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 … 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.
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One of my Top 10 YA picks! This is a YA romance plus so much more. The characters are so well drawn and so funny. There are scene-stealing secondary characters (Tim!) and a swoony romance. It’s so, so good.
I couldn’t put down this lovely coming-of-age story. I fell in love with Samantha and Jace’s sweet and swoony story. Fitzpatrick also tackles friendship and loyalty, and has an unexpected twist. Wonderful read.
I’m such a sucker for first love and this one’s a doosey. If you like books like this check out The Almost Boyfriend (The Boyfriend Series Book 2)
4.5 stars.
A heart-warming read!
A boy…
A secret…
A choice…
A wonderful summer romance dealing with first love, family problems and various other issues.
Jace and Sam are so perfect for each other. Loved seeing their relationship grow and evolve into love. I loved how the author portrayed both families and their problems.
Every time when I had to stop reading because, you know, responsibilities, I had to physically pull myself from reading this book – that is how wonderful and beautiful it is.
Full of romance, sex, love, family, secrets, choices, problems and forgiveness.
Perfect for readers of contemporary romances.
Hoked on this book. I could not stop reading it! A definite page turner!
My Life Next Door is an adorable coming of age story. Jase and Sam are adorable together even though they come from families that couldn’t be more different. Jase is the golden boy I always wanted to date when I was 17 and will no doubt grown into the man that most girls aim to marry one day. The entire Garrett family was so fun to read about. Their craziness reminds me of my own big crazy family and had me laughing over the funny things that came out of those kid’s minds. Especially George. I will definitely be reading more of Huntley Fitzpatrick’s books after this.
Classic love story! Two kids, one summer, and an amazing whirlwind romance.
Same and Jase go through it all, and its beautiful.
I loved the characters!!
Could’ve been cute, but God’s name was used in vain and inappropriate bodily references made. Was hoping to really like this one, Huntley. Sorry.
If I’m honest I didn’t like it, it was hard to keep my interest in reading this book, I got half way through and it was harder and harder to keep interest in and I just began thinking when is this going to end. Which I hate thinking when reading books it’s just not something I like to do. But as we got to about 70% way through it began getting good! I really got into the story at that point and my star rating is just purely towards the ending which I will write at the bottom.
Samantha. She was a very interesting character but I did not like her, although she tried hard not to be that same rich girl person. On some cases she borderline on that especially whenever she would be looking onto the Garret’s yard, and fair enough her mom may have said not to talk to them and stay away from them. I still didn’t like her, and found she could be judgemental. I couldn’t relate to her character at all and with that I think that is why I found it hard to get into this book because I didn’t connect with this character. Even if we do share the same name.
I loved Jace. I fell in love with Jace’s character how he cared about his family and how protective he got over his family, I loved it. Being that I am from a big family, I kind of felt connected to his character and got some of his frustrations out about when people suggest to his parents that they should stop having children. So Jace standing up for his whole family and for the most part liked having a big family and loved his brothers and sisters.
Grace. Samantha’s mother. I hated her. Like no hate is too nice. I despised her. She was more focused on her campaign then her daughters and always is like to Samantha that she should be doing the responsible one and not living her summer. It was all school and work related, and I got really mad when her mother would just randomly blow up at Samantha for something beyond her control like things breaking. Grace always questions Samantha and Jace and why she is hanging around with him and his family. But the moment Samantha questions her about Clay she gets all defensive and treats her like a child but then expects her to behave like an adult. She was just very contradictory and I really hated that about her and overall was just a shit mother. Grace tries to teach Samantha to always do right but the moment Grace does something wrong *INSERT THE SPOILER IF YOU HAVE READ* she immediately runs away from it and pretends it doesn’t happen and it is Samantha who has to tell her to confront the truth.
Nan. I didn’t like her either. I just something about her irked me like it didn’t seem like she was a very good friend always leaving her and judging her. And I turned out right when Nan tells her to stuff it. Nan’s brother Tim although he may be a dick he even stands by Samantha.
Tim. The first half of the book he was a doosh but I liked him. He was a funny idiot although sometimes rude and you know risked Samantha and Nan’s life. But after that he turned into the person that you kind of expected him to be, he was there when Samantha needed him after *INSERT THE SPOILER IF YOU KNOW* the incident and helps her come to terms with the truth and what happened and helped her tell Jace and his family. So Tim became a very loveable idiot.
George. I feel like this little guy needs a mention. I loved his character, he was very comical and although Jace found him slightly annoying I loved George. And you know he could totally be in my family. But I loved him and Patsy (I think that was her name) Her only words being Poop and Boob. So that was also family.
I thought the plot was good and I liked it but the characters made it kind of annoying for me which I didn’t like.
Wonderful book that reminds you of being young and in love, had a great story plot and really loved the characters. This book held my attention and was a easy read.
While I wasn’t always the biggest fan of the simplistic nature of the main character, Samantha, I did find myself relating to her more often than not. Obviously, this is a book about a teenage romance, but when you put that aside and take that as a given, there is so much more to My Life Next Door. This is what I like so much about it–the romance is a big part but isn’t really the central focus. I love the development of Samantha as a character and I love that her relationships are perfect in a lot of ways but are also imperfect in so many more ways.