The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick [Review]

4 out of 5 Robots!

The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Genre: YA Contemporary
Release: August 18, 2015
Hardcover: 432 Pages
Publisher: Dial Books
My Copy: Purchased
Reviewer: Shannon

Book Summary:

Tim Mason was The Boy Most Likely To find the liquor cabinet blindfolded, need a liver transplant, and 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 novel is for readers of The Spectacular Now, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Paper Towns.

(Courtesy of the Publisher)

Shannon's Thoughts:

The Boy Most Likely To is a companion novel to my favorite Huntley Fitzpatrick novel, My Life Next Door.  The Boy Most Likely To takes place shortly after the events of a My Life Next Door, but is told from Tim and Alice's perspectives.  Tim is the resident f**k-up.  In the first book, he is a teenage alcoholic with a very abrasive personality.  But by the end, he quits drinking and steps up a lot for his friends.  In this book, Tim is still sober, but is now being kicked out of his parent's house.  He ends up at Jase's house, living in the room above the garage.  Which puts him in close proximity  to Alice, Jase's no nonsense sister.  Alice and Tim flirt with each other and just when it seems that Tim finally has an in with Alice, he get a visit from someone in his past with some very unsettling news.

This book is definitely not the summer-y, romance-y book that My Life Next Door was.  But I really did like being in Tim's head.  Tim was a minor character in the first book, but he played an essential role and probably had the biggest character arc.  I really liked seeing him struggle to remain sober and "man up". That came out weird.  I didn't like seeing him struggle, but I was happy to see him working so hard on himself.  I wasn't particularly thrilled about the situation that crops up, but it really does give Tim a lot to think about.  I also liked that Tim was not made into a perfectly redeemed person overnight.  He is still abrasive and can be cruel, but he is also realizing his mistakes and trying to fix them.

The other portion of this book is narrated by Alice.  I like that we got Alice's perspective too.  Alice has her own worries, which includes her large family and all the sudden responsibilities she takes on due to her father's injury.  Alice has a hard time letting people in and letting go.  In the first book she comes across as a rock.  Impenetrable, but also a little cold.  But this time we are allowed into her inner thoughts.  She is still such a strong character, but she also has a lot of insecurities that she tries not to let show.

I never quite got Alice and Tim as a couple, but I am willing to roll with it.  I don't dislike them together, but I didn't find them to have amazing chemistry or anything.  But honestly, the romance is secondary to everything else to me going on in the story anyways.

I also like that we had some resolution with the Garrett's.  I love the Garrett's!  I will read any book that includes them.  

Overall, I recommend this book to fans of My Life Next Door!