Madison Meeks

Editor-in-chief

mvm7037@psu.edu

‘My Life with the Walter Boys’ by Ali Novak started as a novel on the popular fanfiction site Wattpad. Novak started writing the story when she was just 15 years old. First, released as a physical copy in 2012. This novel has twists and turns in a love triangle between a girl from New York and two brothers from Colorado. It was eventually released as a series on Netflix in Dec. 2023. 

The story centers around Jackie Howard, described as always perfect and proper, whose world is turned upside down and has to go live in Colorado with the Walter family. 

At the story’s beginning, Jackie is sent to live with the Walter family after her family dies in a car accident. She has to move from New York City to the Walter’s ranch in Colorado. Katherine has taken Jackie in with her Husband and has 12 children. Jackie’s mom and Katherine were childhood friends. But Jackie is a stranger to the family. 

The Walter children consist of Cole, Danny, Alex, Nathan, Lee, Isaac, Will, Benny, Parker, Jack, and Zack`. Jackie goes through a love story between two of the Walter boys: Cole, the high school senior who can no longer play football due to having an injury during the last season, and Alex, the sixteen-year-old nerd who loves video games.

Throughout the book, I did not love Cole’s character; his TV character is much better. I felt like he was uncaring even though he knew Jackie’s whole family had just died. His character had such good potential, but the character ultimately fell flat. I also did not like that all the boys dated and kissed the same girls, such as exes of their brothers. Something else that rubbed me the wrong way throughout the book was that some of the boys were really mean to Jackie. I mean it’s not her fault that she had to come live with them, her whole family died. 

Overall, this book was not one of my favorites. But if you like a teen drama with a love triangle than read ‘My Life with The Walter Boys’.