Bright Before Sunrise by Tiffany Schmidt Published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Published: February 18th 2014
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When Jonah is forced to move from Hamilton to Cross Pointe for the second half of his senior year, "miserable" doesn't even begin to cover it. He feels like the doggy-bag from his mother's first marriage and everything else about her new life—with a new husband, new home and a new baby—is an upgrade. The people at Cross Pointe High School are pretentious and privileged—and worst of all is Brighton Waterford, the embodiment of all things superficial and popular. Jonah’s girlfriend, Carly, is his last tie to what feels real... until she breaks up with him.
For Brighton, every day is a gauntlet of demands and expectations. Since her father died, she’s relied on one coping method: smile big and pretend to be fine. It may have kept her family together, but she has no clue how to handle how she's really feeling. Today is the anniversary of his death and cracks are beginning to show. The last thing she needs is the new kid telling her how much he dislikes her for no reason she can understand. She's determined to change his mind, and when they're stuck together for the night, she finally gets her chance.
Jonah hates her at 3p.m., but how will he feel at 3 a.m.?
One night can change how you see the world. One night can change how you see yourself.
I received 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.
Well if I didn’t love Tiffany Schmidt before I do now after reading Bright Before Sunrise. Seriously, is there a way to give more than 5 out of 5 stars??? Because really, this book deserves it if there is. It was clever and fun and honest. It truly was a pleasure to read every word and I hated that it ended so soon because it was fantastic!
Bright Before Sunrise is the story of Brighton and Jonah(love the names by the way!), two teenagers that have nothing in common except they go to the same school. Brighton is peppy and into school spirit, at least on the outside, while Jonah is angry at a lot of things, especially having to more to a new house and school in the second half of his senior year. When circumstances force these two to spend a night together things go from bad to worse, from up to down, from hate to the possibility of love. For two people that thought they had nothing in common, in the course of one night, realize there is more to the other than they ever thought and find out there may just be more to themselves as well.
Do you know what I loved about this book, well besides that fact that it was written by Tiffany Schmidt? I loved that we got two totally different voices from totally different characters. I know, I know, there are a ton of books out there that have dual POVs, I haven’t been living under a rock. I’ve read a bunch myself. But what I liked the best about it is Bright Before Sunrise is although it is a book written by one author it could have easily been two based on the characters(if that makes any sense). Basically Schmidt gave us a wide range of her writing prowess by making Jonah and Brighton so opposite each other that they may have been on different scales. And the fun part about it, they were both putting on a front which then made them more a like then you could imagine.
The other great part of this book was the chemistry between Brighton and Jonah even when Jonah was being surly to her and she was putting on her happy face. Beneath their initial reactions to each other there was a connection even in their differences. You could feel the draw they had to each other leap off the pages even when they were trying to pretend it wasn’t there. Between the banter and the confusion of what they really felt, there was a deep connection that was shown seamlessly in their actions. Was Jonah a jerk and Bright fake at times? Absolutely. But for some inexplicable reason they had each other’s backs no matter what. Watching these two change from the beginning of the book to the end was really a great thing to see unfold.
I know, this review probably doesn’t make a lick of sense, but I had so many feels(all amazing) about this story that it is hard to get my thoughts and emotions down on paper. It was flawlessly written, had strong characters with a great story, and had some nice moments of teenage uncertainty mixed in. Basically all you need to know is that Bright Before Sunrise is a must read so get on that!
Tiffany is doing a different kind of blog tour for this book and I’ve participated on my newly formed Tumblr account. Check out it out here! And follow me if you feel like it. I’m still new to it, but I’m getting there.
I’m glad to see you liked this one!! It looks super cute, but you know how books like that can go… I have had a lot of disappointments w/ books I thought looked cute. I’ll definitely be trying this one out now:)
Great review! This sounds super interesting and I will definitely be checking it out. Contemp YA romance is not usually my favorite thing, but for some reason I’ve been really into them lately.
Yayyyyyy! I just read this book over the weekend and LOVED it. Seriously. I think what you said about Brighton and Jonah’s connection is so spot on. It was one of those love/hate relationships almost. I liked that they go to know each other on such a deeper level, because it was clear from the start that the facades they both had on weren’t really who they were. Jonah pissed me off throughout most of the book, but in the way the author intended, which was awesome.
Thank you for putting this on my radar. I love contemporary books, and I’ve been on the lookout for good ones. This one looks like something I’ll love so I hope to find a copy in the future. 😀