My Life Next Door

My Life Next Door. This was supposed to be a “a dreamy summer read.” Huntley Fitzpatrick shouldn't have taken on writing about something so serious. I'm echoing everyone else's sentiments here. The first half, where Sam and Jace fall in love, is fucking fantastic. Exactly what I want in a summer read. Jace Garrett. There's one boy I won't be forgetting in a while. But all through the second half, my mind screamed, not enough. Nowhere near enough. The rest...it just didn't measure up to the start.
That said, I love the way Huntley Fitzpatrick writes. This is an engaging, funny debut that made me laugh and nearly cry. I've stayed up all night reading and I'm still smiling.

one of my favorite romance novels, re reading this whole collection in the wake of fitzpatrick's death

Me ha parecido una historia con un romance muy real. Y echaba de menos eso. Los arcos evolutivos de los personajes están muy bien desarrollados y hay lo justo de drama. La única pega que le pongo es que ha habido algunas escenas que se me han hecho algo lentas. Tengo mil ganas de leer más a esta autora.

it was okay

Very enjoyable YA romance. The main characters that are teens are fairly well developed - enough so that you want to find out more about them. Really enjoyed the story and the “impossible decision”. Loved the Garrett family. It's a fast fluffy read. Thumbs up.

D R A M A !! Good lord.

I listened to an audiobook version of this while driving all over British Columbia. I like the story, but the narrator does such a god awful job with men's characters, it kind of ruined it for me a bit. Had I physically read it, it may have gotten a solid 4. Either way, I will be reading (or perhaps listening to) the sequel.

(Read full, FRIENDS-themed review here at Fictionally Inclined.)

Mini-review: My expectations for My Life Next Door were sky-high. Fitzpatrick took a different course to get there than I thought she would, but she absolutely met them.

The book was good as a whole, but I didn't really understand the lack of an ending since there were a lot of unanswered questions that needed to be addressed.

LOVED IT! The premise completely charmed me. I love the idea of a big family, I always have. I can definitely relate to Samantha and how she feels very drawn to the Garrett family, what with all the messiness and chaos and cuteness. I had a good friend in high school who has 8 siblings. I loved going to their house, it always felt so full and warm and fun. I'm sure it's not always everything it's cracked up to be (something the author of this book highlights towards the end), but in my mind the Garretts are The Perfect Family. :)

The characters we care about (i.e. Sam, the Garretts, and Tim) are so well-developed; they're people I genuinely want to know in real life. I've already said how I love the Garrett family, so I won't overemphasize that again (ha). But to be more specific - OMG, George?!? Is probably the best 4-year-old brother you could possibly ask for. I was quite young when I had a 4-year-old brother, but he definitely could have learned a few lessons from George on how to be awesome. So yeah, back on point, this book had mostly great characters. However, some of the minor characters (Sam's mom, Clay, Nan) were very one-dimensional, and hard to believe. Especially towards the end, after the, dun dun dun...

Big Traumatic Event(what would a story be without it's conflict?)
I won't spoil it, but I will say: actual tears. I know it's a bit overdramatic, but when a well-written main character has a Big Time Meltdown because Her Life Is Falling Apart, I can't help but cry with her. My only complaint on the drama front is that I wasn't completely clear on how that all got resolved. It was just kind of a vague/abrupt ending.

No biggie, though, I still loved this book enough to buy it & reread it at least once a year, which is really the mark of a 4-5 star book in my opinion.