Author: Huntley Fitzpatrick
Pub. Date: June 14, 2012
Acquired: Netgalley
Find “My Life Next Door”:
Amazon / B&N / Fishpond
The Book Depository
A gorgeous debut about family, friendship, first romance, and how to be true to one person you love without betraying another
“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, 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 is a sweet, although somewhat harsh, look at a young girl’s life.
It’s a story not JUST about a relationship with the neighbor-boy, but a story about a relationship (or lack of relationship), that a girl has with her mother, as well.
Samantha Reed’s mother, is an independant woman raising two girls and as soon as the Reeds move in next door, she’s quick to show her disdain. They are overrun with children. Their house and yard is not the tidy place that SHE keeps. There’s a line drawn for Samantha. So, she watches them. For years.
When Samantha is older and her mother decides to run for public office, therefore keeping her from home more, Samantha has a chance run-in with Jase from next door. He’s friendly, kind, a little flirtatious, and HANDSOME. He is her undoing.
At this point things change for Sam.
I’d like to say that her mom comes to terms with their relationship, right away, and they all live happily-ever-after. But, there’s so much more to this story.
Samantha’s mom’s new boyfriend–who also seems to be running the campaign–enters the picture and things just get all crazy from there.
My Life Next Door is, at its core, a beautiful love story, that shows the reader that no matter the obstacles (and there are some MAJOR obstacles, here!), if true love is meant to be, then it will be.
I loved every page of this book. I had such a difficult time putting it down. It was original and intense. And I’m eager to read more from Ms. Fitzpatrick.
~My Rating~
~About the Author~
Huntley Fitzpatrick grew up dreamy and distracted in coastal Connecticut, attended Concord Academy and Yale. She flourished in a family of bookworms where the library was always the most important room in the house. She kept an exhaustively thorough journal which frightened her boyfriends but has proved very useful in her career as a writer. Her debut contemporary Romance, MY LIFE NEXT DOOR, will be published in June of 2012 by Penguin-Dial for Young Readers. Now she laughs with and eavesdrops on her six children who provide her with perspective and material. She is represented by the amazing Christina Hogrebe of the Jane Rotrosen Agency.
