Sarah Nicole Smetana

This is a story about midnights...that mysterious time between morning and night that often gets wiled away as we slumber between the sheets. That's the norm for most, but what if it wasn't? What if during that magical in-between, where you have one foot in nighttime and one foot in morning, you were spending time with those you love, making memories to cherish, and impressions you'll need to hold on to all too soon? What if you were not only able to reach out to someone who is more desperately lost than they realize, but also continue the journey of finding your self? THAT'S what this book is about.

Susannah had a tumultuous relationship with her parents, I mean what teen doesn't to some degree, but hers wasn't so much about HER but about HIM...her dad. Once upon a time, he was a great rocker, but the free spirit and drive to the top also came with some pretty bad habits. One ultimatum later and all that talent ended up on the sidelines, but so did most the dangers clinging to his back...until they weren't, leaving him for days in its manic grip and his loved ones on the outside looking in. It wasn't always that way, and he did love his family, he just couldn't seem to balance the two all the time, and when tragedy struck, it threw things off kilter even more. The spillover tapped into Susannah's spirit, leading her on a search for answers that just might never come, but it also brought her and her mother closer, removed the shroud over long kept secrets, and ultimately allowed her to spread her own wings and fly.


***copy received for review… (meer)

Susannah and her father have a bond through music. Her entire existence is connected to music. Her parents actually met at her dad’s concert, his biggest hit was about her mother and Susannah knows her dad quit the band when her mom got pregnant.

Susannah loves music too. She loves nights spent writing and playing music with her dad. They have a connection that Susannah just doesn’t have with her mom.

Her dad definitely isn’t a perfect person and he’s not always a great father or husband.
And her parents fight a lot. They were even fighting the night Susannah’s dad died.

When she lost him, everything changed practically over night.

When Susannah finds herself at a new school she connects to the music crowd.

Soon the old Susannah is barely recognizable. She starts doing things she probably never would have done before her dad died.

I think the reader is supposed to feel bad for Susannah but also like her.
I can’t help it, I didn’t like her. I really wanted to. I definitely did feel bad for her. I know she was just trying to cope.
But she was often the hardest on the people who loved her the most. She was really not a good friend. She seemed to take out her aggressions on the ones who would listen.

I know I’m in the minority. I know most people gave this book 4 or 5 Stars. Maybe you’ll love it. But I just had a hard time dealing with Susannah’s actions throughout this book.… (meer)

“You have to shake your notions of good and bad, and create outside of judgement. Follow the instinct, not he convention.”

I wanted to love this so much and I just didn’t and that makes me really sad. I was looking for this moving story of grief and family and Susannah finding herself, but this book made me feel absolutely nothing. I didn’t connect to it at all - not the characters, not the relationships, not the plot. Nothing. I can’t remember the last book that I was completely apathetic towards.

I found the pacing in the beginning to be really disjointed and rushed. Because of that I never bought any of the relationships. This was really detrimental because Susannah’s relationship with her dad is incredibly important to the story and it’s progression, but I just didn’t care about it. There was also this reflective quality to the writing, that while worked for the story, felt out of place. There was moments when the narration read like a voiceover looking back at what happened, but it was used infrequently and pulled me out of the story. Even the music element, which I usually love in story fell flat here. I didn’t feel Susannah’s connection to the music. I just didn’t feel much of anything.

So The Midnights was a super unfortunate miss for me, but I’m sure A LOT of people will really love it and connect with it, so it’s worth a shot if you’re in the mood for a contemporary with a little more depth. Hopefully it will work out for you, but I think this was a case where the book just isn't for me.

I received a copy of the book from HarperTeen via Edelwiess in exchange for an honest review.… (meer)