My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

My Life Next Door
Author- Huntley Fitzpatrick
Published- June 14th, 2012
Dial Books for Young Readers
395 pages
Obtained from PBS

A gorgeous debut about family, friendship, first romance, and how to be true to one person you love without betraying another

“One thing my mother never knew, and would disapprove of most of all, was that I watched the Garretts. All the time.”

The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, numerous, messy, affectionate. And every day from her balcony perch, seventeen-year-old Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs her terrace and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely in love, Jase's family makes Samantha one of their own. Then in an instant, the bottom drops out of her world and she is suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

A dreamy summer read, full of characters who stay with you long after the story is over.

 

Never have I read a synopsis that explained my feelings about a book so fully. It was an awesome and dreamy summer read that I am sure will be on my mind in the fall and winter months to come!

I love this cover. It is so simplistic yet at the same time it depicts the story so well. I love the colors used, especially on the spine. Plus, I LOVED the lemon yellow inner book color. Such a surprise and great pop of summery color.

I'm not really sure how she did it, but somehow Ms. Fitzpatrick turned a bland, overused storyline of a typical teen romance and morphed it into an intricate and gorgeous story!

The characters in this book were just fantastic. Ms. Fitzpatrick somehow took an ordinary All-American family and made them so charismatic and love able. The Garretts were just plain awesome, every single one. Even though there were a few we only got a glimpse of, I feel like I still got to know each and every one! I loved George and his little-kid-captures-your-heart vibe. Andy was awesome at bringing in a young teen perspective to the story while being just your typical 14 year old lovesick girl. Tim was an awesome dynamic character. I feel like he really taught a lesson through his character that it is possible to go from druggie to good guy. Yes it is hard, but hard work pays off.

Then there is Jase. Oh Jase, how you captured my heart. I don't know if anyone could read this book and not just fall head over heels for Jase. He was the perfect combination of sultry and sweet. Samantha was pretty cool too. She had an awesome laid back personality that meshed so well with all of the other characters. You couldn't help but root for her!

I love how this book just flowed. The style of writing in this book makes the pages turn very quickly. I felt like I had just sat down and an hour had already passed. The writing made it easy to immerse yourself in the story and let go.

The plot twist at the end, WOW! Just when I thought I had the whole book figured out, everything was turned upside down. I actually quite liked it. I saw a raw side to the characters that we weren't exposed to in the beginning of the story. I feel like the twist really added a great dimension to the many relationships in the book and really added to the story.

Overall, I really really loved My Life Next Door. The characters were great, the writing was fast paced and there was PLENTY of romance (enough even for my romantically inclined mind :) If you have yet to get your hands on a copy of this book you are wasting your life. It is worth the 400 pages, trust me.