After hearing so much about Kody Keplinger, I finally took the plunge and picked this one up - it will not be my last. It may be a bit formulaic, but I enjoyed the characters immensely, and Whitley's story is full of drama, attitude, and misgivings that makes it a real page turner.

Whitley's constant partying and flirting has given her quite the reputation, and her only vacation from all of this has turned out to be more of a nightmare. Whitley's problems are intense. She's the kind of character More...

It's always harder to write positive reviews and even harder to write reviews for books you adore. Or it could be that it's just hard for me, I guess it's easy for me to be a sarcastic bitch but being nice? Not so much.

But.. here goes:

I loved this book.

There's something about Keplinger and her ability to create characters that aren't always very likable at first but eventually, lovable and always, realistic. The latest main character in Keplinger's novels is by far the most damaged of all three More...

A while ago, I was in desperate need of a book. I needed something to lift up my spirits, needed something that would make me laugh, needed something that would make me swoon. I needed all that in one book. And then it hit me. Kody Keplinger. This woman is an absolute genius! I honestly don't understand how A Midsummer's Nightmare has such low ratings. What's not to like in this book? Absolutely nothing. What's to like in this book? Well, I'll tell you.

Whitley--


This is the girl who has no family More...

Kody is one of my favorite authors. Her writing is honest and she puts on paper many things that other authors are afraid to write about. I am not saying that this is good or bad; it’s just my way of seeing things, my way of enjoying her stories. The first two novels written by Kody are on my list of favorite books and I could read them all over again. Yes, they had their flaws, but their hotness didn’t go unnoticed by me.

This one though was not so hot. I am not saying that it is not a good boo More...

Read more of my reviews at Dazzling Reads


A Rich and Meaningful Read for Teenagers and Parents Alike

Kody Keplinger is one of my favorite contemporary authors since I fell in love with her first novel The Duff, which is now one of my favorite contemporary reads. Then, I really enjoyed Shut Out and I loved that it focused in very important teenage issues, yet I was still more in love with The Duff. Now, A Midsummer's Nightmare is a whole story to a whole new level. Kody Keplinger's last novel is ce More...

3.5

Since her parents divorced years ago, Whitley's always spent summers with her father in his great condo. But this year's different: he's no longer living the bachelor life. He's settled down with a new woman and two kids she brought from her previous marriage. One of them just happens to be Nathan, the boy she found herself in bed with just a couple weeks earlier.

Whitley's not an easy character to like at all, but her situation is pretty crummy, so it's easy to understand why she behaves the More...

Book song: Cruel Summer, by Bananarama. (I don't know why. Whitley mentioned it and it got stuck in my head)



So.. how to express A Midsummer's Nightmare?
Okay, believe it or not, it was totally unexpected.

First of all, Whitley.
I thought she would be a snob. I thought she would be something like a rich daddy's little girl, who dresses following the current fashion and only cares about partying and being the center of attention.
Instead I got kind of that, but at the same time she was totally differe More...

This was such a predictable read, with every problem neatly resolved by the end.

Whitley's anchorman father, with whom she spends every summer since her parent's divorce, has suddenly moved, become engaged to Sylvia, a woman Whitley hasn't met and is suddenly playing "dad" to Sylvia's two children. Her son, Nate, is Whitley's graduation party one-night-stand and her daughter, Bailey, for some reason wants to be Whitley's friend. Of course Whitley is going to act out, getting drunk and hooking up More...

I haven't read Keplinger's sophomore novel but I did like her debut despite the excessive sexytimes in it (though one questions whether there can be such a thing as excessive sexytimes, but this is not the proper place to have that discussion). This novel is being touted as the female version of Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye with Whitley playing the counterpart to the obnoxious Holden Caulfield. I read Catcher in the Rye a very long time ago and I wasn't too impressed with it so perhaps that More...

Kody Keplinger has become one of my favorite authors when it comes to contemporaries that portray the realistic everyday life of teen girls. I have to say, I do not relate with the girls from The DUFF, Shut Out, or even A Midsummer's Nightmare; I come from a religious background you see. However, I LOVED every single one of the protagonists of Kody's novels. They are so real, and independent, but also want to be loved, and don't want to get hurt. They are just raw and real. As for the plot, ever More...

"But as the clock ticked the hours past and Dad still didn't come up the stairs to see me, I really wished that I didn't know the truth."

You've read The DUFF, you've read Shut Out, now it's time for A Midsummer's Nightmare to take the stage! (Wow, that sounded lame.)

I absolutely adored this book. It was up there with Kody Keplinger's debut, and excels the level of Shut Out. I loved everything.

But I half expected to be disappointed with A Midsummer's Nightmare, just as I sort of was with Shut More...

I seriously LOVE anything Kody Keplinger writes because its amazing! A Midsummer`s Nightmare was fantastic!! When I got this to review I was jumping up and down because I loved The DUFF, and Shut Out. Kody's writing style is addicting, that I went through this book in two days and it was full of bliss and love! Whitley is a really developed character that goes through so many changes in a course of the summer. This is the perfect summer read! I love all the drama that Keplinger creates in her bo More...

4 peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.

Cover Love: I don't love this cover, but I do like that the girl represents Whitley well. She has got a suspicious look in her eye that I think fits her well.

Why I Wanted to Read This: While I enjoyed The DUFF, Shut Out by this same author was one of my favorite contemporary teen romances last year. While this synopsis didn't really appeal to me, I will read anything Kody writes!

Read the rest of this review here. More...

5 stars out of 5
A new favorite book. Yeah, Kody Keplinger got me again with another of her amazing books. I instantly knew I'd like the book when I read the plot and because I love how the author writes.
So Whitley likes to party, HARD, drink and hook up. It's all wild when it comes to her, until she finds out the guy she hooked up with at graduation is gonna be her stepbrother. Yeah, talk about a very small world. Obviously she thought her feelings and life style wouldn't change until something More...

bear with me here, folks. i liked it and i didn't like it.

big plus points on how much better i found both its story and the way it flowed, especially when i contrast it to the 'too-laid out, follow the crumbs toward the story's resolution feel' that DUFF and Shut Out had me feeling.

in fact, even if a major point in this still has me weirded out, midsummer nightmare just might be my favorite of hers... though technically that's really not saying much given my having rated her previous two books a More...

Literally been reading this since I got this from my mailbox yesterday afternoon. First I just have to say that this has totally cemented my love for Kody Keplinger's writing. The Duff is one of my absolute favorite books and A Midsummer's Nightmare goes one step further. Ok this title couldn't be more perfect for describing this story. Everything is going wrong for the MC, Whitley. We meet her when she wakes up with a stranger who she slept with the night before. Yes Whitley is a huge party gir More...

This book was very entertaining, and it has a great, flawed heroine that's self-aware and likeable. She had her immature moments, but her age made me more understanding and patient. The hero was adorable, although he's supposed to be a former party-animal/wild child who suddenly reforms himself in a couple of days -- a little unbelievable if you ask me, but we couldn't have two flawed characters in the same book, one always has to be the voice of reason and the angel.

Another YA with crappy pare More...

The book deals with teen issues,insecurity and the need for love by a teen aged girl whose parents are divorced.I honestly did cry with Whitley a few times while reading the book.Now, this will surely make you ask- why such a low rating?

I had some major problems with the conclusion and quite a few other things.


What I wanted to say to Whitley:
Your mother should get over herself already because divorce took place 6 years ago!Well, try putting yourself in her shoes...You are married with a guy for More...

3.5

Full review to come later, but I felt it was a little too close to the formula used in The Duff. It was a really enjoyable read, but there wasn't anything really pressing in it that made we want to stay up late reading it. I could guess exactly what was going to happen. It has a great main character, as always, and an authentic voice, which Kody is so brilliant with. I liked this book a lot, but not loved. Well written and all that, it just comes down to personal preference, and I just didn't More...

Here's a first: I'm almost speechless. Not because I didn't like the book (I loved it). Not because I have nothing to say (you know me better than that). I'm struggling because I have so much to say. A Midsummer's Nightmare struck such a nerve with me, and I have a lot of feelings about the themes. Apparently.

So first off, let me start with Whitley. This girl, she's not easy to love. At all. I spent the first half of the book wanting to smack the crap out of her. She's rude, abrasive, swears so More...

With its blend of wit, humor, and angst, Whitley has one of the most compelling voices that I've come across in YA lit. Ever since her parents' divorce, Whitley has been a girl who parties hard and acts recklessly out of a feeling of abandonment from her parents. When she's feeling down, she turns to the buzz that alcohol and partying give her. Normally, this kind of behavior would estrange me from the character. Instead, Whitley's flaws serve to make her a very relatable character and all the m More...

[Posted on Rather Be Reading]

When I read The DUFF by Kody Keplinger, I identified. I felt connected to the main character and really felt like I could tap into her emotions as she navigated her way through her life’s troubles. I thought I would feel much the same with Kody’s new book A Midsummer’s Nightmare, but I didn’t. I enjoyed the writing and the craziness of trying to figure out if Whitley would get together with her soon-to-be-stepbrother, Nathan, but overall I could not relate to Whitley More...

Why Kody’s writing makes my inside hurt (in a good way)...


Upon hearing that Kody Keplinger was publishing another novel I was jumping with excitement and eagerly anticipating its release. What I love about Kody’s writing is how raw it is. How the characters emotions quickly become your own. How she doesn’t shy away from touchy subjects and writes in such detail that once you’re in you’re not coming back out, at least not for a long while. In one sitting I finished this book, completely engrossed More...

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 More...

3.75 stars

What's so good about Kody Keplinger's writing was that even though they could be pretty formulaic she always managed to write something very authentic and realistic - the characters and the issues around them - in a thorough but really refreshing way. And in A Midsummer's Nightmare she really did a great job nailing those issues - family and teenage issues - and voicing the character that was having them. It was really relatable and very insightful.

Whitely's characters wasn't something More...

Review originally posted at Y.A. Love

Kody Keplinger knows how to write engrossing stories. I probably should have waited to read A Midsummer’s Nightmare until summer break started because I didn’t want to stop reading it! I loved The Duff and really enjoyed Shut Out, but A Midsummer’s Nightmare is now my favorite.

I’m impressed with Kody Keplinger’s ability to take touchy subjects like Whitley’s and handle them with so much care. Whitley drinks and parties too much, and often fools around with to More...

Every Kody Keplinger book seems to be better than the one before it.

Whitley was a messed up character, there was no denying that. But I liked her. She grew up a lot, she changed. She became a pretty awesome person and we as readers got to watch. I found her transformation to be honest and incredible to watch. Not every teen can be perfect, good children who don't do anything wrong. Having a character that messed up openly and had no shame about it was different and good to see.

At first, I was no More...

When I first read the summary last year, all I can think of was: I WANT THIS BOOK. I NEED THIS BOOK. I mean, come on, it's Kody Keplinger (one of my favourite authors) and a story of a messed-up girl and a boy who's her future step-brother, who she had a freaking ONE NIGHT STAND with? HELL YES PLEASE!! Now, after finishing this book, I just can't stop grinning and typing this review up just makes me want to re-read the book again and again. It totally exceeded all of my expectations.

The characte More...

Prior to reading A Midsummer's Nightmare, I had yet to meet a Kody Keplinger book that I didn't love...and A Midsummer's Nightmare was no different! I was quickly caught up in Whitley's story, and in her life and didn't stop reading until I'd finished...even though I had class later that day. :P

I'm always amazed with the characters that Kody Keplinger writes. They have flaws, but are people that you can relate to; ones that you understand and are able to get to know through their stories. Whitle More...

Na knihu jsem se obrovsky těšila a zároveň se jí i tak trochu obávala. Kody jsem si jako spisovatelku zamilovala hned při úžasném debutu The DUFF. Právě si u mě získal první příčku v žánru dívčích románů. Její druhá kniha, Shut Out, byla stejně skvělá, přesto jsem u ní nepociťovala totéž, jako u The DUFF. Přece jenom byla pojatá trochu jinak a i hlavní hrdinka byla jinačího rázu. Ovšem i tak jede Kody ve stále stejné úrovni kvality. A pak přišlo A Midsummer's Nightmare a...

Whitley se ráno probou More...