Summary

Tim Mason was The Boy Most Likely To:
– find the liquor cabinet blindfolded
– need a liver transplant
– 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 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.

–Goodreads

What I Thought

This was the first book I’ve read from Huntley Fitzpatrick.  So, I wasn’t really sure what I was getting myself into exactly!  I will say I hadn’t realized The Boy Most Likely was a sequel to My Life Next Door.  Technically it’s described as a companion novel, since it’s about Tim and Alice, but there are a lot of Jace and Sam in this book as well, and they talk about a lot of what happened in, I’m assuming, My Life Next Door, and I think it would have helped me get into the book better in the beginning chapters, if I had known that.  So, I definitely recommend reading MLND before The Boy Most Likely.

Despite a confusing beginning (which is only because I missed the memo on this book being a sequel), this book was still such a page turner! The characters in this book were fantastic and so real.  What I really liked about Tim and Alice’s relationship was the fact that this wasn’t “insta-love.”   Tim realizes he is a mess, and he truly is trying to better himself. Alice is the typical date-and-dump kind of gal, but begins to realize maybe there can be more than that. I also love, love, loved that Alice actually truly cared about her family!  She was clearly overworked, but she never resented her parents or her siblings or anything like that, which is something I haven’t read in a lot of books.  It seems that the “overworked child” usually ends up escaping her mean, selfish family, and it was refreshing to see the earnest love Alice and her family had for each other.  She actually cared about her family, and likewise, her family actually loved and cared about her too!  The whole family was really wonderful!  It was nice to read about a big family that all actually loved and supported each other amidst the struggles.

One thing I want to make known, is this would definitely be a book for an older YA reader.  There’s quite a bit of language and sexual content that may not be appropriate for some younger teens.  Despite that though, if you’re looking for a more mature, YA novel, featuring honest characters who are truly trying to better themselves and a positive family image (well, for Alice’s family anyway…), with a realistically paced romance, then this book is for you!

With this book, Tim Mason just might be the boy most likely to steal your heart! (hehe sorry I couldn’t help it!)

**I got this book for free to review as part of the First to Read program.  The Boy Most Likely To will be released August 18, 2015!**

Review originally written July 2015.