Neighbor Dearest By: Penelope Ward

(N) After getting dumped the last thing Chelsea needed was to live next door to someone who reminded her of her ex-boyfriend Elec. But Damien is an even hotter version of Elec. Before getting to know her neighbor Chelsea gives him the name "Angry Artist" but his attitude isn't the only thing Chelsea doesn't like about him. It's also his two massive dogs that are keeping Chelsea up at night with their barking. It seemed as though Damien wanted nothing to do with Chelsea. That is until one night when Chelsea hears laughter coming through a hole in her bedroom wall. Damien has been listening to Chelsea's phone sessions with her therapist. The sexy artist next door has been listening to Chelsea as she divulged all her deepest secrets and insecurities. From there the two get to talking, Damien sets Chelsea straight with tips to get over her breakup, something her therapist had yet to do. Soon the two become friends but from the beginning Damien makes it clear that they could only be friends. Something that is made all the more hard when Chelsea begins falling for Damien anyways. As much as Damien pushes Chelsea away she knows that he feels the same way about her as she does about him. But you can only push a person for long before they begin to move away.
         
         Neighbor Dearest is connected to Ward's other books Stepbrother Dearest and RoomHate. While these books are connected you do not have to read either book before reading this one. I just mention this because some of the characters and references that are mention in this book are directly connected to what happened in the other books that Ward has written. While you can read those books, if you choose not to read those books you are not missing another major from this one.
        I found Neighbor Dearest to be such a good read I found myself at just under half way through the book wondering what else could happen in the book considering that so much did happen in the first half and I still had so much of the book left to go. At one point during the second half of the book one of the characters states, "it's like everything I thought I knew about this situation just went out the window." And this statement really describes how I felt after learning the truth as to why these two couldn't be together at first. I thought I knew why these two couldn't be together but then Ward came in and gave this curve ball as to way they couldn't be together. As good as this book was I do have to say that there was some slow parts towards the end of the book. I think it just lagged from the great first half of the book, but overall this was a great read. And I book that I really think people should read.