The Neighbor Favor

By: Kristina Forest

Narrated by: Keylor Leigh, Malik Rashad

Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

A shy bookworm enlists her charming neighbor to help her score a date, not knowing he’s the obscure author she’s been corresponding with, in this sparkling and heart-fluttering romance by Kristina Forest.

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 a children’s books editor, but she’s 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 email turns into a tentative friendship and possibly something else Lily won’t let herself entertain—until he ghosts her without a word.

Months later, Lily is still crushed, but she’s determined to get a hold of her life, starting with finding a date to her sister’s wedding. And the perfect person to help her is Nick Brown, her charming, attractive new neighbor, who she feels drawn to for reasons she can’t explain. But little does she know, Nick is an author—her favorite fantasy author.

Nick, who has his reasons for using a pen name and pushing people away, soon realizes that the beautiful, quiet girl from down the hall is the same Lily he fell in love with over email 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...

©2023 Kristina Forest (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"[A] warm and welcoming new contemporary...the book breathes easily and pulls you right into its world. Especially recommended for anyone who ships Janine and Gregory from Abbott Elementary."—The New York Times Book Review

“The Neighbor Favor is the type of charming, feel-good story that reminds me why I love romance. I dare anyone to try reading Lily and Nick’s adorably awkward encounters without smiling. Impossible.”—Farrah Rochon, New York Times bestselling author of The Hookup Plan

"Forest expertly balances this perfectly matched duo’s emotional connection with their physical chemistry, making them easy to cheer on. This is a winner."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Light Hearted Romance

It was good. I like upbeat romance and it definitely didn’t disappoint me…only thing I didn’t like is that sometimes sometimes the characters described weren’t what I was visualizing as I was listening BUT still none the less it was a great book :)

PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT

I have recently been trying to get back into listening to audiobooks, and this one was the perfect book to pull me back in! I absolutely loved this story. As a hopeful romantic & lover of a good slowburn romance story. This was my kind of carrying on!

I loved being able a story centered around black love that wasn’t too heavy or triggering. It was delightful.

A no fuss love story

The narrators were great both of them did a great job voicing their own character as well as each other's character.

The story itself was good and makes for an easy read although I feel 3 hours could have been shaven off of the story and we would have gotten the same conclusion without feeling cheated, overall I highly recommend the story.

Lighthearted Fun!

The book overall was good. It isn’t something that I would run to a friend to read but it kept me interested enough to finish. My main issue was there wasn’t any kind of twist - everything was exactly as you expected. Keep in mind, I’m more of a thriller fan and I am just getting my feet wet in the romance genre so I may be a little biased.

Gets good!

The beginning started slow for me but I was hooked about the 4th chapter in. Then it gets interesting!

Such a cute rom-com!

perfect story for book nerds and hopeless romantics!
kicking my feet and twirling my hair!

Cute Story

I really enjoyed the twists in the novel; however, it was definitely a predictable read. It was a cute, romantic story though.

Loved the story. Such a cute couple

I loved their story, the work sub plots, family dynamics and everything else. Ate it right up. Gonna have to read one of her other books soon too

Wholesome love story

I loved this story. The narrators were both captivating and it made it so that it was like watching a movie because I was able to imagine the characters. Finally a love story that doesn’t end in tragedy

Sweet RomCom

Really enjoyed the characters to the very end. My only negative comment is why not make both characters ethnic. If you're going to make them African-American characters, please be sure to make sure one voice is not more "sanitized and straight" then the other one. Our male character's voice was more realistic - like a "cool Jazz, silky voice". Otherwise, very well done.