Oh my heart. I've been on an enemies-to-lovers trope kick lately and this book came along at the perfect time. The feud between the protagonists was believable and once we peeled back history and saw how it all began it broke my heart and made me believe in these two even more. The lake setting was fantastic. I really felt like I was there, from the drive in to the docks. I will be recommending this book to library patrons and eagerly seeking out more books by Jessica Pennington.

I really loved this book from beginning to end. There was a really great relate able dynamic between the two main characters. You can really tell that there is some genuine feelings there, although there is some denial as well for a while there. I loved how it went from when they were pranking each other through all the different stages of discovering one another again. The fall, the fallout, the coming back together, it was all so sweet and really enjoyable. I didn't want the book to end, and now I feel like I need to visit a lakehouse and look at the stars.

Meet Me at Midnight is about two soon-to-be college students, Sidney and Asher, whose families have been spending summers together for six years. They've spent most of those summers pranking each other, until the ultimate prank leads to unexpected consequences. The two are forced to be friendly, but their relationship quickly becomes more than that. The book follows on from the summer to their first few months at the same university. I think Meet Me at Midnight is a cute YA novel, but I personally felt it dragged at some points.

I received an ARC from NetGalley, but all opinions are my own.

THIS IS THE BOOK I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!! Ever since I read Jenny Han's The Summer I Turned Pretty I've been looking for a "summer" book to give me the same feeling and I've finally found it in Meet Me at Midnight!

Reasons why I love it:
-ENEMIES TO LOVERS
-summer
-family friends who only see each other once a year
-growing up together
-enemies to lovers again bc that's what makes this book SO good!!!!!!

I'm glad it comes out in April because this will be the perfect book to read in the sun, on the stand or by the pool/ocean. It's going to beTHE book of the summer!

This was a light and easy read, would be especially fun in the summer! Sidney and Asher are likeable main characters in this novel, it is a hate to love relationship. I'd recommend this novel!

Thank you Macmillian- Tor / Forage for providing me with an eARC copy of this from Netgalley.

3 / 5 stars

Meet Me at Midnight follows Sydney and Asher in another year of summer shenanigans as they both try to out-prank each other. Sydney and Asher have always had it out for one another after something happens between them during the first summer they meet. It does not make things easier when they repeatedly have to vacation with each other each summer due to the close friendship between their parents.

This story is pretty cliche and repetitive at times, but it was pretty fun for some parts. I enjoyed having both POVs for this novel; because I soon realized that I definitely preferred Asher as my favorite POV over time. Honestly, Asher’s perspective saved the book for me. I feel like if I did not get Asher’s perspective, this book would have a lower rating. In all honesty, I am a bit in- between rating this a 2.75 or a 3. Overall, this book had its good parts but in the end I was ready to be finished with it.

I started out enjoying both the plot as well as both perspectives. I enjoyed the pranks in the beginning as well as the transition out of them as well. I never fully felt on board for a potential relationship between the characters, but I never ruled it out, at first. I feel like I enjoyed the idea of a strong potential friendship between the two, but by the end of the novel I wanted Asher far away from Sydney.

I love the character development for Asher in this novel. Throughout the novel things are hinted that things are not all the appear to be. We gradually see this play out, especially with character development. Sydney tries to go through similar character development alongside Asher, but she continuously regresses back to her former self. I got tired of it to be honest. Especially once the “big reveal” of their fallout is included; I was done. I basically considered Sydney a toxic character/friendship/idea of a relationship for the last 20 percent of the novel. She tries to redeem herself by the end of novel, and she does make an okay start of an apology, but I was just over her. I think Asher deserves someone better. Friendships and relationships take effort and conversation. Asher constantly mentions this and makes so much effort; in return, Asher is treated with disrespect and hurtful actions. So yeah, this was not a new favorite read for me. It had potential, but it ended up totally disappointing me in the end.

'Meet Me at Midnight' is the story of Asher and Sidney, family friends who spend every summer together in neighbouring lake-houses. From the offset, we learn that they 'hate' each other, in a friendly sort of way, pranking each other at every opportunity and basically making each other's lives miserable. The reader, along with the other characters, is perfectly aware that there is some kind of romantic interest underlying these pranks, but for the first part of the book, we simply watch them competing to outdo the other person'.

They've been doing this for years, but when they finally take the pranks a step too far in the summer before college, they decide to make a truce and work together against a whole new target. Of course, this truce then turns into a summer fling, and the two re-evaluate their friendship completely, facing a new set of challenges along the way.

I did enjoy this book, but I had a couple of problems with it. In terms of the characters, I really loved Asher's character and how consistent he stayed throughout the book. It became obvious to me early on that he wasn't as on-board with the hate-relationship between himself and Sidney and that he had other intentions all along. His humour was amusing, his motives were believable and some of his romantic gestures were really adorable. Sidney, on the other hand, wasn't so likeable for me. I found her to be irritating and irrational, jumping to conclusions without giving others a chance to explain themselves and generally struggling to manoeuvre other people's feelings. The redeeming factor for this is that multiple people in the novel, including Sidney herself, appear completely aware of how dislikable she is, and many times she is called out for her behaviour.

I found the story to be sweet and I did like seeing their relationship develop, but I also feel as though some moments were a little unnecessary. There are some parts of this book that I loved and raced through, but these were interspersed with moments that I feel the book could have done without. This wasn't really an issue because I still happily made it through the entire novel, but I do think that the book was dragged out a little more than it could have been.

The writing itself was really impressive and I loved how well Jessica Pennington differentiated between Asher and Sidney's voices. Her style of writing was extremely easy to read and I feel as though this is one of the reasons why the book is so quick to get through. I will definitely have a look at the author's other work because I feel that her ideas and writing are very enjoyable, even though parts of this book specifically just weren't for me.

Overall, despite the issues I had with this book, I loved the premise and think that this would be a good, easy summer read. Some of the romantic moments really warmed my heart and parts of this book did leave me laughing out loud so, if you're looking for a sweet YA contemporary, you might really enjoy this.

Sidney and Asher spend their summer holidays together because their parents are friends. Their first summer together, their relationship used to be good. But they started to prank each other. Their pranks escalated until one of them is the last straw. And they are kicked from the lake house they have been staying all this summers.
Forced to live in the same house now, they decide to call a truce. And that's the moment when they realize that the line between love and hate is thin. 😂😂. Sooooo thin...
It's a very sweet book. It made me think of my first love, when everything was much more innocent than now.
Prepare to swoon with Asher😉. He is a keeper.

Sidney and Asher have a lot in common. They both just graduated high school. They both are competitive swimmers. They will go to the same college in the fall. Only problem, they're enemies.

Their parents are great friends and have been sharing their summer vacation area for years. The first year Asher joined Sidney's family there the two were friends and made great memories. The following summer...something shifted and they no longer got along. They're new memories werent as amicable. They began pranking one another and carried on this tradition for the next six years.

I bet you can guess where this is headed. There were some pent up feelings, right? Well yes, sort of. Its complicated.

This beautiful story navigated those feelings in a fun and well-told way. The pranks were hilarious. The characters were very well-developed. The enemies to lovers trope, which is my favorite, was well-played.

This was my first Jessica Pennington novel. I throughly devoured it. I enjoyed her play on words, the way she navigated the timeline, and how I was in angst waiting for more.

My only critical feedback was that I wanted a bit more epilogue. However, that's merely the romantic in me. This was such a fun, and clean read. There were few curse words and the steam factor was quite low. If you're looking for a great book to read by the lake, you've found it. I believe I will be looking up more of this author's work.

Thank you @netgalley and McMillan-Tor/Forge for letting me read this Advanced Readers Copy. Any and all feedback is my own and has not been persuaded by any outside sources.

If you're a fan of the love/hate troupe you will LOVE this book. I adore a good love/hate story so I couldn't put this one down! The writing was great, while it was a YA it was well written and easy to read. I loved the characters so much. While their pranks were a bit childish at times, they made me laugh. I adored Asher. He was sweet, charming and funny! He's everything you want in a book boyfriend! Sydney was a lot of fun too! One of the things I enjoyed most about this book was it didn't just end because summer ended, it took its time to finish a great story with out rushing anything. Meet Me At Midnight is perfect summer read! I can't wait to pick it back up in the summer!

A very cute story of two kids whose families have vacationed together for the last few years. It's dual POV with hints of flashbacks when necessary to fill you in on the past relationships. This is 100% a YA rom-com novel - don't let the synopsis fool you about the pranking. The pranking is part of Asher and Sidney's relationship with each other, which leads to big trouble for both families. After their summer vacation at the lake is threatened, Asher and Sidney come together to prank a common enemy, but both of them start to wonder if a bigger prank is occuring. Overall a wonderful, cute story with great (though sometimes annoying) characters, dialogue, backstory, and plot. Pennington never fails to deliver a story that makes you want to read it immediately in one sitting and linger in it for days, both at the same time. I highly recommend for anyone wanting to read about summer, fun, young love, family, or a well told story. Though this takes place the summer before each character goes to college, this is a clean romance read. (The only thing that bugged me was I wanted a little bit more closure, explanation, and reconsiliation at the end.)

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story. The story follows a boy and girl, who's families vacation together at a lake for the entire summer. The story starts when the two main characters, Sidney and Asher, are in a kind of pranking war, which has been going on for the last five years until one prank is taken too far and causes the families to find a different house, which they have to share for the rest of the summer. This causes the two main characters, not only to share a bathroom, but also spend more time together. As the old saying goes "There is a fine line between love and hate." and these two characters definitely show an undercurrent of chemistry throughout the book. I enjoyed the writing style with the reader able to switch between the main characters' POVs especially as the reader was able to learn important details as to what happen to start the pranking war off at the beginning. At times, I felt Sidney needed to give Asher the benefit of the doubt and trust in the growing relationship. I understand they had spent years with a war like mentality, but throughout the book, I believe Sidney was more invested in the pranks than Asher was especially when you realize how it all got started in the first place. I liked how open and believable Asher's character was towards his goals in the kind of relationship he wanted with Sidney. I loved the parents. While they were secondary characters, throughout the book I liked how close the families were. I felt some things that were revealed towards the end of the story were a little too neatly wrapped up, but I liked how the book ended and left the characters in a much more developed and mature place. I would recommend this book those in the YA community or those who loved a clean summer Romance ! I would like to read more by this author!

Sidney and Asher have been at war for the last four years, and by war I mean who can out prank the other over the summer break. This year it goes a bit too far and and their families get kicked out of their separate lake homes. I really enjoyed the beginning of this YA romance but by the middle it was painstakingly slow and I started finding myself being annoyed by Sidney. It was good but not great so 3 stars for me.

I was provided with an electronic ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This one wasn’t what I expected but I also kind of was if that makes sense. It was somewhat predictable but very fun to read! The beginning was slow, but after they meet at midnight the book picks up pace and becomes a lot better!

The review will be divided into two parts, the first half of the book and the second
The First Half
Um wow. I loved it. The humor was spot on and I couldn't help but laugh. Sid and Ash pulled some phenomenal pranks on each other and it was great.
The Second Half
Around the 44% mark, this book started turning into a romance. There were not really any pranks pulled, and the ones that were pulled were hardly mentioned. There was no humor and I did not enjoy reading it. I did not finish this book, choosing instead to quit at 80%.
Another Additional Note
Sid and Ash are both going to swim in college, yet they did not practice much over the summer. I find that highly unlikely just based off of how much swim kids at my high school practice.
All and all, this book was not my favorite and I will not be reading more by Pennington.

Rating: 2 Stars
Content: Cannot receive a rating due to the fact that I DNF.

*I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own and a positive review was not required.

I really enjoyed this book! I love the hate to love trope so much, I found Meet Me at Midnight so easy to read and speed right through because I just wanted to devour Sidney and Asher’s relationship. I did find that it almost slowed down a bit towards the end but I don’t really have an issue with that, it was a lot of a whirlwind for the most part so having a more settled, mellow ending evened it out a bit. All in all I would definitely recommend for a good fluffy summer read!

This is my favorite book of Pennington's yet. I've loved all of them, but Meet Me at Midnight stands out in a way I can't quite put words to. I think part of it is the growth in Pennington's writing, which is bound to come with each book she writes. And part of it is the characters, I simply loved Sidney and Asher. They are equal parts hilarious and awful, sweet and sour...much as we all are at that heading-to-college age. And maybe that's the crux of what I loved - watching their growth and maturity, and the way Pennington captures it, explains it, was masterful.

Sidney and Asher have been enemies every summer. Their parents vacation together on the lake in side-by-side cabins, which means that Sidney and Asher GET to spend every summer together. To make things interesting, they play pranks on one another, sugar in the salt shaker, that type of thing. The pranks get upped a little each year. But this year they get out of hand, and Asher asks Sidney to consider joining forces against a common enemy. Can they find a way to be friends? Or will this all end up in a bigger mess than before?

Believe me, if you love summer romances... If you love YA... If you love stories where the characters grow and see themselves in new ways... If you have a heart... you will LOVE this book.

I was immediately excited to read Meet Me At Midnight as soon as I read the blurb. It sounded like such a light and fun romantic comedy and I was excited to see how the haters-lovers relationship between the two main characters would pan out. This book ended up really surprising me. While I knew it was going to be entertaining and full of silly pranks, there was also a depth to the story that I didn't expect and that really made the book for me.

The characters are always so important to me in romantic, contemporary novels and Sidney and Asher didn't disappoint. They were both unique characters. Sidney with her social awkwardness, artistic flair and determination to succeed as a swimmer. Asher with his adorable warmth, cheeky smirks and understanding of who he is and what he wants in life. Sometimes I got a little annoyed with Sidney with her inability to trust anyone (well, Asher mainly) but on the other hand, I could really understand her and thought her flaws made her such a well-balanced character. Asher is probably my favourite of the pair, though. He's just so sweet and I really liked his playfulness and honesty. The chemistry between the pair of them was electric. I loved seeing how their relationship developed and the pacing really made the book a page-turner for me.

I loved the whole set-up with the history between them and their families staying at the Lake Houses every summer. It was such a warm and inviting atmosphere, even if these two did supposedly hate each other. It was so much fun to read about their pranks both past and present and to learn about why and when they became enemies when it's so clear they are much more than that. I just thought Sidney and Asher's story was so sweet and unique. I flew through this book in two days and I was so excited to read the second half and to be back with these characters again on the couch after work. Meet Me At Midnight was such a fun, deep and uplifting book about two teenagers learning their place in the world by the side of another and I just really enjoyed it. I really recommend it if you are looking for a wonderfully romantic and entertaining story about friendship, summer, fun, family and the perfect connection between two people.

This was a somewhat typical young adult romance. But it was sweet, it was funny, and the characters were really likeable. It was a fun easy read and I was drawn into their world.

Thank you to the publisher and net galley for the ARC which did not impact my review.

This cute, summer time young adult contemporary was quite predictable, a little bit corny and entirely right up my alley. The teens were believably annoying, with just the right level of chemistry. I think I'll have to reread this one nearer to the appropriate season.