Book Review: The Boy Next Story

Title: The Boy Next Story

Author: Tiffany Schmidt

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

Rating: 4

Synopsis (via Goodreads): The second book in a series where your favorite literary characters come to life, inspired by the timeless classic, Little Women!  There’s no one better than the boy next door. At least not according to Aurora Campbell, fourteen, who has been in love with Tobias May since their very first sandbox kiss. The problem is, he’s in love with her older sister, Merrilee. And Merri is already dating one of his best friends.  Rory is learning all about pining as her class reads The Great Gatsby, a book she doesn’t find “great” at all. Also not great—her GPA, something she needs to fix, quickly, if she’d like to apply for the chance to spend a week studying art with her hero in New York City over winter break. But when Ms. Gregoire assigns her to read Little Women for extra credit, Rory discovers more than she expected—both about herself and Toby. Maybe she wasn’t in love with the boy next door. . . but the boy next story.  Love is complicated, and it’s all about to get even trickier for Rory at Reginald R. Hero Prep . . . where with the help of one quirky English teacher, students’ fantasies come true, often with surprising consequences.

Review: I really need to read these classics that Ms. Gregoire assigns the characters.  (No, I haven't read The Great Gatsby or Little Women.  Yes, I know that's crazy).

The second installment in this series was just as cute as the first and continues to prove that "Boys are so much better in books."  Seriously though, do boys like Fielding and Toby and Huck even exist?  Have I just not met them?!  Okay, I do have a Huck-like guy in my life I suppose (I absolutely love his friendship with Aurora, by the way).

I do have to admit that I did struggle a little more with this book than A Date with Darcy.  I felt like Aurora was a little whiny, Toby and Merri really irked my taters, and don't even get me started about the wedding.  Granted, I only have one sibling and I'm the oldest so I don't know what it's like having two siblings or being the youngest child, but I would hope I wouldn't treat them the way Lilly and Merri treated Rory.  I couldn't help but feel for her when she was excluded, but, at the same time, I wanted to scream at her to tell them how she felt (even though she didn't really know what she was feeling, which I totally understand).  Do you see my dilemma?

Ms. Gregoire sees right through this (typical of her) and pushes Rory to realize it on her own through an individualized reading assignment.  Like Rory, I was hung up on the whole romance possibility that I failed to connect the other themes of Little Women to Rory's life, but she figured it out by the end of the book.

A few other things I liked about this book: the art workshop in New York, Huck sticking up for Rory in art class, Huck and Clara working on Rory's bedroom wall decor while she was away (like hello, what a quote to choose; can it be featured in my future house?)  I just really liked Huck, okay?!  But overall, Schmidt's writing still had me mesmerized and left me wanting more (even if the ending she went with was different from the ending I would've gone with). 

I already picked up the third book of this series and I'm looking forward to starting it since it's focused around Eliza and I have a feeling that I will be able to relate to her the most...