DNF: What We Saw At Night, by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Release Date: January 8th, 2013
Age Group: Young Adult
Publisher: Soho Teen
Source: NetGalley

Overall: Did Not Finish

Categories: Contemporary, Thriller, Suspense

Goodreads 

Read in February 2013

Summary:

Allie Kim suffers from Xeroderma Pigmentosum: a fatal allergy to sunlight that confines her and her two best friends, Rob and Juliet, to the night. When freewheeling Juliet takes up Parkour—the stunt-sport of scaling and leaping off tall buildings—Allie and Rob have no choice but to join her, if only to protect her. Though potentially deadly, Parkour after dark makes Allie feel truly alive, and for the first time equal to the “daytimers.” On a random summer night, the trio catches a glimpse of what appears to be murder. Allie alone takes it upon herself to investigate, and the truth comes at an unthinkable price. Navigating the shadowy world of specialized XP care, extreme sports, and forbidden love, Allie ultimately uncovers a secret that upends everything she believes about the people she trusts the most.

My Opinion:

I've been dancing on this book for way too long, and have finally decided to put it to rest. 

After reading the blurb and one very promising review, I requested it from NG, but sadly, I found out that this book isn't right up my alley. 

The pacing was way too slow for my taste, I didn't get emotionally attached to any of its characters, and I felt like Jacquelyn took too much time setting the suspense in the story. Half way into it is not the right moment to start introducing the wow-ing factors. 

The romance fell flat to me too, I didn't feel that "Oh, they want to be together, awww" sense I like to get when I read romances. Juliet was annoying, and I didn't like that Allie didn't do anything to change that. I mean, here's a girl you call your best friend, acting like an idiot to you... I might not be as forgiving Allie was. 

The bad man, Blondie, appeared a couple of times in the first half of the book, and I was not even spooked by him.

All I got from this book is a little bit more knowledge about the illness XP, the allergy to the sun. 

It's too bad too, because the premise sounded so appealling, but the writing didn't do it for me. But hey, it might do it for you. Read some more reviews first.