A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger | Review


Description from Goodreads

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, Whitely is Kody Keplinger's most compelling character to date: a cynical Holden Caulfield-esque girl you will wholly care about.

True to my word I looked up Kody Keplinger and bought A Midsummer's Nightmare after reading and loving Shut Out (you can read my review here). I'm happy to report that it didn't disappoint! In fact, its possible that I liked it even more than Shut Out!

A Midsummer's Nightmare took me on an emotional roller coaster, I really felt for Whitley. Her mother is so self obsessed that she has no idea what's going on in her daughter's life, and her father seems to care more about his new family than Whitley. Whitley's relationship with her dad really got to me, despite the love from her new family, all she wants is her father to acknowledge what's happening in her life.

Whitley's character is far more complex than any character within Shut Out, and that's all part of her appeal. To cope with the neglect she gets from her parents she acts out, partying and drinking, hard. Its at a huge graduation party that she meets and sleeps with a boy, only to discover that he's her new stepbrother. And how awful would that be? To be standing in your dad's new kitchen and for graduation night's one night stand to come walking through the front door.

Nathan is Whitley's stepbrother, but throughout the novel she begins to realise that he might mean more to her then she ever could imagine. Nathan is a really nice guy, yes at times he can be annoying and hurtful, but that's all part of Keplinger's characters being realistic. The relationship that develops between Whitley and Nathan is really sweet, even down to the fact that he continually calls her Whit instead of Whitley, a little detail that makes all the difference.

A Midsummer's Nightmare is set in the same small town as Shut Out and The Duff. I like that Keplinger has created a Hamilton High series, however the books are all individual and stand alone novels which is something I really appreciate.

I can't praise A Midsummer's Nightmare enough, if you've read any of Kody Keplinger's other work then you definitely need to get this book in you life! I really hope to see more of Keplinger's work, she creates fantastic realistic Young Adult fiction.

Have you read A Midsummer's Nightmare? Let me know what you thought of it in the comments! If you're new to the blog then I'd love for you to follow me on Bloglovin'!

'A Midsummer's Nightmare' by Kody Keplinger
5 Stars

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