A Short History of the Girl Next Door - Book Review

Boy likes girl. Girl likes boy ... but not like likes him. Know what I mean?

The premise of A Short History of the Girl Next Door, the debut young adult novel from Jared Reck, sounds kind of like every other YA novel or simple romantic love story you've read before. But just wait.

I picked up an advance reader's copy of this book at BookCon this year, and I was partly drawn to it by the cover image. A bunch of windows with green tinting on the bottom except for one window with pink bottom tinting.

Without giving too much away, I will say that I really felt for the main character of this book, Matt. Yes, he is a teenage boy and I am a grown-up woman. But I could totally understand where he was coming from. (What does that say about me? Do I have the mindset of a teenager still?)

I also liked that the book had a male main character because I think that will really appeal to young male readers. And I liked that Matt's favorite class was English, which I think might turn on readers to the fun of their own English classes and poetry and writing.

Plus, the book was a quick read. The chapters were short, but they kept your interest enough that you wanted to keep reading to find out what the rest of the story was, and again, I think that can really appeal to young readers.

This book would make a great gift to any young male book lover, or it could be a good way to turn a teen boy into a book lover. Hopefully!

A Short History of the Girl Next Door is published by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers and is on bookstore shelves now. I received a free advance reader's copy of this book at BookCon with no obligation to review. 

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