Review: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Title: My Life Next Door
Author: Huntley Fitzpatrick
Published June 14th 2012 by Dial Books For Young Readers
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My Life Next Door starts like any other Contemporary book I’ve read. It’s a cute story but I am not captivated right away. Samantha Reed has spent the last ten years watching the Garrets from her balcony. The Garrets are this big, loud family that live next door, from the start, Sam’s super strict, Senator mom, forbids her to make any contact  with them, she despises them because they are exactly like Sam’s dad family and since that doesn’t bring good memories to Sam’s mom, she has to stay away from them.

But Sam is not a stalker, she’s just mesmerized by the warm ways the Garrets carry their life, while she’s stuck in her cold palace of a home.

You guys, I thought this was another Rich-girl-likes-boy-from-the-other-side-of-the-tracks story, but it ended up being much more. Yes, Sam is rich and sometimes naïve and immature, but she handles herself well, she has a great heart and doesn’t take anything for granted. It was easy to like her because she is a good person. Which Jase Garret notices right away, she always thought Sam was a snob with stalkerish ways, but as soon as he meets her, he realizes he judged her wrong.

When Jase & Sam first met, they have a conversation about princesses, and I was like:

Oh God

    =

But then next chapter and omg I was hooked, Jase Garret is the nicest, most incredible person ever, and you know I have a fascination for the endangered species they call “nice boys”. He is nice, but not a wuss, he’s an excellent character and I think a lot of YA books can learn one or two things about how a believable teenager is done correctly. I love him.

Moving on, the story progresses divinely, we get to meet the Garrets who are possibly the best family I’ve ever read in Young Adult Literature, so fantastic!. From Mr. and Mrs. Garret incapacity of keeping their hands off each other, to Alice and Joel the oldest kids, rebels with soft hearts; and then the youngest kids, Andy who is 14 and is going through that “first love” phase, Duff & Harry, who are forever fighting, George who is so adorable I want to marry him too (I don’t care if I sound like a pedophile) and finally, baby Patsy whose favorite word is “boob”. I can totally see why Sam was captivated by this family, they’re amazing.

I also would like to make an honorable mention, because there’s another character that took my breath away with his amazingness. Tim Mason, the twin brother of Sam’s ex-best friend. Tim used to be that kid who got kicked out of too many schools for doing drugs, but at the end of the book he is so awesome I wanted him for myself. Not to mention that all of his comments made me choke on my own saliva, he was so brutally honest and funny.

So like I said, the book progresses and it’s all cute and I’m liking the story when suddenly (I would like to say out of nowhere but I had been spoiled so I knew it was going to happen) there’s an accident that leaves Sam (and me) completely frozen and incapable to do anything besides trying to wish it away. There was a time when I wasn’t sure there was a way out of the mess and in some way, it wasn’t, but you will have to read it yourself.

At the end, I thought everything played out in the best way possible and I was satisfied. I even added it to my favorites because this story managed to surprise me and it was so much more than I originally thought, and it had all the ingredients that make me love Contemporary Lit.

Okay, I mixed this scene a little, I present you:
 First apperance of my boyfriend George. Yep, he's naked. He is also very smart.
And the first time Samantha is in Jase's bedroom, which is pretty unique.