How to Love Your Neighbour
Sophie Sullivan
About the Author
Sophie Sullivan is a Canadian author as well as a cookie-eating, Diet Pepsi-drinking, Disney enthusiast who loves reading and writing romance in almost equal measure. She writes around her day job as a teacher and spends her spare time with her sweet family watching reruns of Friends. Ten Rules For Faking It was her rom-com debut novel, but she’s had plenty of practice writing happily ever after as her alter ego, Jody Holford.
Visit her website: www.sophiesullivanauthor.com and find her on Facebook /SophieSullivanAuthor, on Twitter @SophieSWrites, and on Instagram @authorsophiesullivan.
By Sophie Sullivan
Ten Rules for Faking It
How to Love Your Neighbour
Praise for Ten Rules for Faking It:
‘A refreshing romance with a strong sense of setting and a charismatic cast. Readers will fall in love right alongside Grace and Noah’ Publishers Weekly
‘I adored this book! Sophie Sullivan has written a fast-paced, sweet romance full of heart and truth. Once you start reading, you won’t be able to put it down’
Lyssa Kay Adams, author of The Bromance Book Club
‘Impossible to read without smiling – escapist romantic comedy at its heartwarming best’ Lauren Layne, New York Times bestselling author ‘A wholesome, slow-burn romance that will warm your heart and offer a glimpse into social anxiety disorder. This is a Hallmark movie in book form’
Helen Hoang, USA Today bestselling author of The Kiss Quotient and The Bride Test
‘A funny, sweet rom-com from a fresh, sparkling new voice. Everly’s social anxiety was instantly relatable, and I was rooting for her every inch of the way to her happily-ever-after’ Andie J. Christopher, USA Today bestselling author of Not The Girl You Marry
‘I loved this sweet, funny story! Fun, refreshing premise that had me wanting to make a few lists of my own and an ending that had me choking up and happy clapping’
Kira Archer, USA Today bestselling author
About the Book
Interior Design School? Check.
Cute house to fix up? Check.
Sexy nemesis neighbour? Check. Unfortunately.
Grace Travis has it all figured out. She’ll finish her degree, get her dream job and, most importantly, she’ll find a place where she can truly belong, something she never had growing up. So when the opportunity to fix up and live in a little house on the beach presents itself, Grace can finally see her plan coming together. . .until a problem named Noah moves in next door.
Real estate developer Noah Jansen knows when he’s found something special. Somewhere he could even call home. Except his plan involves taking over the house next door – Grace’s new home.
Everyone knows you should love your neighbour, but that’s easier said than done.
And Grace and Noah are about to find out just how thin the line is between love and hate. . .
To Alex,
for more reasons than I can list, but mostly
for being you
1
If she’d had to lay down money on which of her motley crew would cause the most trouble, Grace Travis would not have picked the Chihuahua. As she waited for Tequila, one of the two bullmastiffs, to finish sniffing an apparently odorous swatch of sidewalk, she looked toward the water. She loved it here.
She took a deep breath of her own, inhaling the scent of salt water and sun. Harlow Beach was probably her favorite place on earth. The little pang of longing in her chest warred with the guilt of making the leap. The little house she’d inherited had sat empty for months now. Glancing in that direction, she swore to herself it wouldn’t be much longer. She honestly didn’t think she could stand many more nights of sleeping under a roof that wasn’t hers when there was one right off the beach holding little pieces of her past.
She gave Tequila and his brother, Lime, the second of the mastiffs, a tug. “Let’s go, guys. One of us has things to do,” she said.
The five dogs got on board, rushing forward at varying speeds despite the limits of their leashes. They made an oddly adorable mosh pit of fur and ears. Technically, she could get by, thanks to student loans, with just her coffee shop job, but walking these dogs brought her exactly where she wanted to be. Even if you can’t be here for real. Yet. Plus, it built exercise into her overscheduled days, with the added benefit of pocket money. Plus, plus, she’d grown attached. As a kid, she’d always wanted a dog.
Brutus, the nine-pound Chihuahua, led the pack. They descended the cobbled steps onto the sand to get out of the way of the few passing runners and cyclists that made it out this early. The salty air filled her lungs as she scanned the beach.
No jury of peers would blame Grace for the way her mind blanked at the sight in front of her. With the steady, gentle waves lapping onto the beach, the sun rising like a slow yawn, and the hot dude in the bright swim trunks emerging from the surf, droplets of water trickling down his chiseled chest, anyone’s hand would have slackened on the bundle of leashes.
In those next few seconds, time spun out. Brutus’s bark was followed by a determined yank that freed his leash from Grace’s fingers. He shot off toward the dark-haired surfer dude, whose face registered surprise at the yappy little guy coming in hot. Brutus went straight for the paddle in the guy’s hand, jumping with a stupid amount of determination given his size.