Sex, Stalking

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley, Kathryn Freeman, and One More Chapter for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

I had the opportunity to take part in an Instagram Takeover for Mr. Right Across the Street on the One More Chapter IG page! It was a lot of fun, and I got to talk about some of the things I already liked about the novel without revealing any spoilers.

To sum up my thoughts, I really enjoyed how the relationship evolved throughout the novel. It may not have been ideal, and I understand that Mia was going through some past trauma from her ex-boyfriend, but from what Luke had to work with, it worked out really well. Funny enough, I actually go into the backstory for Mia and Luke in this post, but for review purposes, I’ll do another brief recap:

Mia recently moved to Manchester to escape her stalker ex-boyfriend. Nobody but her family knows where she is or what her phone number is since she changed that too. When she goes down to the bar attached to the complex she lives in, she meets Luke the bartender and owner who is pretty hot. While she’s possibly okay with being friends with him – she doesn’t date playboys after all – she refuses to give out her number for those obvious reasons. It also just so happens that Luke and Mia live right across the street from one another. They can see into each other’s flats, and that’s really the first time that Mia sees Luke since he uses his spare room to work out and she ogles him for the morning. Possibly creepy, but hey if he’s cute, watch him sweat I guess.

Since they can see into each other’s flats from their own, Luke decides to write messages to Mia by writing on white paper and taping them to the window. It sounds pretty cute right? Apparently it ends up working out, since Mia starts engaging in text conversations via window, and that’s the beginning of their friendship.

I personally didn’t adore any of the characters in this novel, but I did enjoy them. While this is meant to be a Happy Ever After type of romance novel, I think that the development of Mia and Luke’s friendship was much more engaging than their romance. The majority of the book is seeing how Luke is trying to keep it together and not force Mia into a relationship even though he likes her so much, while seeing Mia try to talk herself out of liking Luke because of her past experience with men. I feel like with those kinds of inner monologue happening, it got in the way of them just learning how to be around each other and be actual friends. Sometimes it was okay, but then things would get really awkward because Luke will say something flirty and then Mia would pretty much freeze. See, he KNOWS that she isn’t ready for that, and he KNOWS that every time he does end up flirting with her she pulls back into herself, and yet he just kept doing it! So it feels like that whole relationship wasn’t progressing in the best way because of that. That’s what I thought anyway.

Even though we don’t get to see her very much, I loved Mia’s sister Elle. I feel like their sister relationship is great. Elle is so supportive of Mia, and also makes sure that there’s no way that Mia’s ex can get to her. Even though they aren’t living in the same area anymore, Elle is still very much a part of Mia’s life. Plus, it’s always fun to talk about hot guys with your sister right? Even if she’s married and about to have a second kid. I also adored Stan, Mia’s grumpy old neighbor. He told it like it was, and also became one of Mia’s first friends in the area. It’s not the age that matters, just what’s in their heart.

This was my first experience reading a Kathryn Freeman book, and I think it was a good novel. It’s not my favorite, but a lot of my points are mostly personal. I think contemporary romance readers would enjoy this one. It was fun and quirky, and the premise was something I hadn’t seen before. Definitely give this one a try!