Common Sense Media Review
By Andrea Beach
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Sexist messages in cliched, predictable teen romance.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
MY LIFE WITH THE WALTER BOYS begins just after 16-year-old Jackie's parents and sister die in a car accident. An old friend of her mother's becomes Jackie's guardian, which means she's going to have to move from her New York penthouse to a ranch in Colorado to live with Katherine's family of 12 kids, all boys except one. Jackie is a perfectionist who likes things tidy and quiet, and she likes to make checklists for everything. None of this is a realistic possibility in a house with so many kids, and Jackie's sure she's never going to truly belong in her new home. Starting to fall for two of the brothers isn't helping anything, and it's definitely not on Jackie's checklist for getting into Princeton. As she gets to know the family, she starts to wonder whether being perfect is all it's cracked up to be.
Is It Any Good?
This predictable romance is chock-full of overused tropes and clichés, which young fans of the genre might not mind, but they don't leave a lot to recommend to other readers. My Life with the Walter Boys has rehearsing for Romeo and Juliet, watching horror movies while snuggling on the couch, playing spin the bottle, the classic love triangle, and more familiar romance tropes.
For a debut novel written when the author was 15, it does show some promise, but the main disappointments here are a weak narrator who can't stand up for herself, some problematic hazing and harassing behavior that seldom gets called out and bears weak consequences, if any, and a lot of threads that get dropped in the hustle and bustle of such a large cast of characters.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the strong language in My Life with the Walter Boys. Do teens really swear as much as the characters in this book do? Is it a big deal? Why, or why not?
What about the way the boys treat Jackie? Do you see any problems with it, or is it all in good fun? Does anything seem like hazing or harassing?
Romances have always been popular. What do we love about them? What are some of your favorites?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Romance
- Topics : Family Stories ( Siblings )
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Sourcebooks Fire
- Publication date : September 3, 2019
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 18
- Number of pages : 400
- Available on : Paperback, Audiobook (unabridged), Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
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