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 #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's 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. This story broke my heart and made me laugh and
gave me hope-and really what more can you ask of a book than that? I loved it and I have a
feeling you will too. -Jennifer E. Smith author of Windfall and The Statistical Probability of
Love at First Sight In the blink of an eye A Short History of the Girl Next Door goes from
hilarious to haunting to harrowing to heartbreaking to hopeful and back. -Jeff Zentner
award-winning author of The Serpent King and Goodbye Days Sharp smart and unforgettable.
-Kate Hattemer critically acclaimed author of The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy and The
Land of 10 000 Madonnas A powerful novel about first love the intimacy of childhood
friendships and moving forward from loss. -Publishers Weekly Pair this with other novels that
explore loss from a male perspective such as Jeff Zentner's Goodbye Days or Adam Silvera's
History Is All You Left Me. -Booklist Reck gives subtlety and depth to Matt so he's believable
as a flawed guy negotiating his way through his feelings for Tabby as well as his social status
in school his ideas of masculinity and his insecurities. -The Bulletin Recommend this to
readers who enjoyed Steven Levenson's Dear Evan Hansen. -VOYA
