Jase and Samantha continue to get closer and frequently go on secret dates. Garrett asks Samantha to babysit the younger kids, and she agrees despite knowing her mother’s objections. A few days later, he invites her into his house, where she is surprised at his family’s disorganized and crowded life. Irritated, she withdraws to her private spot on the roof. One night, Samantha discovers her mom and her young political advisor making out. Grace is now a state senator running for reelection and Tracy waitresses in Martha’s Vineyard to save money before starting college in the fall. Samantha is on summer break before her last year of high school. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?Ī transporting debut about family, friendship, first romance, and how to be true to one person you love without betraying another.The novel then jumps 10 years into the future. She’s suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Then something unthinkable happens, and the bottom drops out of Samantha’s world. until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs up next to her and changes everything.Īs the two fall fiercely for each other, stumbling through the awkwardness and awesomeness of first love, Jase’s family embraces Samantha – even as she keeps him a secret from her own. And every day from her rooftop perch, Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them. The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. “One thing my mother never knew, and would disapprove of most of all, was that I watched the Garretts. “You’re walking along on this path, dazzled by how perfect it is, how great you feel, and then just a few forks in the road and you are lost in a place so bad you never could have imagined it.” I hope that’s a good enough description to how much I love this book. I admit that I have put it on a pedestal so very few actually surpassed the love I have for this one. It set the bar so high so it eventually became the book where I measure others on.

Anyway, My Life Next Door is my first foray into the young adult genre and I loved it. I know, it’s super late to post this now but I kind of have to, as I promised I wouldn’t miss out on any months.

Life next door