I am back with another book review, Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines.
It's been a while since I've read a young adult book by Glines; most of the ones I've been reading lately are her NA series, so it was weird having her write characters in school.
I think the one good thing about Glines's books, regardless of the age range, is that you always know what you are going to get. Usually dual perspectives; macho player man and a shy, meek girl with a troubled past. She falls for him first, he realizes how great she is, gets too committed too fast, freaks girl out, setting her on edge and almost ready to leave. Then there's a misunderstanding, a jealous ex-girlfriend gets up in shy girls face/shy girl sees a torrid moment between jealous ex-girlfriend and player man and she freaks, leaving newly heartbroken macho man to feel emotions for the first time, probably make some bad choices but ultimately win the girl back.
It's formulaic, and not necessarily in a bad way. Part of me sees these books as a guilty pleasure, a book you can read in a couple of hours and be done with it. The other part of me keeps reading these books because I am waiting for the one that breaks the mold. I haven't found it yet, but I've only read two dozen Glines books.
This book pretty much follows the formula, Maggie witnessed her father kill her mother and now she doesn't talk. She moves to live with her uncle and aunt and their son Brady. She meets Brady's friends, one of which being West, who's father has been diagnosed with colon cancer and they haven't told anyone. You can pretty much assume how it goes from there. They help each other through their struggles and fall in love along the way.
This book wasn't bad, but I was hoping for something to spice it up a little. I feel like there was a lot unsaid about Maggie's past (pun intended) that could have been developed in the story. The issue with her father is so nicely taken care of and we don't really hear much else about what happened. She says she has nightmares every night, so I know it is a big part of her life, and I just felt like things could have been fleshed out a bit more.
West was exactly what I expected him to be. A player who loves his momma and daddy (sidenote: what is with the South calling their father 'Daddy?' I'm sorry but we don't do that here and it still unnerves me to read it coming out of someone over 6 years old's mouth.)
The story was fine enough, and I'll probably end up picking up the next book, hopefully, there will be one about Nash because he was one of my favourite characters!
There was a lot of things I wasn't a fan of, West's acting like he owned Maggie, the playboy behaviour that apparently every single teenaged boy seemed to exude, the way the girls reacted to each other, we're not ALL that mean.
Overall, if you're looking for a fluffy, quick romance, go for it.