This is book #3 in the Celebrities Series. Maddox Delaney wasn’t all that famous; she was well-known by association. Surrounded by her famous, coupled-off friends, Maddox had thought she had her chance at love. And when that didn’t work out, she wondered if she’d ever get another try. A New Year’s Eve Party hosted by some of her closest friends isn’t really her idea of fun, but it might just be what she needs to mend her broken heart. Avery Simpson wasn’t quite sure how she had ended up at this party. She would much rather be working on her app instead of hanging out by herself at a New Year’s Eve party hosted by none other than Peyton Gloss and Dani Wilder. When she’s ended up tagging along with her eccentric brother anyway, Avery feels out of place, and she’s definitely not planning on kissing anyone at midnight. That is until she meets Maddox. As the party unfolds, Maddox and Avery not only keep running into each other, they are finding excuses to. What happens when the clock strikes midnight? One night. One party. One midnight tradition. This is the story of how two women meet and decide to take a chance on something they’d never thought they’d have. Books in the
Nicole Pyland is a bestselling author of lesbian romance stand-alone novels and series like Chicago Series, Holiday Series, Royalty Series, Sports Series, and more. Since 2017, she’s published over 60 novels (not including her What Happened After shorts), and more books are on their way.
Nicole grew up in Indiana, studying English & Film and then getting a MS in Behavior Analysis and moving to California, working by day as a Head of Training at a startup. She lives with her wife and their opinionated cat, who spends his evenings helping her write stories by occupying half the chair.
Not one of her best but still enjoyable ! My rating is a 3.25 but can’t round it up to 4 because Unlike almost all her books, the connection between the 2 MCs wasn’t as strong! As I said, still enjoyable, but the weakest in the series so far :) I am however going to read the next book in the series and any new Pyland book :)
“Every year is filled with different firsts, Mad.” — Lennox
This is not your usual Pyland book. Excluding the epilogue, Midnight Tradition takes place just over twenty-nine hours, and while it is somewhat an insta-love story, it still feels like a slow-burn.
Photographer Maddox Delaney (~31, gay) had a supermodel girlfriend back in All the Love Songs (my short review here). In this book, it is revealed that Jessica had cheated on Maddox, leading to the latter’s heartbreak. When her mega-star friends Peyton and Dani (their story is in No After You) half-invite, half-force her to attend the New Year’s Eve party they are throwing, she isn’t expecting to meet software developer Dr. Avery Simpson (>27, lesbian), who is there with her brother Anthony “Tony” (>28?, gay, poly?), Peyton’s tour makeup artist.
Having read this within a day, roughly the same timespan of the story, it felt like I was witnessing Maddox and Avery going on a date real-time. Though their chemistry isn’t off-the-charts strong, it was very sweet to see them trying to catch some alone time at the party and getting to know each other. Throughout the evening, there were a lot of pushes and pulls, and I could not wait for them to be together.
I love how the book opened with Maddox masturbating, and that Pyland decided to steam up the sex scenes by incorporating sex toys, which is unlike her other books I have read. And I appreciate the inclusion of Tony, who is gay and possibly polyamorous, and his crush Dario, who is poly.
We also get to see further relationship developments of Peyton and Dani, and also Kenzie and Lennox. In addition to Midnight Tradition being a romance between Maddox and Avery, this book also serves as a novel-length epilogue to both relationships in preceding stories.
Is the midnight tradition kissing at New Year? Think again. The new tradition this friend group has is adorable, albeit an odd one. I love the ridiculously meddling Peyton and Dani (who have nothing else to do than to hold parties and play matchmakers for their friends), the incredibly loving Kenzie and Lennox, and all the other characters.
What I love about a whole series of best friends is that we will see the characters again in future books. The next one in the Celebrities series, Path Forward, is going to be about Jessica and Val, both having a few scenes in this book. I’m excited to see how Pyland tackles Jessica’s infidelity history and also more cameos from the previous three couples, especially what is next for Maddox and Avery.
One of the reasons I love Pyland’s books is the personal developments of the characters. Though twenty-nine hours does not really allow that, Midnight Tradition is undoubtedly an enjoyable read. I’d recommend this to any Pyland fan and anyone who enjoys a cute New Year’s holiday romance.
I received an e-ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.
So its been awhile since I've read a Poland book. I think the last one belonged to the Tahoe series. While I do love her style of writing and I usually love her books, this one seemed a bit shallow for me. What I mean is that the characters didn't seem as well defined, we didn't get journey, more like one night. While it is still a very good read I guess I just wanted to know more about the characters.
Another Peyton Gloss event, but the story is a little disappointing this time.
I was delighted to find out that the Celebrities Series has a third book because of how much I enjoyed the earlier two books - No After You and All the Love Songs. I was also excited to see how Peyton, Dani, Lennox and Kenzie had progressed and I did!
The women gather once again at a Peyton Gloss event and this time around, its a countdown party with Maddox, the famous photographer, as the main character. I know Maddox made an appearance in All the Love Songs as Kenzie's roommate at their summer camp but I couldn’t remember her at all. So I skimmed the book for parts on Maddox and realised that she was in a long distance relationship with Jessica, the supermodel, back then. In this book, Maddox and Jessica had already broken up for the second time because Jessica had repeatedly cheated. Maddox reluctantly attends the countdown party, feeling the effects of jetlag and heartbreak but soon finds herself enjoying the company of Avery, who until this night, was completely unknown to the group. Both women find themselves attracted to each other and they eventually get together.
This book felt draggy because this entire novel takes place over a two-day period. In fact, most parts of the book took place at the countdown party itself. Because of that, a lot of dialogue takes place in this book which didn’t capture my attention. And even the little bits of drama thrown in here and there at the party didn’t quite help with that.
I’m not a fan of instant romances because I think feelings take time to develop and it takes a really talented author to pull off such romances. I would say that Pyland had been successful at that for the first two books with the women falling in love fairly quickly. But the difference between this book and the previous two is that this story ended the day after the party. Sure, the epilogue does go further than that, but the epilogue doesn’t really count in this case. On top of that, the author couldn’t quite develop the personalities for Maddox and Avery because there isn’t really much that can be done in one party.
I was disappointed at how this book turned out but I’m still looking forward to the next one that would feature Jessica and Venice. Both Jessica and Venice appeared in this book as minor characters and were conduits of jealousy for Maddox and Avery. And I’m interested because Jessica would have a story to tell. I also hope Pyland will feature more of Ruby in subsequent books.
Read it and Liked it... though it felt a tad too short given the ‘guest appearances’ of two other celebrity couple and the little tidbits of their lives... Would have like this more if the story is longer and not just focus on the day before the new year rolled in; which is about 60% of the book - that’s the day when Avery met Maddox 🙂
I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as the other Celebrity series books - but it was still an enjoyable read. I liked both main characters. Maddox is a photographer who appeared in the previous part of the series - No After You. She's still recovering from previous break ups and ends up at Peyton & Dani's New Years party after lots of international travel - meaning she doesn't really want to be there.
Avery ends up at the party after being dragged along by her brother - she doesn't know anyone there and would rather be at home, working on her app. I enjoyed Avery as a character, and I think that might be because of how her introduction as a non famous person into a series about celebrities forces you to look at the rest of the characters slightly differently.
I actually enjoyed that the majority of the book takes place over a few days. It does create a bit of an instalove feel to the romance, but I liked how the setting forced the characters to get to know each other in a different way.
My disappointment came in the way that things were kept interesting - which normally meant adding another character that wanted to date one or the other MCs. This really worked in the first instance, but felt a little contrived when it kept happening.
It was nice to return to the rest of the characters in the series and learn how their relationships have moved on, which in itself probably adds half a star. If you like Pyland you'll enjoy this one, but if you're new to this you should definitely start with the first part of the series - All the Love Songs.
Lovely book - so good it let me forget I have a dentist appointments later today - so high praise indeed!! Most of it takes place over 24 hours, but love the links to books 1 and 2. Totally recommended.
So the thing about this series is it's very addicting. I'm not exactly sure why, but it is for me. The problem with that, when I don't have to wait for another book to be written and published is that I can just read the entire series one right after the other. And the problem with that is that you really start to see the author's patterns and personal tropes and, well, it does impact the reading experience.
Three books into Nicole Pyland's Celebrities series you'll begin to notice that Pyland really leans into Instant Love. She got away with it (for me) in her previous two books, but by book three, I'm expecting more, to be honest.
There's also a lot of Lesbian Processing in this novel. Much what's written is dialogue where Maddox's friends are asking her if she thinks Avery, whom she's only known for a couple of hours, could be The One. Like, if Maddox didn't have a girlfriend, she couldn't be part of the squad. And you'll get to read this conversation over and over with each of the series' previously featured main characters. It felt very repetitive with what happens in All the Love Songs.
Don't get me wrong. I still read it (and now I've read it twice), but it's the soap opera of it that makes it work.
3 stars Better than the previous two but I'm stil not impressed by this series. This was the last book of this series I'll read. I wasn't impressed by books 1-3 and number four focuses on a cheater as one of the MCs, which makes it even more unpalatable to me. And I read for fun, not to torture myself.
I was really hyped for this book,because I enjoyed Maddox's character in the previous book,I didn't expected to fall in love with Avery more,but even so their relationship still gives me mixed feelings.
Like over 65% of the book it happens in the same place,they had spent like 6 hours together and they already decided to date!??!
I really wanted to get to know them in other places,I wanted more of them ,but not in the way that I needed more moments, I needed more of them in different places while trying to sort eachother feelings out,everything moved so fast.
The relationship was cute ,but nothing heartwarming
Meanwhile the friengroup CARRIED THE BOOK(I will not elaborate)
So now the order of the couples: 1) Peyton and Dani🤍(of course) 2) Lennox and Kenzie (they had grown on me so much) 3) Avery and Maddox(still love them)
And the characters: 1) Peyton(duh) ,I can't help but fall in love more with her character,also she's so funny as a mom☠🙏 2) Lennox (she's so much better in someone's else book) 3) Dani 😚(babe I'm good with kids) 4) Avery(she can pull out the toys with me how much she wants😔) 5) Maddox (you had potential babe) 6) Kenzie (I don't hate her I swear )
Also I have no idea how the author is gonna make like Jessica's character, I hate her and was shocked when I had found out she has book
I found this wonderful book on my TBR shelves. I know this is book 3 but it works well as a stand alone. Maddox and Avery are the cutest couple! They felt something at an innocuous touch, and took it from there. The intimate scenes are steamy! I love this book! 5 stars!
I love everything by this author. It's laugh out loud funny, heartfelt, and relatable. The characters are amazing. Can't wait to read all of her books.
So much can happen in one night. Maddox and Avery aren’t expecting to meet anyone special on NYE but you never know. Maddox was really hurt by her ex and is still recovering but she can’t say no to Payton’s party. Avery is her brother’s plus one to the party and has never been around so many celebrities. The connection between the two women is instantaneous. It was fun to follow their journey. There are some hot moments throughout this story and it’s always nice to see the characters from the rest of the series. I love them all 💕
Midnight Tradition by Nicole Pyland is the third in the Celebrity Series and is the story of Maddox Delaney, a photographer and Avery Simpson, who comes across as geeky. Both are attending the New Year’s Eve party being hosted by Peyton and Dani.
It’s great to catch up with old friends and what has been happening in their lives from the previous books in this series. Full of romance, chemistry, heat and low angst, Maddox was a story I was waiting for and was not disappointed.
The characters are sexual beings early on in the story as individuals but when they connect it's like fireworks. Midnight Tradition 90% takes place in the span of one evening, New Year's night during a fancy Hollywood party.
I am a Pyland fan and will continue to read her books, but I just feel like she has been rushing the last several romances that I read. Midnight Traditions took me a day to read. That is a big deal because I am not a quick reader. To me this was more of a novella. I did enjoy the two mains, but this one had alot going on with the extra characters. Just didn't feel like a normal Pyland book.
This was another delightful book in this Celebrity Series. Maddox Delaney was a supporting character in the other books and this was her time to take center stage, however the other four mains from the other books in this series tended to overshadow Maddox and her love interest, Avery. It was nice to catch up with Peyton, Dani, Lennox, and Kenzie but I felt we needed more of Maddox and Avery. This book generally took place during one New Year’s Eve party. It was entertaining and engaging. Super quick but delightful read!!
Really great characters, story, and sex scenes in this one. It's been an entertaining and hot series, but I wish there was a little more drama like on-set stuff happening and being shown since that is a part of the actors life, I also wish some respect would be paid in the book to on-stage actors (male and female) because they're the ones that really break their hearts out and really focus all their attention on doing their best. Some transition to on-screen acting, but always go back to their on-stage roots. I can already see the next one is going to be a good one with Jessica. Lets see if she doesn't screw up this relationship, too.
Another wonderful novel of two women, Maddox and Avery who found each other at a party and became inseparable. Of course they had help with their amazing friends we met in the other two books of this series. I was inspired by the personalities of Mad and Ave. They were thoughtful, caring, and had a wicked sense of humor. The combination of the six women is encouraging, exhilarating, and inspirational. A truly great read. I heartily and enthusiastically recommend this and all of Nicole’s works. I’m looking forward to the fourth installment of this series. Thank you! Peace
Maddox, professional photographer wants the happily ever after. She reluctantly ends up going to her friends New Years Eve party where she ends up meeting Avery. Avery is creating a new app, shy but still went to her brothers friends new years Eve party. Maddox and Avery meet and they can't seem to spend enough time with each other. A few interruptions and a midnight kiss with each other, maybe what they both need. I love Nicole Pyland books. They have chemistry, attraction and come in series that you cannot get enough of.
Okay. Maddox wants a long-term relationship, marriage; but doesn't know how to get there since her work is all consuming. Jessica's a hot mess, Avery's her brother's escort, Val flirts and loses, and there's sex on the beach at the rocks. Maddox and Avery meet and want more. They 'get' each other. As I read the book I wondered if Maddox would also understand that it takes two to make a mess. Peyton, Dani, Lennox & Kenzi are moving through their own life stuff. It's a good romance all the way around. I enjoyed the story and have enjoyed the other books in the series.
Maddox Delaney is a fairly well known photographer who hang’s with a group of paired up lesbian couples. Not as lucky with love she really doesn’t want to go to the New Year’s Eve party hosted by Peyton and Dani. Avery Simpson is an app developer dragged to the party by her flamboyant brother. All night Maddox and Dani keep running into each other as if magnets drawn together. Great sizzle and romance. Wonderful series.
What happens when you suddenly go to an A list party with your brother and meet someone who really appeals to you? Will you take the chance on happiness orstay in your safe but lonely bubble? This is a great read with a few twists turns and angst but it has an HEA...
Maddox and Avery, ships in the night on New Year’s Eve party at Peyton and Dani’s house. Trying to connect but experiencing obstacles along the way till they finally connect. Talk about love at first sight times 100! It was a story of sexual and sensual attraction from the moment they saw each other. Loved the characters, loved the plot. Well done!
Wow! This story pretty much takes place during a New years Eve party. 24 hours of Maddox and Avery meeting and getting to know each other. It's cute and romantic and fun! Plus, the whole gang is there, so it was nice to catch up with the other couples. It is truly an enjoyable read 🥰
This is a lovely story about Maddox, who goes to her friends New Years Eve party. There she meets Avery and sparks fly. Really well written continuation of the ‘Celebrities Series’, but can be read as a stand alone.