Book Review: My Life With The Walter Boys by Ali Novak
Title: My Life With The Walter Boys
Series: (My Life With The Walter Boys #1)
By: Ali Novak
Author Info: Blog | Goodreads | Twitter
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre Type: Romance, Contemporary
Publication Date: March 1st 2014
Pages: Kindle Edition, 368 pages
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Summary:
Jackie Howard does not like surprises. Chaos is the enemy! The best way to get her successful, busy parents to notice her is to be perfect. The perfect look, the perfect grades—the perfect daughter. And then...
Surprise #1
Jackie's family dies in a freak car accident.Surprise #2
Jackie has to move cross-country to live with the Walters—her new guardians.Surprise #3
The Walters have twelve sons.
(Well, eleven, but Parker acts like a boy anyway)Jackie is now surrounded by the enemy. Loud, dirty, annoying boys—who have no concept of personal space. Okay, several of the oldest guys are flat-out gorgeous. But still annoying. She's not stuck-up or boring—no matter what they say. But proving it is another matter. How can she fit in and move on when she needs to keep her parents' memory alive by living up to the promise of perfect?
Fun, entertaining, and well written! My Life With The Walter Boys is the perfect escape book featuring a super sweet romance, tons of great characters, and a heartwarming story about a young teen whole loses her family to a terrible tragedy, but gains a new one and so much more.
I don't usually read a lot of contemporary romances, but I was immediately drawn to the premise of My Life With The Walter Boys. There's something about the thought of going from being alone after losing so much, in this case Jackie's family, to landing in the midst of a family of twelve boys (actually one is a girl, Parker, who is a complete tomboy) and moving across country from New York to a horse ranch in Colorado.
Jackie was really easy to relate to. Yes, in the beginning she is a bit of an overachiever and Goody Two-Shoes, but she has some wonderful changes and life-lessons with the Walter's family that I enjoyed reading. There are moments of sweetness and personal growth in this heartwarming story. Jackie is a strong female character, she has to be to keep up with the Walter boys, and easy to like.
The Walter Boys really made this book such a fun and breezy read. Ali Novak did a great job giving each Walter boy and even Parker a distinct personality. I loved the craziness and banter of the household, and was totally delighted by some of the boys mischievous antics, even if they sometimes went a bit overboard. It was total fun. There's some sibling rivalry and inner family dynamics that made the whole situation that much more interesting, and you only imagine what happens when you stick a beautiful, New Yorker girl in the midst of some rough and tumble teen boys and good old fashioned country-ness.
One other facet that I really enjoyed was the fact that My Life With The Walter Boys included a strong and loving parental aspect to the story. The Walter boys mother Katherine, was best college friends with Jackie's mother. She and her husband George are always caring and supportive, and are in the background throughout the story. For me, this is always a wonderful surprise to find in young adult books. Sometimes the boys get out of hand, but Katherine and George are always loving and doing their best to keep their whippersnappers from too much trouble.
The ending was wonderful, something of a cliff-hanger, but leaving room for new decisions and growth for Jackie as well as many of the Walter boys. I can't wait to see where Ali Novak takes this heartwarming young adult story.
My Life With The Walter Boys is a perfect read to escape too. A fun contemporary setting with some tender and hilarious moments, tons of great characters, and yes, swoon-worthy boys and romance!
My Rating: 4 Stars. I really liked it!
PLEASE NOTE: A courtesy review copy of this book was provided by Sourcebooks via NetGalley in exchange for my fair review. Thank you Sourcebooks for the review opportunity!
