cover of the book is amazing, but the description doesn't match.
I thought I am going to read a light easy rom com. Instead, I recieved something different. I could not understand what I was reading about for the first half of the book.
Adam and Eve- they both had their completly different stories. It felt like two different books. Each with their own, kind of heavy problems.
It really was't light or easy or rom com.
I really like the addition of characters with autism, and cerebral palsy. We should talk about them more, really. It just felt heavy. Eve was a very interesting person, not very likeable, in my opinion, though. Adam was a really nice guy, a good person, good friend. His friend group is great, too, super supportive.
The ending of the book felt rushed. It got a little romantic, without spice, and cute, but maybe only for about 50 pages.
I don't know how I feel about it, to be honest.
I would definitelly enjoy it much more, if it was presented differently. I would even change the rating. It was well written, that's a fact.

Thank you to Net Gallery shelf for eARC

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book so much that I ended up buying my own copy of it so I could read it again!

...as if he knew exactly where to go all along.

A book where the protagonists meet because of a wayward cat? I have never been so in.

Two Doors Down is a dual POV romance focused on Eve and Adam. Eve is a business woman. She knows what she wants and she goes for it. Right now she wants the promotion on offer as her boss goes on paternity leave, and he's all but officialy announced her as his replacement. So when her supposed best friend throws her hat in the ring, it throws her off and into an all out war. Adam is loving his life. He's got great friends, he loves his job, he loves his girlfriend, so when she betrays him in the worst way possible, he's left reeling. The only company he has is a scrawny looking cat, who comes and goes as she pleases, until one day he watches her disappear two doors down.

I really liked how this romance had a bit of a twist to the kind of romance I have come to expect. The fact that the characters didn't meet until halfway through the book was something that I found really different, but it worked really well. It meant that there was a chance to really get to know the characters and who they are as characters before they're together. However the amount of near misses they had was equal parts entertaining, and frustrating. It was refreshing that they both had their own lives that exsisted out of the other characters knowledge. Though their lives ran parallel to each other, the amount of times they nearly met, or their days went so similar to each other made it entertaining.

I also thought it was interesting how it was almost mirrored when they finally admit to themselevs that they have feelings for each other. Whereas before it was almost as though they were being thrown together, once they actually admitted that they want each other to themsleves, it's as though everything is conspiring to keep them apart. Usually I'm really not a fan of the miscommunication trope, however in this book it's more entertaining than just happening for the sake of it, that I could look past it.

You really get a feel for who the characters are very early on, which as someone who really loves character driven books, was fantastic. It's so well done, that although both characters get betrayed pretty early on, you still feel for them. Eve is one of my favourite characters. She is very unapologetically herself, even if she isn't the sort of female main character you would expect in a romance. I like that it's never seen as a bad thing that shes so career-focused, and that she does what she feels like she has to. Whether that means taking the high road, or being okay with taking advantage of people to help her own agenda. She's not a perfect character by any means, and when she is called out, it is well deserved, but I really like the way she subverts what you would expect. It made her a really interesting character to read.

Adam on the other hand took me alittle while to warm up to. I still felt for him when he was betrayed, but I think he althogether became a better characetr once Old Sausage was involved. I'm not sure what it was but I didnt connect with his character the way I was with Eve. He did eventrually grow on me, but it was more towards the end, once they had tried to take Old Sausage back to her owner. That was when it felt as though he really came into his own character, took charge a little bit more. It felt as though he felt a little less sorry for himself and once he was less 'poor me' he became more likeable as a character.

I couldn't get over how they were towards Old Sausage. The way they both went from where has this cat come from, this is the last hting I need right now to needing her for emotional support was a very realistic approach to a cat coming into your life. It was done very sneakily, in the way that they talked about cat treats they had just picked up to very overtly saying they were holding her to them for support, as someone who has had cats for most of her life, it felt very realistic. Old Sausage really is the star of this book. Through her, you can really see how much Eve and Adam changed. She was one of the main reasons I wanted to read this book, as I thought the idea of a cat bringing them together was so unique and interesting and I'm really glad that it paid of so well.

Now I read mostly romance books, but I like that the romance kind of took a backseat, and the characters got a chance to shine and fuel the story. It is really strong in the way that you can tell they are falling for each other, but it doesn't consume them. Even when Adam was saying that talking about Eve was addictive, (which, haven't we all felt like that when we're falling for someone), it's still not over bearing. There's so many times where a characters internal monologue is just pages of them going back and forth about whether they should be falling someone, and theres a lot of time when that's something I enjoy, but it wouldn't have been right with who Eve and Adam are. I liked that here it was more of a 'whoa that's weird that I want this person, but right now I have this to do.' It was really interesting to have a more realistic point of view, and it fit their characters more.

I really enjoyed this book, and I definitley need more feline based romances in the future. Easy 4 stars for me.

ARC provided by Joffe Books through NetGalley, thank you for the opportunity to read this early copy, all thoughts are my own.

I went into this expecting a typical romance but got something else entirely. The love interests barely interact until late in the book, leaving most of the story focused on self-improvement and personal growth rather than romance. While the characters were well-written, the pacing felt off, and the plot would have worked better as YA fiction. Overall, it was a slow read that didn’t quite hit the mark for me. This is a 2.5 star read for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Joffee Books for access to this arc.

I was all set for a cute and charming romcom as two people fuss a bit at each other while trying to figure out why their neighbor is neglecting her/his cat but this book is much more and much different than my idea of it was. While I ended up still liking the book, at times some of the various characters might make readers think twice about it.

First off, Eve can come across like the Terminator. There are times when, as I was reading what she does, I was horrified. I think part of what drives her, beyond her ironclad belief that she has to be as ruthless as men are in order to get what she wants, is that she’s now in competition with her best friend – someone Eve feels betrayed her. Eve doesn’t handle most of this well but then she has “dealing with people so they don’t hurt me” down pat. I feel a lot of readers will be repelled by Eve’s actions as well as disliking the toxic place where she works and yet this does give her a lot of things to reflect on and deal with.

Adam is the softer sweetheart of the pair. School policies drove him to leave a profession he likes but he’s found a new way through tutoring including one brilliant student with autism who Adam can’t bear to see miss chances in life. His friends might twit him about going overboard to save the world but Adam cares deeply and that’s not a bad thing. He is also the sole caretaker of his brother with cerebral palsy who Adam recently moved to a new care home after problems with the last one. It’s totally understandable that Adam is determined to see that Hugh is properly taken care of to the point of maybe going a bit overboard.

There are a few misunderstandings that muddle things between Adam and Eve (you can insert a joke here). Half heard and half seen things that can be viewed in opposite ways mingle with Eve’s defensiveness and Adam’s hurt to confuse them about how the other actually feels. It’s down to the wire before all is sorted.

Old Sausage, being a tortie, is a she (as Eve chortles to Adam). She wanders freely into and out of their two houses and in the end, is settled into her new home with a collar that she seems to feel gives her a claim on people. After so many mentions of her matted fur, I would love to see someone give her a good brushing though. I was also frustrated by how long it took either MC to get this cat to a vet. For a book that sold itself to me based on the blurb and the cover with a cat … yeah, Eve and Adam needed to step up sooner.

I’ve seen various reviews that run the gamut from loved it to awful for this one and have admitted I had my own issues with it. Eve is the main character who needs to check herself and what she’s done. I feel that she does this but YMMV on her. E & A are kind of opposites but I think they complement each other. Now they just need to keep taking care of Old Sausage. B-

Honestly, I didn't like it very much.
For one, the characters only oficially meet after the 50% mark. That's too much. For another, all their problems could have been solved if they just talked to each other. And third, I didn't like the FMC very much.
Eve wasn't a bad person but some decisions and things she made weren't very good. Sometimes, it was too much.
I liked Adam, he was really sweet, I liked seeing him coming out of his shell a bit, having more confidence in himself, not being such a doormat all the time.
I actually liked them together but at the ending, I would have liked if Eve was the one that went after him and not the other way around. He deserved that kind of dedication

Overall this was such a cute read, perfect summer read, I enjoyed the viewpoints and loved the characters.

This was a cute book and I enjoyed the growth of the characters over time. I also liked their chosen families they found in their friends. I would have enjoyed seeing more of the romance between Adam and Eve!

One thing that I really appreciated about this book was the author gave us the opportunity to get to know the two main characters on their own before we got to know them together. In doing this, it helped the reader understand a little bit more about Adam and Eve and what makes them tick and what different things they’ve been through.

Do I think the romance moved a little fast in the book? Yes, I do; however, it did feel kind of natural for the two of them.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy.

Adam and Eve live 2 doors apart, but have never really met until a stray cat gets involved. I liked how it was told from both points of view, but did struggle to like Eve as a character. She did redeem herself somewhat in the end though.

This book was so cute! The main characters had great banter and it was a very fun read! The plot was very enjoyable and I would highly recommend!

Two Doors Down is a sweet, unique romcom with a lot of heart. I was surprised when the main characters hadn’t met each other until half way through the book, but I actually found that made it more interesting because I was essentially reading two parallel stories until they finally converged.

I found the characters interesting and complex and felt their personal struggles and triumphs really helped move the story along. There is a lot of miscommunication, in case that isn’t your thing. This is also a closed-door romance where with no spice, but I hardly noticed because the tension was definitely there.

All in all, I felt this book was a well-rounded satisfying rom-com that I would confidently recommend to others!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this cute neighbors to lovers book. It was witty and made me laugh. I will say the characters seemed to act younger than what their ages were.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!

What a great book. Such a quick and easy read. I enjoyed this book. All of the characters are great. Also great story and awesome writing style.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

I initially expected this book to be a typical romance, but I was pleasantly surprised. For most of the story, it felt like two separate narratives were unfolding simultaneously, as the main characters didn't start interacting until nearly two-thirds of the way through. The focus was much more on self-improvement and personal growth than on romance. Eve and Adam, despite being neighbors, lived mostly independent lives, with only a few near encounters along the way.

I think the author did an excellent job of crafting the characters. I felt exactly what I was supposed to feel about them, and I believe they complement each other well. I didn’t particularly love Eve for much of the book—I just wanted her to slow down and take a moment to reflect, which I think was the author's intention. This made me appreciate how well-written the book was. Adam, on the other hand, is a genuinely nice guy who cares about others' feelings and provides a good balance to Eve's more problem-solving nature.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of this book!

The parts I liked about this book were Adam, Hugh and their relationship. The way this is showed in the book is really wonderful and also how Adams friends are all actively supporting both of them and each other was really wonderful. On the back of that I really loved Okie and the additional representation of how autism can affect so many things in life.

I not sure if it was intentional but I absolutely did not like Eve, and did not find the redemption in the last 10% of the book believable. I struggled to understand how someone is so out of touch and so self involved that they miss what’s happening around them.

Mein Leseerlebnis

Der Klappentext hörte sich für meine Ohren sehr ansprechend an. Als großer Fan von Katzen in Liebesromanen (und auch außerhalb von ihnen!) habe ich mich auf das Buch sehr gefreut, denn eine Katze als Kupplerin ist schon etwas außergewöhnliches. Doch leider hat sich die Liebesgeschichte als für mich nicht passend herausgestellt.

Beim Lesen des romance Buches fiel es mir sehr schwer in der Geschichte anzukommen und alle Personen auseinanderzuhalten, vor allen in Bezug auf die Nebencharaktere traf dies zu.

Sowohl der Schreibstil als auch der Aufbau der Geschichte wirkten auf mich etwas sprunghaft und unausgereift.

Ein paar der Entwicklungen sprachen mich zudem nicht an und ich konnte zu den Hauptcharakteren keine gute Verbindung aufbauen. Die Sache mit der Katze nahm außerdem einen geringeren Stellenwert ein, als von mir erwartet und erhofft.

Nach gut zehn Kapiteln habe ich das Lesen aufgegeben, da ich zu diesem Zeitpunkt immer noch verwirrt war und wenig Interesse an der Liebesgeschichte hatte.

Keine Bewertung, da abgebrochen.

PS: Ich liebe das Buchcover und hoffe, dass mich der nächste Liebesroman mit einer Katze in einer wichtigen Rolle begeistern wird.

Für wen?

Wer Liebesromane mag, in denen im Leben der beiden Hauptpersonen sehr viel los ist und in denen es so einige Nebencharaktere gibt, für den könnte “Two doors down” einen Versuch wert sein.

YESSSSS. it was a very cute book, dorky loveable, naive friend, stubborn, overworked perfectionist FMC, and adorable sweet kind hearted MMC who can do no wrong! I enjoyed the story, it was a nice easy read. LOVED LOVED LOVED

This was a very different experience from the prior book. Here we have the neighbors-to-lovers trope, but subverted in a lot of clever ways. Really, this book is much more about self-exploration and discovery that just happens to coincide with a bit of romance between neighbors. Adam is definitely one of the nicest MMC characters I’ve read in awhile and it shows that in a lot of ways…for about 2/3rds of the book, I was quietly rooting for him to find someone better than Eve.

Eve. What to say. For about the first 2/3rds of the book, she is in so many ways an awful person. She does some truly terrible things in her efforts to “have it all” and she was a struggle to root for. Oh, Kirsty isn’t any better, but Eve’s behavior is awful, unethical and borderline psychotic. She is a truly “type A” personality and while that doesn’t bother me, the lengths she goes to to attempt to get a temporary promotion are mind boggling. She is a self-centered narcissist who does not see what she is doing is awful. Adam deserved better than that version of Eve and there IS a change to her as the book gets deeper.

Something to note…I was fascinated by the fact that for a solid majority of this novel, there are two separate (but nearby) stories being told. Typically, most rom-coms introduce the main characters to one another in the first 10% of the book or so – either rivals, friends, frenemies, neighbors with beef, coworkers, etc. But not here. Here the characters dance around each other’s orbits for the first half of the novel, only really “meeting” one another at exactly the midpoint of the novel. The longer it went on, the more fascinated I was by this. I’m not sure if the author was trying to explore the hidden depths of the lives of people who are only a few doors away from us – but that was definitely the vibe I was getting. Indeed…it might have been an interesting idea to have them never meet, though I suppose that would have defeated the idea of it being a “rom-com.”

But there is a fundamental truth the author is going for in this novel. We have the power over ourselves and our situations by the decisions we make (or don’t make). Sh*t will happen to you whether you choose to be ruthless or not. Doesn’t it make more sense to be good to one another instead? Grab onto the people we choose and hold on tight.

The comedy in this was better than Casket Case and I did find myself loving Hugh (how can you not!) and Old Sausage – as the cat-dad of a tortoise shell cat, I’m familiar with their peculiarities and laughed frequently. Did I love this book? I don’t know. But I definitely liked it. A lot. And the ending was just wonderful. I’m notoriously a hard grader but…here I am saying… 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Joffe Books for the ARC.