03 July 2012

Book Review: A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger + Giveaway



A Midsummer's Nightmare
Author: Kody Keplinger
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Released: June 5th 2012
Review Source: Poppy
Available: Amazon

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


I must admit that when I picked up this book, I wasn’t very thrilled with the cover of it. Unfortunately, it would probably be one that I wouldn’t pick up naturally off of a book store self. However, I must express that although I wasn’t impressed with the outer appearance, I was impressed with the storyline. The main character, Whitley, is faced with the pains of divorce between her two parents. Just when she thought she was coping with there separation, although secretly, her mother wasn’t, the tables turn and the coveted, private summer vacation with her father, who has moved away, is so not so private anymore.

Whitley isn’t your typical recent high school graduate. Living with her mother, while her older brother, husband, and brand new father himself, leaves Whitley with her inner frustrations of being in a family that isn’t a full circle of the traditional family, Whitley slowly begins to fall apart. She is known for her lively, lifestyle of partying and underage drinking. She doesn’t really have any friends that she’s extremely close to, so she fills her time with activities that are inappropriate for her age. These risky tendencies quickly give her a reputation that hurts.

Throughout the story there’s a rocky love interest that arises that goes beyond a one night stand. Do not expect a lot of character development with the additional major and minor characters. They are simply there to assist with the flow of the story as the reader truly lives through Whitley’s eyes from the beginning to the end. I pushed through the pages to the very end, hoping to see some type of closure for a young girl getting ready to begin life after school. Kody Keplinger does a great job of giving the reader a quick and easy read. Devote a day and you’ll be finished in no time finding out quickly what ends up happening to this young girl, lost in her own messed up world.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

28 comments:

  1. I wanna read this book looks good :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I totally agree about the cover! Still want to read it though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I LOVE all of Kody's books, the Duff and Shut Out:) can't wait to read this one:)
    -JennyC

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dying to read this book! The cover looks AMAZING.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love all of Kody Keplinger's books! I can't wait to read this one. Thanks for the giveaway! :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the giveaway :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for this wonderful opportunity!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. This looks like it will be an intersting book.Thank you for this giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm also totally turned off by the cover (and the title originally made me think it was a Shakespeare retelling), but once I actually read the synopsis, it totally sounds like my kind of book! :) Thank you for the review & giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sometimes when you're reading, you think about things along the way that you say to yourself "I must remember to put this in the review." But at times the detail is forgotten. Your mention of the connection to Shakespeare was one of those moments. That was the first thing that I thought about too!!! Deitre

      Delete
  10. I'm glad that the book was better than the cover. Great review!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'd love to read this. Thanks for the giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I don't normally read this genre. It sounds interesting and I would love to read this. Thanks for the giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love Keplinger's writing and I thank you for the chance to win a copy of her latest.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love retellings and this one sounds interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm not a huge fan of the cover either, but it sounds like there's a worthwhile story in the pages.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Looking forward to another Kody novel!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I've been wanting to read this book so badly! <3 Thanks so much for the giveaway. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for the chance at this great giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for the great giveaway:) Happy summer reading to you!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I can't wait to read this book. I think my students will love it, too.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I loved The DUFF, so I can't wait to read this!

    Thanks,
    Leanne

    ReplyDelete
  22. I love Kody's other books and I'm sure this one will be no exception.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I agree the cover doesn't look like my typical read but I have heard good things about this one.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I've read & heard wonderful things about this book . It would be great to be able to win it. Thanks for the giveaway. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Awesome giveaway! Thanks for the chance to win :D

    -Dannielle

    ReplyDelete