Review: A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger

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.

"Everything was funny after a few shots of tequila"

Another Kody Keplinger book? YES, PLEASE. If you have read her previous books, The DUFF and Shut Out, and couldn't get enough of them then you need to pick this one up. Every time I go to read a book from an author I really like, I have this feeling like when you ride a roller coaster and you don't know how much you'll enjoy it. In this case the ride was pure thrill. I enjoyed every loop dee loop Kody put us through. There were some things that I saw coming from the beginning but there were so many more that I didn't and that was enough to keep me hooked unlit the last sentence (which is a great one by the way).

I love when the main character can hold her ground and Whitley isn't like some typical YA protagonists; scared, shy, awkward. She isn't a soft, fragile little girl. She knows how to take care of herself and refuses to have to be taken care of by any guy. Whitley doesn't suffer "Bella syndrome", where she trips over her own two feet and always needs a boy to lean on. She's out there speaking her mind to whoever crosses her path. She sees a guy she likes and isn't afraid to tell him exactly what she's thinking.

"Who would have guessed that a nerd would be the one to rope me in? A hot nerd, but still definitely a nerd."

The main guy in this book was Whitley's soon to be step-brother Nathan. He was very different from what I expected going into the book. Based on Kody's other books I was expecting more of the bad boy, I-am-great-and-I-know-it type. Not at all. Nathan ended up being more of the nerdy, cute guy. We do find out minor things as we go but nothing to "bad boyish". It wasn't a big deal but I tend to always root for bad boys so I wasn't rooting for him throughout the novel. Whitley's parents. UGH. The mother is oblivious about everything around her and the father focuses more on his new life, because of this Whitley resorts a lot to alcohol as an escape and this leads to many of the issues in her life.

Aside from all her terrible decisions, Whitley does make one good choice. She befriends Harrison. He was such an adorable character and is one of those people who always makes everyone feel welcome He's just a nice relief in the intensity of the novel. Also...WESLEY AND BIANCA MAKE AND APPEARANCE! Sorry for all the excitement but if you've read The DUFF, then I think you're with me on this one. I love how Kody Keplinger tied her main characters from The Duff and let us have a sneak peak at what their lives are now.

The writing and pacing kept me up all night. I went to bed at around 5 o'clock in the morning because I just needed to know what was going to happen next in Whitley and Nathan's crazy lives. There wasn't a moment where I was bored and wanted to set the book down even for a minute. I also found it to be a relief that the relationship between Nathan and Whitley didn't make me uncomfortable. Kody Keplinger handled the step sibling issue in a non-awkward way. The only issue I had with this book was that there was some online bullying that happened and there were no real consequences to the people that doled out the harassment. Other than that A Midsummer's Nightmare is a definite must read for any fans of young adult contemporary!

Rating: 4/5