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Zusatztext “Will connect with your heart—guaranteed!”—Lurlene McDaniel! bestselling author of Heart to Heart “An almost perfect summer romance.”— Kirkus Reviews “Serious swoonsville.”—iHeartDaily.com “Perfectly captures the heady joys of first love.”— VOYA “A summer romance with depth.”— The Boston Sunday Globe Informationen zum Autor Huntley Fitzpatrick Klappentext A swoony, transporting “boy next door” romance about family, friendship, and first love The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, numerous, messy, affectionate. And every day from her rooftop perch, seventeen-year-old Samantha Reed wishes she were one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs her trellis and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely in love, Jase's family embraces Samantha, even as she keeps him a secret from her own. Then, in an instant, her two worlds collide in an unthinkable tragedy that leaves Samantha reeling and wrestling with an impossible decision—one that no one could have seen coming, and that only she can make.. A dreamy, enthralling summer read, full of characters who stay with you long after the last page is turned, and that asks, which way do you turn when your heart pulls you in opposite directions? MY LIFE NEXT DOOR by Huntley Fitzpatrick DIAL BOOKS an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Table of Contents Chapter One The Garretts were forbidden from the start. But that’s not why they were important. We were standing in our yard that day ten years ago when their battered sedan pulled up to the low-slung shingled house next door, close behind the moving van. “Oh no,” Mom sighed, arms falling to her sides. “I hoped we could have avoided this.” “This—what?” my big sister called from down the driveway. She was eight and already restless with Mom’s chore of the day, planting jonquil bulbs in our front garden. Walking quickly to the picket fence that divided our house from the one next door, she perched on her tiptoes to peer at the new neighbors. I pressed my face to the gap in the slats, watching in amazement as two parents and five children spilled from the sedan, like a clown car at the circus. “This kind of thing.” Mom gestured toward the car with the trowel, twisting her silvery blond hair into a coil with the other hand. “There’s one in every neighborhood. The family that never mows their lawn. Has toys scattered everywhere. The ones who never plant flowers, or do and let them die. The messy family who lowers real estate values. Here they are. Right next door. You’ve got that bulb wrong side up, Samantha.” I switched the bulb around, scooting my knees in the dirt to get closer to the fence, my eyes never leaving the father as he swung a baby from a car seat while a curly-haired toddler climbed his back. “They look nice,” I said. I remember there was a silence then, and I looked up at my mother. She was shaking her head at me, a strange expression on her face. “Nice isn’t the point here, Samantha. You’re seven years old. You need to understand what’s important. Five children. Good God. Just like your father’s family. Insanity.” She shook her head again, rolling her eyes heavenward. I moved closer to Tracy and edged a fleck of white paint off the fence with my thumbnail. My sister looked at me with the same warning face she used when she was watching TV and I walked up to ask her a question. “ He’s cute,” she said, squinting over the fence again. I looked over to see an older boy unfold himself from the back of the car, baseball mitt in hand, reaching back to haul out a cardboard box full of sports gear. Even then, Tracy liked to deflect, to forget how hard our mother found being a parent. Our dad had walked away without even a good-bye, leaving Mom with a o...
