Name: Tegan Anderson's review of The Boy Who Steals Houses by C.G. Drews
Item: The Boy Who Steals Houses
Rating: 4
Author: Tegan Anderson

C.G. Drews

Can two broken boys find their perfect home? By turns heartbreaking and heartwarming, this is a gorgeously told, powerful story. Sam is only fifteen but he and his autistic older brother, Avery, have been abandoned by every relative he's ever known. Now Sam's trying to build a new life for them. He survives by breaking into empty houses when their owners are away, until one day he's caught out when a family returns home. To his amazement this large, chaotic family takes him under their wing - each teenager assuming Sam is a friend of another sibling. Sam finds himself inextricably caught up in their life, and falling for the beautiful Moxie. But Sam has a secret, and his past is about to catch up with him. Heartfelt storytelling, perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Jennifer Niven.

The Boy Who Steals Houses

Tegan Anderson

Macy Johnson

THIS BOOK BROKE ME BUT I LOVED IT WITH MY WHOLE HEART

One of my all time favorite books ever I loved reading it. It was a bit hard to get into the book but when I did i couldn't stop reading. 

Esmee Knijpstra 

Sabetha Danes

Such a lovely book, it will have you overwhelmed with emotions in the first few pages. 

Then it will proceed to take you on a rollercoaster of hope, and heartbreak as two kids try and find a family to call their own. This story of siblings, broken homes and found families is one that you won't regret reading. Though you may regret not having enough tissues. 

I love the way C.G. Drews writes these characters. Her style / voice gives so much depth to these lives. We all know a Sam & Avery, the kids that were fighting their battle with their abusive home life while dealing with school, and growing up invisible. The kids that were damaged before they were even able to speak up for themselves. They some how managed to get away from their abusers but now have to figure out how to navigate life without the trusted adult to guide them. This book doesn't just touch on physical abuse, but emotional as well. It's a read that leads you through the lives of two children that never had the parent to run to when they were alone, and does so in an elegant way that leaves you feeling hope instead of sadness.

If you were one of these kids then you will know the De Lainey family just as well as you know the Lou's. The kids that you thought had the most awesome family even though they complained about it constantly. The family that you wished with all your might would adopt you, and suck you into their madness.

Even if this isn't your genre, or even the type of book you'd ever read in a million years. I encourage you to pick it up. Fall in love with these characters, then go out into the world and spread kindness to the people who thought they were invisible. 

While I held it together for most of this book pretty okay, the acknowledgements caught me off guard, and I could help but cry. Stab me right in the hard why don't you:

"And to anyone reading this book who is searching for something like family or a home or friends who will wrap you up tight and keep you close: I hope you find what you are looking for."

I’m going to start off with saying that I’m a bit sad NetGalley rejected my request, but my book arrived the day before publishing day so I have a beautiful physical copy to hold and cherish.
This is the second novel of C.G. Drews, who has a blog called Paper Fury that I’m obsessed with, and I’ve been dying to read another book from her ever since I finished ‘A Thousand Perfect Notes’. I read this book in one sitting – only a few hours – and it’s one of few unputdownable books I’ve read this year.
A little about the book: Sam and his autistic older brother, Avery, have been abandoned by every relative they’ve ever known, and Sam’s trying to build a new life for them. Sam breaks into empty houses until one day he’s caught when a family returns home – a large, chaotic family that instantly accepts him – each teenager assuming he’s the friend of another sibling.

 Plot 
I’ll start off by saying that the plot of this book is very different to many of the contemporaries that I’ve read recently. Not in a bad way, not at all. This plot is subtle, and it’s fuelled by characters and desires and thoughts and feelings rather than events that occur to drive the story on. That means that all the characters are spectacularly and beautifully written. This is incredibly important as there are so many De Lainey siblings, but they are all still unique and individual and completely different to each other. And I love the style in which the story is told – it has a very conversational tone that dragged me into the story from the very first page.

 Good family 
This is an interesting point as Sam deserves a loving family of his own, but he would do literally anything for his brother Avery, no matter how messy and complicated their relationship becomes throughout the book. I don’t think we get enough sibling relationships in contemporary, but this one – especially the flashback chapters – made my heart feel all warm and soft on the inside. The only thing that keeps Sam going is protecting Avery.
In contrast to Sam’s lack of family, Moxie has an amazing one, and they provide huge moments of light and hope in what was otherwise a very dark moment, and that’s refreshing to read since so many books like to give all character’s family problems. The family dynamic is so well done and loud and messy and authentic and real. The thing I love the most about Moxie’s family is that there are cracks and fractures caused by the absence of their mother, but they all still love each other.

 True friendship / slowburn romance 
Sam has sad eyes and desperately wants to feel wanted. And Moxie is pure sunshine and she wants him.
This book has romance. A tiny bit of romance that doesn’t affect the story at all, but it’s there and it’s pure and it’s beautiful. It’s not InstaLove at all: it’s a mutual love that’s born out of one of my favourite friendships I’ve ever read in a contemporary. It was hardly noticeable but still absolutely stunning. And heartbreaking. Very heartbreaking.
I have one small issue with the Sam and Moxie, and that’s that they feel like a replica of Beck and August from Drew’s first book. I think that’s what’s stopping me from giving this a full five stars: I feel like the relationship has already been done before, and it’s by the same author.

 Autism representation 
The only other book I’ve ever read about an autistic character is Tiberius from ‘The Dark Artifices’, so it’s incredibly important to me that TBWSH presents another side of autism and that it’s own voices. The representation of autism in this ugly, disturbing, frustrating, but it’s definitely not hopeless. This is a real and brutal portrayal of autism, not just a simplified and stereotypical version that I’ve seen in media. I love Sam and Avery’s relationship so much, especially how Sam loves and protects his brother, and Sam understanding Avery for all that he is and never trying to ‘fix’ him.
I’ll never get sick of Drews’ talent for metaphors, and her talent for finding the perfect words to describe something that feels so indescribable.

This book made me feel so much. Lots of it hurt me to the core, but the rest of it was so wonderfully real and made me welcome the pain. This is a book that makes me want to live and breathe, slightly ironic as I spent a majority of it holding my breath and just hurting for Sam.
This may only be C.G. Drews’ second novel, but I can’t wait to see where she goes with her next book. I am already a lifelong fan.

Winda F

The Best I've Ever Read This Year. - 2021

Mehrin Rahman 

C. J. Drews completely stole my heart with this book here. (Yes! Pun intended! Totally :3) I pulled an all-nighter to finish the book. By the time I ended I was a crying mess. This book tells us about the despair, hope in the little butter-yellow house, promises of a better future and forgiveness. Sammy and Avery are my cute little cinnamon rolls and all throughout the book I just wanted them to be happy. Wanted them to have a big family, a warm home and foods. Lots and lots of food. A happy ending. The De Lainey Family, filled with beautiful people was absolutely perfect and realistic. C. J. Drews to wrote about these beautiful precious gems and they will forever remain in my heart.

This book absolutely broke me. 


Full review to come.

Emily Syson

nice book but it was a bit boring towards the end

K.J. Haakenson

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

Oh how this girl slays with her words!! C.G. Drew is a contemporary queen. I absolutely adore her books! This made me so angry and sad and happy and hopeful that I could barely stand it! Just read this book, okay? Please and thank you.

Erin 

Obsessed with this. Obsessed with C.G. Drews!! I just want to take every character and hug them and never let go. It's so clear that so much love went into writing this, and I can't wait for more!!

Tegan Anderson &
The Boy Who Steals Houses by C.G. Drews

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