REVIEW: Two Doors Down by Mary Hargreaves

JayneB- Reviews / Book ReviewsBusiness woman / cats / Contemporary / England / friendship / neighbors / opposites attract / teacherNo Comments

Sometimes love is closer than you think.

Career woman Eve is on the brink of a major promotion. So what if her personal life is a disaster — her online dating app constantly matches her with the most awful dates. And her best friend’s chaotic love life is a constant drama she just doesn’t need. Anyway, she has everything she needs at work.

If only her neighbour from two doors down would stop his cat getting into her house!

Laid-back Adam has everything he needs. A dedicated tutor, he has a fulfilling work-life balance. A close-knit group of friends and a close bond with his brother who has cerebral palsy.

If only his neighbour from two doors up would stop her cat getting into his house!

When Eve tries to return Adam’s cat, it becomes clear they have been duped by the antics of a stray. And despite his endearing presence in both their houses, ‘Old Sausage’ should be returned to his true owner.

But when both Eve and Adam are betrayed by those closest to them, they find their lives are not as fulfilled as they believed. As they search for Old Sausage’s owner, whilst dealing with their own betrayals, they begin to realise they have more in common than they first thought.

Dear Ms. Hargreaves, 

You had me at the cat. I was all set for a cute and charming romcom as two people fuss a bit at each other while trying to figure out why their neighbor is neglecting her/his cat but this book is much more and much different than my idea of it was. While I ended up still liking the book, at times some of the various characters might make readers think twice about it.

Eve is a driven businesswoman. She has clawed her way up the ladder – just as she’s seen men do and just as she knows women must do also in order to be taken seriously and get ahead. She’s also got personal issues with abandonment which means she deliberately seeks out one night stands with men she knows she’s incompatible with. If there’s no danger in making something permanent then you won’t be hurt in the end. When the chance to temporarily head the marketing department at work (during a colleague’s paternity leave) brings out Eve’s scheming side, will she go too far?

Adam thinks he’s got it made. A girlfriend of six years, three best friends, his brother doing better in a new care home, and satisfying tutoring work now that Adam’s ditched teaching has him on cloud nine. Adam’s been told that he’s too kind, too willing to put himself second behind everyone else but he thinks you can get what you want in life by being kind rather than ruthless. Then things start to fall apart and Adam wonders how everything could go wrong so quickly. Or is it that everything’s been building up and he’s totally missed it?

Then a mangy cat, “Old Sausage” as Adam calls him, shows up and wanders into both their houses leaving each fuming at the other for not taking care of it. But whose cat is Old Sausage and what gender is s/he?

So yeah first off, Eve can come across like the Terminator. There are times when, as I was reading what she does, I was horrified. I think part of what drives her, beyond her ironclad belief that she has to be as ruthless as men are in order to get what she wants, is that she’s now in competition with her best friend – someone Eve feels betrayed her. Eve doesn’t handle most of this well but then she has “dealing with people so they don’t hurt me” down pat. I feel a lot of readers will be repelled by Eve’s actions as well as disliking the toxic place where she works and yet this does give her a lot of things to reflect on and deal with. Yet, when we finally learn what has driven Eve to build forcefield walls around her heart, I couldn’t help but feel that wow, that’s it? With some therapy back when it happened, she would have been much better off. 

Adam is the softer sweetheart of the pair. School policies drove him to leave a profession he likes but he’s found a new way through tutoring including one brilliant student with autism who Adam can’t bear to see miss chances in life. His friends might twit him about going overboard to save the world but Adam cares deeply and that’s not a bad thing. He is also the sole caretaker of his brother with cerebral palsy who Adam recently moved to a new care home after problems with the last one. It’s totally understandable that Adam is determined to see that Hugh is properly taken care of to the point of maybe going a bit overboard.

There are a few misunderstandings that muddle things between Adam and Eve (yep, Eve does make a joke about their names). Half heard and half seen things that can be viewed in opposite ways mingle with Eve’s defensiveness and Adam’s hurt to confuse them about how the other actually feels. It’s down to the wire before all is sorted. 

Old Sausage, being a tortie, is a she (as Eve chortles to Adam). She wanders freely into and out of their two houses (remember most homes in the UK don’t have screened windows or doors) and in the end, is settled into her new home with a collar that she seems to feel gives her a claim on people. After so many mentions of her matted fur, I would love to see someone give her a good brushing though. I was also frustrated by how long it took either MC to get this cat to a vet. For a book that sold itself to me based on the blurb and the cover with a cat … yeah, Eve and Adam needed to step up sooner. 

I’ve seen various reviews that run the gamut from loved it to awful for this one and have admitted I had my own issues with it. Eve is the main character who needs to check herself and what she’s done. I feel that she does this but YMMV on her. E & A are kind of opposites but I think they complement each other. Now they just need to keep taking care of Old Sausage. B-

~Jayne          

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