Summer is nearly here--and Meet Me at Midnight is here to give you all the beachy, love-hate vibes!


Meet Me at Midnight 
by Jessica Pennington

They have a love-hate relationship with summer.

Sidney and Asher should have clicked. Two star swimmers forced to spend their summers on a lake together sounds like the perfect match. But it’s the same every year—in between cookouts and boat rides and family-imposed bonfires, Sidney and Asher spend the dog days of summer finding the ultimate ways to prank each other. And now, after their senior year, they’re determined to make it the most epic summer yet.

But their plans are thrown in sudden jeopardy when their feud causes their families to be kicked out of their beloved lake houses. Once in their new accommodations, Sidney expects the prank war to continue as usual. But then she gets a note—Meet me at midnight. And Asher has a proposition for her: join forces for one last summer of epic pranks, against a shared enemy—the woman who kicked them out.

Their truce should make things simpler, but six years of tormenting one another isn’t so easy to ignore. Kind of like the undeniable attraction growing between them. 


Meet Me at Midnight sounded like the perfect love-to-hate, contemporary romance, and from the moment I read its synopsis I was hooked. Naturally, I had to send a request in for it. Immediately. It is nearly essential to have books that are feel good, thoughtful, humorous and swoon worthy, whilst the world feels so uncertain. So, I'm glad that I did. Meet Me at Midnight was exactly what I'd hoped it would be: a blast from start to finish.

It is summertime in the form of contemporary fiction. That little ray of light that warms your face and tugs at your smile. An absolute breath of fresh air. Meet Me at Midnight has an all-too-familiar, cozy feeling to it that is not unlike falling in love.

Although the characters and plotlines set within Jessica Pennington's Meet Me at Midnight aren't all that extraordinary and unique, her prose is a breeze and the story feels full of familiarity and warmth. It is fun. It is quick. It hits all the right marks in terms of the best tropes and archetypes; leaving readers with very little to complain about at the end of the day.

But, look, I'd be lying to you if I said this book didn't have its flaw. There were occasional moments where I felt a little underwhelmed and the pacing felt almost tedious. There were some messy and flat out immature moments sprinkled in, but none that are blatantly painful to endure. Instead, it feels a little more real because of it.

Indeed, the same could be said for the characters and their development. The characters didn't always endear themselves to me, but, that's easy to look past because it makes them all the more real. Meet Me at Midnight has its charms, though, and this is what makes it a worthy, and often, swoon-tastic read.

My mind doesn't often find itself longing for summer. Except, well, perhaps in the midst of winter. For the most part, summery settings aren't my cup of tea a good chunk of the time, but for Meet Me at Midnight, there's something undeniably smooth and delectable about its summertime vibes. It makes me wish it were summer.