How to Love Your Neighbor: A Novel

How to Love Your Neighbor by Sophie Sullivan is a romantic comedy that gave me some LOL moments and I enjoyed it from cover to cover. This pleasant, engaging story is just the kind of book to escape your troubles and make you smile. There is plenty of sexual tension, but they keep the bedroom door closed. Grace Travis is just about to graduate from design school and is working odd jobs until she can graduate and finally get her dream job designing spaces. She has just inherited a small beachfront home from a grandfather she never knew and can’t wait to fix it up and finally have a home of her own. Noah Jansen is usually busy making deals and making money. He’s never met a deal he can’t win. He finally found a house on the beach to call his own, all he needs is to make a deal with the neighbor so he can expand his property to have room for the pool of his dreams. The problem is the neighbor, Grace, will not sell her home no matter what. She finally has a connection with family and refuses to let it go. Noah is not used to being told no, and can’t figure out why he can’t make her move, even when the deal is way above market value. How to Love Your Neighbor is just a cute romantic comedy. If you’re a fan of HGTV and DIY shows, you’ll love this book. Both Grace and Noah are working to improve their homes and they eventually end up working together on both homes. There is a cute nod to the old show Trading Spaces as they and their friends both fix up a room in each home. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good romantic comedy. I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

How to Love Your Neighbor by Sophie Sullivan is a sweet, heartfelt romantic comedy with characters that feel real - people you'd like to know, set in Harlow Beach, California. Grace Travis did not have an easy time growing up; she decided early on to push herself to have the life she wanted. Grace is a design student with big goals and a small bank account. She is working nonstop to be successful in school and to make ends meet. Inheriting a beach bungalow from grandparents she never met, her only dream is to move in and fix-it up. Noah is a real estate developer who is trying to break free from the image he gained while working with his dad. He moves into a fixer upper on the beach, right next door to Grace. Noah believes he should have no trouble buying her place, to expand his yard and add a pool; except he hadn’t met nor dealt with Grace before. A famous magazine wants to photograph and record his house makeover with one little catch; they want the irritating woman next door, who happens to be graduating soon from design school to be his designer on the project. If he refuses, the story is dead. All Noah has to do is convince Grace that doing it will benefit them both. While working on Noah’s house they forced each other out of their comfort zone, challenging to take a chance on some new task; learning lessons that affect both of their lives and resulting in some humorous moments. Ms. Sullivan wrote a hilarious rom-com with magnetic attraction and off-the-charts chemistry sizzling between Grace and Noah, who try so hard to hate one another. This story does touch on some deeper subjects: toxic relationships with a parent, friendship of multiple types, social anxiety, giving back to the community, asking for help, and learning more about yourself through relationships with others. The secondary characters, especially liked Morty, Josh, and Rosie contributed something extra to the story without detracting from it. This is a story that should not be missed and I recommend How to Love Your Neighbor to other readers. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

3.5* Grace is out there living my dream, if I'm being totally honest. My degree is in interior design and there are times like this, after reading How to Love Your Neighbor, that I wish I had continued in the field. But having worked for 2 completely flaky designers after graduation, I ended up moving on. But darn, if I don't want to be Grace, at least in some ways! Although I'd prefer to be left a house in the mountains, rather than the beach. How awesome to end up living next to a hot neighbor, lucking into a design job working for him, and featured in a magazine? What more could you want! Well, both Grace and Noah deserved better parents, that's for sure. How to Love Your Neighbor was a fun, somewhat frustrating, yet entertaining read. The frustration came from Noah, who in the beginning wasn't that likeable of a character, due to the way he treated Grace. Grace is a very capable, self-sufficient woman, but Noah really came off as a jerk towards her. Thankfully his tune changed pretty quickly, and once he finally opened up, he ended up being a really good guy. Both he and Grace had parental issues, which kind of colored how they approached relationships, but it was nice to see them come to an understanding, and work through things together. The story wrapped up with a sweet ending. *Side note- I kept getting a feeling Noah's brother Chris, and his girlfriend Everly, had their own book so at one point I stopped reading to come to GR to check it out. And sure enough, they did- it was Ms. Sulliavan's debut novel, Ten Rules for Faking It. I understand author's wanting books to stand on their own, but when you have interconnecting characters I kind of feel cheated when it's not made clear - I would have liked to have read their book before I started this one.