Review: Bright Before Sunrise by Tiffany Schmidt

Bright Before Sunrise by Tiffany Schmidt

Published: February 18, 2014

Publisher: Walkers Children

Format: via NetGalley
Challenges: 2014 NetGalley/Edelweiss

Rating: 3.5/5

Synopsis

When Jonah is forced to move from Hamilton to Cross Pointe for the second half of his senior year, "miserable" doesn't even begin to cover it. He feels like the doggy-bag from his mother's first marriage and everything else about her new life—with a new husband, new home and a new baby—is an upgrade. The people at Cross Pointe High School are pretentious and privileged—and worst of all is Brighton Waterford, the embodiment of all things superficial and popular. Jonah’s girlfriend, Carly, is his last tie to what feels real... until she breaks up with him.

For Brighton, every day is a gauntlet of demands and expectations. Since her father died, she’s relied on one coping method: smile big and pretend to be fine. It may have kept her family together, but she has no clue how to handle how she's really feeling. Today is the anniversary of his death and cracks are beginning to show. The last thing she needs is the new kid telling her how much he dislikes her for no reason she can understand. She's determined to change his mind, and when they're stuck together for the night, she finally gets her chance.

Jonah hates her at 3p.m., but how will he feel at 3 a.m.?

One night can change how you see the world. One night can change how you see yourself.

My Thoughts

People aren’t always what they seem. 

That’s what I took away from this novel after a slow start, while I enjoyed most of book this was one of things that got to me. However once it got started I really got into it. Brighton was the typical girl who guys liked and girls wanted to be like. She’s smart pretty yet not a snob but her down fall was that she is a tad naïve. She has put all this pressure in keeping up the façade of having it all together. She has managed to fool everyone, everyone except herself. She’s about to bust at the seams having to deal with school pressure, being the rock that holds her mother together all while never really dealing with the death of her father. On the weekend of the anniversary of his death, Brighton is about to lose it all she ever wanted was to make her father proud and to follow into his footsteps, but in order to do that she has to convince the new guy Jonah to help her.

Jonah hates everything about his new school, the town, his new stepfather and his classmates especially Brighton. To him she is everything that he stands against; he wants his old school and life back. Through a series of events Brighton and Jonah are brought together and realize that they are more alike than they could ever imagine.

I’ve always enjoyed those books and movies that feature these all night adventures that brought and torn people apart. How one night really can turn your life upside down and make you learn more about yourself and others than you ever thought possible. Those nights are what change your life forever.

What I like most of all was the alternating POVS, I love how by doing this we the reader can get the full and complete story. While I liked the chemistry between Brighton and Jonah I wished we got more of it and sooner than we did. I liked how they balanced each other out, he made her fun and she made him more open in dealing with his feelings.

This is a great book about all the things that can happen when you least expect it, and how sometimes those are the things where you learn the most from.

THE BOTTOM LINE... IT'S...