I’ve been a bit of a fan of Huntley Fitzpatrick since I read My Life Next Door last year. I absolutely fell in love with the setting and characters she created, so when I found out that her next two books were being published in the UK this year I was pretty excited.
When My Life Next Door finished, Tim Mason, teen alcoholic and all-round irresponsible fuckwit, was trying to get his life back on track. He’d started attending AA meetings and was kicking the booze and drugs. He was also majorly crushing on Alice Garrett, sister of Swoony Jase (that's his real name, by the way). At the opening of The Boy Most Likely To, Tim’s uptight dad gives him an ultimatum: Tim has until Christmas to shape up and be a man, or he’ll be cut off completely.
Alice has her own problems. Earlier in the summer, her dad was injured by a hit and run driver. Her mum is pregnant with her ninth (!) child, so Alice has her hands full trying to keep the family and the family business afloat.
She so doesn’t need Tim Mason moving into the room above the Garrett’s garage.
But, of course, that’s exactly what he does.
Man, I loved this book. I had such a book hangover after My Life Next Door, so I felt exactly like a junkie getting a fix when I started The Boy Most Likely To. Seriously, I got my review copy through weeks ago, but I had to hold off reading it so I could publish my review nearer to publication date. It kept taunting me on my Kindle. Damn – THAT was temptation!
I devoured The Boy Most Likely To in one binge-y weekend and it was everything I’d hoped it would be. Despite their differences, Tim and Alice are so perfect together. And they have so much stacked against them. I won’t say what exactly, but when it was revealed I almost dropped my Kindle in surprise. And yet, it’s so obvious that something like this would happen to Tim.
Like Ms Fitzpatrick’s other books, it’s the characters that really make it. Considering she has a massive cast going on, they all develop really well and have their own story arcs. And in case you’re wondering, yes, Jase and Sam are in this book.
You could read The Boy Most Likely To as a standalone, but it works so much better read alongside her other books.
5 stars