Review: My Life with the Walter Boys by Ali Novak

Today WinterHaven Books is participating in the blog tour for My Life with the Walter Boys by Ali Novak hosted by Sourcebooks Fire!

My Life with the Walter Boys by Ali Novak
Publisher- Sourcebooks Fire
Released- March 1st 2014
Pre-Order- Amazon / B & N

Sixteen-year-old Jackie Howard is devastated when her parents are killed in a car accident. She has no one to turn to except for her mom's best friend Katherine Walter. Jackie quickly discovers that Katherine is no stranger to being a mom-she's got twelve boys! And every single one is a handful...Adjusting to life with the Walter boys is not going to be easy, especially when two of them start to show an interest that definitely goes beyond brotherly.

My Thoughts:

After the horrific car accident that killed Jackie’s family and leaving her orphaned, Jackie doesn't have much of a choice but to leave all the comforts of her New York home and move to Colorado with Katherine Walter, her mothers oldest friend and Jackie’s new Guardian. But leaving home to move to a horse ranch is one thing; living with 12 other Walter kids is an entirely new story. One, Jackie isn't sure she’s cut out to handle.

Ha, this was fun! I really enjoyed the concept for My Life with the Walter Boys.  I come from a large family (just not this large) so I understand what its like is when you’re surrounded by chaos, maddening noise and bodies everywhere you turn. So it was really quite amusing seeing how Jackie handles living with 12 boys (well, ones a tom-boy) that range from 5-21 years of age. This was also pretty laid back given the circumstances as to why Jackie had to move in with the Walters in the first place, which was surprising. This still had its heavier moments, but all in all it was a pretty light read filled with lots of drama, some angst and a good old fashion love triangle. But what I loved the most was when the whole family was together. Everyone was such a handful and it was fun trying to see disorganized chaos at its best. Some of the older Walter boys are also pretty intimidating, gorgeous and unpredictable and most of them didn't exactly give Jackie a warm welcome, and proceeded with the practical jokes, snide remarks, bets, rude gestures and even some light sexual comments, but eventually the boys came around causing Jackie to slowly come out of her shell and loosen up enough and start living.

I didn't really have any problems with any of the characters. They all have their own unique personalities, maybe not always likable, but still good people.

My heart really goes out to Jackie. She lost her entire family and feels guilty for being alive when they aren't. She’s come from very prestigious lifestyles, so she’s a rather prim and proper little thing, something that isn't going to work out to well being on a horse ranch with 12 other Walter boys. But what I liked the most about her was that even though the boys might have put her through some hell, she’s a fighter and I liked the sass and fire that came out when provoked. She’s been through a lot but still takes on any challenge, I liked that she’s a survivor and doesn't let anyone walk all over her..or her heart.

I liked all the Boys and Parker. Will, Nathan and Danny were the cool ones, very kind, understanding and supportive. Isaac and Lee were harder to like since they didn't like Jackie very much at first and didn't have a problem showing it.

As for Alex and Cole, well, this is where our lovely love triangle starts. Cole is your typical player. He rules the school. Every guy wants to be him and every girl wants to date him. He’s done a lot of ass-moves in this book which makes him look like a total jerk about ninety percent of the time, but Cole can be smooth and even charming and still has his moments where you can start to see the act slipping and see the real him.

Alex is a cutie-pie, I really liked him and Jackie together. He has a natural goodness to him and I thought it was cute that he geeks out on video games and Star Wars. He has a lot of unresolved issues with Cole given some of their history, but I grew too really like Alex and thought he was a good friend when Jackie needed it the most.

The whole tug-of-war competition between Cole, Alex and Jackie was a little bit ridiculous and immature at times but I have to admit it was still addicting and intriguing to see how it would all play out.

The only really part I didn't care for was the high school gossip blah blah. Every girl at school was either swooning or jealous of Jackie for living with the Walter boys and it didn't take long before I was annoyed at all the eye-rolling drama.

All in all, this turned out to be a decent read. The writing is strong, the story line was a little overwhelming at times but it’s the characters that kept me invested and turning the pages till it’s all said and done. This was an amusing entertaining YA contemporary about family, lost and finding strength in numbers. Surviving means living and it was good to see Jackie with a new family to do just that. Well done, I’m looking forward to reading the sequel. 

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