Friday Night Alibi by Cassie Mae

About the book

Friday Night Alibi is a contemporary new adult novel by Cassie Mae. The book was published as a Kindle e-book on 29^th July and it is 241 pages long. I received this book for review through NetGalley.

Plot Synopsis

In Sundale everyone has appearances to keep if they wish to keep the trust-funds promised by their parents. That’s where Kelli Pinkins and her perfect reputation come in – she’s everybody’s Friday night alibi as either girlfriend or best friend that parents love! Kelli’s job means that she has a pretty non-existent social life apart from the one that is made up. On a very rare Friday night off though, Kelli meets Chase, the boy no girl’s parents would approve of. He isn’t part of the Sundale elite, he’s older than Kelli but he can also give the one liners as good as she can. As hard as Kelli may try to ignore Chase, she knows the attraction is there but can she fight it? If she can’t, will her having a social life mean ruining everyone else’s?

What I thought

To start with, I absolutely loved the idea of this book because it was so fun and different. Kelli is a really sweet girl who combines helping out her friends while making a large pile of cash at the same time. Sundale is a town where the kids are supposed to behave properly, date the right people and generally have a perfect reputation. If they don’t, they’ll lose their trust funds. So, Kelli becomes everyone’s Friday night alibi so they can all do what they really want. Poor Kelli though ends up staying home every Friday playing X Box and pigging out on snacks (which doesn’t sound all bad!).

Although this is Kelli’s usual routine for a weekend, there is the one rare night that she sneaks out with the best friend. But, when this happens, Kelli worries about being caught out and panics when she sees someone she knows. This causes a hilarious scene of her hiding under a pool table, getting gum caught in her hair and being chatted up by the extremely sexy but older, Chase. The pair have a fun banter between them from the very beginning but Kelli decides that Chase is more annoying than anything else.

Both main characters were great on their own as they had so much going for them but they were even better when together. Kelli and Chase don’t always get along in this book and their relationship takes a lot of building before we get to the good stuff. However, although some may say it was drawn out, I loved the build-up and the tension between the two characters. Kelli and Chase begin as friends, kind of, and it takes time for them to get together which is much more realistic than them falling in love after such a short period of time.

For me, the strangest aspect of this book was the religion. Although not forced onto the reader, Kelli has strong feelings about religion, hers especially. The reason I say strange is because I have never been brought up as religious and I don’t really believe in the idea of it in general. So, for me, a character having such strong views on the subject and being a weekly church-goer was something quite new for me to read about. Although I don’t have the same beliefs as Kelli, I loved her strength to stick to certain things and not let anyone change what she believed.

Overall, the plot has such a lot going for it. There are great characters put into really fun situations as well as a slow and sweet romance. Cassie Mae is a fresh and fun voice in the new adult genre and one I will be looking forward to reading more of.