We Own the Night, by Ashely Poston

Hey all! 

I just finished We Own the Night, by Ashely Poston! 

Note: Thank you NetGalley, Ashely and Bloomsbury Spark for sending me a review copy! This does not alter my impressions of the book. 

You can get a copy of this on June 28th, 2016. 

"Happy midnight, my fellow Niteowls..."

As a candy store employee by day, and mysterious deejay "Niteowl" by night, eighteen-year-old Ingrid North is stuck between rock 'n roll and a hard place. She can't wait to get out of her tiny hometown of Steadfast, Nebraska (population three hundred and forty-seven) to chase her dreams, but small-town troubles keep getting in the way. She can't abandon her grandmother with Alzheimer's, or her best friend Micah--who she may or may not be in love with.

But for one hour each Saturday, she escapes all of that. On air, she isn't timid, ugly-sweater-wearing Ingrid North. She's the funny and daring Niteowl. Every boy's manic pixie dream girl. Fearless. And there is one caller in particular-- Dark and Brooding--whose raspy laugh and snarky humor is just sexy enough to take her mind off Micah. Not that she's in love with Micah or anything. Cause she's not.

As her grandmother slips further away and Micah begins dating a Mean-Girls-worthy nightmare, Ingrid runs to the mysterious Dark and Brooding as a disembodied voice to lean on, only to fall down a rabbit hole of punk rockstars, tabloid headlines, and kisses that taste like bubble tea. But the man behind the voice could be surprising in all the right, and wrong, ways.

And she just might find that her real life begins when Niteowl goes off the air.”

If I had to choose one word to describe We Own the Night, it’s cute. This was such a cute, relatable story, from A to Z and back. More than the story, which was sweet, what stood out to me was the characters. 

The story is simple enough - Ingrid and her friends, Micah, Billie and LD graduate from highschool and try to figure out themselves over the summer. Ingrid keeps a secret, one she’s not willing to tell anyone. The book is about trust, friendship and family. 

Ingrid is the kind of person who isn’t popular at school, but has the best friends one could imagine. With them, she’s spunky and cool and open. She’s the type who wears ugly sweaters, has the heart the size of a mountain, and has a very direct sense of humor. Through their senior year, she fell in love with her best friend, Micah, who, right at the beginning of the book, starts going out with Heather - Ingrid’s total opposite. Heather is the daughter of the mayor, the most popular at school, and can get anyone to do anything she wants. Personally, I hated her just through the dialogue. 

Micah is a cool, laid-back, messy guy who likes mechanics and watching stars... I liked his character until he got with Heather. For me, the relationship didn’t feel genuine, and it felt like it was there just to make Ingrid upset. But maybe that was just me! I felt so bad for Ingrid when she saw them together... The feels were real. I do think that those feelings were stretched out quite a bit over the entire book, but it makes sense, as the book takes place in the space of one or two months. 

I liked Billie’s character right away - quirky and unique, kinda shy and happy. He was such a good friend to Ingrid, and his feelings for her were apparent right from the start. I thought he was just so cute in the story! 

Ingrid is down-to-the-bone good. Even though she hated seeing Micah get together with her enemy, she still helped him make it happen, just because she wanted his happiness (well, and because she thought it was a pity-date... whoops!) I loved her Niteowl podcast and her relation to Dark and Brooding! Those little sequences were so, so nice! 

The ending of this book - with Ingrid revealing who she really is, was refreshing and brought it all to a nice conclusion. 

One thing I didn’t appreciate was the attitude her friends took on sometimes - they seemed upset at Ingrid for not being as socially active as before because she has to take care of her grandmother with Alzheimers, but then don’t blink at Micah abandoning them for a girl they all hate. That left me bothered... 

I’m giving this book a 3/5 stars! Cute summer read! It’s only 250 pages, and it’s a super quick read that makes you smile! 

Have you read We Own the Night? What did you think about it? Let me know!