A review by lmrivas54
My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

4.0

What a wonderful book! I thought it was going to be about a rich girl/ poor boy story but it was more than that. Samantha was the rich girl raised by a snobbish mother. This year, Sam's mother is running for re-election to the Senate, so Sam is left alone in the house a lot. Her sister is spending the summer with her boyfriend at Martha's Vineyard. Jase, on the other hand, lives next door, has a messy house and backyard that irritates Sam's mother no end, a big family (8 children!), and it feels like he's the richer of the two. I found very significant Samantha's mom's obsession with the vacuum cleaner and the excesively clean house, in contrast with Jase's mother who breast feeds her baby anywhere and doesn't mind everyday clutter. However, her children are well fed and cared for, while Samantha's mother neglects her for a while, then tries to control every aspect of her life. Samantha used to observe the Garrets all the time, until one day Jase comes up to her bedroom and chats with her. He very casually invites her to his house, introduces her to his family and she's absorbed into their hectic lifestyle where she adapts and thrives. There are secondary characters, twins Tim and Nan, with whom she has been friends forever. They have their own rich kids trauma, Nan is an obsessive overachiever, and Tim is alcoholic. There is a lot going on but there's no confusion, it all meshes great and you are interested in everyone's life. Sam keeps her two lives separate until a big event happens that threatens to rip everything apart. How Sam deals with it shows how much she's grown and learned.