Under the Lights

By Abbi Glines

In the follow-up to Abbi Glines’s #1 New York Times bestseller Until Friday Night - which bestselling author Kami Garcia called 'tender, honest, and achingly real' - three teens from a small southern town are stuck in a dramatic love triangle.
Willa can’t erase the bad decisions of her past that led her down the path she’s on now. But she can fight for forgiveness from her family. And she can protect herself by refusing to let anyone else get close to her.
High school quarterback and town golden boy Brady used to be the best of friends with Willa - she even had a crush on him when they were kids. But that’s all changed now: her life choices have made her a different person from the girl he used to know.
Gunner used to be friends with Willa and Brady, too. He too is larger than life and a high school football star - not to mention that his family basically owns the town of Lawton. He loves his life, and doesn’t care about anyone except himself. But Willa is the exception - and he understands the girl she’s become in a way no one else can.
As secrets come to light and hearts are broken, these former childhood friends must face the truth about growing up and falling in love…even if it means losing each other forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Aug 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781471125058

Abbi Glines

Abbi Glines is the New York Times, USA TODAY, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Rosemary Beach, Field Party, Sea Breeze, Vincent Boys, and Existence series. A devoted book lover, Abbi lives with her family in Alabama. She maintains a Twitter addiction at @AbbiGlines and can also be found at Facebook.com/AbbiGlinesAuthor and AbbiGlinesBooks.com.

Reviews for Under the Lights

[simplykelina · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked it, but I did not love it. It did not live up to my expectations after loving Until Friday Night so much! This took a different path than what I thought would happen. Willa’s secret was played up so much in the beginning and then told in one swoop. Yes, it was mentioned often how she was broken and needed to heal, but I was just not that impressed with the “secret” of what happened to her. It was shocking and emotional the first time she started to talk about it, but I think it could have been done better. It could have brought an even more emotional feel to the story if there was more details and revealed differently. There was not much more to it once it was told and I was expecting something much more. Most of the craziness comes from Gunner and his story. It was definitely unexpected. I think it was rushed and had more potential than the final story as well. I also felt the ending was rushed to bring everything together. There was so much more I wanted to see with these characters.Overall, this fell short after the first book was so amazing.

[tamaranewman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I feel like a lot of stuff was recycled from the Vincent boys books. Also there were a lot of questions left unanswered. It just ended. I have. So. Many. Questions.

[b.j.o. · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

4.5 "Young to New Adult Romantic Gold" Stars for the story and narration!Abbi Glines tore my heart apart and put it back together again in Under the Lights. I could not put my earbuds down desperate to learn more about the true circumstances that had shaped the lives of the characters in this high-school, small southern town based romance. In Under the Lights, Ms. Glines expertly weaves together a story that demonstrates her strength as a writer as she hooks the listener in by her ingenious slow reveal of the culmination of the various life altering circumstances that form the backdrop for the secret motivations and inadvertent actions in this romantic drama. Ms. Glines keeps you guessing at every turn not just with respect to the suspense aspect of the background of a number of the characters but also by crafting a compelling love triangle. This love triangle is further complemented by the talented trio narration style used in narrating Under the Lights. Although this is the second book in The Field Party Series, it could easily be listened to as a standalone as the romance is fully contained within this book. All that said, it is clear that several of the characters are introduced in the prior book, so if you plan to listen to the whole series anyway, then its probably best enjoyed in order.Willa has a lot of regrets, but the one highlight of her life is and always has been her grandmother. So when she's sent back to go live with her grandmother in the small southern town where she was raised, she is saddened but determined to make her grandmother believe she is reformed. To bring this plan to action she will concentrate on school, graduating and helping her grandmother and forego allowing herself to develop any other close relationships.However, Willa's plans are quickly tested, when she soon finds herself the center of attention. As a child she had two best friends, Brady and Gunner. Brady is the perpetual golden boy. Not only is he the popular high school quarterback, but he is also a sweet soul--the type of guy you can always trust to do the right thing. Then there is Gunner, the perpetual bad boy. However, the family he comes from (the Lawton family which practically owns the whole town), allows Gunner to get away with many things that others would not be able to. Gunner is the party boy, the kind of guy who never has a girl more than once, but underneath the surface, the truth lies, and the one thing he wants the most, he can never have. When it becomes clear that Willa has attracted the eye of both Brady and Gunner--and not just in a friendship way--relationships and future goals will be tested, and slowly secrets will be revealed that will change their lives forever. Jeremy York, Rebekkah Ross, and Jacques Roy narrate Under the Lights in a slight twist on the typical new adult style. Usually there are only two narrators: one male and one female who narrate the hero's and heroine's chapters, respectively. In this case, given the love triangle, we get an added bonus of having three narrators. Mr. York and Roy narrate the chapters from Brady's and Gunner's point of view, while Ms. Ross narrates the one's from Willa's. This style works well to easily differentiate the point of view being shared.All three narrators do a good job of providing differentiated voices for the various characters which allows you to sit back and enjoy the reading of this dramatic tale. Additionally, I enjoyed the southern accents that they utilized which lent further authenticity to this tale. Last but not least, I thought each narrator timed their delivery well for maximum enjoyment of the emotions being enacted in the story. Perhaps my only observation in this story is that I would have liked a more detailed ending. I think the intended audience of this romance may be partly to blame, but it almost felt like while the HEA was alluded to and implied, but we never truly get the details. Absent this observation, my rating would have been 5-stars as I simply loved every other aspect of this story. If you enjoy angst-filled romantic dramas that keep your emotions at high alert until the very end, and enjoy young adult to new adult cross-over romance titles, then I highly recommend Under the Lights. Source: Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

[schatzi_5 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The first Abbi Glines book I read was Until Friday Night, which is the first book in the series. I didn't like it, so much so in fact that I swore I would never read another book by this author, because life is too short. But then I wondered if it was really fair of me to dismiss a popular author because she wrote one clunker. Maybe Until Friday Night was just horrible and not indicative of her other works? And when Amazon dropped the price to a ridiculously low $7.61 for the new hardcover, I had to bite.I really wish that I hadn't, because this book was WORSE than Until Friday Night. Much worse. And now, I can say without a doubt, that I am totally done with this author forevermore.Let's forget the horribly stilted conversations (no teenager in the WORLD talks like this) and ridiculously over the top soap opera-esque drama that this book has.The same problems that I had with Until Friday Night are just as bad here, if not worse. The "romantic leads" are jackasses. Brady, "the good guy," treats his sort-of girlfriend, Ivy, like she is shit on the bottom of his shoe. He's bored with her; he doesn't like her as much as she likes him; she's too clingy for him, whatever. He spends over half of the book thinking all of these things, and yet he keeps dating her and sleeping with her because, well, she's there. Even after he's pining for Willa - because everyone on the fucking team has the hots for Willa, apparently (more on that later) - he's still with Ivy. Low blow, dude. Just break up with her already if you aren't into her. But nope, he doesn't want to "hurt" her. What the fuck ever. I got so sick of Brady that I felt like I could literally vomit on him if he was a real person. And Gunner is even worse! Once again, there are two types of girls in Abbi Glines' world: the "good" girls and the "sluts," and never shall the two interact in non-hostile ways. Willa is just so ~*~fucking special~*~ because - gasp! she wears Chucks with dresses! It's like she wants to be girly, but then she puts on those shoes! I mean, seriously, one of the (male) main characters actually says something very close to this. And Willa is, of course, a virgin, while none of the football guys are - and that's okay, if the author wasn't so fucking busy slut shaming the girls who like and have sex with those mythical football gods the reader is supposed to salivate over in this book. The guys having sex? Don't bat an eye. Girls having sex? SLUTS! And vindictive sluts at that, who can't stand the burning rays of goodness that shoot out of the virgin girls' eyes! Fuck that shit.I have a major problem with how suicide is addressed in this book. Willa's best friend, Poppy, kills herself after they were high/drunk - MORE ON THAT LATER IN AN EPIC RANT BELOW - and Poppy's little sister drowns in the pool. Willa says that Poppy "took the easy way out." Motherfucker, no. Suicide is NOT the fucking easy way out. If one is overwhelmed with grief, or depression, or whatever shit they are having to deal with, likely on the long term, and that person can literally think of NO WAY to make the pain stop except putting a bullet in his/her brain (or whatever suicide method of choice), THAT IS NOT FUCKING EASY. HOW IS THAT FUCKING EASY? Believe me, I have been down that road - I have attempted suicide, and I have struggled with suicidal thoughts almost every single day of my fucking life, and let me say, NOTHING ABOUT ANY OF THAT SHIT IS EASY. And then Gunner is just like, oh, I don't know why people do that, you just hang in there and shit gets better eventually. Yeah, except for some people, it doesn't. Or some people can't see that maybe, someday, things might get better, because they are in so much pain NOW that they cannot see past it. But hey, sure, go ahead and paint people who kill themselves, who are literally so overwhelmed that no coping mechanism is working for them, as weak morons who should have just hung in there like that stupid motivational cat poster. Fuck that.And now I'm going to talk about pot, because REASONS. I'll put that under a spoiler cut, in case you want to avoid that, because it will be a long rant.I live in Colorado, and unless you've been living under a very large rock, you probably know that recreational pot is legal in this state for those who are 21+. I will also say that I am a weekly smoker, at least once a week (more like two or three times a week).Willa calls pot evil.LOLSpare me the sermonizing about the "evils" of the devil's lettuce, please.Like I said, I struggle with suicidal thoughts on almost a daily basis. I have BPD and major depression and anxiety. And do you know what helps me? Pot. Not all of the numerous drugs that well-meaning psychiatrists and doctors have prescribed me over the years. Definitely not alcohol, which exacerbates my depression and anxiety to the point of being intolerable. Nope. Pot. Now, I am in no way arguing that teenagers should be consuming pot. I mean, hell, I was once a teenager, so I know that it happens. It happens frequently. It should not happen, and in NO WAY am I advocating that teenagers should be getting high. Responsible adults only at this party, thanks.See, the hilarious hypocrisy in this book is that the author has NO problem with writing about teenage characters who drink while underage, to the point of being quite inebriated. NO PROBLEM WITH DRUNK TEENAGERS. Willa, the teetotaler she is now, doesn't really see anything wrong with teenagers drinking alcohol. After all, they are so "drunk and carefree" (page 95)! But where she went wrong? They "added drugs to the mix" (because alcohol is apparently not a drug lol what is this shit) (page 95). And that drug? Pot (page 78). And not just any pot - "the good juice" (wtf lol) (page 79). And pot, just so you know, is evil (page 208). Now, the thing is, Willa wasn't just high - she was drunk (page 78). In fact, I would argue that she was MORE drunk than high. But the drinking takes a back seat in this melodrama, and pot is all front and center in its nastiness. And, once again, the author doesn't seem to have any problem with kids getting drunk, even though Willa is a teetotaler now (page 93). But she spares the moralizing for the pot consumption, not the alcohol consumption, which is just so STUPID. If I had a teenaged kid and I found pot OR alcohol in his/her room, they would get an ass whipping they'd never forget. I'd feel equally about both. Why is alcohol "okay" for teenagers in this world? Let me tell you, alcohol has killed more people this year than pot - far, far more, and that's not counting all of the suicides that alcohol contributes to on a yearly basis. Cirrhosis, drunk driving, liver cancer - it's all bad news, mkay? And when is the last time you read a news article about someone roasting a bowl and beating their kids? How about the last time you heard someone who got drunk and beat their kids? Having grown up as a child of a violent alcoholic, I sure wish he'd have toked up instead of drinking.But pot is the evil thing here, guys. Just so you know.And it gets even better, because even though you think that you're safe at home, YOU HAVE TO BE HYPERVIGILANT AT ALL TIMES GUYS BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN AND YOU HAVE TO REACT TO IT (pages 208-209).I sure hope the author never drinks an alcoholic beverage, or even takes some Nyquil. Suffer with that fucking cold! You don't know if you're going to have a crisis and you must be prepared!Now, one could (weakly) argue that the author was trying to tell kids that doing drugs of ANY KIND is bad and you might make a life-altering decision (or lack of one). But there are no consequences of any kind for those who consume alcohol. No one in this book gets a DUI. No one gets kicked off the football team, jeopardizing their football scholarships, because they're underage and drinking. Nope, it's only when pot is involved that shit goes down, because pot is a DRUG and alcohol is okay!Hahahaha.Fuck that to infinity and beyond.And I am going to light up an evil bowl of Bruce Banner tonight in this author's honor, in my home, and SOMEHOW manage to survive until the next day. Because I should apparently be drinking instead, since that's more acceptable, even though if I went on a real bender I might not survive THAT. And then I'd be taking the easy way out, right? Because suicide is SO EASY.Fucker.tl;dr: Nope. Done. Returned book to Amazon. Will not buy anything from this author again.

[Kelly-Jade Penton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such a great series. Absolutely loving this author. Looking forward to reading more of her work.