Book Review – A Neighbor from Hell series (Books #1 & #2) by R. L. Mathewson

** sorry, I read these books before I started blogging so I don’t have “real” reviews for them… but here’s just something to give you an idea about them.

Book 1: Playing for Keeps (Jason & Haley) 4.5 stars

Done with being the world’s biggest pushover, Haley decides that things are going to change starting with the aggravating neighbor who has too much charm and not enough restraint. What she didn’t expect was to sucked into his world, but Haley has a game plan and she won’t let herself forget just what the bad boy next door is capable of. The last thing Jason expected was for his little shy neighbor to go Rambo on him over some ruined flowers. After he decides to take her under his wing he can’t help but that notice that she fits very nicely in his life. Now the only left is to convince her that this is anything but a game.

I really liked this book a lot. It was the PERFECT fluff read for me. It was well written, with characters I really cared about, lots of adorably cute and funny moments, no heart-breaking moments, no damaged or tortured characters, didn’t make me cry at any point, really really adorable HEAs, and not super long reads. I read this book and its sequel in 4 hours. It was the perfect way to spend a sunny afternoon.

I love the way their relationship developed. It was perfectly paced. Fast enough that I never felt that the story dragged, but not so fast that it felt rushed. Literally the entire point of the story is about two people who fall in love and how they get to their HEA. No complications, no external drama, no bad guy, just a love story. It was EXACTLY what I wanted. Looking forward to reading more by this author.

I gotta say the grasshopper thing was ADORABLE!!!! Jason was an awesome hero and Hayley was a cute heroine (nice to read one that didnt annoy me) 🙂

Book 2: Perfection (Trevor & Zoe) 4 stars

Zoe is used to taking care of herself and has long ago accepted that if anything bad was going to happen, it was going to happen to her. So when she loses her job over something most bosses would probably be happy with and her life starts going down hill from there she doesn’t expect it to get any better. She certainly didn’t expect any help from the loud jerk next door, but then again she has nothing to lose so puts her trust in him and hopes for the best. What she didn’t expect was the once in a lifetime opportunity that he offers her through an arrangement where they both benefit and no one is supposed to get hurt, but she should have known better because her luck has never been that good.

Like most Bradfords, Trevor has a soft spot for food, but that’s about all. He leads a pretty straightforward life and likes to keep things simple and that includes his relationships. He wants the perfect woman and knows exactly what she’ll be like. So when he discovers much to his horror that he’s thinking about his frumpy little neighbor he decides the best way to get his head straight is by working her out of his system. He’ll keep her around, but only until he finds perfection.

Pretty much everything I said about the first one applies to this book as well. I liked the first one the tiniest bit more because I felt I related to the characters on a personal level, but not so much with this one, but that didn’t stop the book from being a wonderful fun read.

This quote made me LOL (when she asked him – the big hunky hero- to find a big spider in her house that he didn’t believe was there):

“I knew she overre–holy shit!” he yelled, falling back on his ass and scooting away from the largest spider he’d ever seen. When it decided to come after him he was left with little choice but to grab on one of Zoe’s magazines off the neat pile near the toilet and beat the shit out of spider as Toby barked encouragingly. Even after he was pretty sure it was dead he kept up the attach, afraid that it was just a trick and the spider was buying its time before it attacked him and dragged him beneath the sink.”