Book Review: “The Neighbor Favor” by Kristina Forest
Håfa adai! Welcome to my spoiler-free review of The Neighbor Favor, the first book of The Greene Sisters series by Kristina Forest.
This book review consists of two parts: a brief plot summary and my thoughts of the story. There may be some lightweight spoilers—such as how characters interact with each other and the world around them—but I will not give away any major plot twists or endings. I want to share my opinion of the book and encourage you to purchase a copy of your own.
Click on the tags at the bottom of this post to see all reviews with the same tags in the Romance bookshelf.
Spoiler-Free Plot Summary
Lily Greene is an introverted and awkward book editor for works of non-fiction. It’s not terrible, but it’s not her dream of editing children’s fiction books. Lily comes from a family that strives for Black excellence and cannot help but feel inadequate when she compares her personal and professional life to that of her older sisters. Tired of her sisters’ well-meant meddling with her dating life, Lily makes a bet that she can get a date to her middle sister’s upcoming wedding without their assistance. She is determined to prove to them that she can take her love life in her own hands.
Nick Brown is a travel journalist who once dreamed of being a fantasy writer. But it seems like his opportunity already came and went, leaving him behind. Or has it? Nick moves into a New York City apartment to pursue what could be his second chance when he meets Lily in person, his beautiful neighbor down the hall. Neither of them can explain it, but it’s like they’ve already met before. Lily tells him about her bet with her sisters but, although he would want nothing more than to be more than friends with Lily, he believes she deserves someone better than him.
My Thoughts on The Neighbor Favor: 4.5 stars
The Neighbor Favor truly took me by surprise. It contains storytelling elements from Cinderella and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Day as well as well-known romance tropes like “the price in disguise” and “fake relationship to real relationship.” I appreciate the journeys that both characters go on separately and where they take things towards the end of the story. As a side note, scenes of sex and physical intimacy in The Neighbor Favor are not graphic, which makes the story appropriate for a wider age range of readers as well as for those who are not as comfortable with more literal/erotic depictions.
Kristina Forest employs multiple forms of storytelling in The Neighbor Favor. After the prologue, the book is split into two parts. The first part features epistolary storytelling where Lily and Nick interact solely through email. The second part takes place in New York City after a short time jump, with chapters alternating perspective between Lily and Nick. The development of romantic interest in the first part felt a bit rushed to me, but the build-up of tension (romantic and otherwise) throughout the second part is an incredible ride.
Often times, the drama in romance novels or romantic comedies feels forced and unnatural. This is absolutely not the case with The Neighbor Favor. In addition to crafting believable romantic tension between Lily and Nick in the second part, Kristina Forest creates an intense sense of anticipation as the reader waits for certain things to come to light. I appreciated the realistic and relatable approaches the characters took to addressing the truth while committing to their own ethics and support systems.
I appreciate Kristina Forest’s representation of imposter syndrome and the effects of childhood adversity through Nick’s damaged sense of self. Nick’s choice to use a pen name is a result of his childhood experiences. His core belief that he is not good enough to deserve love is a result of his childhood experiences. And Kristina Forest makes the reader’s heart hurt by creating a character that you want happiness for only for him not to believe he is deserving of it! It only hurts more that Nick genuinely wants Lily to be happy—even if it’s not with him—and that he respects her family dynamic instead of resenting it.
I truly adore the dynamic between Lily and her family. As someone who comes from a highly dysfunctional family, I have grown to deeply appreciate representations of what a healthy, loving, and unconditionally supportive family should look like. I acknowledge that I may be romanticizing that particular aspect of The Neighbor Favor above everything else. After all, what if that is the most fairy tale part of this story? I would not know. What I do know is that the relationship Lily has with her sisters, parents, and extended family brought a smile to my face and warmed my disillusioned heart. Knowing that this is the first book of The Greene Sisters series makes me giddy at the thought of Lily’s older sisters, Iris and Violet, getting their own books.
But that is not to say that the Greene family has a “perfect” dynamic by any means. Lily struggles with feelings of inadequacy in both her personal and professional life due to the successes she sees in her sisters, parents, and extended family. And she goes from going with the flow and keeping quiet while her family tries to help her become more successful to standing up for herself and her own desires and goals (while still loving and respecting her family) by the end of the story. I also audibly cheered her on when she stood up to her absolutely obnoxious and entitled boss at the end of the book. Lily’s character growth is relatable, realistic, and satisfying.
Lastly, The Neighbor Favor is a story that centers a writer and an editor who connect over a yet-to-be-completed fantasy series. I am a sucker for stories that call attention to the love of stories and storytelling. Kristina Forest combines references of real life authors and series with made-up authors series as Lily and Nick nerd-out together. The Elves of Ceradon is the main made-up fantasy series mentioned in this book, and it genuinely sounded so intriguing. I would want to read that book! I listened to the audiobook of The Neighbor Favor shortly after finishing the audiobook of Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree (my review of which can be found in the Fantasy bookshelf), so I may have been on a “book about books” rampage. Either way, I could not get enough of this story.
My overall rating for The Neighbor Favor is 4.5 out of 5 stars. There were a couple things that made me roll my eyes a bit: Lily and Nick fall for each other a little too quickly for my taste and the “what are the chances of that” scenario is incredibly improbable. In spite of these two things, I greatly enjoyed the experience of this book. It subverted my still-growing expectations of romance novels, it contains important representations of mental health struggles, it has characters that are both cheesy and relatable, and it’s a story about stories. I recommend The Neighbor Favor to those wanting to explore the romance genre and I greatly look forward to experiencing more stories from Kristina Forest.
Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest.
Rating Cheat Sheet
4.75 - 5.00 stars: Everyone should read this book! (If you’re into that sort of thing.)
4.00 - 4.50 stars: I appreciated many aspects of this book. I recommend it!
3.00 - 3.75 stars: I liked some aspects of this book. I won’t revisit it, but someone else might really like it.
2.00 - 2.75 stars: There were some things I appreciated about this book, but I do not recommend it.
0.25 - 1.75 stars: I do not recommend this book. I did not enjoy or appreciate the experience of it.
Post Date: 22 November 2024
Published: 28 February 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Audiobook Publisher: Penguin Audio
Performed by Keylor Leigh and Malik Rashad
