The Book:
The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest
Published: February 28, 2023 by Berkley
Date read: September 1, 2023
The Characters:
Lily and Nick
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
This page contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this site.
The Greene Sisters series in order:
The Neighbor Favor
The Partner Plot
The Love Lyric
The Plot (from Goodreads):
Shy, bookish, and admittedly awkward, Lily Greene has always felt inadequate compared to the rest of her accomplished family, who strive for Black excellence. She dreams of becoming an editor of children’s books but has been frustratingly stuck in the nonfiction division for years without a promotion in sight. Lily finds escapism in her correspondences with her favorite fantasy author, and what begins as two lonely people connecting over e-mail turns into a tentative friendship and possibly something else Lily won’t let herself entertain–until he ghosts her.
Months later, still crushed but determined to take charge of her life, Lily seeks a date to her sister’s wedding. And the perfect person to help her is Nick Brown, her charming, attractive new neighbor, whom she feels drawn to for unexplainable reasons. Little does she know that Nick is an author–her favorite fantasy author.
Nick, who has his reasons for using a pen name and for pushing people away, soon realizes that the beautiful, quiet woman from down the hall is the same Lily he fell in love with over e-mail months ago. Unwilling to complicate things even more between them, he agrees to set her up with someone else, though this simple favor between two neighbors is anything but–not when he can’t get her off his mind.
My Review:
The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I loved this bookish unwitting correspondence love story! From start to finish, this book was fantastic.
Epistolary elements are one of my favorite things to see in a book, and it starts off strong as Lily begins exchanging flirty emails with her favorite author. I loved watching them meet, and it was fun as the reader to know who Nick was long before Lily figured it out. I also enjoyed the insight into the publishing world, both from the POV of Lily as an editor stuck in a position she doesn’t enjoy, and from that of Nick, an author who writes fantasy books with Black main characters. They bond over their love of BIPOC fantasy, and while I’m not a fantasy reader myself, I enjoyed reading how much the genre meant to both characters.
There’s obviously some miscommunication/deception in the storyline, but both characters have such strong arcs that the trope is enjoyable rather than frustrating.
Lily’s relationship with her sisters was another highlight of the book, and I can’t wait to read more about them. I’m looking forward to The Partner Plot, which features Lily’s sister Violet, coming next year!
Follow me on Bloglovin’!
For more unwitting correspondence stories, check out this list.
1 Comment