Midnights with You presents the emotional and traumatic experiences that happen after a parent’s death. Main character, Deedee, feels isolated from the world around her; her mother is abusive (in multiple ways), she feels othered by her white classmates and she feels restricted when it comes to expressing herself. Listening to the audiobook, I experienced the pain and agony of Deedee’s emotional experience. In multiple instances, Deedee’s internal voices is augmented by her mother’s literal voice mouthing off disparaging comments on Deedee’s physical looks, work ethic, temperament or whatever else. When listening, I empathized so much with Deedee because I understand how these disparaging comments affect the way Deedee sees herself.
The novel’s focus is on Deedee’s life during and after high school. along with Deedee’s complex relationship with her mother, friends and classmates around her, she falls in love with her neighbor and classmate, Jay. Their love story, to me, isn’t necessary to the plot but it provides both Deedee and Jay room to grow through their trauma and understand different perspectives. During their relationship, Deedee discovers multiple family secrets that left her confused, enraged and determined to find her voice. Oscongco takes her readers on a serious rollercoaster ride of personal development, growth and family. The role of their relationship was important for both characters to grow even in their time apart. Even though, I’m not a huge fan of the ending, I enjoyed this text a lot, it reminded me of Samira Ahmed’s Love, Hate & Other Filters and Mary H.K. Choi’s Emergency Contact.

Midnights with You is an amazing contemporary YA read. The themes of identity, emotional abuse and coming of age will resonate with readers. This is a must have for all YA collections!

DeeDee is the only child of her very strict Filipino mother. She is so strict that DeeDee isn’t allowed to have friends, which leads to a very isolated life. When she sees a new boy next door on his roof at midnight, an opportunity presents itself to live a little less alone. The boy, Jay, has his own parental issues, and together they try to navigate the unfortunate situations they have been put into.
This was a hard one for me. Was the book well written? Absolutely. It was raw, emotional, gut wrenching, etc. Did I want to throw the book across the room because of the mom? Also absolutely. Would I put myself through the emotional torture and read it again? No. Would I recommend this to my high school students? The same students who enjoy A Child Called It would be my target audience. Overall, I’m giving this four stars but please note the trigger warning at the beginning of the book (verbal and emotional abuse) before committing to this trauma-laden story.

Midnights with You was a great emotional read! I love the messages about finding your identity, confronting your problems, and healing yourself instead of hoping a relationship with fix everything.

These main characters really did hurt each other a lot, and I was so satisfied with the ending. The final line of the book made me feel warm and cozy.

Definitely recommending for my high school students to read.