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06/12/2015

My Life Next Door - Huntley Fitzpatrick

My Life Next Door - Huntley Fitzpatrick 
" 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, messy, affectionate. And every day from her rooftop perch, Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs up next to her and changes everything.

As the two fall fiercely for each other, stumbling through the awkwardness and awesomeness of first love, Jase's family embraces Samantha - even as she keeps him a secret from her own. Then something unthinkable happens, and the bottom drops out of Samantha's world. She's suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

A transporting debut about family, friendship, first romance, and how to be true to one person you love without betraying another.
" - Goodreads

A copy of this book was sent to me by the publisher through MaximumPopBooks for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this book, quite a lot actually. It's not usually the type of book that I would normally read around this time of year, but it was a nice change. The beginning of the book was interesting, there's nothing more exciting than a forbidden love of sorts (I'm fairly familiar with that myself!) but throughout the book my interest did take a dip until the slightly dramatic end. It was a decent book, it wasn't great, it was okay. Not a lot happened, it didn't hit me in the feels but it was an overall lighthearted type of romance. I guess.

Now, let's get a bit more in-depth:

Clay. 
Not a main character, but the biggest pain in my bum. I can't be the only one that wanted to strangle him, I can't be... right? I saw the manipulation from a mile away, from when we first met him. I knew he was a fishy character and gosh I hated him. BUT I enjoyed that I hated him. I loved that he brought out those kinds of emotions in me. If you've been reading my reviews for a while, you'll know I love the 'negative' emotions that books can bring out in me, i.e. sadness/anger etc. If a book can bring out those emotions in me, it's a pretty damn good book.

Samantha and Jase
Not a lot to say about them really. They were nothing special, I didn't feel any kind of connection to either of them. I thought Samantha made stupid decisions and I know if I were in her position, I wouldn't have done what she did. It was incredibly hard to relate to her. Jase was a little easier to relate to, he was a bit rough around the edges and I like that... who doesn't though! I kind of wish the book was centered more around his family than Samantha, but hey. Maybe a prequel in his POV? A girl can dream.

Grace 
Weak. Can't really say much about her, I didn't like her. Ugh.

George 
Hearts and kisses. Nuff said. I loved the little guy!

Tim 
Again, I would love to see a book based on his life, his struggles. He was probably the most fascinating character in the whole book, I really wished we could have seen a lot more of him and his story.

Nan 
Didn't like her. Didn't really see her relevance. We would have been fine without her. Is that mean? Oh well.

Overall, I liked it but I thought it could have been better. I thought a lot of the deeper, darker issues explored could have been a bit more prominent in the storyline. Nothing much really happened throughout the middle of this book but there was so much potential, so that was a little disappointing.

But seriously now, I'd like a prequel in Jase's POV. I'd like a book about Tim and hopefully his happy ever after with a certain someone and that is all, thanks.

I rated this book 3* on Goodreads. It was good, but it wasn't great. 

2 comments:

  1. Just wanted to let you know there IS a sequel/companion kind of thing that came out recently called The Boy Most Likely To. It focuses on Tim and Alice, and it seems like it goes into more depth about Tim's character. I haven't read it yet, but I thought you might want to know it exists! :) I'm sure about Jace's POV, but as of right now it is not a thing.

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    1. Oh god! Definitely should have done some research before posting! I'm glad there is one, gotta go and get it now!

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