The Neighbor Favor (25 in 2025 #3)

Author: Kristina Forest
Title: The Neighbor Favor Publisher: Berkley Date Published: 02/28/2023

Read Dates: 02/02/2025- 02/05/2025
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Neighbor Favor is a dual POV neighbors-to-lovers romance. Lily is struggling to get her foothold in the publishing industry and starts an email correspondence with one of her favorite fantasy writers, N.R. Strickland. Nick, who wrote his book under a pseudonym falls for Lily via email but ghosts her when it comes time to chat face-to-face. Several months later they bump into each other as neighbors. Nick quickly realizes who Lily is, but is worried about revealing his identity to her.

I loved this book! I found Lily to be extremely relatable and Nick very easy to love. I of course loved Tomcat, Lily’s beloved pet. This love story was sweet with just the right amount of tension, a fantastic read all around! I can’t wait to read more from this author.

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.