Review: The Boy Most Likely To, by Huntley Fitzpatrick

 
The Boy Most Likely To
by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Edition: 2016
Pages: 446

Publisher: Egmont Publishing

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.

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.

Rating: 4/5

Review: 
I will start this review by saying that I received an online copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange of a honest review. 

"My Life Next Door" was my last read of 2015. At that time, I thought one of strongest points of this book was the Garrett's family and only when I rediscovered them in "The Boy Most Likely" did I understood how much I missed them. The sweetness of George, the crazy ideas of Harry and Duff, the continuous amorous crisis of Andy and all the good values and strength of Jase, with some fun show ups from Joel. And Patsy, that child can certainly make one smile, even the ones who are not her Hon!
 Of course I didn't forget Alice but I will get to her later. For now, let's just say I admire the construction of this beautiful family and how this second book of them made me fall in love like I never was in the first book. Sometimes, there are books like this, that light up the previous ones and make them better in general.
As for the main couple, Tim was one of the characters I enjoyed in the first book. I was never interested in reading "The Boy Most Likely To" because of the way the book was presented. But then I met Tim at MLND and I got hooked on him. There was so much more about him than what we first saw and I loved him because of that, of what others saw on him that made him more interesting and engaging. And when it gets to Alice....I would say she was the quirky girl everybody was curious about but that was very slippy and didn't allow us to meet her well. I wasn't wrong and this book proves it right.
I enjoyed the two point of view dynamic, but I would like to see it more evidently. I'm not sure if its because I read it on ebook version but there wasn't anything that could easy help the reader distinguish Alice and Tim apart from each other before getting into the chapters. I would expect either a exchange of fonts or at least their names on the top. But it's a small detail that can be corrected on next editions.
About the story itself, the connection between Alice and Tim were well developed and I enjoyed their connection, not in five seconds but with steps and a delightful evolution. I didn't think there was any need to create Tim's main plot after all he already had so much going on that it could have been used to create a beautiful story of self-development and finding of his true self without more noise. As for Alice, I liked to see her relationship with her family but it still felt like she had much less voice than it was expected. We saw a lot of her with her family, dealing with problems but never had a proper access to her thoughts.
Also, although we had moments with either their families, they were mostly alone or at least that was the feeling I got. On the first book, we had other strong presences, like Grace or even Tim (that was what made me fell in love with him, like I already told you) and here it was somehow mostly focused in the two of them. It wasn't bad, but I would prefer to have of that side and take off the other plot I referred moments ago.
In the end, what I really enjoy in Huntley Fitzpactrick's books is that these aren't the typical YA. It's not exactly about the romance (even if this one had much more than the other focused there) but about values, family, support, friendship, growing up and development, sacrifice and generosity. It's about lives and what we have to do to make them better. It's about being an human being and the better we can. With many valuable messages, this book tries to add something more to the YA genre and deserves to be read!

Cláudia

About the author:
 

Addicted to the library Claudia loves to read on the move and we can usualy find her sitting in a train or bus reading while commuting to and from work. But don't be fooled she is also keeping an eye on the landscape and all around her. She is an avid defender of sustainability and volunteering and it's as easy to find her starting a new project as it is to find her chatting with her friends. She is a dreamer and loves good stories so she keeps looking for them in her personal life.