Review: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Source: goodreads.com

Title/Author: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Publication Date: June 14, 2012

Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers

Source: Mine (YAY!)

Rating: 4/5 glasses of lemonade
 

After reading dozens of reviews on this book, I had convinced myself that I absolutely needed to not only read it, but own it. I worked myself into a frenzy, searching my room for any stray bookstore gift cards that I had forgotten about, which is basically like the book lovers version of searching under the couch cushions for spare change. By the luck of the reading gods above, I found an untouched gift card worth twenty five buckaroos that I was sure had to go towards the purchase of this summer read.

So I bought it.

And it was one of the best decisions I made this summer.

Samantha Reed lives next door to a rather rowdy family of eight, who have toys strewn all over their yard and uncut grass all year long. For that reason, Sam's mother, Senator Reed, despises them. But Samantha has a dirty little secret: she loves the Garrett's. She loves the unkempt way that they live compared to her own sturdy, well-rounded life. And most of all, she loves sitting on her roof and watching the Garrett's, wishing she was one. So when one of the older Garrett boys, Jase, find Samantha watching his family, he joins her and begins a friendship that eventually blossoms into something more over a summer of chances, changes and new beginnings.

To be quite honest, I loved every single one of the characters EXCEPT for Samantha. I know, I know! I'm going through this strange phase where I hate all of the main female characters, and I'm not really sure why. It seems to me that all of the latest and supposedly greatest female characters are whiny, ungrateful and pathetic. I'll admit, Samantha was better than some, but she still wasn't my favourite. That's okay, though, because the rest of the wonderfully characterized main players in the book made up for her. From sweet Jase to precious George, the Garrett family made me want to climb right into their perfectly disorganized home. Senator Reed was the best antagonist I've read about in a long time, too. She was like the rich mean girl in the mother's body and it was FABULOUS! I adored her in an "I hate you" kind of way!

As for the plot... It was good. I really loved Jase and Sam's romance! Everything about it seemed so real, and certainly entertaining. From the more tricky parts of a first-love kind of relationship to the sappy sweet parts, Huntley Fitzpatrick was right on the money.  If the book were to just keep chugging along on that, I think it would've been even better, but of course there had to be a plot twist. Actually, scratch that, there had to be TWO plot twists. The main one was more of a "WOAH I DIDN'T EXPECT THAT HOW CRAZY!" and the other was more "What just happened here?" because it literally confused the heck out of me. There was no actual explanation about what happened, and it seemed a little bit out of place, like it didn't really have to happen. Now that I'm really thinking about it, actually, there were still loose ends when the book was finished that were never quite tied up.

Moral of this review: Read it! Buy MY LIFE NEXT DOOR if you want a book about a wonderful summer romance based on love and love alone. Even though I only got around to reading this book after summer was over, it helped make the illusion of summer last, and that's all I ever ask for come September.

Dig for your gift cards, people! This is a book you can save for the beach every year.

Happy Reading!
Liz

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