My life next door
Samantha Reed is seventeen and this is the summer before her last year in high school. Since her mother, a state senator, is away campaigning for the coming election and her sister Tracy has gone on a summer-long vacation, Samantha is left with her two jobs and looking out at her neighbors, the Garrett’s. The family next door, complete with a mother, a father and eight children, has fascinated Samantha since they moved in ten years ago, but she has never talked to any of them – a rule of her mother’s. That all changes, along with Samantha’s entire summer, when Jase Garrett climbs up to her window one beautiful summer night to introduce himself.
After having been told for so long not to interact with the Garrett’s, Samantha relishes in spending time with them and quickly falls in love with the entire family, and especially Jase. They soon end up in a relationship, Samantha’s first real love, and the summer is set to turn out to be the best one yet, until a horrible accident happens and Samantha has to choose between her own family and Jase’s.
I really think this is a sweet novel. It might not be the best one I’ve ever read and it might not be on my list of favorite books, but it’s still a good read and definitely fitting for summer. If Fitzpatrick can do anything it’s describing summer. You can feel the sun, smell the freshly cut grass, feel the warmth and the humidity while reading. It’s a perfect description of how wonderful summers can be, and that, alongside a sweet romance, makes this a lovely book to read this time of year.
The love story between Samantha and Jase feels real and very sweet, the kind of love I think we all wish to experience. But despite this being a love story, it’s not all about the couple. Samantha has a friend called Tim who’s in the midst of trying to find his footing after being kicked out of school and quitting both alcohol and drugs. Jase has a big family who struggles with finances. Later on in the book, Samantha comes head to head with a big, moral question that really makes the book take a heavier, yet interesting, turn. Seeing her struggle with what’s right and what’s wrong makes this book deeper – it’s not just your ordinary contemporary novel. This is something more.
When it comes to the characters I feel that Fitzpatrick has done a good job. Jase is a lovely and very sweet guy that I think most girls would fall for in real life. He has seven siblings with strong personalities, George being my favorite with all his questions and sweet four-year-old logic. Joel, Jase’s older brother, is not featured too much, which I think is a little sad since I would’ve liked to get to know him better. The rest, however, pop up a lot in the story and they all bring something to the table.
In Samantha’s life we meet her two friends, and twins, Nan and Tim. Nan is her best friend but tension appears between them from time to time, especially when you pick up on Nan’s jealousy of Samantha, which creates an interesting side-story. Tim is the screw-up in the beginning of the story but slowly changes and it was fun seeing his transformation. Alongside this we also meet Samantha’s sister briefly, and her mother a bit more. Her mom in particular brings a lot to the story, but not necessary good things. I feel like I could really dissect her character and analyze her thoroughly, but I won’t. I’ll just say that she’s not the “ordinary” mom and that that in itself is very interesting.
Samantha herself is a sweet girl but she has grown up rich, which you can’t really tell since she works very hard and never take anything for granted, but just like a few characters in the book I was a little bored by Samantha always getting everything. Fortunately said characters told her that and Samantha started to think about how people might see her, which was a move from Fitzpatrick that I liked. I like when characters start questioning how they act and wonder if they should change or act a different way. I think it makes them feel more real.
A fun thing I noticed while reading the novel this time around was that two of Jase’s sisters shows us different sides of relationships which is a fun contrast to Jade relationship with Samantha. His older sister, Alice, has casual relationships while his younger sister, Andy, just started dating her crush who later dumps her. It feels like Fitzpatrick shows three every different types of relationships and I can’t help but think that that’s interesting. Like if she want's to tell the reader that not every relationship is as lovely as the one Samantha and Jase has, but you shouldn’t stop hoping to find it nonetheless.
It was fun to reread this novel that I haven’t read for two years, to see how I myself have changed since then and how I look at the book now. It was still a good read, a lovely and fitting one now during summer, and if you, like me, like to read contemporary stories during this time of year then I highly recommend My life next door.