Book Review
Title: The Night When No One Had Sex by Kalena Miller
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Rating: 4.5 Stars
The Night When No One Had Sex for me was a reverse Cherry by Lindsey Rosin and it was absolutely delightful as it was part romance, part friendship story with some great representation and definitely deserves the hype it has been getting. For a young adult book it was nice to see some older characters planning to go to college as I feel this isn’t really represented especially in the contemporary and romance genres. We are following a group of friend including Julia, and her boyfriend Kevin, Zoe and her girlfriend Morgan, Alex and his date Leah and Madison and her boyfriend Jake. Julia has planned to lose her virginity at prom and manages to convince her friends to join her but nothing is going to go right and that isn’t a bad thing.
I am going to break this review down by the couples as that is easier especially since the book bounces between each couple and their group chat as well. Starting with Julia and Kevin, they manages to get access to Zoe’s uncle’s lake house for the big deed but Julia finds the first attempt to painful and there is also the added complication of Zoe’s uncle leaving behind his cat and Julia is afraid of cats (which I can’t understand as a cat owner myself). Their storyline was hilarious especially when they tried roleplaying for the first time and Julia ends up locked in a closet for several hours while hilarity ensues. Zoe and her girlfriend don’t really need to be part of the pact as they have been having sex for nearly a year but decide to humour their friend. Their story is more about how Zoe is worried about going to Yale where she would be a legacy student and she doesn’t know how to tell Morgan she would be moving across the country especially when she isn’t sure she wants to go to Yale in the first place and this was a storyline I could relate to as I have the same experience when I was moving away to university a few years ago.
Alex isn’t going to take part in the pact either as he only met his date a few hours before and he isn’t that kind of person. However, on their way to the lake house Alex gets a call informing him that his grandmother is in the hospital and he has no choice but to bring Leah along for the ride. His family instantly assume that the pair are dating and during their time at the hospital they are forced to get closer to each other which is a trope I love. However, it is complicated as Leah is the daughter of the family responsible for the developments that destroyed Alex’s grandmother’s favourite park and she is planning on leaving for Vermont soon for college but that isn’t going to stop Alex from falling for her even when she warns him not to. The final couple that was honestly my favourite was Madison and her boyfriend Jake, Madison used to a ballet dancer until she was diagnosed with lupus. Obviously, this was a huge thing for the family considering she is Morgan’s twin sister but Morgan is too protective and Madison longs for some freedom which she is hoping to find in her relationship with Jake.
While the individual storylines were amazing and it really balanced a serious tone with a more light-hearted one I did find myself wanting to see more of the group as a whole outside of the group chat and it would have made this book a real found family. I also really enjoyed the fact that the entire book takes place over a single night making it really easy to fly through and I read it in a single day which really helped me appreciate how quickly things were happening for the characters and how they were struggling with some of these events. The writing style that Miller uses his witty and honest making the book fast paced and enjoyable and I don’t think I’ve seen a more accurate or enjoyable portrayal of teenage characters when I am no longer a teenager myself. There are some unexpected turn but the one thing I loved above everything else was the how sex is so openly discussed when it is often looked over or blacked out especially in young adult books where I think it needs to be talked about more openly and I applaud Miller for doing just that. Overall, for me I didn’t completely gel with the book at first but once I got to know the characters I adore it. It was definitely worth the read and I will be on the lookout for Miller’s future work.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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