene's two-week cleanse to beat her addiction to drugs is something Ruben almost needs at this point in his disjointed life as the perfect distraction to what he has been dealing with in his job in Paris. The exact city where Marlene needs to avoid is the place where all of her sorrows began. But what is most intriguing about this whole book is the possible connection she may have with a case Ruben can't seem to crack, as secrets trickle out one excruciating confession at a time.

I was waiting for that proverbial shoe to drop as Marlene and Ruben succumb to their attraction when it could be the absolute worst thing for both of them. Yet the need to feel overcomes any clear thinking on each of their parts. And it is electric and wildly passionate. But with this shedding of a few layers on Ruben and Marlene's heavily guarded souls, also comes the sadness and horror of triggers that neither wanted to face.

I suppose warnings of what it looks like to battle addiction could be more evident but honestly, I liked that everything was laid out raw and oh so real. Karlson doesn't hold back and the added confusion on Ruben's part as to who Marlene might actually be is a moment that is both horrific and gutwrenching. There is a ton at play as their worlds collide in the most unexpected of ways and it's heartbreaking, to say the least when the need to walk away will be a foregone conclusion.

The Neighbor, like the books before it in this amazing, well-crafted, and angsty Love Nests series, is a true standout beside all of the same old same old out there today. I encourage every reader to give this one a go. I will admit I was a bit uneasy at some of what unfolds but the caring nature of both Ruben and Marlene despite what they might often think of themselves is what gives this story the richness that comes through beautifully with every turn of the page.

5 huge stars!

This was just an okay read for me. It deals with very heavy topics, some that are never really discussed in romance and may be off putting to the general reader.

Two people with traumatic pasts, find themselves meeting each other in an unexpected situation. While helping his neighbor through her drug withdrawal, they get to know each other in different ways than one would expect. He quickly realizes things are much more complicated than he thought possible. Throughout the story, they find ways to take care of each other while dealing with past trauma that they both experienced.

I enjoy contemporary reads such as this one, that deals with such real issues. I like the nitty gritty more so than fluff pieces. Keep it realistic and relatable. The speech patterns from the MCs are also realistic. Sometimes I find myself reading sentences from a character and just cannot imagine a person talking like that in real life. This book did a good job of keeping it real.

It did have a bit of a slower pace than I was hoping for. Overall the read was good, but it didn’t leave its mark with me. The details and such have been quickly forgotten.

I want to thank Backlit PR NetGalley and the lovely Author for this opportunity to review this book. Review will be posted on 04/23/2022 on Goodreads and my insta stories.

Well, let me start by saying that this book has a lot of different triggers and touches the surface of a lot of types of abuse and addiction. I was surprised to see an author trying to keep it real with this tough theme, and kudos to Sophia Karlson for being brave enough to do so.

The reason I give 4 out of 5 stars is that I would have liked a trigger warning about it. Also, this is the first book I read of this author, and it won't be the last, as I was captivated by Karlson's writing. When I chose to apply to read this book, I thought it'd be a romance story but it's also so much more than that. What I found very appealing is that the story between Marlene and Ruben doesn't seem unreal or too far fetched, and that's something that I always appreciate in romances.

The neighbor is a book that it was well worth my time. Marlene is a woman that faced a lot of hardships and her neighbor, Ruben, ends up being the person she needed the most. The story of people being so close and ending up meeting at that moment in time, it's all about timing. The moment their paths cross, everything starts unfolding, and Ruben is there to hold her hand through the turmoil. They both have darkness in their pasts and they fit together like two pieces of the same puzzle.

I definitely recommend this book if you can handle the triggers.

Gonna give it 2 stars even though I’m DNF around 50%. . Well written and likeable characters but dear lord. I can’t read a spicy romance and enjoy it with the amount of trauma in this book. Every chapter is a reminder that both MC have been abused in some way and have seen some nasty stuff in their lives but to keep bringing up CP and exploitation just totally killed it for me.

This was a good read, I enjoyed the suspense and the steam, heavy topics were dealt with in this but it was all handled well. Overall I enjoyed Marlene and Ruben’s story and I’m glad I got to read it.

I really enjoyed this book! It started off a little slow, but once it picked up, I was hooked! Look forward to adding a physical copy to my library soon!

I read the first book in the series The Paris Apartment, where we meet Marlène.

I did not read the second book, but I am excited for Bryce’s story.

Marlène and Ruben have been neighbors for a while, but now after 9 months in Paris, Ruben comes home and she stumbles into him with hot soup in hand.

Marlène has 2 weeks to get clean or lose her job. Ruben was sent back to New York to talk to a shrink and clear his head after this heavy case he and his boss Marc are trying to solve with Interpol, is at a roadblock.

Heavy and dark subjects in this book. Drug use, Child abuse, talk of pornography in pictures and videos of underage children.

The story didn’t go too deep, but there is enough going on to think, cry and be angry for the victims. Yes, this is a work of fiction, so how each victim works through the abuse is not necessarily how “real” people work through it.

All in all the backstory for Marlène made sense of how she treated James and Damian in the first book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

First I want to thank NetGalley, the author, and Backlit PR for giving me an advance copy of this novel. Review is dropping 4/17/22 and the book will be published on 4/26. (Idk this is what I was told to include in my review). Yes, this is going onto my Goodreads account.

Here are my genuine thoughts:

This is a novel that deals with heavy subjects, yet with little care. It is done poorly.

Initially, I want to let my friends and followers know this truly feels more like an erotic novel than ANYTHING else. The erotic scenes at first were not troublesome to me, but as the book progressed I felt myself making a cringe-face on every other page. Literally from 40%-70%+ according to my reader it's just about screwing, and it's not interesting. No purpose in the slightest.

On a more positive note:

One of the things that was a lightning strike to me when beginning this book was how methodical and rhythmic this author is. There is an excellent cadence to her words and a truly enjoyed this throughout the novel. That's the largest credit I can give her.

Yet, as much talent went into this, it also is a big flaw. The novel is narrated by a man and a woman who are neighbors; there's a dark secret that possibly ties them together, though. The flaw itself is that the author cannot seem to take on the female voice or the male voice convincingly. Indeed, I shouldn't write this as a gender problem. It's a characterization problem. It's really bad when only two characters are narrating and you momentarily forget whether the woman or the man is narrating- even during salacious sex scenes!! Whose parts are w-h-e-r-e?

Ultimately this is the (sort of) love story between Ruben, an American man, and Marlene a French woman. The novel opens with a tone of desperation that is conveyed very well. Marlene has an addiction, she wants to get clean, and opioid withdrawals are simply terrible

Ruben is cop of sorts investigating narcotics, sex crimes, and sex trafficking. He lives through heavy things, seeing filthy shit, and his anger is related. Yet the reader gets the sense that his anger is produced via the hell that Ruben has been through as a foster child.

His drug sensitivity can be traced back to his heroin-addicted birth mother.

Marlene describes herself as a sex addict, and is a sex worker, which she considers better than a drug addict. I'm not going to insert my personal feelings there- but all addiction can be harmful.

We see throughout that Marlene craves sex nearly as much (or more) as she craves drugs, and that it's simply another high for her. Let me be frank (and perhaps offensive)- a drug OD might kill you quickly, but HIV/AIDS might kill you slowly, you can expose disease to others, and it can get you on meds that will kill your liver faster than Tylenol.

Sex is good and normal but has consequences like any action.

Even something as beautiful as exercise can become compulsive and addictive.

As the novel progresses, we begin to see why this "high" is important. Bits of Marlene's past are slowly, methodically revealed to the reader. None of it is especially surprising, but it is not as screamingly obvious as other books I've read.

Still, it's just not that cool. The book. The "mystery". The characters. It's simply not that intriguing.

Again, disliking this based solely on its erotic elements is poor criticism. But my stomach was turned and I was cringing throughout the novel. It was just... weird to read if I'm going to be totally honest.

That's about it. I wouldn't a single penny on this novel. I think this author could pack punches in the future. I think less "sex appeal" (or perhaps what this author considers sex appeal) would do the world better. To me, there was no appeal in it. It wasn't written in an appealing way, indeed, if I had written some of these scenes I'd feel embarrassed of myself- and I'm no prude. Not everyone would agree with me and that's cool.

The writer tries to inject other elements into the stories. These include Marlene's sisters and Ruben's foster brothers. However, it's NOT FLESHED OUT AT ALL. It's an annoyance.
Ultimately I did finish it but I really didn't want to. This is my first NetGalley experience; while I appreciate reading a book prior to its release, I don't have much good to say about this and I do not recommend it.

My encouraging words to this author- make your sex scenes less stupid. They made me do a "sadcringe" face. I don't like being unkind but I can't imagine anyone over 18, much less 21+ not giggling, frowning, or considering joining a convent or monastery because of this. Work on your rhythm and prose, because it's awesome. Write a mystery instead of an erotic novel.

I understand that the writer might be unaware of how NetGalley advertised this book as a simple contemporary mystery book; that's how it was given to me. If I'd seen 'erotica' I wouldn't have tried this.

Standing alone, this makes me mistrust NetGalley, particularly as their algorithm seems to run on feedback. I found this under mystery titles. If I had my choice I'd rate this on Goodreads and be done. This is a 1/5 for me. There was zero redeeming value and I've got no interest in what this author does in the future. If you like sex novels- go for it. Yet be ready to desire to become a nun or a monk... doing the sex with your dadbod husband or mom-jeans wearing wife is better than this.

Btw- what even is the mystery? We know what Ruben is thinking from like 1/10 of the way through the novel. When Marlene figures it out- well how on earth is she supposed to feel? It's disgusting. It's not even really a mystery. STILL, Marlene IS NOT written convincingly.

With all that trauma you expect a serious tragedy, which it is, but it isn't portrayed convincingly. She also seems to be a weak female character which I CANNOT STAND THESE DAYS. Women are strong.

Women are tough.

Women have power. Women can redeem themselves; even when it's not needed.

I could ramble forever over how bad this was. I'm not going to do anymore. I've done enough. The end.