I tried to go back and read this book over the years but I cannot finish.

Under the Lights was provided by NetGalley in 2016

It's been ages since I read an Abbi Glines book, but with the release of the third book in The Field Party series looming, I decided it was time to get caught up on the series. What ensued was a day and a half, two book binge a couple weekends ago. I regret nothing... except how long it took me to read Under the Lights.

I really enjoyed Under the Lights. More, maybe, than I thought I even would. (And I pretty much loved Until Friday Night, so I'm not really sure why exactly it took me so long to read this book.) Regardless, I'm glad I finally got back around to it. I was admittedly a little apprehensive going in because the blurb clearly describes a love triangle. While that's's not a total no-fly for me, it's not always something I enjoy. Just to be clear, there was a love triangle here but it wasn't that bad. It was pretty obvious who Willa really belonged with. Of course, I also read the blurb for the third book, After the Game, before starting this one so that might've had something to do with it, too. Regardless, I wasn't particularly bothered in this instance.

I really liked Willa and Gunnar. (Ok and Brady, too. More or less.) It was great to see Willa getting a second chance back in her hometown, especially after the situation she dealt with before leaving Arkansas. It was ugly and sad and definitely affected her. Understandably. She was still dealing with the consequences and felt a ton of guilt. Getting back to her roots, back to the friends she knew back when, helped some. As much as anything could, I suppose. Willa grew so much over the course of this book. Don't dismiss the guys, either. Especially Gunnar. His life really is a shit show, thanks to his family. He's definitely not the spoiled rich boy everyone seems to think he is. My heart honestly broke for both him and Willa.

Under the Lights was a great read. I did find it a little slow in the beginning and I struggled a little with why it was necessary to have three different points of view. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I disliked Brady, even if he was relatively selfish and immature at times. I was just far more interested in what was happening between Willa and Gunnar. That's where the heart of the story was for me. The last 30% or so is where the real goodness was though, IMHO. That's where the bulk of the feels came in. All in all though, I breezed through this book and barely paused before picking up the next one in the series. It was a great binge.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

FAVORITE QUOTES

Love wasn't real. It was a fleeting emotion that confused you, then destroyed you in the end.

In life you face obstacles, and you have to fight through them. If you're lucky enough, you find someone to fight for you, too.

This is the 2nd book of the series. It picks up where the first book left off and the kids are close to graduation. This time a new character is introduced. Willa used to go to school with theses kids until she was 11. She had lived with her grandmother and then moved away when her mother wanted her back. Well Willa made a mistake and an accident happened. Her mother no longer wants her so Willa moved back in with her grandmother. We find out what happened with Willa and we learn more about her selfish mother. The friendships in this book I fell is realistic with teenagers nowadays. I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

It is so hard for me to write this review. I honestly could not wait to read Under the Lights by Abbi Glines. Not only is Until Friday Night one of my favorite reads of last year, but it is one of my favorite books ever! I love this world that Abbi created, but honestly Under the Lights was so disappointing that I almost didn't finish it. This book felt nothing like the first one, and I am so sad that a book I was greatly anticipating let me down like I felt this one did.

This story centers around Willa, Gunner, and Brady. They were all friends as children, but things have changed for all of them as they have grown older and choices they made altered the paths they were on. But as secrets start to be revealed, all of them will have to face the truth, even if it means losing each other forever.

Part of my problem here was the fact that we got all three POVs for these characters, and it just felt like too much. It wasn't necessary and just seemed to muddle the story for me. I also felt like this book was so slow and drawn out, yet when it came down to it the relationship here felt rushed. I don't know how exactly that was possible, but it happened here. The characters were immature and their actions were often times over the top. While the first book felt genuine and so real that I loved everything about it, this story felt as though it was constant drama and immaturity. Things got to the point of being ridiculous and it just felt forced. I also really dislike how Abbi's books have a tendency to make every girl in them out to be so awful, even the heroines to some extent. That is definitely thAmae case with this series and it was more apparent than ever here. I don't know why she seems to need to make them all out to be different versions of the stereotypical mean girl or horrible human beings in general, but there were very few exceptions to that here.

Overall, I am just really upset with how things went here. I had been so excited for this book, and I really had to force myself to finish. If it wasn't for my absolute love for the first book in this series, I really think this would have been a DNF for me. There were so many times I wanted to stop reading, but I just kept hoping this one would get better. I will continue this series as I do love the world she has created, but this one just wasn't what I had been expecting or hoping for at all. I also had several issues with Abbi's recent Rosemary Beach book Up In Flames. I am hoping that she gets back to what her writing used to be as it seems like her newer books just aren't working for me like her past books have. It makes it hard to take a chance on her books when the price is so steep for them as well. I do think that Abbi is a talented writer, but unfortunately her books seem to be really hit or miss for me with me either loving or hating them.