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| One Past Midnight Jessica Shirvington |
One Past Midnight
Jessica Shirvington
Published: July 22, 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Age Demographic: YA Fantasy
Pages: 352
Above all else, though I try not to think about it, I know which life I prefer. And every night when I Cinderella myself from one life to the next a very small, but definite, piece of me dies. The hardest part is that nothing about my situation has ever changed. There is no loophole.
Until now, that is...
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?
*Name of overseas edition of Between The Lives.
To PreOrder a copy of One Past Midnight by
(Note: I received an ARC of One Past Midnight by Jessica Shirvington, in exchange for an honest review through ATW ARC Tours.)
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.
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| Jessica Shirvington |
Jessica Shirvington is the author of THE VIOLET EDEN CHAPTERS also known as THE EMBRACE SERIES, stand alone novel, BETWEEN THE LIVES and has an exciting new duology called DISRUPTION on the way in 2014.
An entrepreneur, author, and mother living in Sydney, Australia, Jessica is also a 2011 & 2012 finalist for Cosmopolitan’s annual Fun, Fearless Female Award. She’s also one of the lucky few who met the love of her life at age seventeen: Matt Shirvington, a former Olympian and current sports broadcaster for Foxtel and Fox Sports. Married for twleve years with two beautiful daughters, Sienna and Winter, Jessica knows her early age romance and its longevity has definitely contributed to how she tackles relationships in her YA novels.
You can also find her on The Violent Eden Chapters Facebook page as well, so don't forget to check that out also!
