"Neighbors" By: L.S. Murphy Review

Neighbors

By: L.S. Murphy

Synopsis

Rena Woods has a great life. She recently landed the contract to decorate the home of basketball wife, Cecilia Hood, her business is growing, and this contract could make her the elite decorator in St. Louis. Rena’s sacrificed her personal life for her company without a single regret. When Staff Sergeant C.J. Riker moves in across the hall, Rena can’t stand to be around him. He may be on the volcanic side of hot, but his attitude sucks. Riker does whatever he can to get under Rena’s skin.

After a massive blow to her business sends Rena on a self-destructive binge, Riker is there to save her from doing something she might regret. Could there be more to Riker than meets the eye? And will he open up enough to Rena to tell her how he lost his leg or shut out love forever?

My Thoughts

     Neighbors is my first book from Ms. Murphy but definitely won’t be my last. This is a novella done right, with plenty of character background, a riveting romance, and a satisfying and richly romantic ending. Adorably dorky in places and heart wrenching in others, Rena and Riker’s story took me away for an enjoyable evening.

    Rena is unimpressed when ex-Marine C.J. Riker moves in across the hall from her. A serious interior designer in St. Louis, Rena is working hard to build her business and she just doesn’t have time for the new surly neighbor. Over laundry and a few boring evenings, Rena finds that there may be more to her neighbor than a bad attitude.

    Riker has moved to St. Louis after several tours in the Marines. Horribly hurt during an attack, Riker has lost one of his legs. A bad attitude and a negative outlook on life have become the norm, until the neighbor across the hall, seems to challenge his views.

    Murphy does a lot of storytelling in her 65 pages and it doesn’t seem as if any word is wasted. Rena is smart and independent, and doesn’t give Riker any sympathy for missing his leg. Sure he’s went through traumatic events, but life is for the living. Riker is mad, bad, and strong but with Rena he’s different. She doesn’t take his gruff and understands his need to be normal.

    Fun and smart, Murphy’s Neighbors is an excellent novella length romance. Moving along nicely, you find the characters to be both sweet and fierce, and never seem to get bogged down by unnecessary details. As opposed to most of the romances I read, I would rate this one as a G, so no naughtiness but plenty of sexy. A great offering from a fabulous Missouri author, I can’t wait to see what the future holds for L.S. Murphy!

Book Details

Publisher: Entangled: Flirt

Date of Publication: November 11, 2013

# of Pages: 65

Source: From the Publisher for Review