Girl Next Door: A Hilarious Sapphic Rom-Com Brimming with Secrets, Yearning, and Heart

In this debut rom-com, MC Calloway returns to her suburban hometown after her best friend Joe, an editor at the gossip website Jawbreaker, shows her a steamy bestselling novel called Girl Next Door. The book appears to be about MC and her childhood neighbor Nora Pike, written under a pen name. The story describes actual events from their senior year with striking accuracy, but portrays the two characters as desperately in love—a far cry from the awkward acquaintances MC remembers. Joe convinces MC to go home undercover and investigate whether Nora is the author, hoping to break a major story. Reluctant but obligated, MC moves back into her childhood home with her older brother Conrad, who is now married to MC's former high school crush Gabby. As MC attempts to get close to Nora—who remains prickly and increasingly suspicious—she discovers that both of them are harboring secrets. The situation becomes more complicated than MC anticipated.