A dreamy romance about two high school ex friends who have secretly always carried a torch for one another. Grumpy meets sunshine in a ex-friends to lovers high school fake dating extravaganza. Both of these characters were dreamy and relatable. Books like this really do remind me of being in high school as a dramatic and frightened gay teen. I loved the humor in this one, Cleo was a gem!

wow wow wow this book all i can said wow. the romance was so beautiful i wanted more i needed more this book was so good.

TW: Parental Death, Cursing, Under Age Drinking

Tropes: Opposites Attract, Friends-Enemies-Friends-Dating, Girl Next Door, LGBTQIA+, RomCom

Blurb: A heart warming, grin inducing romcom for any WLW to love!

This was a super cute book to read. Extremely outside of my comfort zone (my go to are thrillers, horrors, and smut). HOWEVER, it still made me laugh, smile, and feel all warm & fuzzy on the inside. Our FMC is a dashing horror movie buff, aspiring film director, and overall goofball. Our FLI is the athletic, girl-next-door, popular girly girl. Clearly, opposites attract here! A black cat and bad bass barbie type of way. I went through ALL of the emotions reading this and actually ended up rooting for FMC & FLI to have their HEA. I won’t spoil all the details. I would highly suggest this to anyone who’s love language is romcoms & horror movies!

I received a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a delightful YA sapphic romance. I'm an absolute sucker for a contrived plot, and I loved the combination of second-chance relationships and fake dating. It felt appropriate that Cleo and Marianne had a lot of growing up to do as they were figuring out how much they actually wanted to kiss each other.

As someone distantly removed from high school, the settings and moods felt real enough and the supporting cast was great. Daniel evolved and surprised me throughout the film, while the cheerleader Kiki was a delight with some of her hidden depth.

I'm excited to recommend this to others and read more from Cecilia Vinesse.

If you’re looking for a great f/f story and you are horror movie buff, then this one is for YOU.

A cute story that has great character representation. It reminded me of the 1999 movie “Drive me Crazy” and “Pretty in Pink” with the quick horror movie one liners of Randy Meeks from “Scream”.

Adorable YA romcom with all the delicious tropes, The Girl Next Door isn’t just a fun romp through first heartache and new love but a beautiful story about two girls facing uncertain futures when the rug is pulled out beneath them. And not just with their relationships but emotionally. Marianne is fighting a mighty battle with her anxiety disorder that’s come back with a vengeance, and Cleo’s own never-addressed demons from her childhood are nipping at her heels. As the girls become more and more enmeshed in their fake dating scheme, their mental health starts to unravel, and suddenly they’re not just teaming up in a misguided plot to get their exes back but clinging to each other for survival. This might be a fake dating turned love story, but it’s really about two childhood friends finding their way back to each other and remembering what it means to support the person you love. For all the fun, there’s a lot more heart and some truly breathtaking moments.

The first two sentences of THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Cecilia Vinesse are fabulous: “I have a rule. I never close my eyes during horror movies.” They hooked me. I was in! But then the main character Cleo overused film imagery and language so much that I found it almost impossible to read--and I teach screenwriting. I actually put the story aside and thought I might not finish it, but then I made myself keep reading. Ultimately, we see that Cleo needs to engage in life outside of her film obsession; however, I would argue that cutting back on some of Cleo's narration imagery and references would be wise. It obscures the rest of the story and overshadows interesting characters. What ultimately kept me reading was Marianne, the girl next door. Even though the reader is privy to a different side of Marianne, we hear about her smooth ways with girls and how she's made out with so many. That's a rare character in YA! Big props for the lack of coming out stories and the popular, everyone-wants-to-be-them-or-date-them girls being queer.

Honestly, as an OG lover of YA this was a difficult read for me. Writing was mediocre at best, and the plot was predictable and honestly try to hard. Every character was in likable.

DNF 50%
The writing distracted me too much. There was too much detail and name dropping on franchises that I would read without actually reading the text because it bored me. I wanted to hear less about what Cleo saw and more interactions. I liked when she talked about her old future plans with Daniel before they broke up. I feel like readers gained insight into how close and connected Daniel and her really were. I liked this because it made the audience gain empathy for the cheater. It made him more dimensional.

My heart cannot handle how much I loved this sweet coming-of-age and wonderfully queer romance.

Cleo Ferrara is your classic high school film club nerd, with a classic high school film club boyfriend - until Daniel breaks up with her for the school's head cheerleader, Kiki Pearson. And, as it turns out, Kiki Pearson has broken up with her girlfriend, Marianne Lacerda, who just so happens to be Cleo's nextdoor neighbor and ex-best-friend. After a falling out in middle school, they haven't really had much to do with each other... until circumstance throws them back together. After all, what better way to get back at their exes, than by fake dating each other?

This is a classic friends to enemies to lovers romance, and I am 100% here for it. I loved the high school theatre student backdrop. And all of the classic horror references! So good! It's almost impossible to provide a critical, well-thought-out review for this book, because it was so enjoyable.

I think what I love the most about this book is not just that it's a queer romance, but how warmly it embraces its queerness. There is not even a hint of homophobia in these pages, and though it is important to acknowledge the struggles of coming of age where it relates to queerness, sometimes it is just so refreshing to exist in a story where it is not only okay to be queer but celebrated by everyone.

What more can I say? This book was a 5/5 for me. It's impossible to read this book and not leave off feeling hopeful. If you need a warm hug in the form of a book, this is it. I will 100% be purchasing a copy of this book for my library!

Firstly I really enjoyed this! I loved the fake dating Trope and all of the horror movie references! I loved the characters and how deep their connection was! If you are looking for a easy, cute read and love horror movies then you will love this book!

For me, this was just a run of the mill YA Queer ROM COM. I found myself skimming a few sections because I could tell where it was going and I wasn't hooked into the story.

The Girl Next Door by Cecilia Vinesse is a sweet, interesting and over a fun read.

I really enjoyed this sweet, unassuming, honest love story.
This was my first book by Vinesse and I truly enjoyed her style and the tone overall.
The characters are very well thought out. Each of them have a depth and realism to them that drew me in to this wonderful story.
Cecilia Vinesse draws readers in with easy going, lovable characters and intricate story lines, but once she has you she will not let go until the end.

If you are looking for some good contemporary then this is it.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You Netgalley and Quill Tree Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC!

Film club nerd Cleo Ferrara’s senior year is not going per her storyboard... especially when her boyfriend Daniel cheats on her and then dumps her. Cleo and Daniel are partners, they love films and everything to do with it, they were planning on going to film school together and take Hollywood by storm, yet the only storm here is Cleo trying to figure out what happened to her. The girl Daniel cheated on her with? Well it was Kiki, head cheerleader... and Cleo’s neighbor/ex best friend Marianne’s girlfriend. Cleo and Marianne use to be best friends but then Marianne left Cleo to hang out with popular kids and become best friends/girlfriends with Kiki. But now they are both reeling from the fact that their significant other’s cheated on them with each other. When Cleo doesn’t have.a ride to school and forgets that Daniel no longer drives her, she is forced to finally face Marianne. After years of not talking and just existing as neighbors, Cleo and Marianne start talking once again. Marianne and Cleo decide to start fake dating when Kiki see’s them out and assumes they are dating, Cleo knows Marianne wants to win Kiki back and Cleo just wants to see Daniel miserable, but what starts off as fake dating soon becomes very real feelings as they spend more time together and rekindle their old friendship. Marianne begins spending more time helping Cleo with her theater production and film project as well as going to dances together and just talking to one another, but things are always complicated when you start a fake relationship. Can Marianne and Cleo get their picture perfect movie ending or is it better left off screen and ambiguous? This was an absolutely adorable and fun read, I LOVED IT SO MUCH! The story was funny and Cleo was a great protagonist (from a fellow horror movie lover). Marianne and Cleo had so much chemistry and their banter and support for one another was adorable, seriously I can’t get enough of them. The story was so great and I would absolutely recommend it for fans of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Everything Leads to You, or just adorable funny sapphic rom coms!

*Thanks Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books, Quill Tree Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

4/5 stars! I really enjoyed this cinemaesqe rompy coming-of-age story. I'm a big film nerd and really liked all the film references scattered throughout the storyline. I really enjoyed Cleo and Marianne and their former friends-enemies-fake dating lover-??? was fun to watch unfold. My only gripe with the storing was that pacing fell flat at times.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishing for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought the concept of this was really cute and interesting. I didn't get a lot of the film references, because I'm personally not a film buff, but I appreciated the ones I did understand. I definitely liked all the horror references. There were some strange details and stereotyping at times. The story was definitely a slow burn to the point where it dragged at times, but it was worth the read. I thought it was a really sweet story and I enjoyed the characters. I thought the plot twist and the ending were good!