Customer Reviews

How to Build a House

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

I picked this one up because it's on the preliminary Gateway nominee list for 2010-2011. I wasn't sure what to expect, but this ended up being the perfect lazy Saturday afternoon read (or listen).

The story alternates between "here" (in Tennnessee) and "home" (Harper's life before the summer). Because of this, things are revealed slowly-which slightly annoyed me. There were times I wanted a little more info on the home part. For the most part though, I liked how the two timelines were weaved together.

Harper is a geniune and likeable narrator-she's building a house because she really does want to help and she's doesn't come of as snotty about it. She's also trying to escape the pain from back home-and you feel her pain and frustration. She's sympathetic and I think that's what made me like her.

There is a romance, but it doesn't overpower the book and it's very sweet. Even though there are a lot of tough issues, this isn't a sad heavy book. There was just something lacking in this one (I think maybe it was short and I wasn't a fan of the ending?) which prevents me from rating it higher. I felt like there were a lot of things that were touched on in a minor way that never really got resolved or mentioned again. I liked it, but it wasn't a book I would re-read.

How to Build a House was a good read and I'm planning to check out Dana Reinhardt's other novels, as I was impressed enough with the author's writing to give her other books a try.

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.

3/5
This was pretty good. It wasn't amazing, but it wasn't bad.
It's about Harper, who doesn't want to be at home, and so decides to go build a house in this volunteer program after a tornado hits the town in Tennessee. She makes several friends and deals with the things she's running from back home. Like that her father and step-mother, who she sees as a mother, have just gotten a divorce, and so she's been separated from her step-sister and best friend, and her little brother.
I liked how the book was put together. It goes back and forth from HERE, where she is now while building a house for the summer, and HOME, which is flashbacks of what her home life was like and how it was before she left for the summer. It transitions easily from and to both of them, and it's in Harper's point of view, so we get her looking back at things and thinking about them now.
I liked Harper. She's wounded, obviously upset about things. She misses her sister, is upset about the divorce, is mad at them all, a little bit. And she's confused and upset about love. Because she had a thing with a friend of hers, who does something with someone else that upsets her. And the way he goes about it is all wrong, and very jerk-y.
She ends up getting close to Teddy, a sweet boy who's house she's fixing. He's a little older, and he's fun, and just what she needs, really. (Also, there's some sex between them. Just to let you know.) And she gets close to her roommate, who has a boyfriend back home. And two other of their friends hook up. I like all of them.
One thing that bothered me, though, was that none of their relationships were going to go any farther than the summer. Because they don't live all that close, at all. It was doomed from the beginning. (And, yes, this is most definitely my personal feelings getting in the way.) But their friends know that it isn't going to go any farther, and she doubts anythings going to come out of it in the beginning, but then she's upset about it at the end. (I was too, though.) I just... didn't like how nothing could come of it.
She ends up talking with her sister, but I'm not going to spoil all of that. But their family problems didn't seem to get all that resolved. I felt like she should have talked with her father some more, and that maybe her father should have done some thing to make things better, since it didn't seem like he had. But, again, I think my feelings are getting in the way of this. Because it's just all so unfair, uncool, but I know realistically that things don't always work out. And probably won't work out how Harper (and I) would like them too.
Oh, also. There wasn't a lot of building an actual house. I get what it means to her and all, but I still felt like there should have been more time spent at the house. (Not that I would have known any of what it was talking about, but still.) A lot of it was spent with Harper thinking about her past, and with her and her friends at the hotel, doing stuff and trying to find stuff to do. Not that's bad, though, because I did enjoy those scenes.
But, aside from all the things that bothered me, personally, it was still a pretty good book. Some of the relationship bits seemed like a waste of time, I guess. (But, geez, sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm being very biased or something.) It was very good, actually. So, yea.

I read this book and found it compelling, amusing and highly entertaining. It will hold your attention throughout and will grab at your heart in the most unexpected of places. I am well past MY teen years but would have found it a great insight had it been available to me then. For adults it is a peek into feelings we may have forgotten (or more likly, buried) and gives vent to the angst still within.


I did buy this on Amazon.Com and it was promptly delivered in great shape.

How to Build a House was a wonderful read, full of symbolism, life lessons, and happy endings. It honestly, despite some heavy issues, was a feel good book. The main character, Harper, is going through some pretty serious things at home (a divorce, loss of her stepsister/best friend, boy confusion), but after a summer of volunteer work far from home - she learns what a home - and what a house - really mean.

One of my favorite parts of this novel was that the story alternated between "home" and "here". I loved reading the "home" parts when the reader got to see what made Harper into the person she currently is and why she is halfway across the country volunteering. I felt like I really got to know Harper in a relatively short time (as the book was only a little over 200 pages long).

I really liked the characters in How to Build a House. They were very realistic in their dialogue and interactions - Reinhardt didn't gloss over the unpleasant side of life.

Sometimes I got a bit annoyed with Harper. She has some quirks that would have driven me completely insane if she were a real person, like her obsession with correct grammar and rules. In ways though, this was acceptable because it made Harper more realistic, even though she was annoying.

The romance between Harper and Teddy was well written. I really liked how Teddy allowed Harper to grow and heal - and in ways Harper did the same for him.

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.