My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Title: My Life Next Door
Author: Huntley Fitxpatrick
Pages: 398

The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, messy, affectionate. And every day from her rooftop perch, Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs up next to her and changes everything.

As the two fall fiercely for each other, stumbling through the awkwardness and awesomeness of first love, Jase's family embraces Samantha - even as she keeps him a secret from her own. Then something unthinkable happens, and the bottom drops out of Samantha's world. She's suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?
My Rating:✰✰✰✰

This book took me a while to read for some reason. I just wasn't in the mood for it and wasn't invested with it and was reading other things, that I couldn't just focus on this one book. After reading, I felt satisfied and was able to say that this was a fairly good book.

I enjoyed the story and the writing, and this book had many favorable parts. It wasn't a bad contemporary but wasn't amazing either, but I did like some of the different qualities that it had.

Samantha was just so normal. She didn't stand out to me and felt like a classic YA female protagonists who experiences love for the first time. There was one line in the book where she said that having blonde hair and blue eyes was "nothing special" although I feel like most generic people don't look like that. At times, it felt like there were some things holding her back and if she just went with her gut, problems would be resolved much faster.

As far as Jase goes, I liked him but my main problem was that he was too perfect and everything was so nicely laid out. I understand that the book was told from Sam's perspective so she might see him as flawless, but it didn't seem realistic and played the classic cute boy from next door card. I was glad that it wasn't insta-love, but their relationship didn't give me any feels.

Of course, Grace and Clay weren't my favorite people. The scenes that were about the political campaign were not my favorite.
We didn't get to see much of Tracy and her character didn't play any big role sadly. For some reason, I kind of wish that something about their dad was going to be revealed.

Tim actually grew on me as a character and I liked how he was always there in the book. As the story progressed, we see him change positively and become a good friend of Jase and Sam. Nan, on the other hand wasn't my favorite since and I felt like her and Samantha didn't have that great of a friendship.

I did enjoy reading about the Garretts and the scenes at their house. It was fun and enjoyable to read about all the different kids. I did like the family dynamics and the comparisons between the Reed and the Garretts household. That was one of the things that made this book not too bad: the family story lines.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this book and think that some people will like it more than others. It's a good book for the summer and if you like romance, you should pick this up.

More specific thoughts (might contain spoilers):

I did like the plot although it felt separate to me. Since I read this book so slowly, I kind of imagined it in parts. The first part was about Samantha and Jase, and their growing relationship. Then, the second part would be when Grace hit Mr. Garrett, and the math after that.
I didn't mind the storylines and thought that they were fine. The ending was okay but was pretty open without much closure on if the Garretts get better or on what Sam's mom does after.
All in all, I think that things get better and everything works out.