"If moving across an ocean has taught me anything, it's that sometimes things in life are messy, but that doesn't mean they aren't worth it."

Lily Greene has always felt like she's not going anywhere in life. She's been working in publishing for years, but unfortunately, she works under the non-fiction division, and not her dream division, which is children's books. It doesn't help that her boss is absolutely terrible, and makes poor Lily feel overworked at the end of each workday. Thankfully, Lily's got her own fantasy books to read that give her an escape from reality. But what happens when she emails the author of her favourite fantasy book, N.R. Strickland...and he responds? And now they're email friends? The emails go back and forth for a while, and the spark is definitely there. But then, N.R. Strickland just ghosts her out of nowhere...and Lily's heartbroken over it. Months go by, and even though Lily's still healing from the ghosting author, Lily decides she's going to do her best to find a date to her sister's wedding. She's tired of her family meddling with her career choices and love life, and is now taking matters in her own hands. But, Lily doesn't know how flirt...so who does she go to for help? Nick Brown, the cute neighbour next door😏 BUT WAIT, Nick Brown is THE N.R. STRICKLAND, the one who ghosted Lily all those months ago? Nick's a fantasy author who goes by a pen name. He keeps his identity secret due to his toxic parents. He gets to know the quiet neighbour next door, and finds out she's the same Lily from the emails....the same girl he actually fell love with FROM those emails. So Nick knows, BUT LILY DOESN'T KNOW? OH NO. Nick's reasoning for ghosting Lily back then makes your heart break😭 As Nick helps Lily find a date, the two definitely have sparks growing between them. BUT LILY DOESN'T KNOW THAT NICK IS N.R. STRICKLAND. AKA the author who led her on and ghosted her. OH NO. OH NO. OH NO. How is she going to handle the news? Uh....GO READ THIS BOOK TO FIND OUT. YOU WON'T REGRET IT. IT'S SOO GOOD.

Miscommunication and pretending to be someone you’re not (or hiding who you are) are two of my least favorite tropes in a romance, but it seemed to work in this one. I liked both Lily and Nick and I always like books set in the publishing industry. Their chemistry had me rooting for them which is the most important thing for me in a romance.

It reminded me a little of You’ve Got Mail. And I liked that it went a little off course from the normal romance plotline, but I’ll leave that for you to discover. Another thing I liked was that in addition to the romance, Lily struggled and grew in her career and had a wonderful relationship with her sisters and friends. It was well rounded.

This was hit-and-miss for me. While I enjoyed most of it, there were some dull moments. I enjoyed their email correspondence before they met in person. But, her entire job was monotonous. After hearing about it so much, I was bored. Moreover, I believe it would be a little bit better if it were a little bit shorter because some portions didn't appear to be necessary. I found her sisters to be a little annoying, and I wouldn't say I liked that she was unwilling to stand up for herself until the end. I would have preferred to see more of their future together if that section had occurred earlier. They have such a strong relationship, and it is obvious.

I thought this book was so cute and fluffy. I’d previously read a YA novel by this author and while I thought it was sweet, I definitely enjoyed this novel more. I loved that this book featured a BIPOC couple. As someone who works in an urban library, I love the representation wand the fact that both characters are book lovers.

A great concept, but I really did not like this book. The catfishingesque storyline was a bit offputting. Even though it was billed as dual POV, it largely focused on the unforgivable male MCs issues. Which would have been fine, but the conflict faced by the female MC paled in comparison, including her very brief anger towards the male MC and his incredibly toxic and manipulative behavior.

I’m not sure why but this book was not the best for me. I really loved the premise of the book and I loved the cover but the characters did not seem like they have that instant chemistry. It felt very forced and I started to think the letters were childish. I wish I liked it more

Happy to do a favor like this. I enjoy when two people fight their attraction to each other. This was a cute romcom that was enjoyable from beginning to end.

I loved The Neighbor Favor so much!! The characters of Lily and Nick were written so perfectly! Both were so realistic and relatable. Nick broke my heart over and over again because he didn't think he was good enough when in reality, he deserved all of the love in the world! He was such a cinnamon roll. I also really enjoyed Lily's family! They were all such wonderful people. I thought this book was so charming, like a warm hug.

I’ve never read Kristina Forest before but I think I need to get some of her YA after finishing this. In her first novel for adult readers Forest gives us a charming tale about two neighbours who fall for each other without realizing they’ve connected online before. I loved everyone in this book and found it to be just the right amount of romance and steam mixed with light comedy. Highly recommend this one!

This was such a sweet, heartfelt romcom. It’s a classic setup – falling in love via email with someone you then meet in real life but only one of you knows it – and it hits all of the beats you’d expect from that. It may not reinvent the wheel, but as romance readers know, sometimes you want all those familiar beats, you want to just focus on the fun and the swoon without worrying about plot because you know it’s all going to be okay. If I had one complaint, it would be that the initial falling-in-love was too fast for me, but once Lily and Nick start falling IRL, I felt every heartbeat.

My thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cute little adult romance book that gave me you got mail vibes. I think it was pretty crappy that Nick didn't tell Lily he was the author who ghosted her, but I think the author revived that aspect of the story. Overall enjoyed this one!

The Neighbor Favor was so adorably charming and a cute contemporary romance! I think this was the author’s first adult romance, before she had done YA, and this was such a sweet surprise with two bookish main characters!

Lily is a shy, bookworm who is being overworked as an editor’s assistant for an uncaring boss. She dreams of being a children’s book editor one day and loved reading fantasies. One day while trapped on a subway, she notices her favorite fantasy author—who wrote one book and disappeared—finally has a website with an email form. So she reaches out and can’t believe her luck when he responds back! Nick is the man behind the screen and he and Lily form an email/penpal friendship that carries on for months! They don’t share photos of themselves, Nick never gives his name (he writes under a pseudonym) but they share so much more and become friends. One day when they’re going to finally have a live chat, Nick ends up ghosting Lily and she’s crushed.

Months later, Lily meets her new charming neighbor who ends up being Nick, she just doesn’t realize it since his author name was a pseudonym when they did chat. Lily and Nick feel pulled to one another right away, but when she makes a move and invites him back to her place, he realizes who she is and ends up saying they can’t be more. Lily ends up asking Nick for help instead, in scoring her a date for her sister’s wedding. Lily says she needs help in flirting and offers to help Nick furniture shop for his apartment in return.

These two were so cute together! I love bookish characters: Nick is a fantasy author and Lily works in the publishing field, with both being avid book lovers as well. I loved seeing them book shop and talk books and Lily’s discussion about female fantasy authors was so great too. The secret identity-penpal trope is always a fun one and I just loved the angst layer that added to their growing friendship. While I do think he should have told her sooner his actual identity, I can see why he held out too. I loved Lily’s family and just the overall slowburn of the story.

I received an ARC from the publisher (Berkley Romance). All thoughts in this review are my own.

Lily found an email address for her favorite obscure fantasy author, and sent a message, just in case it was legit. But when he ghosts her instead of meeting her on a video chat, Lily is embarrassed and frustrated but knows she needs to move on. Her meddling sisters won't stop pushing men into her way, and she makes a bet that she can find her own date for the family wedding. If only she could find the courage to talk to the hot guy down the hall. Little does she know, he's the author she fell for.

The storyline is fairly classic. Nick figures out pretty quickly who Lily is, and while I know that holding the secret is the conflict issue that has to be held off so there's drama on the book, it drives me nuts when the characters withhold that info instead of getting it handled. I know it's part of the trope, but it still drives me nuts. BUT! The writing is good, and the story is well done. It's fun and mostly light-hearted, with just the right amount of angst. There's a decent amount of smutty goodness too. Really sweet book.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley in return for sharing my thoughts on this book. Thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity!

Solidly enjoyable albeit a little long and drawn out.

Part 1 is epistolary yasss -- this is such a fun way to get engaged in a relationship!

And throughout Forest pays tribute to amazing contemporary BIPOC fantasy/sci fi writers 🔥🔥

I like stories about writers and editors, but can find them cliche sometimes, and I didn't get that feeling from this at all. Secret identity (and not coming clean about it) isn't my favorite trope, but overall, I still enjoyed the book!

Check this out if you like
❤️ epistolary
❤️ characters who love books
❤️ city living

First of all, the cover is beautiful and so striking - love the yellow and purple together. This is a lovely, sweet romcom between a shy publishing employee and her favorite writer. I've read all of Kristina's books, and they are always incredibly sweet and fun. Loved the inside baseball of the publishing plot lines and commentary on the industry. Lily and Nick are a very cute slow burn romance.

this was a cute and fun rom com, i just didn’t find myself completely invested in the story

the entire premise was interesting to me and i was really excited to read it but it somewhat fell flat in a way?

The Neighbor Favor was such a surprise. I enjoyed this romance in the sense that it is more mature and the issues are real and relatable. The reason I did not rate it higher is because there were times that the story felt like it was repetitive and could not move past the roundabout. The romance was also very PG, nothing wrong with that, just keep that in mind. The characters were cute and I appreciated that they were both bookworms.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked that the emails allowed the reader to get to know the characters while they were getting to know each other. I really loved how much the different personalities of Lily’s family members were developed and I can’t wait to read what seems to be Violet’s story next. I also thought it was great that they all had flower names but it never came across as cheesy, it was just endearing. I appreciated that the author managed to do a good job of portraying both Lily’s “perfect” family and Nick’s not-so-great family without turning it into a dramatic element to create conflict between them. It was refreshing to not have the drama stem from characters not understanding each other’s family life - they both acknowledged their different experiences and how that affected them. I did find some parts of the book slow, especially in the earlier parts after it switched over from the emails to their lives in New York, but the overall flow was enjoyable.

I listened to this title as an ALC through Libro.fm.! I really enjoyed the audio book and we ended up purchasing this and still hand selling it in our independent bookstore! I loved it!

This was a cute read that left me smiling. Both of the main characters find their way to each other, to their confidence, and to achieving their dreams. I loved the references to the fantasy reads in the book - and I am now curious to read some!