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–Synopsis–

KYLIE
He started our war–I intend to finish it. Buying a house in the suburbs was supposed to be low stress: my own little haven to decorate and landscape exactly how I want.
Instead I find myself locking my garbage can to keep pests out–pests that are six-foot-one, green-eyed, and far too good looking.
My trespassing neighbor is rude and entitled. It isn’t long before war is declared and I find myself stooping to immature pranks.
When trouble lands at my door, my unlikely neighbor starts knocking on my heart. Was I ready to answer?

HAGEN
I will win no matter what it takes. I moved to this neighborhood for a fresh start. The one thing I’m not looking for is a relationship, so when I mistakenly assume my neighbor is hitting on me, I lash out at her. I didn’t mean to start the war, but now she taunts me from across the street.
Our harmless pranks have become the highlight of my day. I should stay away–but I can’t. I want to spend more time with her.
When a stalker begins sending Kylie a series of notes, I’m only too willing to help protect her. Maybe I’m looking for a relationship after all.

–Review–

Yet another debut for an author on my blog, this time with Carina Taylor’s first in the ‘A Love Like This’ series.

‘Neighbors Like That’ is a dual-POV contemporary romance that follows Kylie and Hagen’s prank war as their relationship evolves from a sort of enemies-to-lovers? situation. This book is quite cozy to read as there are two plotlines that are more on the dramatic side of things that have some consequential moments, but nothing too overtly dramatic and stressful (minus the plot with Kylie’s stalker, as that went from 0-100 real fast). There are a couple of moments of assumptions turning into misunderstandings, but it was not difficult or annoying to get through.

This book is set within the suburbs of Louisiana, USA. Personally, I was a bit disappointed with the lack of exploration outside the main backdrop of their neighborhood and workplace. I enjoy feeling as though I have been transported into a new area, and I just did not get that with this book. In fact, it was only mentioned a couple times which state they were in to begin with, so the world felt a bit lackluster and small to me. As far as the neighborhood itself is concerned, I enjoyed the camaraderie of Kylie, Hagen and another neighbor that always allows Kylie to borrow his tools. You get a real sense of suburbia living which was nice to experience.

Speaking of suburbia, there was a point in which Kylie’s cousins stayed with her for a while due to the stalker issue, and I will say I was not a huge fan of them. I found them to be rather irritating at times, with all the clowning around and making messes, they were acting more like children than adults. Also, their butting into Kylie’s romantic life was a bit difficult to get through as it came off as way too pushy for me. I did enjoy the innocent goofiness and banter between the cousins, so they were not the best, but they were not terrible.

When it comes to the main characters, Kylie is the professional one that seems to have her future sorted out. She has climbed the ladder in her marketing career, reaching a management position, just under the owner herself. She is passionate about her career and looks forward to the future. As far as the relationship scene goes, she desires to eventually have a husband and children but feels a bit behind in that regard. She was the one who initiated first contact with Hagen, and his dumpster fire of a first impression. She was also technically the initiator of the great prank war between the two. As she gets to know Hagen a bit better, she begins to question her true feelings for him and how those feelings battle her own insecurities and her assumptions of Hagen himself. Maybe she will find out Hagen’s goals, match up with hers…

Speaking of Hagen, if Kylie is the professional one, he is a bit less settled in his own way. Feeling torn between the path his parents desire for him, and the path allowing him to follow his passion, he feels a bit behind in the career side of things. Hagen has a bit more relationship experience, however he carries some baggage left over from his previous girlfriend. These insecurities he developed hold him back from opening up to Kylie at first. However, as he begins to enjoy and look forward to their pranking sessions, he begins to wonder if it is actually Kylie herself, he looks forward to the most. Hagen could absolutely be insufferable at times; however, he remained a caring and resourceful neighbor when Kylie needed it the most, particularly when her stalker situation started getting out of control.

The romance between Hagen and Kylie was slow-paced and quite natural feeling in my opinion. As mentioned, they begin as not so much enemies, but rivals almost. There is a definite hostile mood between them at first which leads to some hilarious dialogue and events to occur. I will say, in the middle stages of the pranking, there were some pranks on either side that I felt was crossing a line, but they ended up hilariously as well. You can feel how the two of them begin warming up to each other’s antics, going from just neighbors, to friends, to something else entirely. I will say, Kylie’s instant support of Hagen’s hobby was such a beautiful part of their relationship, especially after all the horrible things his ex said of the same activity. Eventually they begin to feel right at home in not just each other’s houses, but in each other’s very presence.

All in all, if you are a fan of contemporary romance with the enemies-to-lovers trope, this could very well be a book for you! The sequel, ‘Christmas Like This’, seems to follow a similar vibe to this one, just set in Christmas so I plan on reading that one as well!

-About the Author-

Amazon and USA Today Bestselling author Carina Taylor loves to write witty romantic comedies that bring a cheesy grin to your face.

When she’s not writing, you can find Carina ignoring her laundry pile (she’s hit expert level), pretending to work out (she’s probably just reading), and dreaming up the next story. She is married to her best friend and has her own happily-ever-after. They have four kids that keep them busy, and too many chickens to count.