The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot Review

"Gossip columnist and single New York City girl Mel lives lives in the most exciting place in the world, yet she's bored with her lovelife. But things get interesting fast when the old lady next door is nearly murdered. Mel starts paying closer attention to her neighbors—what exactly is going on with the cute boy next door? Has Mel found the love of her life—or a killer?"

I, for one, adore Meg Cabot. I don't care what you say about her, but I think most (if not all) of her books are great. This one, The Boy Next Door, is definitely not what I expected. But once I got a bit settled in, I loved it! It is really good.

I'm going to say this upfront. It is nothing like The Princess Diaries or any other YA books Cabot had written. Yes, there is humor, but there is an interesting format with more mature characters and more POVs. It isn't YA. It is more for older readers, though younger readers are most certainly welcome. However, there are some concepts in the book that quite aren't for the young teens here and there.

The format. Is the weirdest thing. The entire book is made up of email messages. Yes, you read that right. All emails. I'm unable to resist making this comment: Wow! All of these characters spend so much time on email that the NSA can tell so much about them from the name of the dogs to the favorite type of ice cream. And I'm seriously not joking at all. It doesn't take a behavior specialist or a shrink to easily see that all of these characters are giving out way too much information. 

But it is a book. So I'm going to zip up about the unrealistic parts of the book. 

The plot. Now that is another crazy part of the book I can't understand in the beginning. Because the beginning is indeed insane. But it is a really nice ride. By the middle, I slowed down, and I didn't want to ruin it. Or read it too fast. Because it is so good! 

Overall, The Boy Next Door is a great book. The characters are diverse, and the book has a lot of humor. It is a great one to read!

Besides... I do like the love interest. And his grandmother.

Rating: Four out of Five