It actually breaks my heart to give this a less than stellar review, especially as this is one of the arcs given to me by Berkley (Berkley, which is sooooo incredibly difficult to get approvals for!).

Anyway. This had a really good premise. Two bookish people falling in love. You've Got Mail (one of my all time faves!) inspired. Epistolary. So yes, so much promise! But the delivery rather left much to be desired.

The first part starts off with emails exchanged by the two leads. You see them fall in love with each other. But rather than interspersing the emails throughout the book, they're all dumped in the beginning. I like reading letters but man, even I was wondering when they would end. And they weren't bad letters, but just too much at one go.

And then you have the two main leads meet in person. They're introverted strangers. But they kiss right away. Nothing wrong with kissing, but even I was taken aback. The scenes were just pretty rough and clunky.

It's definitely not all bad though. It's a sweet book. I loved all the bookish references. Them talking about their fave reads, their date at the bookstore... that all made my bookworm heart happy. But a lot of it felt contrived, the complications that drew them apart the first time didn't feel credible, etc. Just too many holes and rough edges. Which makes me even more sad because the book has potential. It had promise to be a really sweet and memorable romance. And you'd see glimpses of it here and there but it needed refinement, editing. More plot fixing.

I highly recommend reading The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy if you're looking for a You've Got Mail, part epistolary romance you want to sink your teeth into. Now, THAT was scrumptious. This one will leave you wanting.

Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for giving me this e-arc to read.

I loved this book! The way that Lily and Nick connected, came apart and came back together is everything I want in a romance. Characters are well written, complex and easily identifiable.

The Neighbor Favor will appeal to plenty of people, and there is nothing inherently wrong with it. It just fell a bit flat and generic for me in an incredibly saturated genre. It's like the contemporary romance equivalent to table wine: palatable, everyone enjoys it, but nobody is really giving it a second thought beyond it being readily available.

I would easily recommend it for anyone who asks for a diverse contemporary romance with a secret identity trope and a lot of science fiction and fantasy literary references, but it isn't something that I will go out of my way to purchase, rave about or recommend unless prompted. I just think there is better out there in the genre. It does have a dual POV, a wide supporting cast, and secret identities. I'd categorize it as open door because there is at least one love scene that doesn't fade to black.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the advanced copy.

The Neighbor Favor is the debut adult romance novel from Kristina Forest, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with this book! This novel follows Lily, a nonfiction editorial assistant living in NYC who dreams of becoming a children’s book editor and Nick, Lily’s neighbor and, unbeknownst to her, also the author of Lily’s favorite fantasy novel who inspired her to want to be a children’s editor in the first place. The book follows a winding tale of email correspondence, friendship, attraction, and a mission to find a wedding date.

I really enjoyed the characters in this book. Lily was very relatable in getting stuck in a job where you aren’t appreciated, but struggling to get your big break and get out of it. On top of that, she has successful sisters and parents who are trying to “help” her with both her work and romantic life. Nick was entertaining and had an interesting backstory for why he used a pen name for his book and why he was still hiding who he really was from Lily. I loved seeing their relationship blossom and unfold. While there was miscommunication trope, I think it was handled well based off Nick’s past.

I greatly appreciated that this book focused so much on the lack of diversity in fantasy and in publishing. Nick and Lily are both Black and both are trying to bring stories to life where the characters are POC. Nick’s book was a fantasy with Black elves in it (which is rarely seen) and Lily was inspired by his book to bring more characters of color to children’s fantasy books so ALL kids can read books with people who look like them. It is a pretty big problem in the fantasy/publishing world in real life as well, so I appreciated this book having a commentary on that as well. Throughout the book, Nick and Lily talk about real books that are written/published by non-white authors, so I made a list of these to add to my tbr if I didn’t have them on there already!

Overall, a really cute romcom book. It has a sprinkling of spice, but really is more about their relationship and growth as individuals. I recommend if you want a cute romcom!

Will post a review to Instagram the week prior to release.

Bookish and awkward Lily Greene is tired of her sisters trying to set her up with men, so when she meets her hot new neighbor Nick and starts spending time with him (and falling for him at the same time), she hopes her sisters will finally get off her back. But, it turns out her and Nick already have a past…and he’s not being entirely truthful with Lily.

FIVE GLORIOUS STARS for THE NEIGHBOR FAVOR by Kristina Forest! This contemporary romance was perfect for my bookish NYC meet cute-loving heart!

Both of our main characters work in the book industry (LOVE), spend time exploring the city of New York (double love), and unknowingly spend months sending emails to each other (SWOON). There was just so much about this book that had me smiling ear to ear, and I think a lot of other readers are going to fall head over heels for Nick and Lily!

Huge thanks to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing, and Berkley Romance for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: February 28, 2023

I love an epistolary romance, so when this started off with pages of email exchanges between Lily and her favourite author N.R. Strickland, I was so thrilled.

And even better, adorably awkward Lily unknowingly falls for the same man twice. Her new handsome neighbour Nick is, you can guess, N.R. Strickland.

With Lily working as a nonfiction editor and Nick a fantasy author concealing his identity, there's plenty of bookish, nerdy charm in this one. Their shared passion for reading and escapism was really sweet and relatable. And I loved their individual career goals, both having to overcome personal obstacles to achieve them.

I did find their chemistry a little forced, though. The first kiss especially. But it's definitely a slow burn overall, Nick offering to help Lily find a wedding date (before her hilarious meddling sisters attempt again). It became repetitive with him continually pushing any potential romance away, but his reasonings were touching, without a doubt. It was a cute story!

Reviewed for Shelf Awareness:

Kristina Forest (Now That I've Found You) brings everything readers love about her young adult novels--warmth, depth of characterization, emotional intelligence--to her adult romance debut, The Neighbor Favor. When publishing assistant Lily sees that the author of her long out of print favorite fantasy novel has just launched a website, she impulsively emails him. What follows is a delightful six-month email exchange in which Forest sets up and subsequently knocks down a whirlwind epistolary romance.
Travel writer Nick isn't who he claimed to be five years ago* when he wrote the epic fantasy novel featuring Black elves and a devastating cliffhanger. Now, after years of obscurity, Nick's best friend and literary agent lands him a major publishing contract and he moves to New York City... right next to the woman he ghosted. Meanwhile, Lily needs a date to her sister's wedding and her handsome new neighbor is just the man to help her find one--if they can avoid falling for each other, that is.
The Neighbor Favor is a standout contemporary romance that proves a romance can be trope-driven and complex, flirty and emotionally rewarding. Forest adeptly sets up and resolves secrets, complicated family dynamics and romantic hangups. In one insightful scene, she captures the disorientation Nick feels at being welcomed into Lily's big, loving family after growing up with only his dysfunctional parents.
For fans of Farrah Rochon and Christina C. Jones, The Neighbor Favor is a joyous celebration of books, family and Black love.

This book was so cute! I loved all the characters and I really love the Violet and Iris will get their out books too!

I loved this slow burn strangers to friends to neighbors to lovers SOOOOOOOO much! The book starts off really strong with a series of email exchanges between publishing assistant, Lily and Nick, the guy who wrote her favorite fantasy book under a pen name. The banter between them is great but then he all of a sudden ghosts her only for them to end up neighbors in NYC.

Totally unaware that Nick is the guy she was emailing, Lily tries to be friends, even attempting to get Nick to be her fake date to her sister's wedding. While he doesn't agree at first, he does say he'll help her find someone else to go with.

Fair warning this one might not be for everyone because the characters don't actually get romantically involved until near the very end of the story but their friendship was just so good for me and they both had a lot of family baggage to work through to be in a place where they were ready for romance that it worked for me. Nick putting the breaks on things all the time was a tad annoying but he had his reasons so I forgave him.

Full of laughs, good sister relationships and a lot of emotional depth - not to mention a ton of fantasy book references sprinkled throughout. Good on audio too narrated by Keylor Leigh and Malik Rashad.

Much thanks to NetGalley, Berkley and @prhaudio for early digital copies in exchange for my honest review. This book was one of my most anticipated of 2023 and it did not disappoint!

This book was… okay. It started out strong, but really started to fizzle out toward the middle. It could have been about 100 pages shorter and would have been a stronger story. I just absolutely lost interest. 😖

Would still say it might be worth a try for other romance readers, but this book just wasn’t working for me.

I DEVOURED this book. It was, in my unprofessional opinion, SO STINKING CUTE. Now, I admit I am pretty lax in my romance rating. My main criteria are as follows: did I swoon? Did I crush on the love interest? Did I relate to the characters? And the answer to all of these is YES. Okay. I'm done with the all caps now.

First off, Lily was a sweetheart. She's introverted, loves fantasy, and is super awkward around men. Basically my spirit animal. And Nick, while I thought he was a hottie with a body, was also super relatable with his whole family situation. Some people might get frustrated with his choices, but I completely understand why he acted the way he did.

And then there was the conflict. When a relationship barrier popped up, both Nick and Lily were open and ready to work on it. Not once did I feel like throwing my kindle across the room. Did certain aspects of the story happen kinda conveniently? Yes, but it's a sweet romance, and I like to read about things working in the characters' favor.

Overall, I thought this was a super cute, quick romance! I adored the characters and am hoping that Kristina Forest will give us books for both Iris and Violet next!!

This book was SO good. It was fun, made me laugh, made me yell (at Nick) and then it made me giggle. At this point, I’m convinced that Kristina Forest can do NO wrong!!

I think I would have liked it more if the emails were spread out throughout the book. Lily and Nick didn't have any chemistry and all their interactions felt forced. It didn't make any sense that he ghosted her in the beginning and the plot and characters felt immature.

I loved every second of this feel-good love story!!!! Peak comfort and cuteness and so incredibly wholesome. Both Lily and Nick's characters are dimensional and so relatable, and avid readers and/or New Yorkers will appreciate the many nods to real-life culture. There was definitely potential for cheesiness with a story this cute, but instead, everything felt perfectly paced and realistic, and hopeful. Although a large part of the plot uses the miscommunication trope, it doesn't feel forced or frustrating or cringey in any way–it's honestly the first example of this trope that I've read that I didn't dislike. Plus we have friends-to-lovers, dual POVs, and lots of bookish inside jokes and references? I'm in love.

Kristina Forest really captures the sparkly magical feeling of falling in love for the first time and being enamored with every aspect of your person–wanting to support and comfort them while encouraging them to take on the things that scare them. I'm so happy that this is the start of a series with Lily and her sisters because I am not ready to leave this world and these characters. Justice for Violet!!!

Don't mind me hanging out in the Unpopular Opinion aisle on this one...

Ehhhhhh...I was excited to read this as an epistolary and penpal romance fan, but uh, Choices Were Made in writing this book that really impacted my reading of it. Let's get into it.

First, unlike the genius of, say, The Undertaking of Hart & Mercy, where we got letters woven in between plot occurrences, heightening the yearning and romance, this book.... Well, it dumped everything, every email, in the first fifteen percent of the book. It was info dumpy, it did not feel like organic interactions, it did not build a romance foundation for this reader. So the entire structure of the book was ghastly and nothing flowed. I think it would have added significant intrigue and "ooh" factor to show a dual timeline and not have Lily ghosted at the end of that big email dump.

The three sisters, one of whom is our protagonist, are named Lily, Iris, and Violet. Now, this could have been cute, I guess, but the way the prose worked or something just made it confusing. I saw more than one review calling our protagonist Iris rather than Lily because it's that easy to get confused.

The prose was...rough. The voice of the story was immature-sounding at the best of times.

Lastly, the male love interest? He doesn't like cats.

I will, however, praise the refreshing passages of the two main characters gushing about fantasy books, specifically enjoying Black characters in them. Take that, Tolkien fanboys.

We shared this book at our recent live Spring Book Preview event held for the Modern Mrs Darcy and What Should I Read Next communities, where 1200 readers joined us live, and twice that many watched the video replay in the follow week. The PDF from the event is linked below. Long story short: I've been a longtime fan of Kristina Forest's YA works, and am so excited she's writing for adults now! The publishing setting was the icing on the cake to a sweet story.

The Neighbor Favor is my first book by author Kristina Forest, but I can't wait to read more from her.

This book sort of reminds me of you've got mail, where two "book" people correspond via e-mail and form a relationship. This romcom was super cute and fun to read.

4.5 stars

I enjoyed this one. A very different romance. So Lily sends an email to her favorite author. He writes back. They go back and forth with many emails and then when Lily wants to talk to him in real life he ghosts her. Fast forward. They meet in real life but only Nick knows who Lily is. She has no idea he is the author she emailed with because nobody knows what the author looks like. They form a relationship but at some point he is going to have to tell her the truth and what will happen when he does? This one was very cute and I am already looking forward to this author's next book.

"Don't you Get tired?
"Tired of what?"
"Running from your life."

For this to be Kristina's first adult forray, this was excellent. I loved it. From start to finish. It hit all the romance tropes and notes.

I loved the premise of this book and that it started with emails between the two MCs. I honestly would’ve loved even more of the email content between the two of them.

I thought this was a really sweet book with the perfect amount of steam. Usually secrets/miscommunication isn’t really my vibe but it… surprisingly worked here?

The “will they or won’t they” kept me engaged and interested and rooting for these two to just freaking get together. I loved each character individually and both of them together. Lily’s sisters were hilarious and added the perfect amount of comic relief.

The pacing of this one was a little odd… it’s a slower burn and dragged a little for me in the middle but overall, this was really enjoyable and think it will be a hit!