Book Blurb:
"Happy midnight, my fellow Niteowls..."
As a candy store employee by day, and mysterious deejay "Niteowl" by night, eighteen-year-old Ingrid North is stuck between rock 'n roll and a hard place. She can't wait to get out of her tiny hometown of Steadfast, Nebraska (population three hundred and forty-seven) to chase her dreams, but small-town troubles keep getting in the way. She can't abandon her grandmother with Alzheimer's, or her best friend Micah--who she may or may not be in love with.
But for one hour each Saturday, she escapes all of that. On air, she isn't timid, ugly-sweater-wearing Ingrid North. She's the funny and daring Niteowl. Every boy's manic pixie dream girl. Fearless. And there is one caller in particular-- Dark and Brooding--whose raspy laugh and snarky humor is just sexy enough to take her mind off Micah. Not that she's in love with Micah or anything. Cause she's not.
As her grandmother slips further away and Micah begins dating a Mean-Girls-worthy nightmare, Ingrid runs to the mysterious Dark and Brooding as a disembodied voice to lean on, only to fall down a rabbit hole of punk rockstars, tabloid headlines, and kisses that taste like bubble tea. But the man behind the voice could be surprising in all the right, and wrong, ways.
And she just might find that her real life begins when Niteowl goes off the air.
My review:
4 Out Of 5 Stars
Genre: Teen--
I was completely caught off guard by this book and my feelings towards it. I thought it sounded cute a few months ago when I originally stumbled over it, but then I promptly forgot about all about it. When it made its way to the top of my to-read list, I had no expectations about what I was going to get. I apologize in advance for the potentially verbose review, but I have a lot of feelings to get through here.
This was probably one of the most emotional, pull-on-my-heartstrings, book that I have read in a while. There were at least 4 different times that I had to fight back tears, and I am not a crier, not even a little. I expected something potentially blah (since I could not remember anything about the book before reading) and ended up falling in love. This was a coming of age teen book, where the main character realized who she was, what she really wanted, and who she really wanted to be with, but it was not an easy discovery.
Ingrid was the main character, a very quirky girl who marched to her own beat, loved her friends and grandmother fiercely and secretly worked as a talk radio host on Saturday nights. I absolutely loved Ingrid and I enjoyed watching her grow as a person, meshing who she thought she was with who she really was (aka her alter ego Niteowl). I have a ton more to say on her and her radio show but I realized that I may be entering spoiler zone, so just know that some good and some bad happen, and it was great. Nice and vague, huh? My biggest complaint with Ingrid was that she lacked a backbone. She never stood up for herself in any situation, making her the perfect target for the relentless bullying she received from her classmates. I wanted to beat them up for her, but more than that, I wanted her to take care of it herself. The stuff with her grandma was heartbreaking and I felt like I needed a hug too after reading it.
I could not have picked better friends for Ingrid than LD and Billie, they were equally quirky and wonderful. Also, I knew who Dark and Brooding was for a majority of the book, but it did not spoil anything for me because I enjoyed watching the relationship grow and for Ingrid to realize her feelings. The worst thing about the book in my eyes was Micah, her “best friend”/secret crush. He was an awful character, I hated him! He was a complete tool to Ingrid, using her for his own purposes but then treating her like she didn’t exist when she was in need. The fact he stood by and let his new “friends” bully her was atrocious, as was the way he treated her over her grandmother, and don’t even get me started on the flower situation. He was not a friend, not even a little, and he never redeemed himself in the story yet Ingrid was ok with everything. Honestly, I would have been happier if she punched him, and never saw him again. That would have given the book 5 stars.
I really enjoyed this book and could not put it down. I actually finished reading it a day after I started because I flew through the pages, I just could not put my feelings into words until now. I definitely had been in a reading slump where everything I picked up was kind of whatever, but this turned it around for me. I can’t wait to get more books from this author. Oh as a side note, this is book 2 in a series, which I did not know before reading nor did it hinder my reading experience. From my best guess (after some research) I think this book references a few characters from book 1 but with new characters and a different plot. I hope a book 3 (or even book 1) has mentions of Niteowl popping up, because I miss her already.
I received this title from the publisher in return for my honest review.
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