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nanvazq's review against another edition
3.0
This promising YA debut novel about a girl who falls in love with the boy next door is somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for me. Fitzpatrick uses the boy-next-door cliche to tell a story that looks intelligently at family life, moral responsibility, and politics, as well as young love. The romance here is sweet, even if--pet peeve of mine--I'm never entirely sure why one of the characters falls for the other. The novel's secondary characters--including the Garrett family and Tim, the best friend's alcoholic brother--are really enjoyable, sometimes more so than the couple themselves. I was fully engaged with the novel up until the author's attempt to resolve the story's BIG THING. That event brought with it a lot of messy emotions for all involved, emotions which the author conveniently swept away at the ending, much the way the heroine's mother determinedly vacuums away all trace of her family's life. Readers, especially YA readers, deserve a more honest, if less neatly-packaged ending.
ren_96's review against another edition
5.0
Holy mother of God i love it!! This was a great read, seriously. The characters were great but i obviously have stuff to say about them.
Jase was so adorable, i absolutely adored him. I only wish i had someone like him <3. At first i liked him but noted that it was different with him than with other main guy characters from other books. Normally for me i go crazy for them and get pretty obsessed, but with Jase it was a gradual thing. By the end i was so gone for him it wasn't just instant. That's not to say i loved him any less :D.
I enjoyed Samantha but when the whole incident happened i was a little disappointed with her because she didn't tell the truth. She waited so long with such significant information. It was purely selfish reasons for withholding the truth. Being honest and truthful can be hard but its always the right thing no matter what the circumstances are or the consequences. But she did do the right thing in the end so that counts for something.
Oh and as for Nan, what a little hussy! Generally i love the best friend but i was suss as about Nan from the beginning and then BAM it all comes to an end. I just knew she was a sour, jealous, immature little girl. Well tough Nan, SOUR EFFING GRAPES! And what kind of name is Nan? Nanny, Nano, just NO. Ok im just angry at her and am picking at anything. But still, so what if your "best friend" has a better life than you, get over it! Be a supportive friend and deal with what you have! She was so dishonest as well, it was so wrong for her to go up and say that speech and do all those tests and accept good marks when she knows it wasn't honestly achieved. I can truthfully say I've cheated on one and only one test in about year 8 or 9 in Japanese and i felt terrible afterwards. How can someone do that for practically everything? Why wouldn't you want to get something honestly for yourself knowing that you've done the hard work to get where you are? To me that was just sad.
Now as for her mother -_-. She was a horrible, weak, self centered, discriminate, judging, sheep of a woman. Let's be honest here people, she was a bitch. What on EARTH possessed her to listen to every goddamn word this random Clay guy said? Why would she let this leech into their lives? How low can her self esteem be if she was willingly going out with him knowing full well that this asshole would drop her straight up if she lost or slipped up or anything. How is that a good example for her children when shes going out with this flaky as dude with no real permanency to their relationship? She was so manipulative and controlling and an uppity bitch. Who is she to judge the Garrett's for their lifestyle choice or how many children they have? That's just so wrong i cant even stand it. I have a family of 6 which isn't anywhere near the Garrett's and we are happy the way we are. Its not anyone else's business what they do and how many kids they have. She was SO up herself thinking that she knew it all. Get over yourself. Okay and how could she even TRY to justify what she did?!? When i read that i was just thinking you have got to be kidding me. What kind of person does that? Evil people that's who. Its an evil act. For me its just unfathomable for someone, a mother no less, to do something so wrong like that. There are serious consequences! He could have died! Mr. Garrett is such a god man to :(.
Okay so was anyone else seriously annoyed with the ending? I was sitting in my room and had to say aloud is this for real?! Like, WHAT. You find out jack all about Mr. Garrett and you don't even really know where they are headed. It would have been fine if there was an epilogue or something to wrap it up because i just felt that it was almost unfinished.
Oh well, i still really enjoyed My Life Next Door and i seriously recommend it!
Jase was so adorable, i absolutely adored him. I only wish i had someone like him <3. At first i liked him but noted that it was different with him than with other main guy characters from other books. Normally for me i go crazy for them and get pretty obsessed, but with Jase it was a gradual thing. By the end i was so gone for him it wasn't just instant. That's not to say i loved him any less :D.
I enjoyed Samantha but when the whole incident happened i was a little disappointed with her because she didn't tell the truth. She waited so long with such significant information. It was purely selfish reasons for withholding the truth. Being honest and truthful can be hard but its always the right thing no matter what the circumstances are or the consequences. But she did do the right thing in the end so that counts for something.
Oh and as for Nan, what a little hussy! Generally i love the best friend but i was suss as about Nan from the beginning and then BAM it all comes to an end. I just knew she was a sour, jealous, immature little girl. Well tough Nan, SOUR EFFING GRAPES! And what kind of name is Nan? Nanny, Nano, just NO. Ok im just angry at her and am picking at anything. But still, so what if your "best friend" has a better life than you, get over it! Be a supportive friend and deal with what you have! She was so dishonest as well, it was so wrong for her to go up and say that speech and do all those tests and accept good marks when she knows it wasn't honestly achieved. I can truthfully say I've cheated on one and only one test in about year 8 or 9 in Japanese and i felt terrible afterwards. How can someone do that for practically everything? Why wouldn't you want to get something honestly for yourself knowing that you've done the hard work to get where you are? To me that was just sad.
Now as for her mother -_-. She was a horrible, weak, self centered, discriminate, judging, sheep of a woman. Let's be honest here people, she was a bitch. What on EARTH possessed her to listen to every goddamn word this random Clay guy said? Why would she let this leech into their lives? How low can her self esteem be if she was willingly going out with him knowing full well that this asshole would drop her straight up if she lost or slipped up or anything. How is that a good example for her children when shes going out with this flaky as dude with no real permanency to their relationship? She was so manipulative and controlling and an uppity bitch. Who is she to judge the Garrett's for their lifestyle choice or how many children they have? That's just so wrong i cant even stand it. I have a family of 6 which isn't anywhere near the Garrett's and we are happy the way we are. Its not anyone else's business what they do and how many kids they have. She was SO up herself thinking that she knew it all. Get over yourself. Okay and how could she even TRY to justify what she did?!? When i read that i was just thinking you have got to be kidding me. What kind of person does that? Evil people that's who. Its an evil act. For me its just unfathomable for someone, a mother no less, to do something so wrong like that. There are serious consequences! He could have died! Mr. Garrett is such a god man to :(.
Okay so was anyone else seriously annoyed with the ending? I was sitting in my room and had to say aloud is this for real?! Like, WHAT. You find out jack all about Mr. Garrett and you don't even really know where they are headed. It would have been fine if there was an epilogue or something to wrap it up because i just felt that it was almost unfinished.
Oh well, i still really enjoyed My Life Next Door and i seriously recommend it!
tashspice's review against another edition
2.0
It's a feel-good love story, as well as a cautionary tale of how not to be a terrible mother.
kassadyreads's review against another edition
5.0
There are not enough words to say how fabulous this was!
Absolutely perfect! It was Funny, it was sad, it was happy, it was tear-jerking sweet! PERFECT! It was comedy/drama/romance! PERFECT! PERFECT PERFECT!!! Just aperfet piece of Chick-Lit! I LOVED IT! Okay, so it was a little more inapropriate than I thought it would be... *coughs* and the language was pretty bad.... but other than that, a WONDERFUL book! It made me giddy, it made me sad, it made me angry, it made me overjoyed! LOVED IT!
I come from a semi-big family, and it was funny reading about Jase's big family! It was SOOOO true! It was hilarious how realistic and true and crazy how true it was! I totally understood the Breast Feeding thing and it made me laugh...
Jase is like the perfect guy you dream your true love will be like! He was perfect! I loved it! Loved it!!!
Absolutely perfect! It was Funny, it was sad, it was happy, it was tear-jerking sweet! PERFECT! It was comedy/drama/romance! PERFECT! PERFECT PERFECT!!! Just aperfet piece of Chick-Lit! I LOVED IT! Okay, so it was a little more inapropriate than I thought it would be... *coughs* and the language was pretty bad.... but other than that, a WONDERFUL book! It made me giddy, it made me sad, it made me angry, it made me overjoyed! LOVED IT!
I come from a semi-big family, and it was funny reading about Jase's big family! It was SOOOO true! It was hilarious how realistic and true and crazy how true it was! I totally understood the Breast Feeding thing and it made me laugh...
Jase is like the perfect guy you dream your true love will be like! He was perfect! I loved it! Loved it!!!
vettina's review against another edition
5.0
Me encanto este libro!!!!
fueron personajes bastante refrescantes, no la clase de protagonistas que viven hundiendose en el drama, Tanto Jase como Samantha me parecieron chicos bbastante maduros para su edad. La relacion entre ellos fue realmente linda, quisiera una asi ñ.ñ
Los Garrett eran algo que ver (o que leer en este caso), es una familia muy linda, me enamore del pequeño George fue un personaje muy curioso.
En fin es una gran lectura, una vez que tome el libro no lo pude soltar.
fueron personajes bastante refrescantes, no la clase de protagonistas que viven hundiendose en el drama, Tanto Jase como Samantha me parecieron chicos bbastante maduros para su edad. La relacion entre ellos fue realmente linda, quisiera una asi ñ.ñ
Los Garrett eran algo que ver (o que leer en este caso), es una familia muy linda, me enamore del pequeño George fue un personaje muy curioso.
En fin es una gran lectura, una vez que tome el libro no lo pude soltar.
gigidotjpeg's review against another edition
3.0
It's a great story. Well thought out, very well developed. You get to really kind of make friends with the characters. I'll only give it three stars because I literally just finished reading it and I need for everything to sink in first. I'll probably change this review a little once I've thought it through.
namjhyuns's review against another edition
5.0
When I first I heard about this book, I really want to read it. When I saw the cover, I knew I must have it. Since I live in Argentina, it was difficult to find it but after months, MONTHS!, finally it was in stock at Kel Ediciones.
I wanted to read it slowly, enjoy every minute of it but once I started, I couldn't put it down. So this morning, at 4am, I finished it. I read it in one go and I am not even sorry. This is probably one of the best written novels I have read lately. I am not even putting it under the "YA" label because I truly believe everybody, not matter their age, will love this book.
It was wonderful to see Sam and Jase's relationship progress. And for her to became the person she always was but wouldn't due to her mother. She found truly independece and a sense of who she really is, with or without Jase.
I loved everything about the Garretts. EVERYTHING. And you will have to read the book in order to know what I mean because there's no other way around it. I can't begin to talk about them without make this a 10 pages essay.
I wanted to bitch slap Clay the minute he enter the picture and I was truly dissapointed in Sam's mother. But I guess the point was to make our leading lady realize her mother was human. Hence she can make mistakes, misjudge people and not always be right. By the end of the book, I didn't sense any change in Sam's mother. It just didn't see like she had grown but she's an adult, set in her ways, and it was Sam who needed to grow up and out of her mother's grip.
This is book is one of those you need to re-read, because reading it once just isn't enough!
I wanted to read it slowly, enjoy every minute of it but once I started, I couldn't put it down. So this morning, at 4am, I finished it. I read it in one go and I am not even sorry. This is probably one of the best written novels I have read lately. I am not even putting it under the "YA" label because I truly believe everybody, not matter their age, will love this book.
It was wonderful to see Sam and Jase's relationship progress. And for her to became the person she always was but wouldn't due to her mother. She found truly independece and a sense of who she really is, with or without Jase.
I loved everything about the Garretts. EVERYTHING. And you will have to read the book in order to know what I mean because there's no other way around it. I can't begin to talk about them without make this a 10 pages essay.
I wanted to bitch slap Clay the minute he enter the picture and I was truly dissapointed in Sam's mother. But I guess the point was to make our leading lady realize her mother was human. Hence she can make mistakes, misjudge people and not always be right. By the end of the book, I didn't sense any change in Sam's mother. It just didn't see like she had grown but she's an adult, set in her ways, and it was Sam who needed to grow up and out of her mother's grip.
This is book is one of those you need to re-read, because reading it once just isn't enough!
kayliec735's review against another edition
3.0
I might have written a review for this earlier but maybe it didn't save or something. I think I read this over spring break, over those breaks I always resolve to read books and I never do, and this was my trying to live up to it. I think I just wanted something YA and kind of stupid and fun, and this totally was! Reading it, I realized it wasn't a good book. The characters were flat and annoying, most of the plot was dry except for the stuff with the intense stuff with the mom. And it was written poorly too, not great quality of prose. But I liked it enough to read it through because it was just what I was looking for at the time I think.