How to Build a House

Librarian's pick of the month at my local library, it is about a teenager going through a real tough time. She enrolls in a program where she helps build houses for people affected by a tornado. She gets a lot of insight in life with this experience. She finds Teddy, who is lovable, very mature, and has some really good advise for her. The book is not a romance book, but a story about a teenager learning to cope with her family's separation, and she meets a boy while she is going through it. It has a very realistic ending for a summer romance between teenagers (that may discourage some people). I liked the way the author alternates the story of what happened home, with what is currently happening in her life. I think Harper (the main character), after taking some bad decisions, matures and is able to take the right steps to steer her life in the right direction.

It was a quick read that was cute and sweet. There were parts that I felt the main character (Harper) was just being whiny, but Teddy was adorable and I was happy with the ending.

Harper decides to spend her summer before senior year building a house for a family who survived a tornado, but really wants to escape her life at home. The story takes place here (small town Tennessee) and home (Los Angeles) while Harper shares her summer and the problems in her life with the reader. Harper and her friends are the type of characters that I find myself wishing were my friends in real life. The plot flows smoothly throughout the book and transitions between here and home are easy and make sense. I really enjoyed listening to the audio version!

I really enjoyed this book, but I would have enjoyed it much more if I hadn't have already read Reinhardt's debut novel "A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life". That book completely hit me in the face with the talent of the author, but this novel did not do so as much. Yes, I enjoyed it, but I enjoyed the characters in the first novel more than I did in this novel. If you haven't read her first novel (this is her third, i have yet to read the second) than this novel with shock you with how good she is too, but the debut novel was something spectacular. But, overall this book was very good. The story line jumping back between Harper's life in the present, and her past was a very good way to reveal things a little bit at a time, and Reinhardt was able to interconnect the two in a way that was not jumpy at all and flowed very nicely.

Harper's life is falling apart. Her father and step-mother, whom she considers a mother, are getting a divorce, and her step-sister/best friend, Tess, won't talk to her. Then there's Gabriel. He's been Harper's best friend since they were twelve, but now he just uses her as his girl when he can't get anyone else. Harper finally realizes that she needs to escape. When she finds out about Homes for the Heart Summer Program for Teens, she knows she's found her escape route. At the beginning of the summer she heads off to Bailey, Tennessee, where there was a major tornado that devastated almost the entire city. Here she will join a group of teens and help build a family a house. Little does she know that she will not only rebuild one family's life, but may actually start rebuilding her own. She immediately starts making friends with the other volunteers and loves the aspect of helping other people. Then there's Teddy, the son of the family for whom the house is being built. Teddy chooses Harper. He shows her how to trust and love and turns her summer into an unforgettable moment. First, I have to say this surpassed and exceeded every expectation I had of this book. Not only was it an amazing and heartfelt love story, but also an extremely real story of finding oneself. At the beginning of the story Harper is lost, struggling like many of today's teens with the divorce of her parents. She grows so much as a person that it inspires the reader to really look at their life and see if they can make themselves a better person, too. Harper's character is beautifully created and hard to forget. She is very honest and so real that she's hard not to love. And then there is Teddy. Whew! He sounds like the ultimate boyfriend. There's everything to love about him and it drives me crazy that he's not real. I mean, who wouldn't want a guy who wants to make your life better and really wants to know everything about you? Besides the characters, Dana Reinhardt's writing style was one-of-a-kind. I really enjoyed how the story kept flipping from Harper's current life in Tennessee and then back to what her home life was like. Overall, this was a stunning novel that I highly recommend. I completely loved it and will definitely read it over and over again! Reviewed by: Tasha