Short synopsis: Lily Greene is the least accomplished member of her family, when she randomly emails the author of her favorite fantasy indie author, and the connection is instant. Until he ghosts her. Nick is the author using a pen name, and just moved to New York, and finds out his neighbor is Lily the girl he ghosted. But she has no idea.

My thoughts: Oh my goodness, I just adored this one. A book about authors and editors, along with family drama and expectations. The emails sucked me in right from the beginning, and the chemistry was so organic.

I’m a huge fan of books about books so seeing a look inside the publishing and writing process (especially the lack of representation) was so well done. Also, the date idea to the book store was the cutest.

This one has a bit of everything, but probably what I loved the most was the character growth. Both had some big issues to deal with, and while not always graceful they both worked individually to improve. They were vastly different people at the end than the beginning.

Read if you love:
* Sweet romances
* Pen pals to friends to lovers
* Bookstore dating
* BIPOC rep
* Character growth
* NYC setting

Cute! Lovable characters, a You've Got Mail-inspired plot, and so many great fantasy books recommended *within* this book. Can't wait to read the follow-up!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the eARC!

Lily has historically been unlucky in love with an endless string of bad dates. Books are the only thing that have been close to her heart, which is why she decides to send an email to the author of her favorite book. The two email back and forth for a while and make plans to meet. Instead, he ghosts Lily, leaving her heartbroken. Still recovering from being strung along, Lily turns her attention back to men in the real world (her hot new neighbor).

This was a super fun read--definitely an unlikely story, but I found it completely endearing. If you're into Hallmark movies, give this one a shot!

Lily has been talking to her favorite author for weeks. Who hasn't wanted to chat with their favorite author? And fall in love? Great premise. I did not like Nick ghosting Lily - though I do appreciate how it works into the plot.
I enjoyed the fake dating - one of my favorite tropes.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I found this book to be cute but not as good as I had hoped. Great characters, but the story moved too slowly for me.

A cute story, but I am not the targeted age group for this novel and felt young. The email correspondence did feel a little long. But it was still a cute story.

This is a cute romance novel about individuals that start off as sort of pen pals and bond over a love of fantasy novels and eventually meet in reallife.

After getting ghosted by the author she was falling for over email, Lily finds herself attracted to her new neighbor Nick… who happens to be said author.

I really liked Now That I’ve Found You, so I had high hopes for this…and I was kinda let down. I didn’t really find Nick’s reasons for staying anonymous as compelling as I should have making his ghosting seemed unnecessary - which without the ghosting the whole book was unnecessary. Does that make sense? Anyways, it was just meh.

This book was so fun. The plot was crazy and I was so excited to see how they could possibly resolve such a crazy situation. I found the plot so original and I just loved it. I definitely recommend this one! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Lilly dreams of becoming an editor of Children’s books, but she feels stuck. She is stuck in her job, stuck in her personal life and stuck compared to her sisters. Her comfort food is the fantasy novel that she takes with her everywhere. On a whim she emails the author and they strike up a correspondence. The email section of the book is actually my favorite part of the entire book. I absolutely loved their correspondence!
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Then, he ghosts her. Now let me tell you, miscommunication is my least favorite troupe but it didn’t bother me in this because I did enjoy the story. I enjoyed this one and I’m really hoping for books about her sisters!
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Huge thank you to @berkleypub @berittalksbooks @thephdivabooks @dg_reads and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I didn’t personally vibe with the MC. I felt there were some immature moments for their age, and them finding each other as neighbors semi pulled me out of the story. While a work of fiction, it just didn’t seem believable how they found each other again.

This book was just so insanely cute and sweet. As a bookworm I love rom coms with a bookish lead and I adored Lily and Nicks story.

This book was a miss for me unfortunately! I rated it 2.5, rounded up, sorely because the ending was nice-ish. I felt absolutely no connection to either of the main characters or any of the secondary characters, and this had one of my most despised tropes of LYING which I felt the love interest never really redeemed himself after that. But bonus points for character growth and the love interest going to therapy lmao.

💛 REVIEW: The Neighbor Favor 💛

⭐⭐⭐.5

SUMMARY: Lily Greene has always felt that she falls short of her sisters, who seem successful both in work and in love. She’s an editorial assistant to a demanding boss with no chance of moving up, but her life suddenly changes when she cold emails her favorite fantasy author. Not expecting a reply, Lily is stunned when he actually responds. The two begin a regular correspondence that starts to feel like something more, when he suddenly ghosts her. Months later, Lily still can’t seem to get over what could have been when Nick, a mysterious new neighbor (who seems weirdly familiar), moves into her building…

This was a low-stakes romcom about mistaken identities and taking a risk when it comes to finding love.

Read it if you’re looking for:

💛 BIPOC main characters
💛 Books about the publishing industry
💛 Friends to lovers
💛 Email banter
💛 Low-drama storytelling

My favorite part was the initial correspondence between Lily and Nick; their banter was charming and entertaining to read. What I didn’t love is that the characters read as much younger than their late twenty-something ages. 🤷‍♀️

This was a light-hearted book that could easily have been a made-for-Netflix movie. If that’s what you’re in the mood for, check it out!

Once I got past the pages and pages of email correspondence, I finally connected with this book. Don't get me wrong, I understand why the email correspondence was there, the novelty of it just wore rather quickly for me. Nick and Lily's story though mostly cute, did lose me from time to time. I kept wanting more depth from the two for them. It all seemed to be scratching the surface for me. That said, I want to see what Forest does in her next book following Lily and her sisters.

I loved the premise of a book editor and a fantasy writer falling in love! But it's a bit of a "You've Got Mail" situation — they first meet via email and strike up a correspondence! But when they meet later in real life, Nick keeps his identity a secret from Lily. I enjoyed the premise and the supporting characters, but the middle of the story dragged a bit for me. I also feel like the reconciliation from the "third act breakup" was somewhat rushed. I'm looking forward to reading more by Kristina Forest!

This was an adorable and well done romance! The premise of a book lover who works in the publishing world and a fantasy writer with his second chance to publish his book had a smidge of rags-to-riches and a nice redemption arc. The third act break-up wasn’t too dramatic - paving the way for a realistic reunion. There were a few extra storylines that felt a little distracting at times, but overall really enjoyable! I’m looking forward to the next sisters story. Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book to read & review.

This book was okay. It started out really cute, but then I don't know what happened. I enjoyed Lily, but Nick was annoying. The writing style didn't work for me.

My favorite romance of the year so far! I'm not usually a fan of epistolary novels, but the way the author approached it was really engaging and easy to get into. The romance between Nick and Lily was so sweet to watch and I love that there was no third act breakup! If you are a book nerd who loves romance you will definitely love this book.

This book was great! It was relatable, sweet, and a fun read. It kept a smile on my face and I’m glad that I had the opportunity to read it.