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Kim

Peace. Love. Books.

Playing for Keeps (Neighbor from Hell #1) - R.L. Mathewson Haley has just had enough of her unbearable next-door neighbor and co-worker at the school where she teaches. Jason is a nightmare of a neighbor - constant loud parties, exhibitionist tendencies, unkempt property, among other things. One day she sees him yanking her tulip bulbs out of her yard and she storms out to finally give him a piece of her mind after all those years of putting up with him. A fight over their property division and a massive bee attack/invasion later, they find themselves hanging out and realizing that the other was not who they initially thought out to be.

This book is one of my newest guilty pleasures! And yes, I emphasize guilty because I feel that I shouldn't have liked it as much as I did. The plot was nothing we haven't read before. Some of the characters and scenes were too unrealistic for my taste and generated several eye rolls from me e.g. Jason was too perfect. Haley's progression from shy introvert to one-of-the-boys-kind-of-girl happened too fast. Them not being able to sleep after one night of sleeping beside each other. Haley's family and ex being too douchey to be true. That kinda thing.

I shouldn't have liked it. But I DID. BIG TIME. I loved the progression of their relationship from tolerating each other to being good friends to being sleep/cuddle buddies and to being romantically involved. I have to say though, I wished for the first half of the book to have dragged out further because I really enjoyed reading about their initially platonic friendship and how they slowly realized their feelings for each other. I found Haley's obliviousness to her attractiveness and Jason's obsession with food adorable. Plus, they were really sweet and caring towards each other. I griped when the plot twist happened and their relationship suddenly changed. For me it was inapprehensible that they could be NOT friends, you know? They're just so good together!

I was extremely happy with the last chapter and epilogue! The whole non-proposal scene had me swooning and laughing to much. I'm glad they got their sh*t together and had a happy ending. I've been reading too many serious romances lately that this was a welcome fresh breath of air from my usual heavy feelings from a book aftermath. I'll definitely be checking out the following book in the series!