Bad Neighbors

The Tiernay Sisters #1

by Evie Rae

After a scandal implodes my family and life, switching to a new university is my only avenue to providing for myself and my younger sister. When a data entry error assigns me to an all-male quad dormitory with three far-too-attractive men, I’m willing to make it work. We all have our own rooms, and I can just avoid the common areas. My new roommates aren’t as willing, though. They don’t want me disrupting their male utopia, and are going to do whatever it takes to make me leave. They leave the toilet seat up, eat my food, drink my last Dr. Peppy, and do their best to make my life hell—all to get me to leave. Until one day… they stop. Instead of trying to push me out, they make my head spin when they ramp up the charm. Something tells me not to trust this complete reversal, that they have ulterior motives. That they may just break my heart. They can break my heart. But they can’t push me out. Not with my sister depending on me…not with our future at stake.

*Please Readers do NOT have to read other volumes in Loved By Three prior to any other stories in the series. These are stand-alone romances. Although this book is a stand-alone romance and ends with Jude's HEA, it does connect with Jude's sister story, Beastly Bullies . For that reason, there is an unresolved subplot leading into Eleanor's story.

Genres: Romance, College, Contemporary, Menage, Enemies To Lovers, Why Choose, Contemporary Romance

294 pages, Paperback

First published April 21, 2021

Reviews

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 4 out of 5]

⤅ Wow, this one was such a pleasant surprise.

I went into it with zero expectations but this was actually rather good... if you can suspend some initial disbelief.

Jude Tiernay is the daughter of an ex-Wall Street mogul who's now in prison for embezzlement. She has to transfer to a different university while she works to get her degree so she can be considered a good guardian for her younger sister, Eleanor. Somehow, she ends up being assigned to the housing of Baron, Galen, and Ezra, three athletes who have been best friends for years. Galen in particular takes a dislike to her and tries to drive her off.

✔️ The writing is really quite lovely. It's straightforward, simple, and totally devoid of typos. Eminently readable. A little light on description on times, but nothing egregious.

✔️ All the heroes were very well distinguished. All four characters have POV chapters, and you know how normally I LOATHE any male POV chapters, let alone from three of them. But Rae seriously pulled it off. The male POV actually sounded distinct from the female one, and on top of that they all sounded fairly distinct from each other. I got a better sense of their personalities than I was expecting to. And they're pretty funny people.

✔️ It's a very drama-free book. No OW drama, no OM drama, a tiny attempt at a vaguely thriller plot but it wasn't very well integrated so I could just ignore that. In general, this book is propelled forward on the strength of its likeable characters.

I'm really looking forward to the next book, which is about Eleanor and looks to be a dark high school bully RH. Yes, yes, we've read tons of those. But if Rae keeps up the good writing (and throws in some properly dark elements, like dubcon and not just light violence) I'm sure it'll be a winner.

[GimmeAllTheWerdssss · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 but rounded down due to the weird ending.....

[LolliMolly ⫷fiction addiction⫸ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a book.

[B.H. Reeds (semi hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really nice quick read. This was unexpected for me bc this book is everything I would normally skip over. I don’t generally read new adult books when they’re set in college. I also don’t really like short RH books, bc I like to get to know the characters more than is generally possible in less than 300 pages. I normally feel like the romance progresses too fast for me in short novels, bc I hate insta love and if the theme is enemies to lovers then I like for it to be a sloooow burn. So I actually started reading this by accident lol,(I purposely chose it but I was under the impression that it would be different than it was) but I’m glad I did bc I enjoyed it!
Now with all that being said, I thought this was a sweet story. I liked it , and I thought they characters were fleshed out really well for the length of the story, even Eleanor. (They I do think she came over kinda desperate at times) It was everything you’d expect for less than 200 pages. And honestly a little more bc there was a little dash of mystery to keep things suspenseful. (I’m assuming we’ll get more on that in Eleanor’s story) My only real qualm was that Galen was forgiven waaaaayyy too quickly. I think a second chance was appropriate for the story, but It was pretty much immediate and I was just like damn girl, he barely even apologized. He kinda just...fucked her...and then everything between them was magically fine. Other than that, I thought it was a nice story!

[Carola · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5*

[Lori Kays]

DNF at 77%. I feel like this is about a 2 star, but idk if I can really give it a star rating considering my bias against RH in the first place. I don't understand the fascination with RH's that aren't just pure sexual fantasy. I barely get the appeal when it IS pure sexual fantasy. This one has nothing but a few kisses 70% of the way in. I think I do better when it seems like the obvious choice for them to be together or where no one questions it and it's just an unspoken agreement they all plan to share her, which is why fantasy RH makes a little more sense to me because I can imagine ANOTHER world where this works, but trying to convince me that 3 hot, highly eligible guys in this world who do want an exclusive relationship, but all settle to share one girl because 'she doesn't think she should have to choose" is about as impossible as trying to convince me that fruit is candy🙄 Just imagine if a guy said that...the RAGE that would happen. Anyways, RH rant aside...this book just didn't even try to be believable. They go from being mildly annoying and rude to her to in love with her and she has all these insane life issues and is just dreading water and they do nothing. to make it better only make it harder and yet she's suddenly and inexplicably attracted to all of them without knowing anything about them. Then they all sit around and talk about their feelings and vulnerabilities out of nowhere, while the guys are all writing into a dating app. It's like the author doesn't actually know any males because no one in this book acts, speaks or thinks like an actual male. The writing wasn't terrible and I did think there was a thread of an interesting story in there and if they had all been on board with sharing from the beginning, it may have worked a little better for me, but even then, the juvenile tone of the book made it hard to read. Not for me, maybe if you like fluffy, unbelievable reverse harems with minimal sex, it would be for you.

[vee · Rating 3 out of 5]

💫

2.9 - 3 stars (which is good these days)

horrible cover aside this was actually pretty solid

🕴galen : the asshole who has abandonment issues that needed to take the stick outta his ass
🕴 barron : laidback, the buffer, psychology major, the mature one (if there were a fav one, which there arent bcs im numb, it’d be him)
🕴 ezra : the kid? the playful one. idunno he was kinda irrelevant to me

’One of these guys is all thunder and lightning. He’s angry wind and tempest. Another is a calm lake on a  July day, all hot sun shining on its surface and cool dark depths beneath. And the third...he’s the sea, with all of its constancy and children’s laughter.’

although it was pretty subtle, it was clear outta all of em galen was the main love interest. which i didnt like. what matters most in a relationship, (especially one with multiple parters) for me is equality. coz he was the main conflict, him kept fucking things up and not acting nice to the heroine then saying he doesnt know what he’s doing. i was like jeeez, grow up. some scenes were indeed pretty boring (like mediocre coitus scenes, galen etc). but other than that, pretty solid

[Mythic Hideaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll be honest, I love the theory of reverse harem, but am so rarely satisfied when I read them. Bad Neighbors was a nice surprise. It was straight forward and really refreshing. Basically, it didn't feel like it was trying too hard, and I enjoyed that.

Set in college, it follows a girl with a complicated background, who is trying to start over and keep her head down so she can get a decent job and rescue her sister from a bad situation. But the roommates she gets stuck with don't want to cooperate with that plan, and try to make her miserable.
There's always more to the story, though, and sometimes there are reasons.... Good thing the guys end up being super sweet once all that is worked out.

It also doesn't hurt that they're a bunch of hotties. Go Jude.
I love how the guys have their own POV's that allow you to understand them. It made me like them so much more because I know what they're thinking.

There's also a bit of a mystery setting itself up, and though this story is a standalone in itself, judging from the Epilogue, Jude's sister is in for a world of complications in the next book.

This is what reverse harem should be, in my opinion. You're already going in with a sense of suspending disbelief (or at least you should be), so I just want a story that is fun and doesn't overthink things.
This is one of them. It's sweet, with just the right amount of angst that didn't go too far. Beautifully written and edited (nothing worse than getting thrown out of the story with bad editing). It was low on unnecessary drama, and made me happy. I'm glad I read it.

[Stormy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eh..

For a RH this book lacked spice and the all of a sudden issue with what happened with the main character mother was left field and confusing. I will not be reading this sister's book to find out what happens next cause I don't care about it enough to. Honestly if the Author had put the issue in from the beginning it would have made more sense but it feel like the author didn't know were she want to go for the plot of the sister's books so she shoved in a "Mafia issue" maybe honestly its unclear who is after them that's how last minute and thrown together it feels. I wouldn't recommend to anyone you like real smut spicy RH books cause this ain't it.

[S.A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant!

I absolutely loved this!! It was a page-turner, I actually had high hopes for this book and my standards were met.. every. single .one. of. them! I was not shocked but just simply, pleased. I desperately wish to read the next in line, hopefully about Jude’s little sister Eleanor. Amazing job Evie (new top 5 author!!) :) xoxo.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.- complimentary from Evie herself- thanks for this!!

[Alecia · Rating 2 out of 5]

No plot just sex. I mean it wasn’t bad but I don’t recommend.

[JessicaLynnReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3⭐️ It wasn't terrible in the beginning but I also wasn't hooked either. I thought ok just an easy read where its the classic they want her gone because they are attracted to her and can't handle themselves to be around her. The entire concept is silly though because she even leaves them alone but 2 of the guys end up irritated that she is avoiding them even though they want her gone lol They would rather her be around and them torment her to leave than her avoid them and be out of their way. It's ridiculous but I was still invested enough to see where the story went.

It just kept getting worse. It's very light bully type pranks where it's like OK guys are you 10?!? They finally do a 180 and the guy who was the worst is the one who was able to sleep with her first! Can't women be strong willed for like more than 5 seconds! Why are we letting men do shitty things to us and not give them the cold shoulder for more than a day?!?! its infuriating!! I guy thankfully wasnt bad at all he was just standoffish and kept a distance and watched her.

I think that if this would have been one of my very first why choose books it wouldn't be so meh. but its a BIG slow burn and only a handful of sexy times and none were group activities. Whenever there is no group scenes I immediately think its more for newbies and not seasoned why choose readers.

Even though I knew this book was connected to her sister Eleanor's story I wasn't expecting for it to end in a cliffhanger that would lead into her story. Because the book specifically says it's a standalone and ending in a cliffhanger does not make it a standalone imo. Especially when the plots all intertwine! Yes the fmc got her hea with the guys but the plot is still ongoing with her trying to get custody of her sister and now with the ending that someone is also after her and her sister!! That's not a standalone!

[Raecharmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jude is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. After her father is arrested and her mother disapears on her and her younger sister everything changes for them. When her sister is placed with a shady uncle Jude changes to a college nearby for the last year of her education. She does everything she can to keep her sister safe and finish school. When she gets her paperwork for school she sees that they have placed her in a boys dormatory which could be a problem. Baron. Galen and Ezra aren't happy about getting a new roommate but when the see its a girl they really aren't happy. They start doing things to try and get her to leave. That is until they see that she really isn't around much. Soon its only Galen that's fighting to get rid of her. Because all of them are fighting an attraction that's been building between them it all comes to ahead. When Jude gets some troubling news about her mother will this have trouble coming for her and her sister? Can she get her sister away from their uncle? What will happen between her and the guys?

This is an amazing story that will have you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. This is a well written and very entertaining story. I would recommend this book to any book lover.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this read. It was quick, dirty and fun. Reverse harem sometimes makes me really uncomfortable, but not this time. The male characters weren't overbearing, and I liked that Jude had a separate connection with each of the men, it wasn't just some free for all orgy scene (although that' fine, just not my kink). I also liked each of the men - even the mean, tortured one.
I also felt the original plot line was good enough, and the author didn't need to try to fit aspects of a thriller into this. The parts about the sisters (Jude & Eleanor) being in danger seemed added on last minute, and really weren't necessary to make the book more interesting. The reverse harem situation did that well enough.
I'd give this a go if you don't need a perfect plot and you want to read about hot dudes.

**If you like Goodreads, you may also like Storygraph - another book tracking app that's similar to GR but isn't owned by Amazon. You get a bit more personalization and the rating system is a bit more detailed.**

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC from the author thru Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving my review. In this story, Jude has her hands full. She is barely keeping her head above water between her father, uncle, sister, college and now her new roommates. Her life could be a soap opera up until she changes colleges. From that point it just gets all kinds of complicated. She is now rooming with one sweet guy, one laid back guy and one horrible guy. The problem is that right from the start they are physically attracted to her and she to them. But she needs to keep her head down and focus. The more she gets to know them, each one becomes a different type of distraction. They slowly realize just how important she is and what they can do for her. There are a lot of bumps in their road to happiness. I thought that the characters were great. The story flowed smoothly in spots, a little rushed in others.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[The Little Book · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Very gentlemanly of you to grope me,” she hissed. “Very ladylike of you to climb me like a tree,” I shot back, amusement warring with indignation. I’d caught her, damnit.

What I like most about the book is the length, the author kept it short and sweet. What I did not like about the book is -also the length. I feel as though books intensity and storyline did not have the same impact it would have had if had been a longer.

The author caught my eye after I have read one of her previous book, which I must admit I did not enjoy. This book redeemed the author and I went on the read the next book in the series Beastly Bullies.

What surprised me is that I enjoyed the RH in this book, the author gave a lot of valid points why this girl and even the guys in their small harem are so drawn to each other.

Although this book is a 2.5 for me I would say Beastly Bullies is a 4.

[brayshaw_love · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick, short read with intriguing characters

New to me author I discovered thanks to tiktok. Always looking for easy, quick standalone books to read. These characters and their dynamics was so fun to read. If you prefer fast burn with lots of spicy scenes, then this isn't for you. If you like a slow burn where the progression of a relationship feels more natural and realistic, then definitely pick up this story. I look forward to reading her sister's story next.

There were some noticeable small editing issues. And one part had very obvious timeline consistency issue where the end of a chapter didn't mesh with the start of the next chapter's version of events and that had me re-reading to see if I had missed something in the previous chapter). And there were instances of repetitive inner dialogue. But none of these issues made me not love their story.

[Michelle Carey Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprised Roommatess

This story was very entertaining. It took a while for the three guys to sort out their own issues but it was a good ending. I am not sure why but my kindle in reverse light(black background white words) kept making the text very light shadow like. I thought it was maybe bold text but it was kinda hard to read. Other than that this story was pretty good, but it felt like it left lots of key plot stuff unresolved really, or it paraphrased a lot to wrap it up. It would have been interesting to read more about the guys and Jude learning to be together. Also, there is a whole missing bit... someone threatened her and they seem to still be pretending they aren't together. Not an ideal completed story. It's a good story...

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!!! I absolutely loved reading the story. A story where two girls, Jude who is in her early twenties and Eleanor, who is fifteen, they had grown up in the lap of luxury have now become destitute and basically orphans. Jude is in the final year of her university degree while her sister is placed in the care of the stepbrother of their father and this situation is not safe. Jude is now in university housing but she was placed in with three other guys and this is her battle that she needs to win. We were left with a bit of a cliffhanger as to what is going to happen next with the sister Eleanor.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Vjeverica · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,75/5
Naprawde liczyłam na coś lepszego i po prostu innego. Z opisu myślałam, ze będzie to lekki i fajny romans, a zrobił się z tego melodramat.
Z jednej strony początek nie jest zły. Niezłe rozbudowanie postaci, każdy z nich jest inny, ma swoje motywy w zachowaniu, swoje traumy, a potem nagle jest juz okej, nagle jest związek. Potem bum tajemnica z przeszłości i koniec książki. Bez rozwiązania akcji i to jeszcze z takim epilogiem.
Znów mam wrażenie ze ta książka jest po prostu za krótka. Na spokojnie można dopisać ze 150 stron i wyglądałoby to o niebo lepiej. Chyba daruje sobie na razie te autorkę.

[Mary Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit strange

The book itself had some really good moments but then it seemed to rush a bit which confused me because I knew that there was another book and was expecting the story of Jude to continue. However, it did give me the bums rush out if this story and crammed the sister who was a minor character to the forefront and book two is her story which was just strange to me. The sister was a minor character in this book and in fact an actual minor still in high school. I guess for me I would have minded given the choice to continue to read about the sister if I felt that Judes story was comp!ete.

[Sara Munoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This interesting story with one female and 3 men. It starts as a housing misunderstanding where she is placed with 3 male roommates. They try to get her to move iut especially Galen, by eating her food and playing pranks. They all start falling for each other and have to work past their misunderstandings and also her messed up life issues of her jailed dad, missing mom and her sister's safety. A good story, their is no group scenes all scenes are one-on-one.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Eliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this work. It wasn't all about smut, the plot was fantastic. There was depth to it and the characters all had things to over come and accept in order for the relationship to progress. I enjoyed the growth of the characters. There were moments in the work when the banter between the characters was fantastic and had me giggling at it. Overall I really enjoyed this work. I look forward to more by this author.

I give this a five out of five stars.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[AMO · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow start, good middle, awful ending....

Warning, this is not a standalone book. Ends in a god awful cliffhanger. Next in the series has nothing to do with this story or author so I don’t get what is supposed to happen next. The story had a very slow start but got better in the middle, the end became a HEA with an add in of a new plot twist that lead into the cliffhanger. So annoying to end a book like this. Mixed on if I bother to continue on as I now expect a similar ending to future books that are a part of this series.

[Brittany (happy.ending.always) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!!! Evie Rae Knows How To Pull At Your Heartstrings

Absolutely amazing!!! I didn’t know where this would go. It had mystery, intrigue and was sooooo steamy! I love Jude, she’s a fighter, she loves hard and she doesn’t put up with anything! My only complaint is I wish it was longer. I love these three guys, Baron, Ezra and Galen! They are the perfect combination of three amazing guys!! I loved loved loved this story soooo much. An absolutely must read!!! P.S. - Baron’s mine, haha, I love him soooo much.

[Yolanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t actually no what to expect from this book, but it was such an easy read I could have finished it in one night if I really wanted to.

It was nice to see all 4 POV’s and have a better understanding of them, it seems very open ended and things like this always makes me wonder how relationships like this work.

This book was a nice step away from the main books I read and to have a breather.

I will say though, the epilogue should of been about J & the boys not a step up for book two.

I think I have a problem, I’m addicted to reading.

[Ambisaurus Rex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good start

This book had a really good start. The way everyone came together felt really nice and natural. I loved the angst with Galen but I felt that the book sort of died a bit towards the end. It felt rushed and not quite what I'd expected and while I do realize the plot change was to lead into the 2nd book, I can't help but feel as if it was random and not quite needed. Still, with the writing and overall romance being so good I might check out the sequel.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good story

I really liked this story. The men had distinctive personalities, the MFC was a strong woman with a soft side. The storyline was believable, flowed really well, and had slow burn and a few steamy scenes. Though it had a hea , I wish it had ended differently with Eleanor. I recommend this book. Caution, this book deals with unwanted sexual advances between a minor and her guardian.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was not really for me and I definately expected something … different, more spicy
it was more like a funny-cuddle-romance book with campus setting than anything else
really didn‘t expect that…

das Buch war nicht meins, da hab ich definitiv etwas anderes erwartet, z.B. mehr Spice
es war mehr eine lustige Kuschelromanze mit Universitätssetting als alles andere
ich hab wirkling was anderes erwartet…

[Cheryl Sedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Each character gets to have their pov read which helps build them up and give you more understanding of them.
Each twist Jude goes through with the guys is a great journey I didn't want to get off. And with that ending in her sisters pov leaves you hanging off a cliff. Great read I'd definitely recommend