Latest Read: One Past Midnight by Jessica Shirvington

One Past Midnight by Jessica Shirvington
Publication date: July 22, 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Category: Young Adult - Contemporary/Paranormal
Source: Received ARC from publisher (Thanks!)
Summary: For as long as she can remember, Sabine has lived two lives. Every 24 hours she Shifts to her ′other′ life - a life where she is exactly the same, but absolutely everything else is different: different family, different friends, different social expectations. In one life she has a sister, in the other she does not. In one life she′s a straight-A student with the perfect boyfriend, in the other she′s considered a reckless delinquent. Nothing about her situation has ever changed, until the day when she discovers a glitch: the arm she breaks in one life is perfectly fine in the other. With this new knowledge, Sabine begins a series of increasingly risky experiments which bring her dangerously close to the life she′s always wanted... But just what - and who - is she really risking? (Adapted goodreads.com)

The Good

One Past Midnight was suspenseful in a way I hadn’t anticipated. Sabine lives two lives and every 24 hours (at midnight!), she “shifts” to her other life. These two versions of her reality couldn’t be any more different but she remains the same, at least internally, even though she has to show a different side of herself to those around her. In Roxbury, MA — she’s the daughter of two hardworking parents who struggle financially, she has a younger sister she adores and she runs with a less-than-desirable crowd. By comparison, in Wellesley, MA — she’s rich, popular, her parents are divorced and adore her, has two brothers she’s not very close to and is dating the “perfect” guy. While one life may seem better than the other, I loved how the author explored the idea that nothing is ever what it seems and how there’s always good and bad in everyone’s life. It’s up to you to decide how to live with what you’ve got.

This is what the book ultimately comes down to. If you’re expecting science fiction or learning all the ins and outs of how Sabine ended up with two lives, you won’t get it. And that was fine with me! I don’t think that was the point. We meet Sabine and she’s already developed a routine for juggling her two lives. She knows her role in each, she knows the rules that the “powers that be” have set for her (which she figured out on a trial by error basis). It’s a strict, hard way to live but she does it. Then the rules start to change on her. There might be chance that she could live normally and in her mind, that means choosing one life over the other. It was interesting and definitely suspenseful to watch her figure this out since it meant performing risky (um, scary!) experiments on herself.

Through it all, we meet the different people in her lives and what they mean to her. There were relationships I liked more than others (like her sister, her friends) and others that were important to the story even if I wasn’t too crazy about the character (her Roxbury father, her “perfect” boyfriend). But they all play a vital role in this roller coaster of a journey she’s on. At some point she meets someone who makes a significant impact on her and while I can’t tell you who that person is, how that unfolds was one of my favorite parts of the book.

(No) reservations

None! Just keep in mind that you have to accept Sabine’s circumstances as they are.

Do I recommend?

I do! I was completely sucked into Sabine’s lives and couldn’t wait to see how it all unfolded.

Happy reading!