** Warning: This is NOT a spoiler-free review like I usually write. In order to discuss my full feelings about the book, I will be discussing main plot points but will not reveal any conclusions **
Tim was my favorite character in MY LIFE NEXT DOOR and I was so excited to hear that he had his own novel with THE BOY MOST LIKELY TO (although it’s actually a dual POV book with Alice). Naturally, I was all over this idea and finally got around to reading it once I picked up the audio with one of my favorite narrators, MacLeod Andrews! Usually I don’t talk about main plot points that aren’t immediately a part of the book or that haven’t been revealed in the synopsis but there were a few things that really affected my overall feelings about THE BOY MOST LIKELY TO so if you you are looking for zero plot information on this book, look away now! If you’re with me for this ride, keep on reading!
While THE BOY MOST LIKELY TO was highly enjoyable, it really wasn’t quite the story that I thought it would be. This was actually how I initially felt about MY LIFE NEXT DOOR but for different reasons. I was expecting MLND to be more cutesy and summer fun and instead I found a story that had many layers, great characters, and a really meaningful and deep story. I was expecting the same feel with THE BOY MOST LIKELY TO, which I did get, but I was missing that love story part of the book. I knew that Tim and Alice were likely to end up together at the end of this book but I was a little disappointed with how little time was spent on the romance in the book because of other things going on in Tim’s life that he needed to address… specifically, the baby. (Yes, I said baby. We’ll get to that in a second.) Since the romance was something I was really looking forward to, I was kind of bummed that it didn’t really get developed or highlighted until the end of the book so the characters felt a little underdeveloped in that way. They don’t need a romance to feel like developed characters but I loved the banter between Tim and Alice when they were secondary characters in MY LIFE NEXT DOOR and I was hoping to see more of that sort of relationship in the spotlight in THE BOY MOST LIKELY TO. I was really missing that relationship and the interactions between the two of them that I loved so much when I first met them.
Okay, so the baby. If you haven’t read the book, I bet you’re a little surprised right now. I was too. Normally, I’m not a huge fan of teen pregnancy/teen mom books and granted this is from the guy’s point of view (Tim, of course) instead of the girl’s. (There’s a full discussion in this as to why but that’s a blog post for another day.) I had no idea this book involved a baby or the fact that this bomb would be dropped on Tim and I probably would have read the book anyway because I love Tim, but it was a surprise that I wasn’t really pleased about at first. The baby story line really did take precedence, as it really would in someone’s life, but since I was expecting the romance to be the main story, I was really thrown off an with a topic that’s not something I usually gravitate towards, I was starting to doubt the book a little. Thankfully, Huntley Fitzpatrick handled everything expertly. I actually loved Tim’s relationship with Cal (the baby) and he had such a wonderful mix of confused, troubled teen and compassionate, wanting-to-be-responsible young adult. Tim’s experience with the baby really forced him to grow up quickly but I really loved that growth and development and how everything shaped up! I think Tim could have done that on his own but it was also really touching to see him take care of a child and really take on that responsibility head on.
The book was really great overall but it just didn’t quite meet my expectations and that seems to be the case with a lot of Huntley Fitzpatrick fans. I think MY LIFE NEXT DOOR set up an expectation of seeing a romance like Samantha and Jase’s — one that developed and continued despite a struggle in both of their lives — and the romance just plain didn’t have a spotlight in this book until the very end. While I enjoyed the whole book, it really did feel like it was missing something and I didn’t really get the Tim time that I was looking for because his time was so wrapped up taking care of someone else that I didn’t get to see him as much. He did grow immensely because of it but it was an entirely different feel and not one I expected.