Title: The Boy Most Likely To
Author: Huntley Fitzpatrick
Publisher: Dial Books
Release Date: August 18, 2015
Source: Borrowed ARC
A surprising, utterly romantic companion to My Life Next Door—great for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han.Tim Mason was The Boy Most Likely To find the liquor cabinet blindfolded, need a liver transplant, and drive his car into a house.Alice Garrett was The Girl Most Likely To…well, not date her little bother’s baggage-burdened best friend for starters.For Time, it wouldn’t be smart to fall for Alice. For Alice, nothing could be scarier than falling for Tim. But Time has never been known for making the smart choice, and Alice is starting tow wonder if the “smart” choice is always the right one. When those two crash into each other, they crash hard.Then the unexpected consequences of Tim’s wild days come back to shock him. He finds himself in a situation that isn’t all it appears to be, that he never could have predicted…but maybe should have.And Alice is caught in the middle.Told in Time’s and Alice’s distinctive, disarming, entirely compelling voices, this novel is for readers of The Spectacular Now, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Paper Towns.
Huntley Fitzpatrick’s My Life Next Door is one of my favourite books of all time. When I heard that there would be a companion, I was over the moon. When I found out that the companion would be about Tim, my excitement level sky-rocketed. So The Boy Most Likely To? It exceeded any and all expectations I may have had.
Tim has never been someone people rely on. He’s always been a bit of a screw-up and he knows it. Now he has to face the consequences of his past. When his father decides that it’s time for Tim to finally man up, Tim finds himself living above his best friend’s garage and trying to put the pieces of his life back together. What he didn’t expect is that is for his past to come back and turn his life upside down in a whole new way. Alice Garrett knows better than to get involved with her little brother’s best friend. She has enough on her plate with her own family without getting caught up in Tim’s problems as well. But Alice can’t seem to stay away from Tim and before she’s able to stop herself, she’s in the middle of everything and she can’t deny her feelings for much longer.
I’ve already said it, but My Life Next Door is one of my favourite books of all time. There’s just so much I love about the story and the characters and I will always want more. When I found out that Huntley Fitzpatrick was writing a companion about Tim and Alice I was over the moon. They were both characters I thought had their own story to tell and getting to read that story was absolutely fantastic. The Boy Most Likely To went beyond any expectations I may have had. The story was moving and emotional. While reading, I went through what felt like the entire range of human emotions. I would smile and laugh about Tim’s antics or Alice’s exasperation with him. But then a few pages later it would feel like I had just been punched in the gut. I was basically a mess after I finished reading. I was smiling through my tears. And when I say tears, I mean full on ugly crying. As much as I loved the story, there was more than one occasion when I wanted to yell at the book or throw it across the room because I was NOT HAPPY with what was happening. But I knew it was what needed to happen in the story which only made me cry that much more. The Boy Most Likely To was just an emotional read, there’s no way around it. But it was so worth it and I couldn’t have asked for better for Tim and Alice’s story.
After reading My Life Next Door, I already had a huge soft spot for Tim. Even though he might not have been the main focus of that story, I was curious about him and I wanted to know more about him. It just felt like he had so much to tell and I am so happy he got to tell that story in The Boy Most Likely To. Tim was the furthest thing from perfect. For the better part of his life he was a screw up and he knows it and he wants to do better and he was trying. And that made me love him so much. And Tim was responsible for so many of the emotions I had while reading, the happy ones and the heartbreaking ones. I could seriously go on about Tim all day long because I loved him that much and he has officially become one of my favourite book boys of all time. And Alice. Well, Alice was not quite who I thought she was going to be. She always seemed like someone who doesn’t take crap from anyone. And she didn’t. But at the same time, she was someone who would always put everyone else ahead of her, regardless of the sacrifices she had to make in the process. So while I was reading, I wanted Alice to finally do something for herself. And I wasn’t the only one who wanted that for her and that made me happy. And in case you were wondering, George and Patty, the two youngest of the Garrett family, are just as hilarious and adorable as in the first book.
Huntley Fiztpatrick’s The Boy Most Likely To was so much more that I could ever have hoped it would be. It was an emotional read that hit all the right notes and left me wanting more. I can only hope that Huntley Fitzpatrick will continue writing about the Garrett family in the future.
