Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines Book Review

We’re getting close to the end of my summer TBR with this next review here! Somehow I managed to read this title and three more off my summer list by August 31. That brings the amount of summer reads to a grand total of 27 books during June, July, and August!

This week’s title is Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines

West Ashby is the confident, popular football star at Lawton High, but beneath the surface, he's struggling with the pain of his father’s terminal illness. Maggie Carleton, silent since witnessing her father murder her mother, hides her grief behind a wall of silence even after moving to Lawton. When West confides in Maggie at a party, her unexpected response sparks a deep connection between two broken hearts learning to heal together.

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️

To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I read Abbi Glines’ Sea Breeze series a while back and really enjoyed each of those stories. I also read her Vincent Brothers duology, which is YA, so I expected to enjoy this series. Man was I wrong. I don’t know if it’s because I’m older now or what, but West and his friends have way too much locker room talk and possessiveness for my liking. I rated this two stars since I think the actual writing style is fine, I just didn’t care for the exact content, which I’ll go into below!

Spoiler-free Review

One of the things I loved about Abbi Glines’ other books was how protective the male characters are over their girlfriends. But there’s a difference between protective and possessive. There’s also a difference between possessiveness being portrayed in fantasy and in contemporary fiction with the later not making that character trait look too good. I found West incredibly possessive with not wanting Maggie to talk to anyone, literally anyone, that was not him and he was extremely jealous if another guy paid her attention. It gave “touch her and you die” vibes, but in a contemporary fiction book it felt a lot more like a thread that promoted control of women and not letting them have any independence. I was not a fan.

In addition to West’s controlling nature, the way his friends speak about women and constantly referred to Maggie as weak and defenseless left a sour taste in my mouth. Since this is a nine book series (what did I get myself into?) I know that the other books will probably focus on West’s teammates and they’ll all magically change their minds about women as they fall in love. But in this day and age, I want to read about boys and men who already respect women.

The concept of this book was really interesting and I think there was a lot of potential to dive further into Maggie’s trauma and West’s difficulty coping with grief. Yet, the execution just wasn’t there for me. There were times where I felt like details were glossed over and I wanted more information about Maggie before she came to live in Lawton.

I also don’t quite understand why this series is called Field Party when they really only go to a field party three times in the book. However, if you enjoy sports romances and want books with a little more of that strong-male energy, you might like this book.

For a spoiler review, keep on reading!

Spoilers! Be warned!

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Okay, I warned you!

In my opinion, West needed some serious therapy. I’m glad he had Maggie to talk to and have someone understand what he’s going through, but he relied too heavily on her and that wasn’t really resolved even after they broke up. He used her as a crutch, which she acknowledged and dumped him for, but then he never tried to change his actions before they got back together. This gives off a “she can fix him” type vibe.

I really liked that Maggie doesn’t try to forgive her father and have a relationship with him. However, him committing suicide felt like an easy out as a way for her to move on. It would’ve been more beneficial for her character to just have him not be mentioned again.

While I liked the concept of Maggie only really talking to West because they both understand each other’s pain, I really didn’t like how the book went about her speaking again. I felt like she needed to have a larger development with West before she starts talking to him and I also didn’t like how her cousin warned everyone away from her because he thought she was helpless.

Ultimately, I did not care for these characters or the plot structure of the book, but I guess I’ll find out if any of the other books in the series are better since I never start a series I don’t intend to finish!