Review: 4 1/2 stars - funny, keeps you engaged, some steam factor, liked the characters, fun plot
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 7, 2013
I am a huge fan of the A Neighbor from Hell series. R.L. Mathewson is an immediate 'buy' for me.Even so, I was skeptical when I started to read this book because how long of a great streak of books can an author keep?Hmmm, pretty darn long.I really enjoyed this book. I was surprised at home much I enjoyed this book.Elizabeth Norwood and Robert Bradford are childhood friends who have been mortal enemies since they can remember. Prank after prank, cruel joke after cruel joke they played on each other. Inciting the other to 'bring it on'. And it's not a 'I have a crush on you' cruelty, they seem to really dislike each other. They meanness to each other is second nature.Fast forward 15 years and both Elizabeth and Robert are now fully grown adults (young adults)...They meet in a most interesting way (ugh, so difficult to write this review without spilling any beans!) and it's a raucous good time after that. They are both attracted and repulsed by each other. The chemistry is undeniable, but they have not been able to get rid of the instinctive nature to be mean to each other, both verbally and physically.Reading about what they do to each other as adults had me at one point, laughing out loud. I rarely do that. It was incredibly entertaining.yes, it was VERY unlikely that this would happen with members of the Ton - in the home of a distinguished Lord, but I was able to immediately overlook any historical, cultural or social inconsistencies of that era because it was just too interesting and fun to read and follow along.Elizabeth is extremely beautiful, has a heart of gold, is compassionate, smart, witty, vindictive, can cook and independent.What's not to love about her?Robert is smart, gorgeous, sexy, hardworking, will do manual labor, vindictive and in the end, will do the right thing.What's not to love about him?The side characters are interesting as well. The book begins and ends with the modern day, Jason Bradford and his wife - awesome! Love them both. In the middle (most of the book) is the story of the original "nutty" Bradfords dating in the early 1800s.The plot is an easy to read, smoothly transitioned, no major over the top weird storylines.  There is no super villain, the book is about how the characters work out things b/w themselves- not about having to rescue her from anyone stalking her or kidnapping her, or anything like that.No Cliff hangers.No angst.You can read this as a standalone book.But you must set aside your historical knowledge of the social norms of this time. The speech, the social etiquette etc is blown out of the water. R.L. Mathewson does a generally good job with the speech, you feel like you are in a different era/time/locale. But some of the wording is definitely modern. Antics are modern. But get over it. It's fun when you do!!!This book is funny. It's sexy. It's sweet. It's engaging. It's interesting. you care about the main characters.I highly recommend this book.Enjoy!