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tinytrashqueen's review
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism and Stalking
zigzagzmak's review against another edition
Hoh boy. At about half way through I realized this book is certainly not worth my time, but since we've got nothing but time on our hands these days, why not finish it.
Big mistake. After Midnight is written by someone who thinks very highly of themselves and thinks they are always right, but hasn't put in the work to prove or earn that. I found numerous typos and grammatical errors, and that's only the beginning. There's the repeated use of exact same phrases word for word, not done in a narrative way where the characters echo each other's thoughts, just in a sloppy way.
L. Philip's writing style in Sometime After Midnight is very juvenile. It's in first person present tense and switches point of view between the two protagonists so often that I found myself caught off guard with whose perspective I was reading from.
Another thing that nagged at me the whole time I was reading was how much it felt like fanfiction. I've made the comparison on Goodreads before to another published novel, but in that case it was a compliment—and it didn't feel like it belonged to any one specific fandom. The ways that this book feels like fanfiction are weaknesses of the genre. I became suspicious that this was originally posted on a fanfiction website and the author changed the names to publish. Because of the repeated emphasis on "The London Five," a boyband from which Cameron has dated two members, I was sure it was something tangentially related to the One Direction RPF crowd. I have not searched to confirm this, but my belief is that it likely belongs to the 5 Seconds of Summer fandom.
Another hint was how creepy the actual story is. Take a step back for a moment: son of record company CEO crushes on stranger, uses money and resources and exploitative methods to get what he wants to find the stranger and all of his personal information. (one part of the book Nate says something along the lines of "need my phone number?" And Cameron is gives him a look like puh-lease I already have it because I am rich and can take advantage of that to get what I want.) The persistence which Cam pursues Nate even after very clear signs that he's not interested is just uncomfortable, it's not romantic. The book mentions 50 shades of grey several times, and I wouldn't be surprised if the author 1. Loved the series and/or 2. Took a lot of inspiration for her story from it.
This book relies on heavily on stereotypes and cliches for characterization. A common theme was a description of what everyone was wearing every scene. It became increasingly clear to me as I was reading that this author is a straight woman hiding behind an initialized first name. (Quick searches have confirmed that.)
The characters are weak and flimsy and don't stand on their own as actual people.
Lastly I will comment on some serious, serious issues I saw in this book. It's not just fun and games. It talks about suicide and mental illness so often and doesn't handle the topic with delicate care. The death of Nate's father "at the hands of the record company," is so easily moved on from after being the main point of contention for a majority of the book.
There are several instances of fatphobia that's trying to pass itself off as body positivity—Nate has a fat best friend. This is a problematic trope that's common in today's media; fat characters aren't the stars, they're the sidekicks.
There are zero characters of color in this book; it is a story of white characters writing R&B indie music, a classic example of white folks taking a genre or idea made popular by people of color and then coopting it for themselves.
I do not recommend this book.
Big mistake. After Midnight is written by someone who thinks very highly of themselves and thinks they are always right, but hasn't put in the work to prove or earn that. I found numerous typos and grammatical errors, and that's only the beginning. There's the repeated use of exact same phrases word for word, not done in a narrative way where the characters echo each other's thoughts, just in a sloppy way.
L. Philip's writing style in Sometime After Midnight is very juvenile. It's in first person present tense and switches point of view between the two protagonists so often that I found myself caught off guard with whose perspective I was reading from.
Another thing that nagged at me the whole time I was reading was how much it felt like fanfiction. I've made the comparison on Goodreads before to another published novel, but in that case it was a compliment—and it didn't feel like it belonged to any one specific fandom. The ways that this book feels like fanfiction are weaknesses of the genre. I became suspicious that this was originally posted on a fanfiction website and the author changed the names to publish. Because of the repeated emphasis on "The London Five," a boyband from which Cameron has dated two members, I was sure it was something tangentially related to the One Direction RPF crowd. I have not searched to confirm this, but my belief is that it likely belongs to the 5 Seconds of Summer fandom.
Another hint was how creepy the actual story is. Take a step back for a moment: son of record company CEO crushes on stranger, uses money and resources and exploitative methods to get what he wants to find the stranger and all of his personal information. (one part of the book Nate says something along the lines of "need my phone number?" And Cameron is gives him a look like puh-lease I already have it because I am rich and can take advantage of that to get what I want.) The persistence which Cam pursues Nate even after very clear signs that he's not interested is just uncomfortable, it's not romantic. The book mentions 50 shades of grey several times, and I wouldn't be surprised if the author 1. Loved the series and/or 2. Took a lot of inspiration for her story from it.
This book relies on heavily on stereotypes and cliches for characterization. A common theme was a description of what everyone was wearing every scene. It became increasingly clear to me as I was reading that this author is a straight woman hiding behind an initialized first name. (Quick searches have confirmed that.)
The characters are weak and flimsy and don't stand on their own as actual people.
Lastly I will comment on some serious, serious issues I saw in this book. It's not just fun and games. It talks about suicide and mental illness so often and doesn't handle the topic with delicate care. The death of Nate's father "at the hands of the record company," is so easily moved on from after being the main point of contention for a majority of the book.
There are several instances of fatphobia that's trying to pass itself off as body positivity—Nate has a fat best friend. This is a problematic trope that's common in today's media; fat characters aren't the stars, they're the sidekicks.
There are zero characters of color in this book; it is a story of white characters writing R&B indie music, a classic example of white folks taking a genre or idea made popular by people of color and then coopting it for themselves.
I do not recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking