Born At Midnight: A Review

Before I get to my post, I wanted to pause to make a quick announcement. On Monday, I will be doing an author interview on J.L. Campbell's amazing blog, The Character Depot. She is also hosting a giveaway of Glittering Ashes that goes with the interview, and all you have to do to enter is comment on my author interview that day. How amazing is that? I want to thank her for having me, and don't worry, I'll remind y'all on Monday to run over there to read the interview and enter! Okay, now back to the regularly scheduled blog post...

Today, I'm doing another book review. Yes, I, too, am amazed, lol. I finished all of Gayle Forman's Where She Went on Wednesday, and you can too if you happen to have an un-busy day, and I had been chugging through Born At Midnight by C.C. Hunter for a while and happened to finish it yesterday. 

Hunter's Born At Midnight is a YA paranormal romance/Bildungsroman-ish (coming of age story). 

My version of the blurb is that Kylie Galen, in the midst of a family ordeal, is dealing with her own personal struggle to find out who she is and why she sees what she sees. When her mother sends her to Shadow Falls camp to work things out for herself, Kylie is mortified because everyone at camp is a delinquent weirdo, or at least has been labeled as such, and Kylie doesn't feel she fits the bill. While Kylie tries to find out more about herself, she also finds friends, loves, and has a few realizations while solving a mystery of sorts that flows through the novel (as well as the mystery of finding out who she really is).

That was surely more complicated than Hunter's own blurb, which you can find by Googling or clicking on the book picture above, but I like blurbing, and I feel like it'll tell you more about the story than a book's usual sales pitch. (And I hate spoilers, so I would never want to do that to anyone, no worries).

The Cover: I like this cover. It's simplistic, which I love, but it's also eye catching. I tend to like metallic looking things, and really, I like the spine of the book more than the front, but that's a personal preference. Either way, I don't have any real complaints about the cover, and the girl could be Kylie, so it's appropriate.

The Plot: This book is probably longer than a lot of YAs I've read lately, 398 pages. So there's a lot put into one book here. Lots of drama, lots of mystery, lots of love triangly goodness, if that's your cup of tea. As far as the plot goes, if you like paranormal, coming of age stories, Hunter is what you'd want. It reads like a slightly more in depth teen TV drama. I could see it as a TV series, with all of the paranormal stuff that's on the CW and MTV and such now. For us readers who moonlight as teenagers when we read, it might read a little young, but it's pretty spot on for the intended audience, I'd say.

The Romantic Element: Because there's a lot of this in this one. I asked for lots of love drama, Hunter delivered. There's exes, a love triangle, and complications. I wasn't full on swooning the entire time I read this book, but there's a lot of romantic element to work with here. My only complaint (and it's little and maybe nitpicky), is that you, as the reader, may like just one of the romantic players in Kylie's life, and so all of the drama might not be as appetizing. But, if you just like reading about love drama, the book has more than enough to satisfy.

Carry-on Factor: Born At Midnight is the beginning of the Shadow Falls series; so while everything is pretty much tied up plot-wise by the end, Hunter has to leave some things to pull you into the next book. It's a good, paranormal coming-of-age, so if that's what you're looking for, Born At Midnight is where you can find it. It just has to be a paranormal coming-of-age that you're looking for.

Overall: Hunter did a lot in 398 (print) pages. She introduces Kylie, her family, and secondary and love interest characters to the point that you feel like you could know a lot of them by the end. That's impressive to juggle that many balls in the air. If you want to read paranormal YA, the kind of paranormal YA that deals with finding oneself and finding others in the process, Born at Midnight (Shadow Falls Novel) will not disappoint.

Have you heard of this book? Read it? Want to read it? Let me know below.

Now to leave you with a song to write by, one I don't personally own, but I kind of want to because it was unexpected for me, Lil' Wayne's "How To Love" (For 69 cents through this link to Amazon). He's singing, not rapping, just in case you didn't know about this song. I had to go with a love themed song. Completely necessary, people. 

P.S. I got this book from the library and did not receive any compensation for doing this review (some of the links are affiliated links, however).