Series Review: Is this series worth your time? Does it get better as the novels progress? Or does it get worse? Find out below:
Series: A Neighbor from Hell Series
Author: R.L. Mathewson
# of Books: 10 (Full Reading Order Here)
Complete?: No, Book 9, will be published in 2016
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Humour
Heat Rating: Hot
Point of View: First Person, Alternating
Publication Dates: April 2011 – ongoing
Source & Format: Own–eBook
PLEASE NOTE: Please note the following review only includes the first three novels in the series.
This series was a lot of fun to read. Sometimes you just need a light romance read that doesn’t focus on tragedy or soap-opera like drama and that is what you get here. While I didn’t find it as funny as some people rave, I did laugh at various points in these novels.
Playing for Keeps was really enjoyable. I liked Haley as a character because she was realistic and a down-to-earth girl. Jason was really funny with his eating habits and the like. I enjoyed the banter between the two of them throughout the book (that goes for all the leads in the other two books as well). It’s a super quick read that entertained me for an afternoon.
Perfection was actually my favourite of the three. I liked the opposites attract story between Zoe and Trevor. I liked that they weren’t each other’s ideal date initially and that they were able to find love in the characteristics of each other. I think sometimes we have the ideal person we want to be with in our heads and then we only focus on that ideal and not on the real world. It was refreshing to see that sometimes love isn’t what or where we thought it was. I also liked the continuing Bradford charm in this one.
I read Checkmate a little while after the first two. It didn’t really connect as the first two did to the Bradford Family as the leads are not directly from the family, but I liked it all the same. I enjoy enemies to lovers stories so I thought this book was really cute. The pranks that Connor and Rory pull on each other throughout the years are funny and entertaining so it was nice to see how their story progresses. I actually enjoyed this book more than I thought I would when I started reading it.
I actually didn’t know that there was a 4th book in this series until I wrote this review so I’m interested in what it coming next though I probably won’t get around to them for some time given my ever-growing to-read list.
I don’t have the rest of this series on my immediate TBR but if the need arises for a light-hearted romance, I’ll probably grab one. I just lose interest in series that are loosely connected and go over 5 books…
Series Rating: 4/5
They are not writing masterpieces by any means, but they a light romantic reads with a dash of humour that is refreshing in the contemporary genre where most stories feature darker elements and jaded leads (*cough cough* Fifty Shades…).
- The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst (Marriage to a Billionaire Series, #1)
Synopsis for Playing for Keeps (from Goodreads):
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 be 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 notice that she fits very nicely in his life. Now the only thing left is to convince her that this is anything but a game.
Connect: 
