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Huntley Fitzpatrick

Författare till My Life Next Door

7+ verk 2,064 medlemmar 115 recensioner 2 favoritmärkta

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Foto taget av: via Goodreads

Verk av Huntley Fitzpatrick

My Life Next Door (2012) 1,299 exemplar
What I Thought Was True (2014) 434 exemplar
The Boy Most Likely To (2015) 316 exemplar
Quello che c'è tra noi (2014) 9 exemplar
Un cattivo ragazzo come te (2017) 4 exemplar
Pensei que Fosse Verdade (2016) 1 exemplar

Associerade verk

Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet (2018) — Bidragsgivare — 341 exemplar

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Tim, the boy who only knows how to be a screw up, is trying hard to turn it around. He's in AA, studying for his GED, and getting away from his toxic family. But that doesn't mean he's ready to forgive himself for all those mistakes. No one's harder on Tim than Tim.

Now that he's living in the Garrett's garage apartment, it puts him in close proximity to Alice. He knows falling for Alice will most likely end badly for him, but when did that ever stop him before? Alice can't believe she might actually like her younger brother's friend. She's been perfectly content going through a stream of guys who let her walk all over them. But there's something about Tim that makes her want to put herself out there....

Then Tim's road to staying sober gets majorly tested when something from the past comes back to haunt him.


My Thoughts:
Huntley Fitzpatrick writes books that make me feel like I'm not even reading. There's just something about the way she tells stories, that I feel like I'm right there in the scenes. Not many authors can make me feel like that. She's truly a talent.

I was SO excited to get right back into the Garrett family. I mean, there's Jase with his hotness, Andi with her TMI, awkward, excessive questions, George with all his random facts and fears, and Patsy and her adorable Tim obsession. How can you not love these people?? As much as I could NEVER handle a family that large, it still warms my heart to read about such a close-knit, honest, chaotic family. I loved how they're not only there for their own, but they manage to give as much to friends like Tim and Sam as well.

I wish, wish, wish I could talk more about what this book is about!! I mean the entire book is really about this one giant thing that happens to Tim... but I think telling you would be a spoiler :( It's not mentioned in the synopsis, so I guess I can't go there, which basically sucks all the TALK out of my review. Tim and Alice are cute, of course, but this book isn't actually about that. That is a side thing going on while this big LIFE thing is happening with Tim. But since I can talk about Alice & Tim, I will. I liked that Alice had a mini-journey (internally) to go on, but I didn't really think she needed to be a narrator in this book. The narration switches back-and-forth from Tim to Alice, but I feel like her story could have easily been told through Tim and the book would have been stronger if it was. I didn't mind her parts, but I just didn't think her inner dialogue was necessary.

I know a lot of people have not been a fan of the situation that comes up for Tim, but I didn't mind it. I thought it brought something new to the YA table... I just didn't care for the way the ending went. It was too... something. It wasn't a HEA exactly, but I did feel a little like things went a tad unbelievable as the end neared.

I don't think I liked this book as much as [b:My Life Next Door|12294652|My Life Next Door|Huntley Fitzpatrick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394240144s/12294652.jpg|17271423]. Jase and Sam were just too darn cute to be taken down by Tim and Alice... but I still really really really liked this book. In the midst of a dreadful reading slump, this was able to suck me in and keep me reading... and that's saying a lot!! I also adore the Garretts and would love any excuse to read about them!

NOTE: I know this is supposed to be a standalone, but if you ask me, I think you need to read [b:My Life Next Door|12294652|My Life Next Door|Huntley Fitzpatrick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394240144s/12294652.jpg|17271423] first. There's a lot of talk about events that happened in MLND without much recapping at all. I know I would've been super confused reading about Mr. Garrett's accident and Jase and Sam because neither situation is really explained well.

OVERALL: YES!! So glad that the Garretts were back in my life. I didn't like this book as much as My Life Next Door, but that's only because Jase and Sam were so ridiculously cute. Almost no one could overtake my love for them. I enjoyed Tim's complicated story, but didn't love love the ending. I will read everything that Huntley Fitzpatrick writes because it is so addicting and magical.... and so should you!!

My Blog:


… (mer)
 
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Michelle_PPDB | 15 andra recensioner | Mar 18, 2023 |
Holy WOW! Was this book real? Because it was just too good! I was in love from the first page. I was half-way through the book and so darn happy when I realized there was so much more book left to read and SOMETHING bad had to happen. I almost stopped reading because I wanted everything to just stay in that magical world of Jase/Samantha. But I kept reading and their world got shattered... and I'm glad that I kept reading. This book was a great way to start out 2013 for me!!

Full review to come soon @:
http://pinkpolkadotbookblog.blogspot.com
… (mer)
 
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Michelle_PPDB | 82 andra recensioner | Mar 18, 2023 |
I don't remember when or why I first read this book. With a vague title and a weird cover, the only reason I can think of is "I was bored and swiped it off the shelf, determined to check out a few books I ordinarily wouldn't". I did that until my mid-twenties. Sometimes it was great. I never knew how it'd go and I was glad I'd done it in the first place. Now, I saw this on my goodreads feed and thought, "Bland--oh, that book! I'm curious to check it out again now that I'm a more critical reader with more life experience." Second-time reads tend to shift my opinion wildly, too. This time stayed true to that. I remembered this as a boring attempt at romance that was more a character study, until a massive plot twist. Such descriptions still stand, but there's things I'd forgotten. Like how a much better description is, "This is a book about babysitting her boyfriend's siblings while she and her boyfriend are unable to stop pawing at each other, and they both are annoyed when the other kids interrupt them constantly." I mean, there's a best friend in there somewhere but she's just kinda there. There's a mom and a sister, but the sister had no real reason to be in the book. Each character is a cardboard cut-out or stereotype from their first introduction. There's no depth to anyone at -all- until the plot twist, and even then, it's only hinted at. The dialogue is terrible. The entire first half of the book needed to be cut down to five pages or less. Themes and some sentences of it could have easily been weaved through the second half of the book, making it stronger and more readable as a whole.

Reasons for some of the biggest themes in the book are never given at all, despite the much-needed depth it would have offered. -Why- do the Garretts have eight kids? They have both boys and girls, so it wasn't, "We were trying until we got" thing. There's no "a big family is important to us" there's no "I grew up wanting lots of kids for x reason." Nothing. And yet the Garretts are so frustrated and worn down by remarks they receive from strangers, which are all the reader is exposed to! I couldn't sympathize with the Garretts because information was being withheld from me! All it took was a few sentences, maybe a paragraph, and I would have been right there with them. That was not given to me so no, I don't feel sorry for the Garretts. IRL, I never ask. I tend to figure, "Lots of kids is important to them," because I know families like that. My dad's family is larger than most--he has four sisters and they all had multiple kids--and it's evident that families are to be celebrated, with them. Each wanted six to twelve kids, and many wound up with three on average. So IRL it's definitely a thing, but the book denies me that. I know several step-families with six or seven kids, and money is a major issue, as is trying to have everyone get along. None of this is in the book. The kids just yell and scream a lot, and it's Babysitter To The Rescue, since their -own mother- can't seem to handle them. At least when the plot twist shows up, they start behaving more like kids whose babysitter is overwhelmed. Seriously, a teenager handling eight kids effortlessly, and having time to pounce on her boyfriend? UNREALISTIC EVEN FOR ADULTS.

The parents...stopped health insurance for the parents because their kids were getting too expensive. My eyes widened in dismay. The book doesn't let me sympathize with them at all! I was just expected to accept this, and oh, how neatly it factored into the damn drama. College will not be a reality for some of the kids because eight kids are expensive. This--because NO REASON is given for so many kids, really just does come off as poor planning. I tried so hard not to judge. Mrs Garrett sighs to herself when Patty's first word is boob, and her second is poop.
(flatly) Alison Bechdel's comic book characters Toni and Clarice had a son, Raffi, whose first word was "Fucks." Author, you--fail.

The enormous plot twist of this book doesn't happen until chapter thirty-eight. I was being -generous- indeed when I said the entire first half of the book needed to be cut down to five pages or less. Chapter thirty-eight! So, the previous seventy percent of the book was actually too-long backstory and this was -the real- plot. Lovely. I thought the plot showing up would change things. It didn't. The characters largely stayed the same. It was so annoying. Things just...happened to the characters and no one seemed to take any actions unless it was something to nudge the plot along. I was relieved when the book ended, even if it was on an incredibly stupid note.
… (mer)
 
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iszevthere | 82 andra recensioner | Jul 3, 2022 |
DNF at 13%

I didn't know this book exists until today.
If I did, it would have tripled and squared my disappointment.

This book is such a let down. It's doubly disappointing because her first book was so strong. ("My Life Next Door" lured me like a siren towards YA books. Countless re-reads and still my favourite!)

But THIS? I have no words. None at all. Speechless. Mute with shock. Stunned.

This book feels drawn out and juvenile. The flashbacks idea was executed terribly - they made the story disjointed. The ending is completely unrealistic.

What I liked: Mrs. E. Ladies, Grandpa Ben.

FINAL VERDICT : SKIP
… (mer)
 
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QuirkyCat_13 | 15 andra recensioner | Jun 20, 2022 |

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Statistik

Verk
7
Även av
1
Medlemmar
2,064
Popularitet
#12,453
Betyg
3.9
Recensioner
115
ISBN
54
Språk
6
Favoritmärkt
2

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