this was a cute book! I enjoyed the characters and the plot, but the writing style was probably the strongest for me. also the cover is super cute. def gonna add this to my collection

It wasn't.my favourite and I struggled through the book, I didn't like the FMC and it really wasn't a romance book like what the blurb suggests

I don't think this book was marketed properly and it definitely affected my experience with it. This book, from the blurb and the genre, should have been a light and fluffy rom-com. The two main characters, Adam and Eve, don't even meet in the first half of the book. The story goes back and forth between their POVs and their stories are completely disconnected from each other. Not exactly what I would expect from a rom-com novel.

I also had a hard time connecting with some of the characters. Eve was a bit mean-spirited and I just struggled to enjoy her character. I did like Adam's character though. He was caring and I loved his relationships with his brother and the student he tutored.

I loved the cover, which was what drew me to this book initially, and the writing style of the author, I just didn't enjoy the story. I probably would have enjoyed this more had there actually been more romance in the story.

Read If You Enjoy:
🩷 Dual POV
💜 Office Politics
🩵 A Mischievous Cat

Thank you to Mary, Joffe Books, and NetGalley for the gifted copy of Two Doors Down. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book was not my cup of tea. Too contrived, and I do hate mean protagonists. I don't mind da4k, but just outright self centered prigs throw me off. And that's what Eve was, selfish, self centered and a prig. Adam had some redeeming qualities, good friends, a great brother, and his caring for Old Sausage and his students with learning differences.

Overall it was okay.

#netgalley #TwoDoorsDown

It's a sweet story although a bit slow at times. I enjoyed the overall concept, but it did lack some of the romance I was hoping for. The characters had great back stories, but it took us a while to get moving with the plot due to this.

Eve is an independent career-driven woman, with her eyes set on a serious promotion, but her world gets flipped upside down when her best friend applies for the position. Adam, a dedicated tutor, tries to assist his favourite student get into college while battling family and relationship issues. Both Adam and Eve's lives are trending downhill fast, but a little cat, Old Sausage, brings them together.

This was a very well written, lovely story about finding yourself, personal growth, and setting boundaries; but it is not at all what I expected. This was not a light romcom, as it is not a romance or a comedy, and is instead more of a contemporary romance/drama with heavy topics.
The characters were realistic: Adam was a sweet, naive pushover, Eve was a backstabbing, self-centered friend. Both had lots of room for growth. We learned a lot about the characters, including their friends, on their own without the relationship, which was refreshing.

However, if Old Sausage didn't exist this book would make little sense. There was nothing tieing Adam and Eve together and they are wildly different people. Different is NOT bad, but the relationship has to build so they can find common ground. For a romance that didn't begin until more than halfway through the book, I found there was very little time for the romance to grow, which hard for me to cheer for their relationship.

Overall, I would say this book was really well written and I feel really bad giving it 3 stars, because it probably deserves better. But the description of this book is what made me grab it and it is nothing like that. I would recommend it to people who like contemporary romances.

Didnt really enjoy the writing too much and there was not enough romance for me so I grew pretty bored quite quickly

I really enjoy the forced proximity trope and this author put a fun spin on it. I liked the dual POV and that the two MCs didn’t meet right away. The backstory of the MCs was the main portion of the book and I felt this really added to the connection once they met. Plus there’s a cat involved!

I enjoyed this book but would have preferred if the characters had met a little sooner, in saying that I did like that we did get to know who that characters were before they met and so I understood them so much better.

I wasn't sure what to make of Eve to begin with as she was so driven, i definitely softened to her as the story progressed. Loved Adam from the start!

This is not a romance. There is romance, but mostly the main characters have very little interaction until the last 15%-ish of the book.

If you take it as "not a romance," and not a rom-com as it's billed, it's an enjoyable read. There are parts that are frustrating (like the bit about Eve's strategies to get her promotion). There are bits that are likable, like Adam's undying love and commitment to Hugh.

If you enjoy books that don't follow the norm as far as plot, have just a smattering of romance and focus heavily on the characters individual lives instead of their budding relationship, you may enjoy this book

The story is about a work centered women named Eve and her more laidback apartment neighbor, Adam. The two are brought together by Adams cat who keeps roaming into Eves apartment. The book centers on mostly the life and drama of the two main characters rather than a romance created.

Eve and Adam don’t meet for half the book, so you get a more in-depth personality of the characters. The two life stories kind of created a divide in the cohesion of the book for me. When Adam and Eve met I didn’t really get a deep connection or anything to root for them. The main characters in my opinion aren’t very likable.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading Two Doors Down by Mary Hargreaves. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

cover of the book is amazing, but the description doesn't match.
I thought I am going to read a light easy rom com. Instead, I recieved something different. I could not understand what I was reading about for the first half of the book.
Adam and Eve- they both had their completly different stories. It felt like two different books. Each with their own, kind of heavy problems.
It really was't light or easy or rom com.
I really like the addition of characters with autism, and cerebral palsy. We should talk about them more, really. It just felt heavy. Eve was a very interesting person, not very likeable, in my opinion, though. Adam was a really nice guy, a good person, good friend. His friend group is great, too, super supportive.
The ending of the book felt rushed. It got a little romantic, without spice, and cute, but maybe only for about 50 pages.
I don't know how I feel about it, to be honest.
I would definitelly enjoy it much more, if it was presented differently. I would even change the rating. It was well written, that's a fact.

Thank you to Net Gallery shelf for eARC

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book so much that I ended up buying my own copy of it so I could read it again!

...as if he knew exactly where to go all along.

A book where the protagonists meet because of a wayward cat? I have never been so in.

Two Doors Down is a dual POV romance focused on Eve and Adam. Eve is a business woman. She knows what she wants and she goes for it. Right now she wants the promotion on offer as her boss goes on paternity leave, and he's all but officialy announced her as his replacement. So when her supposed best friend throws her hat in the ring, it throws her off and into an all out war. Adam is loving his life. He's got great friends, he loves his job, he loves his girlfriend, so when she betrays him in the worst way possible, he's left reeling. The only company he has is a scrawny looking cat, who comes and goes as she pleases, until one day he watches her disappear two doors down.

I really liked how this romance had a bit of a twist to the kind of romance I have come to expect. The fact that the characters didn't meet until halfway through the book was something that I found really different, but it worked really well. It meant that there was a chance to really get to know the characters and who they are as characters before they're together. However the amount of near misses they had was equal parts entertaining, and frustrating. It was refreshing that they both had their own lives that exsisted out of the other characters knowledge. Though their lives ran parallel to each other, the amount of times they nearly met, or their days went so similar to each other made it entertaining.

I also thought it was interesting how it was almost mirrored when they finally admit to themselevs that they have feelings for each other. Whereas before it was almost as though they were being thrown together, once they actually admitted that they want each other to themsleves, it's as though everything is conspiring to keep them apart. Usually I'm really not a fan of the miscommunication trope, however in this book it's more entertaining than just happening for the sake of it, that I could look past it.

You really get a feel for who the characters are very early on, which as someone who really loves character driven books, was fantastic. It's so well done, that although both characters get betrayed pretty early on, you still feel for them. Eve is one of my favourite characters. She is very unapologetically herself, even if she isn't the sort of female main character you would expect in a romance. I like that it's never seen as a bad thing that shes so career-focused, and that she does what she feels like she has to. Whether that means taking the high road, or being okay with taking advantage of people to help her own agenda. She's not a perfect character by any means, and when she is called out, it is well deserved, but I really like the way she subverts what you would expect. It made her a really interesting character to read.

Adam on the other hand took me alittle while to warm up to. I still felt for him when he was betrayed, but I think he althogether became a better characetr once Old Sausage was involved. I'm not sure what it was but I didnt connect with his character the way I was with Eve. He did eventrually grow on me, but it was more towards the end, once they had tried to take Old Sausage back to her owner. That was when it felt as though he really came into his own character, took charge a little bit more. It felt as though he felt a little less sorry for himself and once he was less 'poor me' he became more likeable as a character.

I couldn't get over how they were towards Old Sausage. The way they both went from where has this cat come from, this is the last hting I need right now to needing her for emotional support was a very realistic approach to a cat coming into your life. It was done very sneakily, in the way that they talked about cat treats they had just picked up to very overtly saying they were holding her to them for support, as someone who has had cats for most of her life, it felt very realistic. Old Sausage really is the star of this book. Through her, you can really see how much Eve and Adam changed. She was one of the main reasons I wanted to read this book, as I thought the idea of a cat bringing them together was so unique and interesting and I'm really glad that it paid of so well.

Now I read mostly romance books, but I like that the romance kind of took a backseat, and the characters got a chance to shine and fuel the story. It is really strong in the way that you can tell they are falling for each other, but it doesn't consume them. Even when Adam was saying that talking about Eve was addictive, (which, haven't we all felt like that when we're falling for someone), it's still not over bearing. There's so many times where a characters internal monologue is just pages of them going back and forth about whether they should be falling someone, and theres a lot of time when that's something I enjoy, but it wouldn't have been right with who Eve and Adam are. I liked that here it was more of a 'whoa that's weird that I want this person, but right now I have this to do.' It was really interesting to have a more realistic point of view, and it fit their characters more.

I really enjoyed this book, and I definitley need more feline based romances in the future. Easy 4 stars for me.

ARC provided by Joffe Books through NetGalley, thank you for the opportunity to read this early copy, all thoughts are my own.

I went into this expecting a typical romance but got something else entirely. The love interests barely interact until late in the book, leaving most of the story focused on self-improvement and personal growth rather than romance. While the characters were well-written, the pacing felt off, and the plot would have worked better as YA fiction. Overall, it was a slow read that didn’t quite hit the mark for me. This is a 2.5 star read for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Joffee Books for access to this arc.

I was all set for a cute and charming romcom as two people fuss a bit at each other while trying to figure out why their neighbor is neglecting her/his cat but this book is much more and much different than my idea of it was. While I ended up still liking the book, at times some of the various characters might make readers think twice about it.

First off, Eve can come across like the Terminator. There are times when, as I was reading what she does, I was horrified. I think part of what drives her, beyond her ironclad belief that she has to be as ruthless as men are in order to get what she wants, is that she’s now in competition with her best friend – someone Eve feels betrayed her. Eve doesn’t handle most of this well but then she has “dealing with people so they don’t hurt me” down pat. I feel a lot of readers will be repelled by Eve’s actions as well as disliking the toxic place where she works and yet this does give her a lot of things to reflect on and deal with.

Adam is the softer sweetheart of the pair. School policies drove him to leave a profession he likes but he’s found a new way through tutoring including one brilliant student with autism who Adam can’t bear to see miss chances in life. His friends might twit him about going overboard to save the world but Adam cares deeply and that’s not a bad thing. He is also the sole caretaker of his brother with cerebral palsy who Adam recently moved to a new care home after problems with the last one. It’s totally understandable that Adam is determined to see that Hugh is properly taken care of to the point of maybe going a bit overboard.

There are a few misunderstandings that muddle things between Adam and Eve (you can insert a joke here). Half heard and half seen things that can be viewed in opposite ways mingle with Eve’s defensiveness and Adam’s hurt to confuse them about how the other actually feels. It’s down to the wire before all is sorted.

Old Sausage, being a tortie, is a she (as Eve chortles to Adam). She wanders freely into and out of their two houses and in the end, is settled into her new home with a collar that she seems to feel gives her a claim on people. After so many mentions of her matted fur, I would love to see someone give her a good brushing though. I was also frustrated by how long it took either MC to get this cat to a vet. For a book that sold itself to me based on the blurb and the cover with a cat … yeah, Eve and Adam needed to step up sooner.

I’ve seen various reviews that run the gamut from loved it to awful for this one and have admitted I had my own issues with it. Eve is the main character who needs to check herself and what she’s done. I feel that she does this but YMMV on her. E & A are kind of opposites but I think they complement each other. Now they just need to keep taking care of Old Sausage. B-

Honestly, I didn't like it very much.
For one, the characters only oficially meet after the 50% mark. That's too much. For another, all their problems could have been solved if they just talked to each other. And third, I didn't like the FMC very much.
Eve wasn't a bad person but some decisions and things she made weren't very good. Sometimes, it was too much.
I liked Adam, he was really sweet, I liked seeing him coming out of his shell a bit, having more confidence in himself, not being such a doormat all the time.
I actually liked them together but at the ending, I would have liked if Eve was the one that went after him and not the other way around. He deserved that kind of dedication

Overall this was such a cute read, perfect summer read, I enjoyed the viewpoints and loved the characters.

This was a cute book and I enjoyed the growth of the characters over time. I also liked their chosen families they found in their friends. I would have enjoyed seeing more of the romance between Adam and Eve!