The boy who steals houses by C.G. Drews (AKA @paperfury on Instagram) is a YA contemporary Goldilocks and the three bears retelling but with instead of Goldilocks breaking into houses to steal porridge Sam and his autistic brother Avery are just looking for a home. Sam lives in vacant houses when one day he wakes up in a full house and discovers a life he wishes he had with the three bears, or in this case a massive funny and welcoming family who might very well be broken too.
Right off the bat I want to say I loved this book with every fibre of my being and managed to read it in one day like Drews other book a thousand perfect notes (which side note was also amazing), there's just something about her style that makes it so easy to breeze through her books I can't put my finger on it but I know I love it and wish more books were written in her style.
Usually when reading and watching films I don't cry so when something manages to make me cry it gets all the points from me. Not only did this book make me cry my soul away but it made me feel happy and nostalgic for summer and so many feelings I couldn't even explain. No matter what it is when a book makes you feel like that you know it's doing its job. The style of her description is so spot on and I can remember so many random details about the characters and the house and things that I wouldn't have remembered if not in this style.
I think if I get started on my love for these characters I'll never stop but it has to be mentioned. I love these characters with all of my heart, honestly I just wanted to give Sam a huge hug the whole way through and let him cry on my shoulder. I've personally never been a position remotely similar to his but I think that made me appreciate the story more of such a young struggling teen and made me think about the teens that are out there going through a similar thing in real life. The autism rep was also something I've never read about before and I find it refreshing to read about a more diverse character and learn more about Avery's ticks as well as the discrimination that just shouldn't be happening but unfortunately is. I was also interested to find out that it's an #ownvoice autism rep from C.G. Drews which I believe to be really important in the book community.
The relationships within the De Lainey family couldn't be more perfect and most definitely reminds me of me and my family even if there isn't as many of us. Speaking of relationships, Sam and Moxie are my new OTP and deserve the spot more than anyone else because they filled my heart and broke it all in one and I don't think I will ever recover from the trauma.
Whenever someone's snooping in a TV show or film I can't handle it honestly I'm such a baby but I get so worried that they're going to get caught that I just can't watch. But when you're reading a book you can't exactly look away, you can throw it down and bite your lip while staring at it from across your bed however but then you have to pick it back up straight away to see what happens. This book was so anxiety inducing on that front but in the best way possible I could feel the heat creeping up my face in anticipation when Sam was going around the house.
There was a lot questions posed throughout which I found myself trying to figure out which I always enjoy doing while reading and wasn't disappointed by the real explanations when they were revealed which I've found is the case a lot of the time. The back and forth in time worked really well with the enigma codes and I was thankful for the added back story for the characters which I must admit made me love them even more.
Overall I'm so sad that it came to an end and am really hoping for a sequel because I need to know what happened after the ending and what happened to the characters to see what becomes of their lives and relationships. C.G.Drews may be a small author for now but she's proved her amazing talent and is firmly on my list of favourite and auto buy authors. I can't wait to see what she writes next!