Just Being Neighborly by Heather Miekstyn: Book Review

 

 *Book received for consideration. All thoughts are my own.

Property lines have been drawn...

Librarian Gia Chen just bought her dream home…right across the street from her nightmare neighbor. Or at least that’s the story she’s telling herself after their disastrous first meeting. The only problem is-you don’t usually daydream so much about your nightmares. When did monsters get so hot?

For his part, wildlife conservationist Brahm Travishizky isn’t interested in playing nice with the woman now living across the street from him. Everything about her, from her twirly skirts to her homemade cookies to her snarky comebacks, drives him crazy.

With so much animosity between them, the only thing left for them to do is go to war. And to war they go, flinging pranks back and forth like cannonballs.

But when a coworker makes an assumption about the nature of their relationship, suddenly Brahm needs a favor-for Gia to pretend to be his girlfriend. But favors for your enemy don’t come free, and soon Gia has Brahm wrapped up in a favor of her own, helping her run the subdivision’s summer kick-off event. A task that quickly proves itself to be troublesome thanks to a cast of dangerously opinionated neighbors.

As the pair jump from pranks to favors and back again, one thing becomes clear: the biggest casualty in this war may just turn out to be their hearts.

As a child, Heather Miekstyn used to spend hours in her room creating characters, then writing out the first half of their stories before eventually losing steam. Then she discovered the romance genre and realized the key to finishing any good story-a happy ending.

Heather resides in Michigan with her husband, four daughters, and their rambunctious black lab. When she is not writing, she can be found reading, running, or playing Bananagrams. She hopes her books leave you feeling like you’ve just been hugged by a Hallmark movie.

For more information visit her website, www.heathermiekstyn.com or follow her on Instagram @heathermiekstyn

Oh my goodness, this book! Right from the meet-cute, I was absolutely drawn into Gia and Brahm's story and couldn't put it down. 

There was so much to love in this story. A bit of enemies-to-lovers and an excellent prank war. A hint of faking dating. Some over-the-top neighbors. Animal antics. And oh, the chemistry between these two through it all. Whether they were fighting against each other or together, the chemistry is absolutely fantastic and I couldn't get enough of them together. Add in a bit of mystery and suspense that I wasn't at all suspecting and it all worked together to create this fantastic story that had me laughing out loud so many times throughout the book. 

This is a closed-door romance. The chemistry is fantastic, but nothing goes beyond kissing and there was no bad language at all. 

If you're looking for your next great RomCom read, this is certainly one to check out.