A Short History of the Girl Next Door

By: Jared Reck

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this unrequited love story will appeal to fans of Jennifer Niven, John Green, and Jesse Andrews.

Seriously, how can you see a person nearly every day of your life and never think a thing of it, then, all of a sudden, one day, it's different? You see that goofy grin a thousand times and just laugh. But goofy grin number 1,001 nearly stops your heart?

Right. That sounds like a bad movie already.

Matt Wainwright is constantly sabotaged by the overdramatic movie director in his head. He can't tell his best friend, Tabby, how he really feels about her; he implodes on the JV basketball team; and the only place he feels normal is in Mr. Ellis' English class, discussing the greatest fart scenes in literature and writing poems about pissed-off candy-cane lumberjacks.

If this were a movie, everything would work out perfectly. Tabby would discover that Matt's madly in love with her, be overcome with emotion, and fall into his arms. Maybe in the rain.

But that's not how it works. Matt watches Tabby get swept away by senior basketball star and all-around great guy Liam Branson. Losing Tabby to Branson is bad enough, but screwing up and losing her as a friend is even worse.

After a tragic accident, Matt finds himself left on the sidelines, on the verge of spiraling out of control and losing everything that matters to him.

From debut author Jared Reck comes a fiercely funny and heart-wrenching novel about love, longing, and what happens when life as you know it changes in an instant.

©2017 Jared Reck (P)2017 Listening Library

Surprised

Wow didn't see it coming. Slow start thinking I wouldn't finish the book. The I couldn't stop.

Normally I like books like this one

Books that make you feel something. You’ll laugh out loud, or in this case cry while you listen. Maybe this book was too painful for me. I was the lead character, though not as good as he at basketball. I was that awkward and lost at times in my own head. So, this was already painful for me, before the tragedy that defines it.

Perfection

Better than I expected it to be. Heartbreaking at times. You really feel what the main character goes through. A great book that handles grief in an honest and heartening way.

I was not prepared

...for the emotional ride this book would be. I am grateful for every moment that amused me and left me crying pain-filled tears. My only regret was having been listening while driving. I needed to pull over for the safety of everyone on the road!

Good concept, fell flat

I feel bad rating this story the way I am, but it just was not as spectacular as I was expecting. The beginning is slow (to the point where I almost returned it) and the ending, while interesting, did not make up for it. I’m honestly still considering possibly returning it.

SPOILERS for those who read ahead!

I think that Reck did a very interesting job exploring grief after death of a loved one. I liked that he dealt with severe anger as a mechanism of grief, and touched on how the way you grieve can impact others. But nothing felt organic about it to me. I could not connect with Matt, even as I tried to feel for his grief for Tabby. I was still on his side (mostly) even when he was being an ass, but I didn’t feel like I was living his grief. And this is from someone who sobs at the slightest of emotional beats in most books and movies! The most this got from me was a bit of teary eyes when Matt has an emotional conversation with his grandfather.

So the concept is interesting and the life lessons were fine, but the execution fell flat for me and I cannot really recommend this to others. Mike Chamberlain did a great job narrating, but it couldn’t save the story.

love it

This is easily on the top of my favorite book list. I really wish that I had read this book a year ago, it would have made me realize some things much faster

Touching story of overcoming loss

Getting through loss...finding new connections and accepting of family love. Finding fun in a teenage boy head.

Sweet and enjoyable.

I enjoyed this sweet story. The performance was good as well. There was a turn on the story I wasn’t expecting and it made this un-put-down-able.

I loved it.

best book I have read in a while. anyone that has been a teenage boy will get it.

I was expecting more

I kept waiting for the story to taken an interesting turn! But not bad I guess.