My Life Next Door Review

Book Review March 23

My Life Next Door

by: Huntley Fitzpatrick

★★★★★ 5 Stars

Synopsis: 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.

My Life Next Door literally blew me away. This has instantly become one of my favorite books of all time. You will smile, cry and laugh till your face hurts and still want more. When the action gets going near the end I thought my legs were going to fall off from the constant bounce they were stuck in. Every little thing about this book was superb. I was enraptured from the very beginning and every page since. Samantha is no average high school senior but instead a captivating main character. She’s incredibly strong, brave and just a plain ol’ good person even if her roots don’t demonstrate that. In case I didn’t express it enough. I loved this book. It is by far, now, one of my all time favorites.

The relationship between Sam and Jase naturally progressed in a acceptable and beautiful way. Sam has watched the family next door for years. Her home life is not all it’s cracked up to be just because she has a rich mother and everything she could ask for. Unbeknownst to Sam, she hasn’t been the only one peeking on the neighbors. One night one of her neighbors Jase just pops up on the ledge outside her window and you just know these two will have a great but tested relationship.

I’m only saddened by there not being an epilogue. Honestly I see Jase and Sam as the new Garrett family, with their own 8 children. I would have loved to see a brief epilogue along those lines.

This book is going to stick with me for awhile. I can feel it already. It was beyond captivating and I find myself now wishing I had more to read. This was such an amazing story with romance, drama, politics and most importantly the love of family. The Garretts are a great example of a real family. They love each other unconditionally and though they are not the richest family on the block and they may not have the newest fashions, they are all HAPPY.  

I cannot help but feel for Sam. Even though her life is seemingly perfect in the beginning she is so easy to relate to. Poor Sam deals with so much in the summer before her senior year. She finds out hard truths about friends, loses said friends, deals with moms new pompous political boyfriend, mom’s political aspirations, and most importantly her mom’s big screw-up. Her mom is literally a horrible person and hardly seems to care.  She fits the clichéd rich and privileged role to a T. She cares about no one but herself and excuses every wrong thing in the world to make herself look better.  And what she made Sam deal with and suffer alone… Ugh, I could kill her.  She tries to atone for her sins but after the fact and even then does not show remorse as she should. 

OVERALL

I could go on and on about the awesomeness of this book but at this point it would be wasting your time. Read it. It’s amazing. A superb YA novel with NA undertones that will leave you wanting more and more until your turning the last page and there’s nothing there.  It’s one of those life changing books that will stay with you for a long time to come and make all those pointless books you’ve read in the past make sense because they eventually brought you to this one.