3.5

This was a cute Covid era romance, though they never explicitly state the word "Covid". This is about how two teleworkers meet only because they're neighbors. This story is an interesting blend of office romance mixed with {gender] next-door romance. I liked the concept, and I liked the characters, but something about the overall story didn't fully click for me. I think the fact that it was a stand-alone hampered the plot's pacing. The entire story has to be wrapped up within one volume when it very clearly would have done so much better if it could have at least been a 3 or 5 book series. The romance pacing is the oddest of all, with the start being barely anything, and then roughly 3/4 into the book, it ramps up to them being madly in love. The art I absolutely adored. I also really did like the characters, they really feel like they could be real people. This romance, for all its pacing issues, feels very realistic. That's one of the big points that I enjoyed, was how grounded this story was! I just wish it could have been a bit longer, to really help flesh out the romantic relationship between the two main characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!