The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher: Dial Books
Publish Date: August 18, 2015

Buy Link:  https://amzn.com/0147513073

Blurb: 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.

When I was in Jr High, there was this boy I went to school with. This boy was short and kind of crazy, and….well, he was a brat, to say the least. He was a trouble maker, a clown, he threw temper tantrums and always felt like things should always go his way. But there was something about this boy that made me think that his life wasn’t easy and he had a reason for the way he was acting. While I always maintained my distance from this boy, because no one wants to get caught up in that much drama, I always wanted things to sort of work out for him. Flash forward three to four years, the boy was still short, a little less wild, now a couple grade below me, and in with the wrong crowd. He was drinking, doing drugs and mis-adventures followed him around. Still, I remember wondering about his home life, and how he was treated and his attitude. There always seemed like there was more to the story than what one could see on the outside.

A really good story would end in overcoming and achievement…finding your place in the world. Unfortunately, here I am over 15 years graduated, and recently the boy’s name came up on Facebook among mutual friends. I’m not “friends” with this person, as I never was in real life either…just always an observer…but it seems that his life hasn’t gotten any better. There’s still just as much drama and temper tantruming, and probably substance abuse as well. I was a little disappointed to find out he never really found his way…however (getting to the point) that boy I knew from back when reminded me a bit of Tim, from The Boy Most Likely.

What I Loved: The difference between my story and the one told by Mrs. Fitzpatrick is that Tim did find is his way, he found a place to hang on and…hung on. I’ve been around addiction enough to feel very uplifted and empowered by Tim’s story. Any addiction is hard to shake, and you really have to want to do it before it can be successful. I love that Tim’s wasn’t this perfect linear progression, but he had his moments of weakness and failure. This is real.

Tim’s sarcastic way of dealing with life was simultaneously funny and sad. I hated how hard he was on himself. At times, I also hated how hard Alice was on him as well, however I loved who she was for him, and her way of helping him figure things out. Jace too, he was there in the moments when he was really needed. That seems to be the Garrett way overall actually.

Not So Much: And while it sounds like this is completely Tim’s story, Alice had her own troubles too. And the book dealt with them, but in some ways I felt like it didn’t deal with them enough. First Alice’s crazy ex really needed more than what he got. Then I kind of felt a little brushed off when the weight of responsibility was crushing Alice, but when her father finally addressed it, it seemed like it was done.

The Verdict: Another great read in this series. I can say that I loved My Life Next Door just a smidge better than I loved this one, but I really just love the Garret Family and these books are so hopeful. This is semi-clean; there are no details though sex is present, and there is cussing. Obviously there is drug and alcohol talk, but it’s real – there is no glamorization..it’s the down and dirty truth about what can happen, which we need more of rather than random drinking and sex at parties because that’s what high schoolers do type stuff. Anyway, I’d say reserve this for the older YA’s of the bunch.

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