Rena Woods has a great life. She recently landed the contract to decorate the home of basketball wife, Cecilia Hood, her business is growing, and this contract could make her the elite decorator in St. Louis. Rena’s sacrificed her personal life for her company without a single regret. When Staff Sergeant C.J. Riker moves in across the hall, Rena can’t stand to be around him.

He may be on the volcanic side of hot, but his attitude sucks. Riker does whatever he can to get under Rena’s skin.

After a massive blow to her business sends Rena on a self-destructive binge, Riker is there to save her from doing something she might regret. Could there be more to Riker than meets the eye? And will he open up enough to Rena to tell her how he lost his leg or shut out love forever?

Somehow Murphy manages to fit the perfect amount of information into a very small number of pages. Usually these novellas end up with some details that I feel like I’m missing – maybe it’s a little backstory on the characters that would explain why they are the way they are or the ending feels too open ended so I don’t get the resolution that I want – but Neighbors was just about perfect.

We join Rena and Riker at their first meeting and are with them all the way until the happy ending(ish). They are still early on in their relationship at the end but you finish feeling like they are going to have a long and happy life. Granted Riker does have a lot of issues – PTSD, anger, moodiness – but it’s definitely understandable for everything that he’s been through. And Rena is aware of his foibles but is willing to take him on anyway, and she’s got an up-front personality that can take him on. I thought the two together were perfect. The characters seemed so real, almost like friends instead of fictional characters, and their relationship developed in a very real life manner.

Neighbors is sweet, sassy and funny. It is the perfect length with the right amount detail to tell a complete and touching love story in a tiny little package.