Book Review: What Happens After Midnight

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Romance

I haven’t read much second chance romances, but I thought I wouldn’t like them because how were people able to not be awkward with their ex and I’ve mostly read about exes who get back together usually end up breaking up again. Though, this book and the character’s relationship with each other showed me how this trope can work. Though, it wasn’t a book that really stood out to me and seemed quite plain/average?

Continue reading for more details.

Synopsis:

Lily Hopper has two more weeks until she's officially finished with boarding school. With graduation quickly approaching Lily is worried that she's somehow missed out on the fun of being in high school. So, when she receives a mysterious note inviting her to join the anonymous senior class Jester in executing the end-of-year prank, Lily sees her chance to put her goody-two-shoes reputation behind her.

When Lily realizes the Jester is none other than Taggart Swell, her ex- boyfriend, she's already in too deep to back out. Lily might've dumped Tag, but she still has major feelings. Plus, his brilliant plan to steal the school's yearbooks, targets none other than Lilly's prom date: the Senior Class President, Daniel.

As the group of pranksters hide cryptic clues across campus for Daniel to find, Lily and Tag find themselves in close quarters. As the exes dodge Campus Safety guards, night owl teachers, a troop of freshmen, and even Daniel himself, new sparks fly. But old hurts and painful secrets refuse to be ignored. And with graduation on the horizon, Lily can only hope that breaking the rules will help mend her heart.

Review:

Lily joining the Jester’s prank to go against her “goody two-shoes” title made sense. Lily did seem quite sweet and definitely the picture-perfect student due to her being the daughter of one of the teacher’s and, thus, growing close with most of the faculty members. Joining the Jester was probably quite unexpected of her, but the prospect of helping in a school-wide prank did seem fun, refusing would’ve been so hard.

Tag is a nice guy. That’s really all I have to say about him. His character itself was fine, nothing that made him especially stand out. His character didn’t seem to have a lot of depth, making him a pretty forgettable character. Honestly, I could say the same thing about Lily but Lily did discuss some of her really valid insecurities making her more relatable and dimensional.

Lily and Tag together, though, is a different story. They definitely go well together. The author did a great job making these two seem interconnected in a way that I really couldn’t imagine them not being together. I think it was the fact they dated for a while and really seemed to like each other which is why they just get each other. Even the past flashbacks of them were so wholesome, I really couldn’t believe they had broken up. Saying this, I think it was a good thing they had though, because that seemed to have allowed them to discuss the thing that had caused a rift in them. Personally, they could’ve communicated without having to break apart, but from how their relationship was slowly fading, I don’t think that would’ve happened. I think this is a really important aspect that allowed me to enjoy this second-chance romance, because if they had broken up for no valid reason, I just wouldn’t have been as happy to see them back together.

“We'd dated for almost two years. I had been so in love with him, and our memories - even silly arguments - were like my favorite movie. I replayed them over and over in my head”

I do think that the plot was kind of slow and could seem uninteresting to those readers who don’t connect/become interested in the characters’ relationship because the jester’s prank wasn’t the most entertaining thing to watch being set up or unfolded. I was more interested in seeing the dynamic between Lily and Tag and seeing how their relationship will shift throughout the night (which it did pretty well, if I do say so myself). There weren't many super exciting or surprising things that happened other than a couple of times throughout the book so it could definitely get a bit uninteresting to people, especially during the second half. I was really excited to see the prank actually unfold but maybe it was a good thing the author just glazed over it because it probably would’ve gotten repetitive. The ending was cute, but Lily and Tag finally getting together could’ve been executed better if the details were spread out a bit more.

“- I hate you!

- I don't believe you.

- Why not?

- Because you've got my favorite smile on you face-”

The writing might feel a little cringy at times, but it wasn’t as bad as some of the other books I’ve read so I just found it a little amusing. I did think the incorporations of scenes from the past were important, but multiple times I got confused thinking that it was the present scenes before realizing it wasn’t. If the author had a way to easily differentiate when it was a past scene, that would’ve made the writing even smoother.

“I didn’t curse in front of the neighbors, I swore like a sailor at home.”

The side characters were lovely! Their personalities were fun and their dialogues were always entertaining. **ahem ahem** Alex and Zoe. Lily’s mom and Josh were also the absolute cutest!

Overall,

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