Publication date: January 18th 2022
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
ISBN: 1250624185

Sexy, grumpy neighbor who is going to get in the way of your plans? Check. Unfortunately.

Grace Travis has it all figured out. In between finishing school and working a million odd jobs, she’ll get her degree and her dream job. Most importantly, she’ll have a place to belong, something her harsh mother could never make. When an opportunity to fix up—and live in—a little house on the beach comes along, Grace is all in. Until her biggest roadblock moves in next door.

Noah Jansen knows how to make a deal. As a real estate developer, he knows when he’s found something special. Something he could even call home. Provided he can expand by taking over the house next door–the house with the combative and beautiful woman living in it.

With the rules for being neighborly going out the window, Grace and Noah are in an all-out feud. But sometimes, your nemesis can show you that home is always where the heart is.

I realize it’s been . . . forever since I last posted. Oopsies. It’s not like I haven’t posted on Instagram but posting here has been a chore I haven’t managed to get done. It’s a promise you’ve heard before but that is changing! Lots of content and change is coming to this website super soon and I’m thrilled about it. More on that later. For now, though, let’s talk about a book for the first time in 2022.

First of all, thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press for providing me an e-galley of How to Love Your Neighbor by Sophie Sullivan! I haven’t read a lot of chicklit/romance, not for lack of trying—more just because I’m typically set in my ways (which has long been various YA genres) and haven’t really read outside of it. Bookstagram has made me realize I need to branch out so I was ready to jump the second the email came in!

A few chapters in, I got super nervous about what I’d gotten myself into, namely because I had an exceptionally bad neighbor up until 2020 and it began to bring out some . . . harsh feelings. To say the least. Noah was a jerk and it was so hard to like him for a long time. He was a spoiled rich boy with no regard for anyone else; even being described as attractive really wasn’t doing it for me! Yet.

I was startled by just how much I related to Grace and I think that was what really made me fall in love with this book. She’s a 27-year-old college student nearing graduation with no money, no relationship and still trying to figure out her life. I rarely see myself, at the stage I’m at, represented in the media I take in; normally 27-year-olds are married or divorced with kids and are beginning their lives again. From my perspective, life hasn’t even really started. And that’s how it was for Grace. I loved her so much! Not just because of those things; she was independent and strong-willed and flawed and I understood her all too well.

I’m not sure at what point I started to like Noah but there was this switch moment where I found myself rooting for them so hard. The beach setting was cozy but I found myself loving the character more than I cared about the setting. This was such a fun, fluffy read and, especially in the last 40%-ish, I was giggling and enjoying myself so much. If there’s one thing I learned out of this book, it’s that I really, really love fluffy romances. It was pointed out to me that this is a “Grump meets Sunshine” trope and I totally agree. If you love that trope—I found out that I do—then this is the absolute perfect book for you.

I also found out that Sophie Sullivan is a Disney fan like me and seeing that made my LIFE. How to Love Your Neighbor is out today!