Book Review | Girl Next Door by Rachel Meredith

Sep 13

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If you’re thinking about checking out Girl Next Door yourself, don’t worry about spoilers. The first part of my reviews are always spoiler-free so you can see if the book is your cup of tea. After a quick summary and a basic review, I’ll give a spoiler warning and do a deep dive into everything I loved and hated about Girl Next Door.

Here’s Rachel Meredith’s blurb from her website: “Rachel has been writing something or other her entire life. Born in New York City, raised on Long Island, and now a New Havener, she spends her days as a copy editor and proofreader, where she’s able to put her English degree to use on all sorts of grammatical minutiae. Her debut adult rom-com, Girl Next Door, will be published in Fall 2025 by Harper Perennial.”

Girl Next Door is her debut novel, and I’m definitely looking forward to more!

Book Cover: Girl Next Door by Rachel Meredith

Content Warning

I always like to give a quick content warning for any sensitive topics. These are some content warnings for Girl Next Door:

Alcohol. (Light drinking).
Explicit intimacy. (Public).
Homophobia.
Pregnancy.

Quick Synopsis

MC is living her big life in the city when her best friend tells her some startling news—she is definitely the main character in a romance novel, written by someone else. When MC returns to her hometown to sleuth out the reason for this writing, she ends up reconnecting with the author of the book.

Pretty much every character in this book has something to make up for by the end of it, but they still end up being likeable anyway. There’s something undeniably cozy and nostalgic about this read.

My Rating

Everybody has to come up with their own system for judging and rating books, and here’s mine:

One star: I couldn’t finish the book. (DNF)
Two stars: I struggled to finish, but I did.
Three stars: This book was okay and worth reading.
Four stars: I liked this book and I would recommend it to a friend.
Five stars: I’d read this book again, and it’s going on my favorites shelf.

By no means do I think this is a perfect rating system, but I had to come up with something that would help me avoid arbitrarily assigning ratings. This provides a solid guideline for rating qualifications.

I gave Girl Next Door an four-star rating because I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to a friend, but I wouldn’t read it again.

My Recommendations

If you enjoyed Girl Next Door and you’re looking for more books to read next, here are some of my suggestions:

Well, Actually by Mazey Eddings

While Girl Next Door is not a second chance romance in the sense that Nora and MC never actually dated, it still has some of those vibes. If you’re into second chance, you may enjoy Well, Actually by Mazey Eddings. I was hoping to recommend more sapphic romance, but I didn’t have any that fit the themes of this book. Well, Actually focuses around internet content, rather than media, and features two queer characters who would create a straight-passing relationship.

Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson

If you’re into the neighbor element of Girl Next Door, you might enjoy Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson. Rather than being old time friends, like Nora and MC, the two main characters in this one meet for the first time when one comes back to town. Our main character suspects the love interest of being a serial killer, which definitely makes for a rocky start to their relationship. I believe this book also has many of the same themes around deciding whether to leave your home town or come back as an adult.

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

Slow Dance is a masterfully done romance between two high school best friends that spans over the course of decades. Throughout this book, we get to see our main character as a teenager, college student, and divorced mother all falling in love with her will-they, won’t-they man.

Summary

We’re now entering the spoiler-y part of this review. If you think Girl Next Door sounds like your cup of tea, click away, read it, and come back to see if you agree or disagree with my critique. If you like the sound of the book but you don’t want to read it, don’t worry, I’ll give you the full rundown.

SPOILERS

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SPOILERS -

Our story starts with MC, a freelance copywriter living in New York City. She’s visiting her best friend Joe at his office, the site of an online gossip magazine called Jawbreaker. Joe is in need of a scoop to help him keep his job. Lucky for him, he’s found it—after reading Girl Next Door (a new sapphic romance that’s been flying off the shelves) Joe is convinced one of the characters is MC herself, and that their old classmate, Nora, is the face behind the anonymous pen name.

Joe pleads with MC to scope this out for him. If he can get a story like this, he might just be able to hang onto his job through restructuring. MC is hesitant, but goes along with it because Joe is her best friend.

When she returns to her home town to start this work, things are awkward. Not only does she have to come stay with her brother, but with his wife, Gabby—MC’s crush from high school. She’s over her crush now, but the fact that Conrad got the girl put a bit of a wedge in their relationship, though Conrad never really knew that MC was interested.

On her first visit home, MC goes to see Nora in the library. Nora is not interested in talking to her, and MC doesn’t get much. But she does agree to do a costumed reading for kids in the library the next day. She also gets roped into leading a meeting for the high school’s literary magazine, which she was a part of (with Nora) in high school. The principal—Jae—is very grateful to MC, because there’s nobody else to supervise the meeting.

MC’s first visit is cut short when she and Conrad get into an argument—Conrad is upset that MC has gone from avoiding them to suddenly crashing at their place, and MC doesn’t want to share the truth with him. They’re also just not great at talking to one another, which means many things are left unsaid, and MC says she’s going to catch the train straight home.

Back in the city, Joe is pushing MC for more. To spend more time with Nora to try and make a story about the thing. MC has her reservations—it’s not like she and Nora have stayed in touch, and she’s worried that it might be crossing a boundary.

But Joe is still worried about his job, and shares that there are other people in the office who might be going, too, if he can’t do something great. MC gives in and goes back to her hometown on her birthday weekend. Her brother seems happy to see her, and their argument from before is mostly forgotten. On Halloween, though, MC notices Conrad acting kind of weird with his boss, the principal of the school.

Lois, one of the other librarians Nora works with, convinces Nora to come to the literary magazine meeting, and then convinces Nora to go out with MC for pizza. Each time they hang out, they grow a bit closer.

While at the pizza place, Conrad and Jae—the principal—come in. MC panics and needs to hide, since Gabby is out of town and it’s odd that the two of them are together. Nora helps her to hide from them by kissing her, and the two of them break it up, acting like that’s all it was and not talking about it further.

Joe is still pushing MC, and the next time she comes home is Thanksgiving. Conrad and Gabby have a big get together, inviting Jae, their mother, and other people, including Nora. Gabby announces to everyone that she’s pregnant. Everyone seems happy, but Nora can tell that something is wrong with Conrad. After the big gathering, Nora comes back to MC’s house, and they end up sleeping together.

After, MC tries to talk to Nora about it, to clear up what’s going on between them, but Nora pushes her away, telling her to leave, and telling her she doesn’t want to talk to her anymore.

YouTube Video: Literal Fiction Book Review of Girl Next Door by Rachel Meredith

MC goes back to the city and comes up with a way to write the article that should protect Nora’s privacy. When they pitch the article to Jawbreaker, the people there love it.

Back in town for Christmas, MC runs another meeting for the literary magazine, and when she’s leaving, she overhears Jae and Conrad arguing. Jae is saying it’s over—Conrad is having a baby. After, in the car together, MC ends up having a heart-to-heart with her brother. He admits that he had an affair, and MC tells him that he needs to come clean.

MC also admits why she’s been back in town—to scope out Nora after that book came out. It’s a rare moment of honesty between them.

Lois convinces Nora to invite MC to a Christmas part, and MC goes. While there, Nora tries to give MC a gift—it’s Girl Next Door, the book about MC. The moment is interrupted by Conrad calling MC. He’s panicking because Gabby found out about his affair and left, and he can’t find her.

MC goes with Conrad to try and look for her, but also makes the point that maybe Gabby doesn’t want to talk to him.

The next morning, everything goes wrong. MC wakes up to the sound of Conrad and Gabby fighting, and when she goes to try and investigate, there’s a knock on the front door. It’s Nora.

MC’s article went live, and Nora is furious because it basically doxed her. Everyone is fighting, and this is when Conrad and Gabby find out about MC’s crush on Gabby, and how that’s the reason that she kept her distance all these years.

Conrad takes MC to the train station, and we have our everything-is-lost moment. MC wallows in the city and blocks Joe from being able to message her. When he finally gets through—coming to her apartment, he forces her to get up and come to a party with him.

At the party, MC finds out that one of the bosses at Jawbreaker made sure to put their graduation year in the details, which allowed the fans to follow the clues back to MC and Nora. MC leaves the party, furious at her best friend and furious with herself.

Then MC goes back to her home town. She and Conrad spend time together. Conrad is trying to get Gabby back, especially since the two of them have a baby on the way. When MC runs into Gabby in the grocery store, Gabby forgives MC, says that Conrad told her MC wanted him to come clean.

Later, MC makes contact with Nora, too, who engages but doesn’t forgive her. MC is still running the literary magazine meetings, and in February, she finally gathers up the courage to go to the library to see Nora. There are homophobic protestors outside, and MC ends up getting hit by one of them.

Nora brings her inside to put ice on it, but makes it clear that there’s nothing MC could do to win her back. They talk about it—the fact that Nora probably shouldn’t have written such an accurate depiction of their high school experience, and the fact that MC shouldn’t have written the article the way she did. Lois tells Nora to forgive MC already, but Nora isn’t having it.

MC gives up her apartment in the city and moves back home. Conrad is in therapy and it looks like he and Gabby are going to work things out. MC is planning to go to school to be a teacher, and wants to be there to help out when the baby is born.

Nora, meanwhile, is helping her parents sell their house. They come home, and Nora wants to spend some time away from them, so she escapes into MC’s place. This is the catalyst for them to really start talking again.

They go sledding together, and then to the movies. Nora is still tentative about having a real relationship with her, and tells MC that her book has been optioned for a movie, she’s going to LA to help work on the script.

Then, Nora asks MC to come with her. MC is shocked, but admits that she needs to stay home—she wants to help her brother and Gabby when the baby comes, and she’s just been accepted to grad school to get a teaching degree.

Joe comes to visit their hometown, and Jawbreaker starts an internship for the kids who work on the literary magazine. After Nora has been in LA for a while, MC starts to wonder if she’s going to give up on them being together.

But then Nora returns home, reading the anonymous poem she wrote for MC in high school at the literary magazine’s public reading event. Nora admits that script writing wasn’t for her, and she and MC have their happily ever after.

Deep Dive

Alright, now that you know what happens in Girl Next Door, let’s get into some of my thoughts and opinions on this book.

First, I thought the premise for this one was very unique. I enjoyed the build-up to MC’s visit home, and the fact that there was far more waiting for her there than just Nora. It was nice seeing a serious storyline between her and her brother, and I also appreciated the way this book allowed characters to really make mistakes.

It seems like almost all of them have to stumble and pick themselves up. Nora shouldn’t have written the book so closely to the real likeness of her high school friends and experiences, and we also see her being too closed off with people, refusing to let them in.

MC, for her part, allows her allegiance to Joe to cloud her judgement for starting the project in the first place, then following through with the article after she’s gotten closer to Nora.

Conrad cheats on Gabby, and the two of them have to come to terms with how to move forward. Gabby, for her part, is probably the one who does the least in this book, but she does seem to put some pressure on Conrad to have kids, and announces their pregnancy without his consent at their Thanksgiving gathering.

While they all had very real, and very realistic flaws, I appreciated that this book allowed our characters the grace to fall and pick themselves back up, without everything completely blowing up.

Another thing I appreciated about this one was the reversal of MC’s journey—coming home from the city, rather than getting to escape to it. If you grew up in a small town, or if you’ve just ever watched a Hallmark movie, you know the storyline or feeling of wanting to get away from that place.

What’s interesting to me is how MC reflects on being perfectly happy with her life in the city before finding out about Nora, but finding fulfilment being at home, too. At the end of this one, both MC and Nora have had adventures, and they aren’t sure where they’re going to be going forward.

But we see MC following her passions where they lead her, even when that takes her away from being a freelancer and toward being a teacher. I found that somewhat refreshing.

As for critiques, I’m going to start with one that’s fairly trivial—I’m not a fan of MC’s name. As I read, I could only hear it in my head as MC, even though it stands for Mischa Celeste. Like I said, this one is kind of trivial, but it was an issue I had with reading it.

Additionally, while the romance between Nora and MC was okay, and at some points there was something of a spark, I was hoping for more, especially considering the tension between these characters. I liked the scene in which Nora found out about MC’s article, especially considering how MC falls into the snow, but I was hoping for more scenes like it, with this kind of heightened emotion.

For a romance, I just wish there had been more push and pull between Nora and MC. Also, while this is not a critique of the book itself and just a statement of my own preferences, I was not a fan of the public sex in this one.

If that’s something you’re into, I suppose it’s better to get it from a book than to do it in real life. Please, don’t replicate the movie theater scene—the other people in the movie theater are not giving their consent to be in the room with you while you do it.

Other than those minor things, I really liked this one, which is why I gave it a four-star rating. I think you’ll like it if you’re a fan of more slow-paced romance. There’s also something very comforting and nostalgic about MC coming back to her hometown, so if you’re into that kind of thing, you may be into this book.

These area some books I may review next:

The Austen Affair by Madeline Bell
We Met Like This by Kasie West
Thief of Night by Holly Black
Kitty St. Clair’s Last Dance by Kate Robb

Deion Malloy