My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Rating: Starry Eyed - 5/5

Release Date: June 14th, 2012

Publishers: Young Readers

Pages: 395

Source: Bought

Series: Stand Alone

First, a quick summary 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, 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?"

Let me start by absolutely gushing about how phenomenal this book is. Sam is an awesome girl and completely relate-able. Joel is just the most perfect, understandable, honest and cutest person anyone could ever dream of having. And George. Ohmygoodness, George. George is a marvelous character. I cannot express my fondness of him within this review. He is so cute and so innocent and so awesome that he alone nearly makes the book. And Patsy! Cute little Patsy! I loved her one-liners, she was so adorable for a little baby and I couldn't help but laugh with her whenever she got a big grin on her face.

Now, when I dove into this book, I expected it to be a cute, fun, light kind of read. But holy crap, it was SO much more than that! My Life Next Door is just full of really tough choices and family and friendship and absolutely everything that relates to the life of a teen trying to figure herself out. This book is truly, truly a beautiful thing.

I could keep going, but I'm just going to end up spouting out more gushy reasons why I am absolutely in love with this book. If you haven't read it yet, I would definitely do so right this second. It's worth the twenty dollars it costs in hardcover edition.