It was a great book, the story is amazing! I cant wait to read more from this author! I gave this book 4/5 stars, it was very well written and i just fell in love with the characters. I want to keep this spoiler free so i wont same much else but it was very enjoyable and i highly recommend

This was a cute and fun rom-com! I was definitely attracted to the girl-boss vibes of the FMC Deanna as the founder of a social media app with her sister. River, their childhood neighbor, has always had a huge crush/infatuation to Lexi, and when he comes back to town, Deanna and him strike up a wager over the merits of love. If Deanna can prove what he’s feeling for Lexi isn’t love, he will stop pursuing her. The only problem will be if these two can avoid catching feelings for each other in the process. I was worried about having River switch from one sister to the other, but it was done well and was very believable!

Readers can expect:
💙Girl(s) Next Door
🩷Bet Against Love
💙STEMinist FMC (developer of dating app); Boss lady!
🩷Artist MMC
💙Opposites Attract
🩷Transfer of Interest (childhood crush on one sister, falls for the other)
💙Dual POV
🩷On-page Steamy scenes/k!nk exploration
💙SoCal setting/scenery

Really cute story with the perfect amount of spice. Loved the main characters and the way they played off of each other. It's a little more dialogue heavy then I like which led to some confusion over which character was speaking. Overall a really good read.

This book was harder to get into than I was expecting. The cover and description made me think of a rom-com. But nothing made me laugh. The story begins with an odd dynamic. Two sisters love each other dearly. They are both smart in their own way but the younger one Lexi just naturally outshines Deanna. Lexi is a California blonde who loves to dress in pink and is sex positive to the max. But she has never been in a relationship till now. Deanna is driven and has started her own dating app and is courting a new investor. River grew up next door while he lived with his grandmother. He was obsessed with Lexi as a teen and returning from his life in NYC he still is drawn to her. River has matured well and has the sexy artist with tattoos going for him. Slowly he begins to share things with Deanna. She’s a relationship type person and has been closed off since her last breakup.

You know where this is going. But the beginning setup didn’t draw me in. It wasn’t icky but close to it. This is open door with steamy times and a little kink thrown in as well. River is more broody and serious than I expected. And some serious topics are covered like death of a parent and parental abandonment. But I was turned off at the idea that Lexi wanted to be on a break with her love so that she could hook up elsewhere. And Deanna was willing to step aside for the sake of her business venture. That doesn’t scream love and HEAs to me.

3 stars.

"The Neighbor Wager" by Crystal Kaswell is... fine. That's not much of a compliment, but I don't have a lot to say about this book one way or the other. It isn't inherently *bad,* it's just a little... I don't know. Boring? Familiar? Lacking? All of the above? It lacks the "oomph" I look for in a romance novel, one that will get me invested and keep me there until the very last page. This one didn't do that for me, and I felt a little "yeah, yeah, hurry it on up" while reading it. Never a good thing. Still, this book is spicier than its innocent-looking cover would have you believe. That's a good thing for people like me who believe in the philosophy "the spicier, the better." Unfortunately, there isn't a significant spark between the main characters, Deanna and River, so the spice is essentially wasted. Still, A+++ effort when it comes to characters discussing k1nks, having frank discussions about bedroom wants and likes and desires, and the un-shaming nature of these topics. While the acts were pretty vanilla in execution, I appreciate the effort to include such discussions to a wide audience of readers.

This is the author's modern take on the story of "Sabrina," which I absolutely love (and hey, don't knock the remake, it's excellent, too!), so I was looking forward to this. The first 35-40% of the story is very slowly paced. I do like the idea of pitting River's idea of life (knowing love when you see it) against Deanna's outlook (a cold hard facts-and-algorithm-and-data-driven assessment of the world around her, including love). Since River spent so much time obsessed with Deanna's sister, Lexi, in the past and the present, I think the shift from Lexi to Deanna felt a little unearned and unnatural to me. His like (and eventual love) of Deanna sort of comes out of nowhere. The build-up between them is attempted but is not strong enough to erase just how long he pined and yearned for Lexi. Another big dislike for me was just how stereotypical Deanna is portrayed as a character. She is the "cold" type of high-powered, has-it-all, boss-B woman who only cares about facts and logic and the bottom line, but hates being treated as such and has her wants and needs misunderstood and ignored. Even though we *hear* how misunderstood she is, we don't get to see a lot of this side of her. I would have liked more of that.

All in all, I hate to say it, but I likely won't remember this book in a month or so. I wish it had been better, but here we are. It is a quick read despite its initial slowness.

Thank you to NetGalley, Crystal Kaswell, Entangled Publishing, LLC, and Entangled: Amara for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving this ARC, and this doesn't influence my review. This was a good read, but I have some problems with the male MMC. If he has been "obsessed" with her sister from the start, why is he lusting after her from the beginning of his POV after meeting them after a long time? This didn't make sense to me at all, like if you like a specific girl, why would you just instantly obsess after her polar opposite sister, while barely displaying affection for the one you allegedly have always liked? That confused me while reading the book.

Life has been crazy so it took me a little longer to get through this book but what a delightful read. I’m not one for love triangle, I usually stick away from the trope, but I definitely didn’t bother me in this book. It was a slow start but the characters really getting a groove in the story picks up 30%.
Even though I’m not one for love triangles, I am one for the stories that have the hero coming back in town and has a lot more swagger than he did when he was younger. River, Deanna, and Lexi Go through a lot of craziness in this book. Such an easy read.

River has always had a crush on Lexi, the gorgeous girl next door. As adults, they are both back home. Lexi is as stunning as ever and has finally noticed River now that he’s all grown up. There’s one problem. Lexi is dating someone else, and the future of the dating app she runs with her sister, Deanna, is dependent on her staying with him. Deanna is forced to prove to River that he doesn’t actually love Lexi.

This book started a little slow for me, but the last half went by much faster. There wasn’t anything in particular that I didn’t enjoy about this book, but it just didn’t quite hit right for me. I think the pacing was a bit off and it was longer than expected with too much backstory. It also didn’t give off the lighthearted romcom vibes that I was expecting. I didn’t really love the love triangle with the two sisters. It felt like River was stuck on Lexi but then moved on to Deanna so quickly that it was unrealistic. I did enjoy that Deanna was a career driven woman and liked the sisterly bond she had with Lexi.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the ARC.

This book let me down. There was just nothing interesting about the characters. No romance. No spark. Just a waste of my time.

I'm not sure why, but this book wasn't hitting the spot for me. I feel like some of the situations ABC explanations were a bit lengthy and unnecessary, making the book drag. By the 35% mark, I still wasn't into it so I skipped forward a bit. And I still felt the same. I'm also a huge mood reader, so I might try to read it again sometime in the future.

Don't let that cute cover fool you - this book was steamy! I wasn't expecting it to be so much. With the amount of sleeping around, it kind of took away the emotional element between our main characters and I struggled to feel their connection. It was an okay read and I have no doubt those that like their romcoms steamier will enjoy it.

Rating: 4/5
I received an eARC for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed reading The Neighbor Wager, It’s a cute romcom. I loved the banter, the hard talks and getting to let loose around someone you feel safe around. I thought the characters were easy to connect with, even though at times I wanted to yell at them, I thought the plot was believable and fun to read.

This book is about two sisters that make a dating app, but when their investor wants to showcase the younger sister’s success at finding the perfect mate things start to look bleak. Lexi is not the kind of girl that wants to settle down, she is happy with the person she is and what she wants. It's not that she doesn’t love Jake, her 6-month boyfriend, it’s just the idea of having to make it something bigger than it is that scares her… and the idea of having to commit to someone. Dea just doesn’t have the want or need to fall in love, she has never had the idea of being all lovey dovey and getting married. Until River the boy next door comes back to take care of his grandmother. This nerdy boy has done a lot of growing up. He is now all muscle; he has tattoos, and he knows what he can offer to women.

River and Dea in this book are perfect together, and even though I wanted to yell and shake them at times, I loved how they made it work out. I think they compliment each other well and you can see how they truly help each other out by being the best them. I didn’t mind seeing a strong, career driven woman, who doesn’t believe in love because it really reminded me of a hallmark movie.

I thought the author did a great job of giving each of the characters their own personalities and making them into someone that we have all known in our lives. I liked that in this book you can see how just because an app says one thing you can’t just put all your balls in one basket because the unpredictable nature of humans can throw everything off, you will see personal growth, romance, great banter, and some spicy scenes.

I enjoyed Kaswell's writing style, it made it easy for me to finish this book in 2 days and I will continue to read books put out by this author.

I want to thank NetGalley and Entangled for the opportunity to review this book.

The Neighbor Wager by Crystal Kaswell
Contemporary romance, romantic comedy.
River used to live next door to Lexi and Deanna. He was a bit of a nerd and he had a massive crush on the vivacious Lexi. Both River’s grandmother and Deanna have told River to move on: He has no chance with Lexi and he should forget her. He eventually moves to New York to gator advantage of the culture. He’s back in town now, all grown up, with a sleeve of tattoos and a lot more confidence.
Lexi will talk to River now with some minor flirting but it’s Deanna that’s caught his interest. Deanna is running a startup business and app called MeetCute and is meeting with potential investors. She’s willing to prove to River that his feelings for Lexi is nothing more than a crush.

A fun transfer of interest as the grown up River has a bit of swagger and confidence himself now. An amusing profession of the grandmother.
Deanna is smart and River more than acknowledges it. He’s totally ok with her being taller than him when she’s wearing heels and proving her competency in business to others.

🎧 I alternated between an ebook and audiobook. The narrators were Piper Goodeve and Kyle Mason who alternated chapters by their POV. Their delivery was entertaining and emotionally on topic and made it easy to follow and get immersed in.

Entertaining, steamy and romantic. I will definitely recommend this romance to bookclubs.
4.5
I received a copy of this from NetGalley.

Cyrstal Kaswell is one of my auto buy authors. When Entangled Publishing gave me access to this ARC, I RAN.

Take a man who is deep down a romantic (but for the wrong sister) and a woman who knows love via algorithms and spreadsheets. You get the neighbor wager. This book wasn't my favorite by Kaswell but it won't step me from reading more of her.

There was a third act break up (auto deduct of stars, I hate them), the FMC seemed to be more centered around math instead of letting her feelings take ride. My last complaint was that in the beginning it was hinted she was more of a dom in the bedroom, but it didn't really come up after that. I was looking forward to seeing a woman being the dominant one in the bedroom and having that change of pace.

I’m really not feeling this story. The blurb caught my eye but it just didn’t deliver. I don’t care about the characters, the story or anything about it to be honest…

I thought this was a fun turn-your-brain-off book for me. I liked the overall storyline however, I didn't like the two main characters as they felt a little flat to me and didn't have too much substance to them. They also both felt like character stereotypes rather than actual characters with personalities.

Entangled, thank you for the ARC. This was a DNF for me, I just wasn't into it. I thought the writing was really simplistic and the characters were flat, I did not find myself rooting for the FMC, I found her tedious.

First l'd like to thank Net Galley, the publisher, and author for an Advanced Reader Copy of this story. For me, I'm giving it 2.5 stars. I think the author did a good job however I think the book could've been better with a better editing job.
The first half of the book-l hated it. The second half of the book I loved. I felt the female main characters were immature in the beginning and not fully developed. However, in the second half, you could see the complexities of each character.
I think I hated the let's keep my sister away from River because she can't control herself. So let me go get him drunk.
The second half of the book deals with complexities of love and what love means to each of the characters. I will definitely check out another book written by this author.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Read if you like:
▫️dual POV
▫️opposites attract
▫️hot nerd
▫️strong, driven heroine

This was not the book for me. River spent his whole life and first 30% of the book in love with and obsessed with Lexi. She’s never noticed him, but now that he’s hot and has tattoos, she wants to take a break from her boyfriend in order to sleep with him. Deanna needs Lexi to stay with her boyfriend to prove that the dating app she created works, so Deanna starts flirting with River. He then falls totally in love with her and never thinks of Lexi again. The whole thing felt kind of gross.

Aside from that, the “witty banter” felt forced, jumpy, and was hard to follow. It made the prose feel very stilted and unnatural. Additionally, the whole book was awkwardly horny, River was strangely obsessed with English Breakfast Tea, and Deanna broke up with him because they weren’t a high match on the dating app she created.

I disliked almost everything and can’t recommend this book.

Thank you to Entangled Publishing, NetGalley, and Crystal Kaswell for the ARC. I received an advanced copy for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily.

I tried hard to enjoy this book. It seemed promising based on the description, but overall it didn't meet any expectations I had in my mind. While there were some emotional connections to the characters through very small glimpses of their lives, it was hard to feel much for much. It wasn't just because they were fabulously wealthy. I've read many books that have billionaires as the main characters that I felt strongly for. The character development just wasn't really there.

Also, I found myself so lost and confused. Not only was the wager not really defined that well (didn't really understand exactly what the parameters of the bet was for), but the internal monologue also made it very hard to keep up and understand what was happening.

The idea of the book could have been great if it had been refined just a bit more.