Review: A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger

A Midsummer's Nightmare

by Kody Keplinger

June 5, 2012

291 pages

Goodreads  Indigo

Goodreads Summary:

Whitley Johnson's dream summer with her divorcé dad has turned into a nightmare. She's just met his new fiancée and her kids. The fiancée's son? Whitley's one-night stand from graduation night. Just freakin' great.

Worse, she totally doesn't fit in with her dad's perfect new country-club family. So Whitley acts out. She parties. Hard. So hard she doesn't even notice the good things right under her nose: a sweet little future stepsister who is just about the only person she's ever liked, a best friend (even though Whitley swears she doesn't "do" friends), and a smoking-hot guy who isn't her stepbrother...at least, not yet. It will take all three of them to help Whitley get through her anger and begin to put the pieces of her family together.

Filled with authenticity and raw emotion, Whitley is Kody Keplinger's most compelling character to date: a cynical Holden Caulfield-esque girl you will wholly care about.

 

Review

I enjoyed reading A Midsummer's Nightmare even though at times, I was annoyed with the way the protagonist was living her life and her overall view on her life. It was a crucial part to her character development and I liked that it was nicely addressed.

I really wanted to shake Whitley when she was talking about escaping reality through drinking and partying. She needed to stand up for herself, not hide herself away. It was especially frustrating to watch her dad ignore her. To me, his reason for doing that (not wanting to scare her away) was weak. It didn't feel genuine at all, more like poor excuses.

Whitley and Nathan's romance was a bit slow as I found myself wanting to see more of them together. However, the moments that we do get to see them interact, were heart-pounding and fun. Nathan's heart-to-heart talk with Whitley was touching. It was great that he was able to realize his actions were hurting people around him. He made himself become better than that and helped Whitley come to terms with her own problems.

Harrison is too cute for words!! He is just the type of friend any girl could ask for. Seeing him beat up Theo was so satisfying! Wesley and Bianca's appearances were cute too!

Kody Keplinger writes realistically and I'll definitely be keeping my eyes out for more of her works :)