I usually thoroughly enjoy Morgan Matson’s books but this latest escapade was a bit of a let down. I had kind of dismissed reviews that said you needed to suspend disbelief, because I was all onboard for ridiculous mishaps on a night out, but the side story was so bizarre and then they implied it didn’t happen but that character believed it did…and WTF?

Things I did like? Brad the Pomeranian who belongs to Stevie’s step-sister. He gets locked out of her apartment too. Much of the plot is them trying to get keys to return Brad and get their stuff, this was fun and silly, and I enjoyed how Stevie starts to bond with the steps-siblings she has resented and ignored in the past.

Kat, well, she’s just kinda selfish? I get the point of the story was that the kids think they’re all grown up but actually they’re still young, naïve and can be absolute brats, and the events bring them to understand that…but still she was a bit much. She is obsessed with acting and the school play. She uses her best friend, ditches her, all to try and land the part she probably would have got anyway. How she thought turning up at a teacher’s play unannounced when he had kept that part of his life secret, was a good idea?

She repeatedly has chances to do the right thing, and maybe if she had ditched her plan when they got split up, then I would have warmed to her more, but she kept on choosing the wrong path. I wasn’t sure why Cary kept giving her, a complete stranger, money, especially since he is doing so many jobs to save enough money for his education.

I could cope with all the coincidences convenient bumping into people (New York is a big place, right?), but Teri’s side story was bizarre. She is their cover, looking after Kat’s phone and social media so it looks like they’re on a sleepover, not running around New York. She’s contacted by someone desperate for Kat to babysit, so not to break cover, Teri takes on the job, fine. But then, she and the kids are kidnapped. Yeah, I don’t understand how it made the final draft either.