Review: The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick

The Boy Most Likely To (My Life Next Door, #2) by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Published: August 18, 2015 by Dial Books
Source: From the publisher

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 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 novel is for readers of The Spectacular Now, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Paper Towns. [goodreads]

If you pick up this novel expecting a light summery romance, then you may be surprised to discover what an emotional, slow digesting, impressionable story these characters weave.  The Boy Most Likely To definitely should be read after you've experience My Life Next Door.  Though it is not a continuation of the previous story, themes from the first novel definitely carry over and its best, in my opinion, to have read that book first to better understand the basis for this one (and also to avoid spoilers).

Tim has always been labeled as the guy most likely to become a drop out and lose himself in the bottom of a bottle.  He's been sentenced to six months to get his act together, by his father, or else his college funds will be cut off.  Without a plan, or even a clue on how to rectify this situation he's found himself in, he moves in to the garage apartment of the Garrett's household.  His best friend Jase is the only person he can rely on, but it's Jase's sister Alice that catches his eye and forces him to make a plan, whatever that may be.

Alice is the oldest daughter in a series of brothers and sisters.  She's played secondhand to her mother and father her entire life; helping out with meals, carpooling, babysitting, and now managing the bills.  It's a lot for a just out of high school girl to take on, but it's her family and they are who come first.  When Tim moves into the one place she was suppose to find her own solitude in, sparks fly and resistance is tested.  All signs point to staying away from Tim, yet Alice seems to be gravitating towards him more and more.

Without giving away a huge plot line, I will say that both Tim and Alice find obstacles stacked against them.  Consequences from Tim's past come crashing into his already debilitating life.  He finds solace and support in the most unexpected places, even when he thinks he may not deserve it.  The relationship between Alice and Tim was definitely a slow, deep in the belly, sort of burn.  Witnessing their struggles both individually, and together, plays a key role in propelling this story forward.  I could not take my eyes away from the reality of what their worlds had become.  The emotional depth that this novel surfaces is both engrossing and heartbreaking.

The Boy Most Likely To presents its characters with flaws and misshapen exteriors, yet beautiful and intriguing.  It also puts forth a message of how family can be found in the most unexpected places.  The Garrett tribe is one of my most favorites in all of the books I've read.  Huntley Fitzpatrick's ability to write each character with such individuality, yet not abandoning the story, amazes me.  These relationships are brutally honest and real, the type of family you want to find yourself in.  Reading this novel was like coming home to a place so warm and familiar, yet unexpected and fulfilling.  It is definitely one of my favorites of the year so far.

The Blog Most Likely To... Celebration + Giveaway

As a fan of Huntley Fitzpatrick's books (My Life Next Door + What I Thought Was True), I am super excited to be taking part in a special blog feature to promote her upcoming release The Boy Most Likely To.  The lovely folks over at Penguin have put together a fun blogger campaign titled "The Blog Most Likely To..." in which we come up with our own superlatives for our blog.

It's no surprise that I chose "The Blog Most Likely To Read YA Summer Contemps" for mine ;)  If you're a regular at GReads!, then you are well aware of my love for summery contemps.  I live for these types of stories (and have been writing my very own summery YA contemp, too!).  If you're in the mood for something that fits this genre, be sure to check out my Sweet Summertime Reads feature all summer long, as well.

I've got a list of some of my favorites to recommend to readers.  Each of these stories present a unique story, filled with swoons and irresistible settings -- two ingredients that make up a delicious YA summer contemp!

Twenty Boy Summer | Wish You Were Italian | Breakfast Served Anytime | Fixing Delilah | Open Road Summer

Nantucket Blue | Along for the Ride | Unbreak My Heart | Second Chance Summer | Wanderlove | In Honor

Past Perfect | Endless Summer | The Summer I Turned Pretty | Amy & Roger's Epic Detour | The Truth About Forever

Below I've got an opportunity (courtesy of Penguin) for you to win a signed copy of My Life Next Door, as well as an ARC of The Boy Most Likely To.  Join me as I plan to re-read My Life Next Door and What I Thought Was True this summer :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour: MOSQUITOLAND by David Arnold

Today on the blog I am very excited to be the next stop on the MOSQUITOLAND blog tour.  Author David Arnold has stopped by to share a behind the scenes look at his life before writing became his Main Thing.  Recently I discovered his music and fell in love with the sound.  There's a melody to his craft that begs to be heard, a lot like his storytelling.  Please welcome David to the blog!

For years, music was my Main Thing. When I wasn’t playing shows with my band, I was writing/recording in my home studio, building songs from the ground up. I did a lot of freelance work for indie films, youth camp videos, even a few commercials. It was my creative outlet, and, I assumed, my life’s work. In short: things were going swimmingly.

Enter: baby.

Exit: things going swimmingly.

Shortly after my wife and I discovered we were going to have a baby, it was decided I would be a stay-at-home dad, and guess what you can’t do while taking care of an infant? Bye-bye recording. Hello diapers. Hello burp rags and bottles. Hello Elmo and Sophie the Giraffe and all things elephant. Hello new appreciation for those glorious few hours called NAPTIME.

Prior to the little game changer, I had tried my hand at various forms of creative writing. I wrote some short stories, some screenplays, even a few picture books. I joined SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) who taught me that one couldn’t have multiple subplots and an ensemble cast of characters in one’s picture books. I shifted to middle grade, but those manuscripts always took a back seat to my music. So when the music suddenly got tossed out the window, I channeled all my creative energy into writing a novel I’d been too afraid to start.

I spent about two years writing Mosquitoland, and during that time, music played three important roles:

1. Character playlists. Early on, I realized that creating a playlist, not for my book, but for my characters, afforded me an extra conduit into their heads. I would hear Calgary by Bon Iver, or Undertaker by M. Ward, or Jon Brion’s brilliant soundtrack to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and feel myself being shoved into the same space as Mim. (This sounds slightly uncomfortable, but there is no such thing as personal space when attempting to write an authentic character.)

2. Companion record. I wrote and recorded nine songs, then released them on my music website (cinemacycle.bandcamp.com) as a companion album to Mosquitoland and my second novel (still a work in progress). Some of the songs were recorded a long time ago, but contained ideas or lyrics that somehow made their way into my novels on the front end. Others were recorded after we discovered a baby was on the way, but before he got here, and some were recorded after he arrived, late at night when the house was quiet. The record happened organically, which is to say, I never set out to write a companion record. But it was almost impossible not to write songs that were at least partially inspired by these characters I was spending so much time with.

3. Education. Of the three ways music influenced my writing, this is by far the most important. In the acknowledgments section of my book, I thank Elliott Smith for teaching me that “an honest voice is more compelling than a pretty one.” In my opinion, too many artists set out to create something perfect. But that’s not art. Whether it’s a song, or a painting, or a book, art should reflect something inside the artist, something human. It should get messy when things are messy, lift you up when things are good, reflect beauty and joy and tragedy when things are beautiful, joyful, tragic. I think there is inherent value in such complexity, while striving to create some technically perfect product negates that value. It’s a process, and I’m still learning, but the origin of my education is rooted in music. And while I rarely record these days, this application of honesty in art is something I’ve tried to carry into my novels.

Music may no longer be my Main Thing, but it is still a Thing, and I have every intention of getting back to it one day. Though probably when there are fewer diapers and elephants.

Let your ears listen to the goodness of David's melodies:

(if player does not show for you, click this link: http://cinemacycle.bandcamp.com/)

About the book: "I am a collection of oddities, a circus of neurons and electrons: my heart is the ringmaster, my soul is the trapeze artist, and the world is my audience. It sounds strange because it is, and it is, because I am strange."

After the sudden collapse of her family, Mim Malone is dragged from her home in northern Ohio to the "wastelands" of Mississippi, where she lives in a medicated milieu with her dad and new stepmom. Before the dust has a chance to settle, she learns her mother is sick back in Cleveland.

So she ditches her new life and hops aboard a northbound Greyhound bus to her real home and her real mother, meeting a quirky cast of fellow travelers along the way. But when her thousand-mile journey takes a few turns she could never see coming, Mim must confront her own demons, redefining her notions of love, loyalty, and what it means to be sane.

Told in an unforgettable, kaleidoscopic voice, "Mosquitoland" is a modern American odyssey, as hilarious as it is heartbreaking.


About the author: Hi. I'm David.

I write stories and songs. I like pesto, Arcade Fire, indie bookstores, Middle-earth, GARP, Elliott Smith, Christmastime, and all things Sorkin. I don't like olives, liars, or wet socks. My debut novel, MOSQUITOLAND, will be published by Viking/Penguin in Winter 2015. My second book, KIDS OF APPETITE, is tentatively set for a Fall 2016 release. I am represented by Dan Lazar at Writers House. [goodreads]

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