The story begins with Lily Greene, a shy bookworm who works in non-fiction but dreams of being a children’s book editor, starts email correspondence with her favourite fantasy author, N. R. Strickland. After months of intimate email exchanges, “Strick” suddenly ghosts Lily. Sometime later, Lily desperately needs a date to her sister’s wedding and, after witnessing his matchmaking skills in action, enlists the help of her handsome neighbour Nick…who’s secretly a fantasy author with the pen name N. R. Strickland.
The Neighbor Favor is a contemporary adult rom-com featuring the pen pals/secret identity, “friends to lovers”, and forced proximity tropes. I would highly recommend The Neighbor Favor to fans of “books about books” such as By the Book by Jasmine Guillory, Book Lovers by Emily Henry, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman, Booked for the Holidays by Chelsea Curto, or Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren. Some themes present in The Neighbor Favor include communication, companionship, escapism, empowerment, family, fear of failure, love and heartbreak, isolation, and overcoming fears. Some trigger warnings include cheating, toxic relationships, death of a partner (in the past), and absentee parents.
First off, being a huge book nerd myself, I loved how “bookish” this book was as the main characters are both bookworms working in the writing and publishing industry and they bond over their love of books and reading. I enjoyed reading about Lily and Nick’s almost soulmate-like connection; they are both introverted or closed off, but they are inexplicably able to come out of their shells and be themselves whilst around each other. I also appreciated that, even though there was some miscommunication, once the main couple finally got together, they didn’t really have a third-act break-up.
The biggest downfall for me was that The Neighbor Favor was very slow to start and hard to get into seeing as the first forth of the novel consisted of Lily and Strick’s email exchanges; it seemed like the email section should have been shorter as perhaps we had to wait too long to get into the main action of the story. Overall, the plot wasn’t really what I was expecting…the plot was almost Hallmark-y (but with some spice!), and not very action-packed. Lastly, the miscommunication/secret identity plotline caused this sense of impending doom as you are waiting for the inevitable fallout that would accompany Lily discovering Nick’s secret.
At the end of the book, there was a sneak peek at Violet’s story so I assume that there will be at least two more installments of this series (one for each of Lily’s sisters). If you’re a bookworm, enjoy “books about books” and have always fantasised about befriending your favourite author, then you should definitely check out The Neighbor Favor.
The Neighbor Favor is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
A shy bookworm enlists her charming neighbor to help her score a date, not knowing he’s the obscure author she’s been corresponding with, in this sparkling and heart-fluttering romance by Kristina Forest.
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 a children’s books editor, but she’s 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 email turns into a tentative friendship and possibly something else Lily won’t let herself entertain—until he ghosts her without a word.
Months later, Lily is still crushed, but she’s determined to get a hold of her life, starting with finding a date to her sister’s wedding. And the perfect person to help her is Nick Brown, her charming, attractive new neighbor, who she feels drawn to for reasons she can’t explain. But little does she know, Nick is an author—her favorite fantasy author.
Nick, who has his reasons for using a pen name and pushing people away, soon realizes that the beautiful, quiet girl from down the hall is the same Lily he fell in love with over email 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…
