Review: All Night Long

All Night Long by J. Kenner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All Night Long is the ninth book in J. Kenner’s Man of the Month series, and despite it being one of my least favourites in the series it is another enjoyable read. I’ve been a fan of this series since book one, yet each additional book sucks me in ever deeper. I find myself desperately awaiting the release of the next book, counting down the days until it appears on my Kindle. Each time a new one appears, I devour it, starting the cycle all over again. Being so close to the end, knowing my most anticipated stories are just around the corner, I’m torn between savouring these books and consuming them even faster. I doubt anyone is surprised to find out the latter is what is happening.

The Man of the Month series is a collection of interconnected romance stories, proving individual stories as a larger story plays out. Each novel features a favourite romance trope, ensuring there is something for everyone. The first book, Down on Me, provided us with the friends-to-lovers trope; the second book, Hold on Tight, provided us with the second chance romance; the third book, Need You Now, provided us with the brother’s best friend trope; the fourth book, Start Me Up, provided us with the one-night stand; the fifth book, Get It On, provided us with the secret baby trope; the sixth book, In Your Eyes, provided us with the bad boy billionaire; the seventh book, Turn Me On, provided us with the friends with benefits trope; the eighth book, Shake It Up, gave us the May-December romance. With book nine, All Night Long, we’re given another book where there are a collection of elements that could be considered the trope – second chance, one night stand (at the start), friends with benefits (as the story progresses), and a few other popular elements – yet I’m going to label it the opposites attract, as that’s the main element for this one and it has yet to be done in this series.

Although each book is an individual story with a start and an end, I would recommend reading these books in order. To understand some of the details of the story in full, you need to understand how things came to be throughout the prior books. You’re certainly told, to ensure you have the basic facts to understand the story, but it is not the same as experiencing all that happened – for a bigger picture, read the series in order. Now that we’re over half way through the series, there are a lot of nods to past events and other couples – plus, you start to notice when prior books were making nods towards the events that are now playing out. By no means am I saying you need to go back and read all the books, but I am saying you will appreciate this series much more if you read things in order. Plus, it’s nice to watch how the underlying story is playing out.

With each book in this series you go in with certain expectations – you have an idea of how the trope plays out and you know who is to be the man of the month. Despite this, you’re interested in seeing how the little details play out – and for those following the series, you’re interested in seeing the additional elements added to the overall story. Although we’re never given anything new to the genre, we’re always given something unique to keep us wanting more.

If I’m being completely honest, though, All Night Long is one of my least favourite books in the series. Extra dose of honesty, I thought I would be giving this one a three-star rating. In fact, it’s a three-point-five-star rating rounded up, because the drama at the end won me over. Sure, this book was an enjoyable quick read; however, I do not feel as though it was to the standard of the rest of the series. It was enjoyable, I liked watching the story unfold, but I had been hoping for a little bit more. There was never quite the same level of love within me towards these characters as there has been towards other characters, and the story was nowhere near as intense as some of the prior books.

That being said, I am crazy excited for the next book. Book ten is giving us one of my favourite tropes, then we’ll be moving on to my most anticipated story, and then I’m hoping we’ll finish with a bang.

I cannot wait to get my hands on book ten!

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