I have been trying to finish this book for 5 months. It just did not hold my interest. Maybe because renovations are not that interesting to read about. And honestly, the design work that Gracie did sounded basic as anything. I started having flashbacks to that Nora Roberts Inn trilogy where we heard all about beds, painting, floors, etc. and my eyes glazed. Those three books became a hate read after a while. The romance between Gracie and Noah is good, it’s a nice slow heat. But it just got really boring after a while. Plus there’s another romance in this one with her best friend and I swear I went at one point, they just met and they moved in together? And I got super distracted. At this point though with so many authors and readers attacking romance books by claiming they don’t need to end in a Happily Ever After (yes they freaking do) I was just glad to read a 3 star romance with a HEA. This is not a world shaker by any means, but it gets the job done. This is a continuation to the other book Sullivan put out, “Ten Rules for Faking It”. Why this is not pushed as a sequel is baffling. Everly and Chris are in this. Plus the next book she is putting out in January 2023 is following Chris and Noah’s brother Wes. I am also confused why the title is spelled the way it is when this book takes place in California and none of the characters are British.
“How to Love Your Neighbour” follows Gracie Travis and Noah Jansen. Gracie is dealing with moving out of a home she shares with an elderly friend to move into a home that the grandparents she never met left her. Noah wants to buy the home in order to expand his house’s footprint. Gracie of course refused to sell and then the book follows them as they get to know each other. When Gracie is offered the ability to help design Noah’s home and a magazine spread to boot, how can she resist?
I liked Gracie and Noah fine. Both of the characters have a shared terrible upbringing that brings them closer. Noah’s dad is awful and Gracie’s mother is awful. They both want to put down roots for the same reasons. I do think that there was too much back and forth of Noah not understanding how “women” and people with emotions work. I get that he’s supposed to be the clueless rich guy, but come on. Do rich people not understand how to say sorry? That was a whole thing in this book that took me completely out. The romance as I said was a nice slow burn. But I just got bored after a while and hoped they get on with it.
As I said above, the plot dealing with the renovations and whatnot took up way too much of this book. They even did a freaking Trading Spaces switch at one point and I rolled my eyes. If you are not going to bring up Crying Pam people you totally failed. But it was so weird to be like, yes Noah needs to learn how to love and open up by allowing people to paint his home. I am laughing right now, you can’t see me, but I am cracking up.
The writing was fine, but the flow was not. There’s a reason why this took me so long to get into. It starts off slow and the constant discussion of paint, renovation, and I am sorry putting up a freaking barn door did not excite me. I legit said at one point, sounds like she did what the Gaines do to homes in Texas with that so called barn yard chic mess.
The setting of the book really just stays on Gracie and Noah’s two homes.
The ending was really good and I thought it was a nice way to tie up Gracie and Noah’s toxic parents too.
I read this for Cannonball Read 14:
- Verse: Poetry, a novel in verse, the universe, a book set within a larger ‘verse.
- So this book is not a sequel or part of a series, but it is set in the same universe as the prior book I read with Everly and Chris. So this counts? I guess. I am going to say yes.