From Goodreads: “One thing my mother never knew, and would disapprove of most of all, was that I watched the Garretts. All the time.”
The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, messy, affectionate. And every day from her rooftop perch, Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs up next to her and changes everything.
As the two fall fiercely for each other, stumbling through the awkwardness and awesomeness of first love, Jase’s family embraces Samantha – even as she keeps him a secret from her own. Then something unthinkable happens, and the bottom drops out of Samantha’s world. She’s suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?
A transporting debut about family, friendship, first romance, and how to be true to one person you love without betraying another.
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When I started this novel, I quickly found it to be a very cute read, but pretty much like all the boy-next-door romance novels I’ve read. There’s a sweet little “wrong side of the tracks” romance, a snobby uptight parent from hell, a misunderstood and lonely young teen… it’s the perfect mix for this type of cute romance. And it’s a fairly slow budding romance, at that. Sam’s mother is a single parent running for senate—she’s basically unavailable. It’s summer, and Sam is once again on the roof watching the her intriguing neighbors, the Garrets, live their complicated lives next door. The Garrets have lived next door to Sam for quite a while, but due to Sam’s mother, they’ve never actually introduced themselves to each other, that is… until now. Romance quickly ensues once Jase and Sam actually meet and begin speaking with one another, and their interactions brought a smile to my face… but as far as I was concerned, it was just a run of the mill, summer romance, fluffy read.
And then, around 70%, the story began to take off. And I mean, a sit up straight in bed and start tearing through the pages, yelling, “NO, NO, NO” type of take off. I wasn’t expecting it–in fact, I had completely forgot about the synopsis stating that Sam’s “bottom drops out” of her world and she’s faced with an impossible decision, and I was just… floored. Livid, in tears, screaming–I was not happy with a certain character in the novel, and you know, it was the perfect twist to set this novel apart from all the rest. I tore through the last 30% of the story, dying to know the resolution; would the truth come out? How would the characters deal with it? Was this the end of their summer romance? Why was a certain character such an arrogant awful explicative? And with all these thoughts tearing through my head, I flew through the rest of the novel. Truth be told, it was an amazing end that definitely upped the star value for me on this one, and I highly suggest you pick this up for a read—the end is mind blowing. Four stars.
I purchased this novel from Amazon:
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