Goodreads Synopsis: In the follow-up to Abbi Glines’s #1 New York Times bestseller Until Friday Night—three teens from a small southern town are stuck in a dramatic love triangle.

Willa can’t erase the bad decisions of her past that led her down the path she’s on now. But she can fight for forgiveness from her family. And she can protect herself by refusing to let anyone else get close to her.

High school quarterback and town golden boy Brady used to be the best of friends with Willa—she even had a crush on him when they were kids. But that’s all changed now: her life choices have made her a different person from the girl he used to know.

Gunner used to be friends with Willa and Brady, too. He too is larger than life and a high school football star—not to mention that his family basically owns the town of Lawton. He loves his life, and doesn’t care about anyone except himself. But Willa is the exception—and he understands the girl she’s become in a way no one else can.

As secrets come to light and hearts are broken, these former childhood friends must face the truth about growing up and falling in love…even if it means losing each other forever.

Review:

I was really disappointed in this book. I loved the first book in the series and was so excited to read the next instalment. Unfortunately it just did not live up to my expectations.

I struggled to find redeeming qualities of this story as all the storylines were too far fetched and overly dramatic. Firstly, I thought through being in all 3 (Willa, Brady and Gunner) of their heads it would provide a greater insight into their dynamic but instead all we got were the two boys internally fighting for Willa and both thinking they know whats best for her….boring! Their internal monologue was so back and forth, first Brady couldn’t have Willa because he could never understand pain like hers but then Gunner couldn’t have her either because his life was too messed up and he would end up hurting her, neither of them were capable of another thought that didn’t revolve around Willa!! The 3 of them were best friends when they were younger yet we didn’t get a single scene of the 3 of them hanging out together. Gunner and Willa would shut Brady out because he has “a perfect home life and can’t handle darkness” since when does your home life determine whether you can be a good friend! This was just too ridiculous.

Then there’s Gunners family, just wow! Talk about drama overload. So his dad wasn’t his dad and it was bad enough who his real dad was but what really annoyed me was we never got an explanation from his mom. I know she explained things to Gunner behind the scenes but I would have really liked to have heard the explanation for why she was the way she was and didn’t care for Gunner. I feel it would have made a better story if his mom had loved him and it could have been the two of them against the rest of the family. I suppose that wouldn’t have fit with his “I’ve never felt loved” thing but I just couldn’t buy both of his parents not caring and his whole family being a dramatic mess.

Willa’s grandmother was also being way overprotective. Yes she made a mistake and it had horrible consequences but her grandmother needed to let her spend time with her friends and trust that she wasn’t going to get knocked up like her mom (which had nothing to do with the mistake she made). Keeping her from socialising was not going to help her move on with her life. I also felt that Willa never actually dealt with what happened to her. She went through something very traumatic yet it was just something else that took a backseat to the love triangle.

We had all this drama throughout the book and then voila last chapter everything gets worked out...how convenient. It ended quite abruptly and left us with so many unanswered questions! Brady never even found out about Willa and Gunner, some friends they were.

I hate to do this but I had to give it 2.5 stars as there was absolutely no character development, it was way too whiney and too focused on the love triangle that everything else was sort of brushed to the side. I’m really hoping the next book will be more in line with the first and doesn’t leave me down like this one did.

Goodreads Synopsis:

To everyone who knows him, West Ashby has always been that guy: the cocky, popular, way-too-handsome-for-his-own-good football god who led Lawton High to the state championships. But while West may be Big Man on Campus on the outside, on the inside he’s battling the grief that comes with watching his father slowly die of cancer.

Two years ago, Maggie Carleton’s life fell apart when her father murdered her mother. And after she told the police what happened, she stopped speaking and hasn’t spoken since. Even the move to Lawton, Alabama, couldn’t draw Maggie back out. So she stayed quiet, keeping her sorrow and her fractured heart hidden away.

As West’s pain becomes too much to handle, he knows he needs to talk to someone about his father—so in the dark shadows of a post-game party, he opens up to the one girl who he knows won’t tell anyone else.

West expected that talking about his dad would bring some relief, or at least a flood of emotions he couldn’t control. But he never expected the quiet new girl to reply, to reveal a pain even deeper than his own—or for them to form a connection so strong that he couldn’t ever let her go…

Review:

This is the first book by Abbi Glines that I have read and I will definitely be reading more.

I loved Maggie’s character, she had witnessed something horrific that no-one should ever have to see and rather than lash out or have it destroy her, she simply chose to get through it by not speaking. Although it may seem an unconventional way of dealing with grief and pain, it helped maggie to stay sane. 

Then there’s West, your typical jock. He can be a bit of a jerk but of course has a heart of gold. He’s dealing with his own issues as his dad, who he has looked up to his whole life, is dying and there’s nothing he can do. 

Maggie and West form a connection through this mutual feeling of grief. They rely on each other in different ways which helps them but also leads to them becoming too dependent on each other.

What I liked about this book is that it deals with friendship but also a relationship that although may seem fine can actually be toxic and how the characters actually realised this.  

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Although there were moments of heartbreak and sadness, the football boys provided plenty of laughs to lighten the mood. However if I had one criticism it would be that I would have liked to have discovered more about Maggie’s past and what led to that traumatising event which would have helped us understand her situation a bit better.

I would definitely recommend this book and cannot wait to read the next one in the series!