A YA gem!

I can sometimes be a complete snob! I will turn my nose at anything resembling 50 Shades or Twilight and I would be completely justified. I felt pretty much the same about pretentious YA novels.

So when someone gave me The DUFF by Kody Keplinger 2 years ago, I looked at the cover, read the blurb and actually groaned out aloud. It sounded predictable and awful. But I gave myself a challenge (as I usually do...) that if I hit page 10 and wanted to slit my wrists I would give it up.

Wow! To my utter amazement, I kept going till the end. It was pretty formulaic but I enjoyed it anyway. I liked the character AND the writing. So that is how my relationship with YA novels had been rekindled. I have read a few since and enjoyed some of them.

Yesterday I came across another Kody Keplinger, A Midsummer's Nightmare. I got home, had dinner, watched my current tv addiction #ChicagoFire all the while knowing I had the Keplinger in my bag.

I dug it out at about 10pm and was done dusted with it by 2am this morning :-D

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 thoroughly enjoyed this - more The DUFF! Kody seemed to keep to the same formula & predictability. What impressed me was the journey to the predictable end. It was poignant. A great read for teens, single parents and working parents. It is complex, emotional & deep. It’s also hard to believe that she can write this well without any of the similar angst her characters feel - she pays homage to her loving family in her acknowledgments.

A quick, easy read, which packs an emotional punch and will leave you rooting for the damaged Whitley!

That’s all folks! ;-)

KD