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A review by abidavisf
Night Shift by Annie Crown
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I think Night Shift is my soulmate. My heart is so light right now. I can see pink, I feel warm, and I have joy and hope in my soul. Night Shift is a genuine delight.
Kendall and Vincent are both such golden retriever characters. Their anxieties and yet their ability to hope is so relatable, and I loved watching them learn to let their guards down and be open with their hearts and bodies in brand new and vulnerable ways.
Interestingly, I usually want to know far more about characters than you really find out in this book, but I was so wrapped up in their story together that I didn’t mind that we didn’t learn too much about their past. For me, it felt like a tactic to show how the two characters really knew very little about each other and we instead got to focus on their immediate chemistry, knowing that the more in-depth knowledge and understand of each other comes later.
Books, themselves, and literature as a whole are main characters in this tale. From the library in which they first meet to the poetry they share and the romance novels that both break and make them, literature and its endless possibilities breathe so much life into this story. To call Kendall’s reading habits simply a ‘love of reading’ isn’t enough. She lives and breathes it, and I felt myself relating so much to her throughout this book. I feel like we took a journey of self-discovery together to identify the good, the bad and the ugly of immersing so much of our lives in fiction. I have so much to think about and ruminate on and I’m excited to let my guard down and maybe be open to a Vincent of my own.
Night Shift is such a beautiful love story, but also such a reflection of romance novels as a whole, that I thought I was at the end when I’d only read half of the book (I read the ebook so I wasn’t exactly keeping track of how many pages were left). It gives you your romance novel happy ending, but then keeps you. It wraps you up in the warmth of your HEA and then says, “Don’t worry. In real life, we don’t end here. We find our happy and then we keep going.” It was perfect. I had a pretty naff day today, and getting all this happiness from Night Shift was exactly what I needed.
A joy. A true, honest-to-god delight.
Kendall and Vincent are both such golden retriever characters. Their anxieties and yet their ability to hope is so relatable, and I loved watching them learn to let their guards down and be open with their hearts and bodies in brand new and vulnerable ways.
Interestingly, I usually want to know far more about characters than you really find out in this book, but I was so wrapped up in their story together that I didn’t mind that we didn’t learn too much about their past. For me, it felt like a tactic to show how the two characters really knew very little about each other and we instead got to focus on their immediate chemistry, knowing that the more in-depth knowledge and understand of each other comes later.
Books, themselves, and literature as a whole are main characters in this tale. From the library in which they first meet to the poetry they share and the romance novels that both break and make them, literature and its endless possibilities breathe so much life into this story. To call Kendall’s reading habits simply a ‘love of reading’ isn’t enough. She lives and breathes it, and I felt myself relating so much to her throughout this book. I feel like we took a journey of self-discovery together to identify the good, the bad and the ugly of immersing so much of our lives in fiction. I have so much to think about and ruminate on and I’m excited to let my guard down and maybe be open to a Vincent of my own.
Night Shift is such a beautiful love story, but also such a reflection of romance novels as a whole, that I thought I was at the end when I’d only read half of the book (I read the ebook so I wasn’t exactly keeping track of how many pages were left). It gives you your romance novel happy ending, but then keeps you. It wraps you up in the warmth of your HEA and then says, “Don’t worry. In real life, we don’t end here. We find our happy and then we keep going.” It was perfect. I had a pretty naff day today, and getting all this happiness from Night Shift was exactly what I needed.
A joy. A true, honest-to-god delight.
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying and Misogyny