One Past Midnight

by Jessica Shirvington

Each night, eighteen-year-old Sabine transitions between a life of privilege and security but no intimacy to one of economic struggle but loving relationships, and the difficulty of this strange situation causes her to consider suicide, at least in one physical reality.

• ISBN10: 0802737021
• ISBN13: 9780802737021
• Publish Date: 22 July 2014
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 4 May 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Walker & Co
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[shannonmiz]

Let’s get it out of the way: I loved this book. It made me smile, it made me cry, it made me laugh, it made me think, it pretty much checked every single emotional box. There were characters I loved, characters I hated, and pretty much every imaginable character in between.

Sabine lives two lives, switching between them every 24 hours. No one else knows that she lives both lives, and she is careful to keep them separate. In one life, she comes from a wealthy family, is popular, and has the seemingly perfect friends and boyfriend. In the other, she comes from the “wrong side” of town, complete with a messy family situation, and only one true friend, but a sister that she adores. But, the lying and switching between lives has taken a huge toll on Sabine’s psyche, and she is eager to find a way out. When she breaks her arm in one life and it (for the first time) doesn’t transfer to the other life, she tries to see just how far she can push things, if maybe she can leave one life behind for good.

Of course, things aren’t that easy, and Sabine finds herself in some precarious situations in both lives. Along the way, she meets Ethan, the one person who might actually believe that her lives are real. Ethan is… sigh. We all need an Ethan.

I can’t talk much more about any of the characters or plot points without giving stuff away, unfortunately. But my heart broke for Sabine time and time again. How isolating, how confusing, how scary her situation would be. Never knowing who to trust, or which path to choose; always having to keep every detail of a full second life fresh in your mind would be hellish. I could absolutely feel every bit of Sabine’s anguish. She also grew remarkably as a character during the book, which was so wonderful to watch.

I raced through reading this, unable to put it down, begging to know what choices Sabine would make, or what the ramifications in one life would be on the other. This is the kind of book that makes you think “what if?” the entire time.

The end wasn’t cut and dry, nor did it wrap everything up in a neat little package. But it worked. And it made me feel hopeful, without it feeling unbelievable.

This is the first book I’ve read by Jessica Shirvington, but it will definitely not be the last. With well fleshed-out characters, an exciting and thought provoking plot, and lots of emotional connection, One Past Midnight earned itself a spot on my favorites list!

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

One Past Midnight, is a wonderfully compelling and captivating read that is unbelievably hard to put down until you have practically binge read the entire book in one sitting. Jessica Shirvington has created such a vivid and imaginative spiraling world that's filled with amazing plot twists that readers will find intriguing. I didn't find myself disappointed with this book at all, in fact, I absolutely enjoyed reading it every minute of it. The parallel worlds that she created and spun together, were so enthralling that it wasn't hard to follow along with Sabine's life. Although, I'm not surprised, given that Jessica Shirvington is one of my favorite YA paranormal romance author's.

This book is filled with moments that will keep your heart racing and your blood pumping. Deliciously original, I really ended up enjoying the fact that it highlighted the struggles of having to live your life waking up in two different parallel worlds every other day. Sabine is written in such a fantastic way, showcasing just how much strength and sanity that she possessed throughout the continuous onslaught of having to live two different lives in two different parallel worlds, while still retaining the memories to go along with them. In all honesty, I'm not even sure that I could do that myself. She's an incredible charismatic, bright, and likable character all the way around that still has some realistic flaws. It's a breath of fresh air, to know that Jessica Shrivington, has managed to write her characters in such a way that they possess just enough flaws to keep them human enough to be realistic and easily relatable.

I have been anticipating this book for quite some time and I was seriously not disappointed with it, in the slightest. There were so many wonderful things that I did enjoy about this book, like getting to see both sets of Sabine's parents, and learning their flaws and good points. The time that Shrivington took, while developing all of these key characters that were necessary at different points of Sabine's life, was very well executed and that was one of the best aspects of the book for me, personally. Ethan, though, he was my absolute favorite thing about the book, all together. He was such a fantastic, charming, and endearing character. I enjoyed the way that Shirvington took time to build up and develop the friendship that occurred between him and Sabine, then let it evolve organically into something more. They were wonderful together and I really found myself enjoying the romance blossoming between them. Maybe it happened a little fast, but because the development of it was so well executed, I could somehow overlook that a little bit. That, would probably the only minor little flaw I found, while reading this book. One of the things that I really liked, when it came to Ethan, was his ability to get her to look at her situation and not just see it as an annoying thing that was happening in her life.

I've noticed that some do or don't like Sabine, while I said earlier that she was a likable character that was easily relatable, she does come with her own set of flaws that sometimes have a tendency to make her unlikable. For me, she sort of remind me a little bit of Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in the sense that she just wanted to be this normal girl and she didn't really want to live two different lives in two different parallel worlds, so she was always looking for a way out. I know that some do and some don't like this aspect of the book, I've even seen it said that it made the plot seem a bit weak. But, I feel like that maybe that was part of the plot in general, that she just wanted to be a normal girl and was looking for a way out, instead of just fighting and bearing it all on her shoulders every single day. That's the beauty in the way that everyone who reads the book interprets it and it's always going to be a little different.

I will say that while it would have been nice to have gotten a glimpse into why Sabine was the way she was, I can't say that it hindered my overall opinion of the book itself. If you're looking for a brilliantly written, powerful book full of twists and turns, questions about love and life, then One Past Midnight is the book that you want to read. It's light on the sci-fi, where it's written in a way that you can understand it, without going too deep. It has a compelling enough plot to keep you interested and turning the pages, and the characters are likable and realistically written at best. I would definitely recommend this book to you.