One Past Midnight

by Jessica Shirvington

[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.