I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick Published by Dial Books for Young Readers on August 18, 2015
Genres: Contemporary YA, Relationships, Young Adult
Pages: 432
Format: eARC
Also by this author: My Life Next Door
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
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Surprises abound and sparks ignite in the highly anticipated, utterly romantic companion to My Life Next Door
Tim Mason was The Boy Most Likely To:
– find the liquor cabinet blindfolded
– need a liver transplant
– drive his car into a houseAlice Garrett was The Girl Most Likely To:
– well, not date her little brother’s baggage-burdened best friend, for starters.For Tim, it wouldn’t be smart to fall for Alice. For Alice, nothing could be scarier than falling for Tim. But Tim has never been known for making the smart choice, and Alice is starting to wonder if the “smart” choice is always the right one. When these 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 Tim’s and Alice’s distinctive, disarming, entirely compelling voices, this return to the world of My Life Next Door is a story about failing first, trying again, and having to decide whether to risk it all once more.
Guys, I’ve only been looking forward to Huntley Fitzpatrick’s THE BOY MOST LIKELY TO for…umm…EVER. I loved MY LIFE NEXT DOOR and the romantic, sincere relationship between Jase and Samantha, but I knew that any story about Tim Mason wouldn’t be as wholesome (if Jase and Sam could be called that, although in comparison, they certainly are). I’d hoped to reread MY LIFE NEXT DOOR before picking up THE BOY MOST LIKELY TO, but in the end I just dove right in. I was captivated by Tim Mason from the start, and remained full of feelings for him for the entire book. Tim Mason was the winner for me, big time.
Tim Mason is Jase Garrett’s best friend. He’s also an 18-year-old recovering addict with a checkered past who’s recently been kicked out of school and home, and is struggling to find his path. Alice Garrett is the oldest daughter in an ever-growing family dealing with the aftermath of the the life-altering injuries suffered by their father when he was hit by a car. When Tim moves into the garage apartment at the Garrett’s home, he not only becomes a part of the Garretts’ lives, but he’s confronted with a major life-changing shock. Tim and Alice have this hate-like thing going on while each dealing with their own dramas.
My favorite thing about THE BOY MOST LIKELY TO was, hands-down, Tim. I liked him better than the romance, better than seeing Jase and Sam, better than everything. He’s only 18 but he’s really made some bad choices in his young life. He’s basically just coming off rock bottom, but instead of being immature about it, he’s trying to pick up the pieces and make things better for himself. He goes to AA meetings, takes the GED, without losing his confident, mouthy Tim-ness. The more I read, the prouder I became of him and the way he wants to get his shit together.
The thing that made me completely fall in love with Tim in THE BOY MOST LIKELY TO is really a big spoiler, so I don’t want to go into too many details, but I want to try and convey to you how much it changed Tim for the better and made me fall totally in love with him. He gets this HUGE thing dropped in his lap and he steps up, reorganizes his life, forms attachments that really tugged my heartstrings, and manages–although it’s close sometimes–to not fall back into his old ways despite the stress and shock of it. It was the emotional core of THE BOY MOST LIKELY TO (more than the romance between Tim and Alice, but I’ll get to that in a sec), and I’m so glad that Huntley Fitzpatrick tackled it.
Of course, Tim isn’t the only person dealing with lots of stressful life drama. Alice Garrett is trying to keep her family running smoothly while her dad is rehabbing his injuries following his accident from MY LIFE NEXT DOOR. She’s taking care of her siblings, running the family store, working, and trying to get herself set up to go to nursing school. I deeply admired her loyalty to her family and her fierceness. I didn’t feel as emotionally attached to her or her issues, but I respected her a ton.
I said before that the romance was really outshone by the separate issues Tim and Alice were dealing with, and it was. They don’t even really get together until more than halfway through THE BOY MOST LIKELY TO, but I don’t think that was a mistake on Huntley Fitzpatrick’s part. To me, we were really supposed to focus on Tim and his growth as a young man and Alice and her determination to help her family. I felt the tension of their growing relationship and their antagonism as a front for other feelings, and when they do get together it’s very satisfying, but they shone brighter as individuals than they did as a couple.
It was also great to see Jase and Sam still going strong and happy. Sam’s mom is still horrid, so I guess props for consistency. Truthfully, while it was great to have these connections with MY LIFE NEXT DOOR–and I really did love seeing Jase and Sam–everything paled in comparison to Tim Mason.
Huntley Fitzpatrick knows how to write contemporaries that tug at your heart and endear characters to readers. Tim Mason is probably my favorite character of hers because he steps up, changes for the better while not losing himself, and really had me rooting for him from the first page of THE BOY MOST LIKELY TO.
Tim is precisely the reason that I enjoyed THE BOY MOST LIKELY TO so much! He’s such a great character, and I love that, even as he makes changes in his life, he stays the same guy he’s always been at his core. I loved seeing him grow up in this novel, and I really, really, really loved that bit of the story.