Side A: Come to My Window by Eve Kasey
Hazel Bell has lost everything — her job, her apartment, and her future in Seattle. Now her whole world is a thrift-store wardrobe, a family of houseplants, and a stranger in the opposite window who knows exactly what to say.
They exchange notes instead of names. Confessions instead of introductions. And somehow, the man she’s never met becomes the one person she can’t live without.
Gideon Sarkis knows the truth would end them before they ever begin.
He knows exactly who Hazel is. But she doesn’t know him — or how badly he once hurt her. The more notes they write, the harder he falls. But with his obligations pressing in and her options disappearing, their time is running out.
Some windows are meant to be opened.
But some secrets can shatter everything.
Side B:Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door by Melanie A. Smith
Ben Pedersen is a ghostwriter stuck crafting someone else’s thrillers when a misdelivered package introduces him to the mystery of unit 203 — and its elusive occupant, Heaven Lee.
Lee is a software engineer burning the candle at every possible end, helping build one of the first online bookstores. She doesn’t have time for nosy neighbors. She barely has time for sleep. But the guy upstairs keeps getting her mail, and he’s funny, patient, and her dog likes him more than the UPS guy. So maybe one coffee not-date won’t kill her.
The neighborly arrangement that follows becomes something neither of them planned. But Lee won’t admit what’s in the misdelivered packages, and Ben’s writer brain won’t let a mystery rest. When curiosity crosses a line, both must decide what matters more: protecting their secrets or fighting for what they’ve found.
Buy links here: https://books2read.com/love-next-door
Review:
Come to My Window
This one was really cute–think if Rear Window had a totally different vibe to it and it ended up that the watching your neighbor through the window part was a meet cute and not a possible witness to murder, and you’ve got this story. Add in the fact that he’s also (kinda indirectly but also kinda absolutely directly?) responsible for her losing her job and her chance to stay in her dream city, and you’ve got stakes–everything ended up exactly the way I wanted to, which made up for all of the secondhand stress Gideon put me through with his refusal to tell Hazel who he was for so. Freaking. Long.
And OMG, I know this takes place in the 1990s, but that You Belong to Me-style communication via the notes in their windows? So stinking fun. <3
(Seriously, though, is *anyone* capable of reading that title without immediately starting to sing it in their head?)
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
Knocking on Heaven’s Door
Another fun read! Though between these two books, I was craving Hot Pockets like no one’s business by the end of the day–not Crystal Pepsi, though. Never Crystal Pepsi! 😉
Lee (aka Heaven Lee, though only her dad still calls her that) and Ben’s romance had another adorable meet cute–this one involving mysterious mis-delivered packages and a dog named Darcy. The 90s vibes were even stronger with this one, especially with Lee’s job (a startup trying to sell books online), and I loved the slow burn-ess of their relationship.
I’m not going to lie–though I totally guessed Ben’s secret (loved it!), Lee’s had me completely stumped…and now I can’t get some of the images I Googled afterwards out of my head. Not a complaint, just a comment 😉 I had seen some pictures before–one of the places my mom stayed on a solo vacation had some–but I was not prepared for the variety that is out there!
Like Lee, I was very disappointed in Ben when he did what he did–but he really did make up for it in the cutest way and they all (Darcy included, of course) got the HEA they deserved in the end.
(Somehow the song title was less of an earworm with this one–though my brain did say, That’s the name of the book! in a very Pitch Meeting-esque kind of way when the phrase showed up in the book.)
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
Overall this was so much fun! Almost *too* aggressively 90s at times, but really cute romances with some highly entertaining scenes and hijinks along the way.
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.