Until friday night

By Abbi Glines

Sometimes you can’t help but laugh at the “bad boy” attitude.

The Ugly Truth:

As listed on my Goodreads page, this book is a true time filler with some cute moments, but, for the most part, you thank the higher powers you have graduated high school.

Until Friday Night is a Tim Riggins and Lyla Garrity-coded nightmare only without the constant talk about religion. You have your football bad boy going through one of the toughest battles of life, losing a parent, and your classic good girl who has more problems than the SAT’s math section, including being mute.

In terms of romance, this book was a quick and easy read with all the necessary components to make it a TikTok-recommended hit. As it goes with the territory, our leading man, West, has seen more than enough girls’ panties, spending more time in the bathroom with a cheerleader than on the football field, whereas our leading lady, Maggie, is as innocent as can be, never even having had a first kiss at the start of the novel. West is quick to recognize the “good” in Maggie. He decides that she must be the one to save him and becomes incredibly dependent on a girl who, in my opinion, is barely holding her own head above water. Maggie quickly finds herself entangled in the classic girl trope of “I can fix him,” and takes on his problems like a certified therapist. I can’t blame the girl for wanting the golden boy after suffering from her own trauma for two years, but I was hoping she would hold out on him and his asshole attitude for a bit longer than she managed.

Beyond his player tendencies, it frustrated me to no end that the only time West even started to reflect on his treatment of other women was because he was concerned as to what Maggie would think of him, not at all considering that his actions might just be wrong to begin with. For me, it shows that his character was not magnanimous or worth a second glance and it was difficult to then believe his feelings for Maggie.

Ultimately, the only time I enjoyed their story was the few moments of niceness from West and when Maggie finally called West out for using her as a crutch to deal with his own issues. That was the most honest and real conversation of the book, and it also gave some credit back to her as the protagonist.

In terms of the story, I think Abbie Glines actually successfully captured the WTF reactions of high school kids. It was chaotically written with lines that, as the reader, you think, “Really? That is the best we came up with?” but then you remember yourself in high school and start to see where she might be coming from. I enjoyed her portrayal of the side characters, including Brady, and how each member of the football team acted as though they were some badass successful hottie when in reality, they are 18-year-olds with not a clue of the real world.

That being said, it was seriously lacking girl-power. Each female introduced was either threatening Maggie or a threat to Maggie, and I kind of want to ask Glines what her friendships in reality are like? Maybe it has been too long, but in my opinion, not everyone in school is out for the blood of the new cute girl. I feel as though it would have shown a lot of growth to introduce a true friend into Maggie's life, so that she might be able to recognize that her and West were more than that.

Overall, this was a time waster that I would not go out of my way to recommend to a friend, but if you stumble upon this post and are looking for a quick read that reminds you of the Friday Night Lights of high school, then give it a go!