Until Friday Night (The Field Party #1) by Abbi Glines

Until Friday Night (The Field Party #1)
by Abbi Glines
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: August 25th 2015

Rate: Enjoyed it (4 stars)

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…

Until Friday Night is a story about loss, pain, romance and friendship. I'm beyond thrilled to have read a story written by Abbi Glines, but even more to know that she's back to writing YA stories. Because yes, there might be some intense moments, but all PG rated, so to me that's a YA story.

In Until Friday Night we have two main characters. We have Maggie Carleton's life fell apart when her father murdered her mother and her way of coping with all the pain is to not speak. And then we have West Ashby's world seems to be almost perfect. However, he's scared and pained because his father's dying. 

We get two read from Maggie and West's point of view and I am always glad to have the two sides of the story. It was easier to see every single interaction between these two from a different perspective, the intentions of their actions and how the outside world affected them differently. Their story is unique, tender and dramatic. Pain brought them together, but love will make them last. I loved every single moment of this story and how this couple changed, grew and became more than just another young adult fictional couple.

As an individual character, I have to mention that Maggie was more mature than West both on the inside and outside. West, on the other hand, if you read from Maggie's point of view you could get the sense that he was a bit more immature. However, reading his point of view blew your mind and totally made you reconsider this character over and over again. 

Maggie's definitely a strong character, as West says in the story. She's lived a traumatic family drama and she has found a way to cope with it, to keep moving even though it's even painful to breathe. But what's beyond admirable is that she had absorbed all those painful and traumatic experiences and transformed them into wise thoughts she decides to share with others in need like West. She's selfless the whole time in the story and I think that's one of the perks that makes this book so touching, emotional and enjoyable. 

Abbi Glines always tests their characters beyond a breaking point, and in Until Friday Night she did the same but with an original, honest and emotional story that will captivate you until the very last page. Don't let yourself fool you about the title, because it might have another beautiful meaning. You just need to get to know Maggie and West and their traumatic love story.

Since publishing her first novel Breathe in May of 2011, Abbi has also released The New York Times bestselling Seabreeze Series which includes Breathe, Because of Low, While It Lasts, Just For Now and Sometimes It Last, The Existence Trilogy that includes the USA Today Bestseller Ceaseless. New York Times and USA TODAY bestsellers The Vincent Boys and The Vincent Brothers. Last but not least her most popular series to date, Rosemary Beach which includes The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers Fallen Too Far, Never Too Far, Forever Too Far, Twisted Perfection and Simple Perfection. Her newest book scheduled to be released on December 17th, 2013 is Misbehaving (Seabreeze).

When Abbi isn’t locked away in her office typing away she is hauling her kids to and from their many social activities. You could say her second job is the Glines Kids personal chauffeur. It’s a rather illustrious job.