3.5 stars

Two neighbors-at-war band together to stop a dangerous criminal in their midst in this new novel by Freya Sampson.

Six very different tenants living in a historic apartment building are about to be evicted by their greedy landlord. Nosy Neighbors is told in the alternating POVs of Miss Dorothy, who lives in apartment two and is nosy and a stickler for the rules and Kat, a young sub-letter with pink hair. When one of the tenants is attacked in his home, the group begins keeping watch and working together to save their apartment building from being demolished. As they work together, secrets are exposed and wishes are shared. Can this rag-tag group become friends and save their home?

I really enjoyed The Last Chance Library by Sampson and, while this one seemed to drag a bit and my interest wandered, I enjoyed the characters and getting a peak into their lives. I look forward to reading more from Freya Sampson.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Nosy Neighbors is story that focuses on the unlikely friendship between Kat Bennett, a troubled 25-year-old, and Dorothy Darling, a 77-year-old curmudgeon who has lived in the crumbling Shelley House for decades. When the building faces demolition, Kat and Dorothy must put aside their differences to try and save their home. The dynamic between the two women is endearing and highlights how connections can form in the most unexpected ways.

The heart of the novel lies in its exploration of found family, forgiveness, and the process of moving forward, even later in life. Though the book is filled with quirky and colorful characters, and its focus on relationships offers plenty of warmth and heart, the mystery element is a bit underwhelming. The pace is slower and the plot was a bit too cozy and light on suspense for my personal liking.

This was an enjoyable read for me, but it didn't pull me in. Any time I listened to it, I found myself entertained, but not so much that I couldn't put it down. I do like Freya Sampsons writing and will read more from her in the future.

There is a lot of grief in this novel and it overwhelms what was billed as a fun cozy mystery. I enjoyed the characters, but the mystery totally fell flat. I really wanted a print version of Only Murders in the Building and that was not to be.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for providing me this Digital Advanced Readers Copy of the book!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Nosy Neighbors by Freya Sampson. I enjoyed the warmth of Shelley House's community, with its quirky characters and charming dynamics, especially Dorothy and her trusty notebook. The story’s themes of forgiveness and redemption were woven with tenderness and humor, though the plot leaned heavily on familiar tropes, making it predictable at times and occasionally slowing the pace. While some characters felt more like charming stereotypes, Nosy Neighbors still captured the spirit of community beautifully, offering a cozy, feel-good read that fans of Sampson's work will likely appreciate.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for this ARC for an honest review.

Such a fun book! I loved the protagonists, the building, the heartbreaking back stories. Wonderful ending. Perfect!

Told from the alternating perspective of two women, Dorothy and Cat, we learn about the residents of Shelley House. Cat, its newest resident, is twenty-five year old subtenant of older gentleman, Joseph, who lives there with his dog. Dorothy, is the building's longest tenant, living alone and keeping watch over the residents from behind her lace curtains and with a notebook in hand. When the tenants are faced with eviction and the building threatened to be torn down, Joseph takes up a campaign to stop destruction of the building. But after Joseph is attacked in his home, Cat and Dorothy work together--and occasionally with the other residents--to figure out what happened and to save Shelley House.

This book wasn't what I expected at all. With its cute cover of two women looking through a mail slot and description of neighbors banding together to find an attacker, I was expecting some type of modern, somewhat cozy mystery. Instead, this novel is more general fiction, akin to something like Anxious People by Frederik Backman, than say Jesse Q. Sutanto's Vera Wong's Advice. There is some mystery in this book, but that's more of a subplot, or a plot device to tell us about all the characters, in what's really a character-driven novel. That's not to say this book wasn't good--it was--but it was a lot sadder than I was expecting and mismarketed. In the end, I did enjoy the novel, and thought the narrator did a fantastic job, but it perhaps should not have been advertised as quite so upbeat.

Thanks to PRHA for my audiobook of this book and Berkley for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4 stars -8/10

Dorothy has lived in Shelly House for 34 years. She spends her day watching her neighbors and recording all their actions, especially those that are questionable and in her opinion in violation of the tenant rules. She is especially annoyed with the man across the hall to whom she hasn't spoken in 30 years, the man upstairs with the noisy dog, the young man with loud music and the scent of marijuana, and the young woman who is constantly fighting with various boyfriends, When Kat, a pink haired & tattooed young woman with lots of secrets, moves in to the flat across the hall, things really start to happen.

If you are a fan of Olive Kitteridge or Britt-Marie or Iona Iverson, you will love this book, As with the others, the main character is irascible and annoying at times, but full of wisdom and secrets. By about halfway through, the reasons become clear and I was totally in love with this character. and really, everyone in the building This is a great story about misunderstandings and grudges. It's full of heart and emotion, sometimes eliciting laughter, sometimes tears. There are plenty of twists and turns that kept me turning pages. I hated for it to end. Loved it!!!

Nosy Neighbors is a cozy novel about forgiving yourself and others. Set outside of London, apartment residents in an aging, regal structure are given notice that they are being evicted and the building will be demolished. The main story examines the guarded personalities who live in the building and do more to aggravate each other than cooperate with each other. It takes the youngest residents to rally the oldest residents to begin the eviction fight. Although the characters are easy for the reader to relate to, there are two plot issues readers may take exception with: how one character's estranged mother trespasses into the wrong apartment in the middle of the night to deliver a letter and another main character who reveals he has been receiving cancer treatments. Overall, the book is a good reading escape and includes a guide for discussion groups.

3.5: I enjoyed the bizarre characters in this story. I felt that the writing was not of the highest quality, but overall I enjoyed this. It was said to be a cozy mystery and I feel that is not what it was, but I still read it quickly. I think that was more of a marketing strategy. I could definitely see myself picking up another book by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an advanced copy of this novel. I highly enjoyed it and will be recommending it to others.

Dorothy Darling has lived in the apartment building Shelley House in the English town of Chalcot for many decades and she is the oldest resident at 77 years old. She keeps track and and eye on everything and everyone that lives in Shelley House. Another longtime resident is Joseph, who has some kind of a longtime issue with Dorothy for unclear reasons. Dorothy rarely leaves her home, which is linked to her trauma of the loss of her young daughter.
Kat is a twenty-five year old woman with a troubled past who replies to an ad for a room rental at Joseph's apartment, and they become good friends, and even her beloved dog can stay. Joseph is one of the residents who is an active participant in the actions against the demolition of Shelley House by the landlord, who wants to build fancy expensive apartments on the grounds of Shelley House.

But when Kat comes home one day, she finds Joseph unconscious on the floor with a massive bleading head wound. What happened to him, was it a burglar or something else? Kat is determined to find out what was behind this, and when more strange things and threats to residents she teams up with Dorothy, to protect their beloved Shelley House from demolition, and it seems that the action against the possible demolition of Shelley House and the threats have a link..

Nosy Neighbors is a funny and cozy read with everything in it to make it a good book! It is originally a British book by British author Freya Sampson which is now also available in an US edition, and this is the type of books that I like, because altough it is a mystery, it also has that typically British cosy style of writing which has a funny undertone to it. The storyline is just magnificent. It is mysterious, cosy and funny at the same time. The characters are just as magnificent as the plot, with Dororthy and Kat as the lead characters in the story. They both have a tragic past, and altough they dislike eachother at the start, in the end they team up and form a close bond to protect their beloved Shelley House and its residents. The mystery part was just great and well worked out, as every other part of the book.

I found this book very charming, entertaining and fun. I loved reading it and I truly recommend it!

I loved this book! It’s perfect for fans of only murder in the building. It is genuine and heartfelt. I loved the cantankerous Dorothy who is mostly a shut in who is obsessed with her neighbors. (As someone who is also extremely nosy, she was my favorite character.) I wish there was a sequel to these characters!

I did the audiobook for this and the narrator was wonderful.

A grumpy protagonist with a sad backstory. The plot is cheesy and predictable but still cute; I love a bit of camaraderie over a shared cause.

Cute story from the “quirky group including elderly protagonist solves a mystery” line! Was not my favorite that I’ve read - I tended to feel like characters’ motivations and backstories felt forced and contrived, with more than their fair share of general angst - but it’s a sweet premise of a found family banding together to save their home (and each other in the process).

3.5, rounded up. If you like Frederik Backman then you'll probably enjoy this--it has similar cozy vibes and a Ove-like, grumpy protagonist with a sad backstory. The plot is cheesy and predictable but still cute; I love a bit of camaraderie over a shared cause.

I guess the easiest way to categorize Nosy Neighbors would be a cozy mystery/save the ‘hood mashup, but really the storytelling approach here was more like everything but the kitchen sink.

You have the unlikeable curmudgeon who sits in her front window noting goings on she takes issue with throughout each day, you have the new resident who has some sort of history with the area that takes forever to disclose, you have another neighbor who was attacked in his house (thus, the mystery aspect), you have everyone who has pretty much avoided each other the entire time they’ve lived in the same building finally coming together for the common cause of hopefully stopping it from being redeveloped, you have potential love interests and long-held secrets, and on and on and on.

This wasn’t bad, but it definitely could have been whittled down 50-60 pages or a trope or two been eliminated in order for me to enjoy it more because I have been slogging through it for the past two days.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVE this book!
This book gave me the happy feels that i got when reading Clare Pooley's books.
An older woman living in England who is trying to save her building from destruction - the characters are likeable, the setting is terrific and the ending made me cheer!

In Nosy Neighbors, an unlikely duo teams up to uncover the culprit behind a series of break-ins at their apartment building, all while striving to save it from impending demolition. This engaging story unfolds through the alternating perspectives of Dorothy and Kat. Dorothy, a 77-year-old woman, has called Shelly House home for over three decades. Known for her nosy and cranky demeanor, she meticulously follows her daily routine of walking the grounds, always keeping a keen eye on the happenings within the building. On the other hand, Kat, a 25-year-old newcomer to Shelly House, initially hesitates to connect with her neighbors.
Set against a charming backdrop, "Nosy Neighbors" introduces readers to a quirky cast of characters, each adding depth and flavor to the narrative. The story beautifully balances moments of heartbreak and hope, as Dorothy and Kat navigate their differences to work together toward a common goal. Their journey not only uncovers the mystery behind the break-ins but also brings them closer to their community, revealing the strength and resilience of their bond.
I had the pleasure of receiving a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. "Nosy Neighbors" is a delightful and heartwarming read that captures the essence of unlikely friendships and the power of community.