After Hours by Claire Kennedy

What do you think of the cover?
 Interesting or bland?

Title: After Hours

Author: Claire Kennedy

Page count: 256 pages, ebook

Publishing date: June 16th, 2015

Publisher: Simon Pulse

My rating: 3/5 stars!

Blurb:

Isa, Xavi, Peter, and Finn know that a job at the high-end Waterside Cafe isn't just about waiting tables. It's about the gossip, the hook-ups, the after-hours parties and, most of all, it's about Tips.

Tips--the high-stakes game based on dares. Whoever completes the most dares wins the collected money. A sum that could change a wasted summer into a Summer to Remember.

Isa is the new girl with an embarrassing secret, and as long as she stays on top of her game, she sees no reason why anyone could ever find out.

Xavi will do anything for the money...absolutely anything.

Peter, Xavi's stepbrother, has been in love with her for years, and he thinks the game is the perfect time to confess his feelings.

Finn is in the game just for the thrill. He has enough tips coming in to keep him happy...even if those tips come with some conditions.

From seduction to stealing to threats, the dares are a complete free-for-all, and only the best can win.

The sophisticated Waterside Cafe is anything but classy behind the scenes...and things are about to get dirty.

I'll admit, when I was accepted for this book, I was pretty happy. This was my first ARC from a major publishing company, and I was thrilled with that aspect. I wanted this book to be totally awesome- to be able to give a 5 star review. But, sadly, I couldn't do that. For many reasons. 

What I didn't like:

This book is supposed to be about Tips and it really wasn't. This is really disappointing because I really liked the idea of this mysterious Tips game. It seemed really dangerous and I was really interested in what the characters were going to have to do to earn the money in the jackpot. But really? Tips was only played a handful of times and it wasn't dangerous or exciting AT ALL. The "dares" were mediocre at best. Nothing more. The fact that Tips wasn't this great thing really took away from the overall aspect of the book. Hello, the blurb talks about Tips like it's this magical game, full of danger and betrayal! Yeah, not so much. More like a bunch of kids getting together and being stupid. 

There were too many POV switches. I'm all for POV switching. In fact, I like it. But, like most everyone else, I enjoy it to an extent. Two characters POVs are fine. Three is where it gets a little too much. And four? That's when it's too many POVs. I'm sorry, but I just didn't want to be inside the heads of four people in a 256 page ebook. There was too much jumping around, too much confusion. And while it states the characters name at the beginning of each POV switch, all of the characters seemed to have the same voice, the same personality, as the other three. 

The characters. They all tended to be really immature and annoying. They all had one thing in mind: themselves. And if they had to sacrifice everyone else in the process? So be it. I'm sorry, but I just don't want to read about self-centered people. I can understand one character for the sake of showing that not everyone is perfect, but everyone in this book only cared about themselves even when the author tried to make them seem like they cared about others. It didn't work. I could see right through it. 

Isa, Xavi, Peter, and Finn have their own secrets, their own agendas. That's the ONLY thing that interested me about them. I wanted to figure out all of their secrets. It kept my interest trying to decipher them. Other than that? They were mediocre characters. They did nothing important in the book unless you call whining and screwing up their lives important. Because, honestly, that's all they did. 

THE ENDING: I can't stand the ending. AT ALL. It was terrible, ridiculous, and left so much to question. The ending was so random that I actually emailed the author to see if the ending had actually been deleted from the ARC I received. I couldn't believe it when the author told me that, no, the ending I had was correct. It was such a weak ending. Probably the worst ending I've ever read in my life and that's saying something.

What I did like:

The drama. I don't normally like a lot of drama in a book but, surprisingly, I enjoyed the drama. Maybe it was because I wanted something to roll my eyes at and laugh at the situations these characters found themselves in or something else entirely, but I found myself really like the drama. It wasn't really relationship drama, and I think that's the reason why I did enjoy the drama. This was more like life-throwing-you-a-curve-ball drama than anything else. Life can be really horrendous at times and it's how you respond to it that matters. In my opinion, that was the theme of this book. Either you get back up and try again or you don't. But whatever you do, you've got to make a choice. 

Waterside Cafe. I've never worked at a cafe or restaurant before so I can't really tell you if the way things were handled in this book when it comes to work was realistic, but it sure was enjoyable. I think that everyone has that sense of must-keep-moving when they are in the job force, and I laughed at how hectic Waterside Cafe seemed to be. It reminded me a lot of restaurants that I've gone to during rush hour, and I was always amused with the waitresses and waiters running around trying to keep their heads from exploding. Or ripping their hair out. (That probably sounds mean, but take a look the next time you're in a busy establishment. See if you don't see a worker wanting to fall on the floor and cringe.) Anyways, it was funny to me and I guess that's what matters. 

Overall thoughts:

This was okay. Not wonderful, but not terrible. It needs work, but I think it can be done. The ending was really what got me here. I'm still surprised at how it ended. Many fellow GR members who have read this title think the same thing. 

Would I recommend this? I guess so but only if you enjoy drama and many, many POV switches. If you don't enjoy whiny characters, this book isn't for you. 

Until next time,