A Midsummer's Nightmare
By Kody Keplinger
Published June 5th 2012
By Poppy
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.
My Review
I absolutely LOVE all of Kody Keplinger's books. I love how she's not afraid to write exactly the way teenagers are today, the way they talk and the way they act. I find it funny how sometimes Whitley say something exactly like how I would say it. LOL. Sad because I'm not a teen. But in Midsummer's Nightmare there's no sugarcoating anything. Keplinger writes teens as she sees them today. And when I read any of her novels, I get completely lost in them. I become a silent third character watching everything that happens as I read. I admire Keplinger for her work.
A Midsummer's Nightmare is exactly that a nightmare. Whitley's summer plans all were shot down when she's introduced to her new family. And rather than embracing her new family, she becomes a super witch with a capital B. At some point, I was getting really annoyed with her attitude and behavior and I was thinking of putting it down. Had Whitley been my daughter, I would have lost my cool with her, for sure. I couldn't take her hostility and her behavior. It was her behavior more than her attitude that had me almost wanting to pull her hair. That's how good Keplinger is in drawing you in. But since I have read and loved Keplinger's previous novels, I kept reading.
Between Whitley's partying and flirting, you meet a bunch of cool characters. And I really enjoyed reading all of Keplinger's characters in this novel. Each character brought something fresh to the table. Each one had a purpose in Whitley's life. From her step-sister who has Whitley wrapped around her pinky, to her good-looking but pitching for the other team new best friend to her hot, sexy, soon to be step-brother. Keplinger did a great job with this novel. It's really fast paced and extremely entertaining. I give A Midsummer's Nightmare a 5 stars for sure and a Good Choice for Reading.
I LOVE Kody's books! They are amazing! And so true! I love their messages! A Midsummer's Nightmare had some of the best characters I've read in a while, and I loved the overall idea of the story! Modern Day stories are so much more fun to read than the originals sometimes...especially when they are a take on Shakespeare's novels! ;)
ReplyDeleteI do, I really love all her books. Though "The Duff" is my personal favorite then this one.
DeleteYea I will glady take Wesley anyday lol. But Nate was such a sweetie.
DeleteI haven't read Shut Out but I am in love with The Duff and A Midsummer's Nightmare. Especially because everything is told realistically and not sugarcoated. It was really cool to have Harrison as a major character since you don't see him in The Duff. I felt all of Whitley's pains and it was great to feel so much from Keplinger's writing. She is definitely an author to always look out for and read every book.
ReplyDeleteYeah Kody's writing really is great to the point where you can feel everything!
DeleteAnd yes, I'm really looking forward to next year's "Goldfish"!! :)
I don't remember Harrison in the first book. I have horrible memory. I loved Harrison, I only wish I can put a face to the character. As for Shut Out, it was good but I feel that's the 3rd best.
DeleteI haven't heard of Goldfish. I have to check it out.
DeleteWell Harrison was more of a ghost in The Duff but was mentioned many times by the girls and as Wesley's best friend. Sadly he didn't talk so I'm happy he was huge in this book.
DeleteWow I don't remember him at all in the Duff.
DeleteUGH!! I want to read this book. Loved The DUFF, enjoyed her 2nd one, can't wait to see if I like this one!
ReplyDelete-Shanise
I think it's better than Shout Out.
DeleteI've never read a book by this author, but I've heard she's really good. I guess I'll have to pick this one up! Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteI love Keplinger's books for the same reasons you do - her writing is honest & she gets the teen voice perfect. I have this one on my shelf & can't wait to read it!
ReplyDeleteYeah she does perfect the teen voice.
DeleteI'm dying to read this book. it sounds soo good. I loved shut out so i can only imagine how awesome this book will be.
ReplyDeleteThis one is better than Shut Out. That one is my least favorite of the three.
DeleteI haven't yet had the pleasure of reading this book, but based on your enthusiastic review (aside from the bad attitude of the main character), I'm going to have to give it a shot!
ReplyDeleteThe attitude was almost a deal breaker. But it was really good.
DeleteI love all of these author's books! They're sooo good and easy to relate to. I can't wait to read A Midsummer's Nightmare! :D
ReplyDeleteAll her books are good!!
DeleteI haven't read By of Kody's books, this is actually the first I've heard of have it on my TBR List. I was planning on reading it soon and I am looking forward to it. I let myself get drawn into the books I read, so I have this feeling that I will be feeling the same way about Whitley and her attitude. I will be sure to stock with it though and keep reading if I do!
ReplyDeleteLyns, aside from her attitude, it's a really good book. And to be honest, her attitude was on point with today's teens attitude.
DeleteThanks for the review, sounding like a well developed
ReplyDeletecharacter in this interesting sounding book.
Wow, what an attitude.
LOL. The attitude was a little hard to get continue because of it. But I'm glad I was able to see past and finish reading it because it was good.
DeleteThanks for your review :)
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to read this author's books for awhile. Both the DUFF and Shut Out are also on my TBR list. Recently, a couple of my favorite authors, Harlan Coben and Jodi Picoult, have written YA books. They are believable b/c they seem authentic instead of an adult trying to sound like a teen.
The plot of this book seems true-to-life down to the protagonist's attitude.