I keep coming back to K.L. Walther after having loved The Summer of Broken Rules, but every novel I have tried since has failed to capture the magic of Walther’s debut. With appealing covers and compelling plots, you would think that Walther’s subsequent novels would be standouts, but unfortunately, there are issues.

Being a boarding school baby herself, Walther likes to center her young adult novels around school life, with What Happens After Midnight focusing on senior prank hijinks. Every class is appointed a Jester, who has the responsibility of pulling off that year’s prank. Good girl Lily Hopper is not only this year’s salutatorian, she is also a fac brat, daughter of one of her boarding school’s esteemed teachers. When she is picked to take part in this year’s prank, she surprisingly jumps on board and becomes integral in the plot to steal away her class’s yearbooks. But, of course, no prank plot goes unpunished, as Lily will soon discover. When she learns that her ex Taggart is the Jester, she has trouble untangling her emotions with the task at hand. Will she be able to keep her feelings at bay in order to pull off the prank?

What Happens After Midnight is what I like to call a middling novel. There’s good, but there’s also bad and boring. I always love a boarding school setting featuring a tight knit group of classmates, and What Happens After Midnight has that in droves. The concept of a senior prank could be really fun, but Walther frankly writes it in a dull and tedious way. There’s just too much going on, and I found myself quickly losing interest once the prank hijinks actually started. I found the character development to also be weak and inconsistent. For example, there’s cursing sprinkled throughout the conversations in this book, but it just felt unnecessary and out of place. Furthermore, I am not a Taylor Swift fan - I know very little about her - but apparently, there are nods to her scattered throughout this book. Perhaps this is why Walther kept losing me? Because these references went over my head?

In all, I think that What Happens After Midnight will be hit or miss with readers, even its intended audience of young adults. It is too banal to make a lasting impression, but may serve as entertainment for the duration of reading with the right person.

Thank you Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review What Happens After Midnight. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What Happens After Midnight is my second K. L. Walther book. I enjoyed reading The Summer of Broken Rules so I was looking forward to this one. I did not expect to take over a year to read and review it lol so I'm sorry for the very much delayed review.

If you're looking for an end-of-the-summer young adult book, What Happens After Midnight is a solid read. I did like the premise of following the characters as they set up an end-of-the-year prank. The school has a designated Jester and it's a tradition passed down to those who are worthy of the title. Lily is a "faculty-student", her mom is one of the beloved teachers at the school. Lily is known to follow the rules, knows the other teachers on a more personal basis, and she's also the salutatorian. As the school year comes to an end, Lily gets an invitation to team up with the chosen Jester and play a prank on the student body. When she finds out the Jester is her childhood friend and ex-boyfriend Tag, who she happens to still have complicated feelings for, she decides to join in on the prank, takes her mother's school keys, and meets the Jester and others at midnight.

What Happens After Midnight is a cute YA story that focuses on friendship, stepping out of your comfort zone, and admitting mistakes that were made. Lily broke up with Tag due to insecurities created when he became more popular around other girls especially the one who takes him away from Lily. Tag was oblivious to what the other girl was doing but Lily could see right through and decided to break things off so he wouldn't hurt her first. I get they're in high school but the miscommunication between Lily and Tag was kind of stupid. Lily should have brought up the issues she was having with Blair, the one trying to steal Tag away, and talk to Tag about the insecurities she was having while he was not seeing what was happening around them.

I did enjoy the midnight, late night, antics of setting up the prank. As the Jester, Tag decided to hide all of the yearbooks, which are apparently very precious to the school, and hid them the night before they were supposed to be handed out by the school president. The whole story did feel juvenile and on the younger side of YA, though there are mentions of s3x, and getting high.

The story does have a lot of back and forth past and present moments. I'm not sure of how the end product reads but while reading the e-ARC it was like a constant whiplash with nothing to differentiate between the two. However, I should mention that I did skim a little bit so it might have been a 'me' problem too.

What Happens After Midnight is a quick summer read.

3 stars

I had a lot of fun reading about these two, Tag and Lily. Although the story mainly revolves around this one night, I could feel their love and angst that could only come from years of knowing each other. This was so YA and cozy and I can’t wait to read all of K.L Walther’s future releases as well.

K.L. Walther's "What Happens After Midnight" is a charming, heartfelt romance that explores themes of self-discovery and second chances. The relatable characters and sweet, slow-burn love story make for an engaging read. While some plot points may feel predictable, the novel’s emotional depth and endearing moments make it a satisfying, feel-good escape.

I loved the romance! they understood each and could be themselves together. The chemistry between them was amazing! I also loved the slow-burn and the sexual tension between the main characters. There were several scenes that made me blush and smile so much. The writing is beautiful and descriptive. I honestly felt like I was living in the world with the characters. I felt so many emotions while reading this book, I cried, I laughed and I smiled. This book will stay in my heart for a long time.

Unfortunately, "What Happens After Midnight" was just not it for me. While I was genuinely excited to read about Lily and Tag's second-chance and prank filled romance, I had troubles getting into the book and ended up DNF'ing it.. As a fan of YA and Taylor Swift themed romance books I was excited to read this, but I found that there was a little too much pop culture references. It also felt slow-pacing so I felt bored reading during some parts of it. I loved the premise of it, but it ultimately just didn't seem like it was for me

What Happens After Midnight was cute enough but unfortunately I was bored for much of the book. The Taylor Swift references got to be a bit much but Swifties would probably appreciate that more than I did. Overall I was probably just too old to enjoy this one but had the plot been more exciting or less predictable then I definitely would have liked it more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me a digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

As a die-hard Swiftie, I was, of course, intrigued by this novel.

However, it felt so painfully and bluntly on-the-nose that it mostly erred on the side of juvenile more than anything else. The pacing was clunky, and there were too many pop-culture references for it to ultimately be enjoyable. A couple references here and there are fine, but when the whole book seems to be relying on them, it completely pulls me out of what I am supposed to be reading.

I think that this is a book that will be enjoyable with a younger audience, but it was a tough read for me to get through.

What Happens After Midnight (eARC) — 3.5 ⭐️

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 —
✌️Second Chance Romance
📺 Real-Life Pop Culture References
🔍 Scavenger Hunt
🥰 Feel-Good Story
🎓 School Romance
🔐 Closed Door Romance

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 —
👩‍👧 Lorelai and Rory Vibes
💖 Taylor Swift Lyrics
🃏Heists and Clues
📓 Private HS Drama
🩺 Diabetes Rep

𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: I thought this was a really cute YA romance with a fun twist of senior pranks! Being so far removed from high school, I feel like I didn’t connect with the characters, but I still think the story was well written. It was especially fun picking out the Taylor Swift lyrics, which were subtle but well done.

𝐓𝐖: sexual content, profanity, medical content

Thank you, NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire, for providing me an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was a good contemporary YA novel that I would recommend to those who think it sounds interesting!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher

I simply adored this book. I had so much fun searching for all of the Taylor Swift references, and Taggart made my heart so happy. Lily is a great main character, strong but vulnerable. I love this author and will read anything she writes.

DNF @ 27%. It’s not you; it’s me. I’ve got nothing against YA; in fact, I usually enjoy YA. But these characters were so immature that it was annoying. I found myself annoyed more often than I was enjoying the book, and I’m a firm believer that books deserve readers who enjoy them. If you like Gilmore Girls-esque fanfic and just a how-many-references-can-I-get-away-with-in-one-book level of Taylor Swift allusions, you might be one of those readers.

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc !
The Summer of Broken Rules is one of my favorite books that I read in 2022 so I was ready to read K. L. Walther’s new book. I can’t tell you how happy I was when I was able to get an arc <3
This book is so cute !!!! All you need to know is second chance + boarding school senior prank + friendship. I loved reading and I was as curious as Lily to know what prank they would pull, what clues The Jester created and how they would manage to do everything after midnight !
All the references made me fall more in love with the book, there are tons of mentions of Taylor Swift and Schitt’s Creek ! And I can’t forget to tell you how beautiful and amazing was to read the relationship between Lily and Leda (Lily’s mom) and also Josh!
I hope everyone loves Lily and Tag just like I did <3

I really enjoyed the summer of broken rules and I was really excited for this one because of it and it didn't dissapointed!!!!

I really wanted to be part of this group and jump right into this book.

Also the taylor swift references?
LOVE IT

What Happens After Midnight introduces Lily Hopper, who attends an upscale boarding school in Rhode Island, because her mother is a faculty member. Each year the student body taps a "Jester," who masterminds an elaborate prank. This year Lily is mysteriously invited to join the Jester's pranksters to steal and hide the annual yearbooks, which are scheduled to be handed out by class president Daniel Rivera, Lily's prom date. When she finds out the Jester is Tag Swell, her ex-boyfriend, whom she still loves, she almost backs out. Tag has planned a complicated scavenger hunt for Daniel to complete in order to find the yearbooks. Hiding the clues requires the use of her mother's keys, which Lily reluctantly steals. Of course, the pranksters set out at midnight to steal the yearbooks and hide the clues. As Lily and Tag work together, they revisit their two-year relationship via flashbacks. They dodge school security, faculty members and fellow students who are also out after midnight. Tag's Type 1 diabetes is woven into the story, creating complications in completing the prank. Old feelings resurface and Lily realizes that the biggest obstacle to their happiness was Lily's insecurity about other girls vying for Tag's attention, and that he was only marking time until he could convince her to give him a second chance. Swift action and near misses in getting caught, as well as the "will they, won't they get back together" question, make this a real page turner.

What Happens After Midnight is the perfect one-night mystery for fans of second-chance romances and boarding school antics.

I thought that the plot and storyline were really interesting, and not something that I’ve seen very often in Young Adult novels. Despite the majority of the novel happening in one night, there was still a very full story and it worked well for the length of the novel. With that being said, I do think the main prank was a little drawn out, and too complicated. We don’t actually get to see the aftermath played out in full, which was a little disappointing.

The romance between Tag and Lily was sweet, but I had a lot of questions that were left unanswered, and because it does take place over a short period of time, the romance happens very quickly. There’s a history that isn’t really mentioned which makes it difficult to pinpoint the reason for the breakup.I don’t think the romance needed to happen, as it would’ve made sense for them to stay as friends during the course of the novel, as it would’ve led to a similar outcome anyway.

Because it was a very in-depth prank to pull for their senior year, and the main plot of the novel, I feel like it could’ve been better. I do think that it was funny and made sense, but I wish we could’ve seen more and learned a little more about the characters in the process. There are a few characters who you suddenly learn a lot about, and I felt like it was very rushed. I also have mixed feelings about the pop-culture references, namely Taylor Swift and Schitt’s Creek. Some of them were well used, and others felt a bit like a quota that needed to be filled and were very repetitive.

That being said, it was an extremely easy read, and very enjoyable. I would definitely bring this on a vacation or recommend this as an introduction to teen mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley, SOURCEBOOKS Fire, and the author for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

2.5 stars.
Lily joined the year-end prank group without knowing that the mysterious leader is none other than her ex. The ex who she still has feelings for. But it’s too late to back up, so the only option is to get through the midnight shenanigans hiding prank clues across campus.

There’s A LOT of Taylor Swift lyric references, some fit well, some felt forced. And it’s clear that that's intentional, not from the author herself because I spotted none Midnights lyrics. I guess by the time the album comes out, it’s too late to add them to the draft. Zero score for originality. The romance also felt… just so-so. It was fun, and that’s it.

This book was adorable! I absolutely loved the fun and cuteness of this book. Lily is adorable. I found myself routing for her throughout the book. The story of Tag and Lily is cute and I loved the prank idea. I did think the book could have been shorter. I found myself a little bored halfway through the book. The Taylor Swift references kept me wanting to read ♥️♥️

This was a fun, sweet YA romcom. I really enjoyed the banter, the relationships between the characters as well as the lovely mother-daughter relationship, and the swiftie references throughout. However it got kind of long and repetitive after a while and felt like it was being dragged out a bit by the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.