Book Review: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

* I have received this book for review from the publisher but this in no way affects my review *

Title: My Life Next Door

Author: Huntley Fitzpatrick

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Electric Monkey

Rating: 3/5 stars

Summary of My Life Next Door from Goodreads:

"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, 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?
A transporting debut about family, friendship, first romance, and how to be true to one person you love without betraying another.

Book Review Summary:

When I first started to read this book I was expecting a light, fluffy contemporary but My Life Next Door was much more than this dealing with other issues as well as a nice romance story. It has nice characters and was well written although the plot at the end was quite of predictable. 

Plot:

Samantha lives next door to the Garrett family but her mum disapproves of them. This changes until one summer she goes next door and meets Jase in which Samantha forms a relationship and has a summer that she will not forget. This was the ideal plot for me at the time as I really did want to read a nice contemporary and this is what I had thought Huntley Fitzpatrick was known for but it was much more than that. There were some cute moments especially the scenes between Jase and Samantha and I did like these scenes but I guess I was not expecting it to have a serious tone at the end. This did make it something different however it was quite predictable in the wider context of the book. This being predictable meant that when I finished the book, I was quite disappointed by the end leading to my rating being quite lower than you may expect.

Characters:

The characters were definitely a special part of the book and were a big part of why the book was so good. This is seen with the lovable Garrett family where Huntley Fitzpatrick makes each character likeable and this made the story much more enjoyable. I especially liked Jase and the relationship of Samantha and was really nice to see. It was also lovely to see the the way that the relationship evolved over the course of the story. Another part of the story that I really liked was the characters of Samantha's friends as I thought they were interesting and nice to read about. There was also the relationship between Samantha and her mother as this was a key part of the plot and it was also really intriguing to see how this evolved over the course of the story. 

Writing:

I did enjoy Huntley Fitzpatrick's writing and it was enjoyable to read but it was pretty standard in the wider scheme of things. Although it was really easy to read making me invested in the story and in the novel itself. 

The Verdict:

My Life Next Door was an enjoyable read which is more than a contemporary, fluffy read, perfect for a summer read. 

Have you read My Life Next Door? Did you like it? Leave it in the comments below. 

See you soon, 

Amy