The Neighbor Favor (The Greene Sisters, Band 1) - Softcover

Forest, Kristina

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593546431 ISBN 13: 9780593546437

Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2023

Inhaltsangabe

A shy bookworm enlists her charming neighbor to help her score a date, not knowing he’s the obscure author she’s been corresponding with, in this sparkling and heart-fluttering romance by Kristina Forest.

Shy, bookish, and admittedly awkward, Lily Greene has always felt inadequate compared to the rest of her accomplished family, who strive for Black excellence. She dreams of becoming a children’s books editor, but she’s been frustratingly stuck in the nonfiction division for years without a promotion in sight. Lily finds escapism in her correspondences with her favorite fantasy author, and what begins as two lonely people connecting over email turns into a tentative friendship and possibly something else Lily won’t let herself entertain—until he ghosts her without a word.
 
Months later, Lily is still crushed, but she’s determined to get a hold of her life, starting with finding a date to her sister’s wedding. And the perfect person to help her is Nick Brown, her charming, attractive new neighbor, who she feels drawn to for reasons she can’t explain. But little does she know, Nick is an author—her favorite fantasy author.
 
Nick, who has his reasons for using a pen name and pushing people away, soon realizes that the beautiful, quiet girl from down the hall is the same Lily he fell in love with over email months ago. Unwilling to complicate things even more between them, he agrees to set her up with someone else, though this simple favor between two neighbors is anything but—not when he can't get her off his mind...

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Kristina Forest is the USA Today bestselling author of romance books for both teens and adults. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing at The New School and she lives in New Jersey, where she can often be found rearranging her bookshelf.

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1

From: Lily G. lilyg@gmail.com

To: N.R. Strickland nrs@nrstrickland.com

Date: May 9, 6:21pm

Subject: You have a website!

Dear Mr. Strickland,

Have you ever been stuck on a subway train without air-conditioning on a 92-degree weather day? If not, count yourself lucky, because that's what I'm experiencing right now and it's absolute torture.

Okay, now that I have that off my chest, I want it to be clear that I never do stuff like this. And by stuff, I mean cold emailing a stranger. Chances are you probably won't read this message, so my nerves might be for nothing. You did just create a website even though The Elves of Ceradon was published five years ago, so my assumption is that you don't spend too much time online, which isn't really a bad thing.

My name is Lily and I read your novel almost two years ago while working at a used bookstore. I'd never heard of your book and neither had my boss, so he told me to toss it. Mostly because this particular copy looked like a dog had chewed the bottom-right corner, which basically meant we couldn't sell it. But the thought of throwing books away feels like a crime, and I was curious, so I started reading on my lunch break. Then I kept reading throughout the rest of my shift, on the bus ride home, all through dinner, and I stayed up until 3am to finish. Reading your book made me remember why I loved reading so much growing up. At the time, I'd been out of college for a year and hadn't considered working with books outside of being a bookseller, but I realized maybe I could edit books like yours, but for children. Once I had that goal, everything changed. I work in book publishing now-not in the role I want, necessarily, but it's a foot in the door. I think I have you and your book to thank, in a way. It got me through a tough and confusing time in my life.

Anyway, I won't bore you with the details of my previous existential crisis. (Again, not sure you'll even end up reading this.) I'm emailing you because I wanted to tell you that I loved your book. I thought Deko was one of the most interesting protagonists I've read in a long time. Do you plan to write a sequel? It ended on such a cliff-hanger with Deko, delirious and battle weary, finally reaching Ceradon but getting attacked by a life leech as soon as he touched the city gates! Did he survive? Did he die? I've been wondering this for two years.

I'm sure you're inundated with messages thanks to your new website and contact form, but I hope

From: N.R. Strickland nrs@nrstrickland.com

To: Lily G. lilyg@gmail.com

Date: May 14, 10:42pm

Subject: Re: You have a website!

Lily-

You hope what? Did you mean to leave that sentence unfinished?

Either way, thank you for your kind message. It was really nice and surprising to read. You're wrong in assuming that I'm inundated with emails. Yours is the first email I've ever received through my website, and to be honest, I thought you were someone sending me hate mail. You're probably the only person who ever visits the site, other than my agent, who made the site for me.

I'm glad that my book served as an inspiration for you and your career. That's probably the only way my book has ever inspired another person.

To answer your first question, no, I've never been stuck on a subway when it was 92 degrees outside. However, I did once find myself locked inside of a loo on a submarine in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Long story.

To answer your second question, no, I don't plan to write a sequel. I don't think of myself as an author anymore. More like a one-hit wonder, sans the hit. As far as I'm concerned, The Elves of Ceradon was written in another life, back when I was 22 and naive and thought I'd be the Black George R. R. Martin. Did Deko die lying there at the city gates? Did a Ceradonian elf come to his rescue? I don't know. I'll leave that up to your interpretation.

Wishing you luck in life.

~NRS

From: Lily G. lilyg@gmail.com

To: N.R. Strickland nrs@nrstrickland.com

Date: May 15, 7:13am

Subject: Re: You have a website!

Dear Mr. Strickland,

Oh my God. I had no idea I actually sent that email to you. I wrote it in a delirious, dehydrated state, right before I literally fainted. I was serious about that hot subway. Reading over my email, I can tell just how out of it I was. And I didn't even finish it! I'm mortified.

And shocked?? I can't believe that you actually read my email and that you replied. I was honestly starting to think that maybe you didn't exist. I'm the only person I know who has read your book. Whenever I mention it to people, they have no idea what I'm talking about, which is really disappointing, because they don't know what they're missing, and I love my copy too much to loan it out. I have no idea where I'd find another if someone didn't give it back. It looks like the book went out of print only a few months after publication.

I'm sorry to hear that you no longer think of yourself as an author. I didn't realize how young you were when you wrote Elves. That's so impressive. When I was 22, I was hiding from my roommates in our senior hall suite so that they wouldn't force me to go to parties.

Your reply came at just the right time. It's exactly the energy booster I need for my job interview later this afternoon. I'm taking it as a good omen. 

Sincerely,

Lily G.

From: N.R. Strickland nrs@nrstrickland.com

To: Lily G. lilyg@gmail.com

Date: June 12, 11:01pm

Subject: Re: You have a website!

Lily-

Apologies, I'm over a month late. So you're saying you emailed me when you weren't in a clear state of mind, literal seconds before you fainted. That's mad! I hope you were okay afterward. And I have to be honest, getting an email from you in the first place makes a lot more sense now. I guess someone would have to be a little delirious to go out of their way to email me.

I'm glad you love your copy of Elves so much that you wouldn't let anyone else borrow it. And yes, Labyrinth Press closed its doors the same year I signed my contract. They were able to print a few copies of Elves beforehand. It wasn't an ideal career start, but I've come to accept my path. Again, not an author anymore.

How did that interview go?

~NRS

From: Lily G. lilyg@gmail.com

To: N.R. Strickland nrs@nrstrickland.com

Date: June 13, 8:21am

Subject: Re: You have a website!

Dear Mr. Strickland,

I wasn't expecting you to email back the first time, and I definitely wasn't expecting to hear from you twice. This just made my day.

The interview didn't go so well, unfortunately. I didn't make it past the first round, which kind of sucks because it was an assistant editor position with a well-known children's publisher.

I've gone on a handful of interviews within the past year, and I never make it very far in the process. For one, even though I know so much about children's books, that knowledge leaves my brain as soon as I sit down and I just start blabbering. The other issue is that most interviewers don't think I have enough experience, which isn't wrong. For two years, I've been an editorial assistant at an adult nonfiction imprint. I spend my days reading manuscripts about plagues and genocides and dictators, among other topics. Working on a book about the Satanic Panic doesn't clearly translate to working with children's authors who could be the next Rick Riordan. At least that's what I'm told during interviews.

Anyway, that's my life career-wise. You said you were on assignment. If you're not an author anymore, what do you do?

Sincerely,

Lily G.

From: Lily G. lilyg@gmail.com

To: N.R. Strickland nrs@nrstrickland.com

Date: June 13,...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2023
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593546431
• ISBN 13: 9780593546437
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 416
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland