Alicia Jasinska

*squeals in bisexual*

Feisty water nymphs, cinnamon roll exorcists & cautionary crushes.

I. ATE. THIS. UP.
Is there a polyamorous love triangle? Yes. But weirdly I didn’t mind (even though Kazik & Gisela would be my preferred pairing).
It was cute and lush with Slavic folklore. I loved the modern-ish banter and the obstacles. The ending does hint at a sequel but it is satisfying as a standalone.
The foreshadowing might be a bit heavy handed (as well as stressing that everyone is bi), but show more that’s legit the only complaint I have.
Loved it. I’d join and turn the triangle into a quadrangle.

https://youtube.com/@chanelchapters show less

I really, really wanted to like The Midnight Girls because I thought the magic/monster-driven concept at its center was wonderful. There are edges of fairytale to the story – the kind of fairytales that evoke gruesome images, not princesses and pumpkins. It’s not gory, but it is dark, and the trio of competing young women was compelling. Especially when we speak of stealing princes’s hearts… and not in the way you may think. That said, it felt Jasińska wasn’t quite sure what she show more wanted to do with the story at times – some scenes are powerfully written, but the threads that tie them together are loose and tangled. It didn’t quite work for me.

We have a trio of servants who work for three witches in three forests – Beata is White Jaga’s servant in the Morning Forest, Marynka is Red Jaga’s servant in the Midday Forest, and Zosia is Black Jaga’s servant in the Midnight Forest. They are tasks with stealing hearts for princes for their witches to devour to make them stronger. Almost every time, Zosia “Midnight” wins the race and Marynka “Midday” hates it. Beata “Morning” just does her best and accepts her place. The Midnight Girls is mostly Marynka’s story of hate and love and rivalry and frustration and finally peace. Zosia’s story is woven in as well, but at the heart, it’s Marynka’s tale. It’s a love story, mostly.

There are a lot of things going on in The Midnight Girls. There’s Karnawal – a winter Carnival festival – and there’s Price Józef’s story with Kajetan. There’s a lot of working relationships that Jasińska clearly wanted to develop, and none of them got quite enough attention, not even the sapphic romance between Zosia and Marynka. For the first two-thirds, I was bored and frustrated, save for the occasional vibrant scene (the ice maze!). The last third caught my interest but it moved so quickly that as soon as things seemed to be developing… they stopped. The book ended.

That said, there’s a lovely review on Goodreads from a Polish reader commenting on the magic, Polish-coded cast, and general setting. It’s a lovely, happy, enthusiastic review and a reminder that there are so many groups underrepresented in literature still, even if they don’t seem so obvious to the casual reader. The sheer joy in this review reminds me how often only the western-most European cultures get mention. While I found the world-building a little awkward (is this real? Fantasy? Magical realism? Jasińska seems to jump but I believe it’s intended to be fantasy intertwined in the real world), it’s clear this book is not for me and it’s made another so happy.

Criticism unrelated to the book itself or the author – this title feels like it was chosen by someone who didn’t read the book. Jasińska stated online that she didn’t title the book herself, so this is not on her. To be clear, there are no “midnight girls”. There is one girl affiliated with “midnight” (Zosia) and three girls who are monsters.

The Midnight Girls is a pass from me, although there are moments and pieces I appreciated. I think that to the right reader, this will be a wonderful read and I appreciate that it exists even if I read too deeply into things like the relationships and the world building and ruined it for myself. I celebrate that this is a YA book with well-represented Polish-coded characters, queer relationships, and dark, spooky sunset magic. show less

Gisela is a rusalka, a water nymph created from a girl who was tragically drowned and whose spirit hadn't moved on; wishing to regain her humanity, she latches onto a story that the willing kiss of a mortal will return her to life. Kazik is the brooding exorcist who reluctantly agrees to help, ostensibly so that she'll finally be out of his hair for good, and Aleksey is the (apparently) young man chosen by the two as the one who would fall in love and proffer the kiss. Of course, Kazik show more wasn't supposed to fall for either Gisela or Aleksey, let alone both, and Aleksey was supposed to be a human. Very messy, but quite enjoyable and the writing never felt manipulative, as some angsty romances occasionally get, trying to wring tears from the reader at every opportunity.

It's still strange for me, seeing polyamory in YA books, but I appreciate that it's not presented in a salacious way, the way poly triads are frequently shown in media. It's not about sex at all, which would have been a big mark against it for me in YA writing. It's about love, and about more love being even better. Hard to argue with that.

I did not see a cliffhanger coming, though. The book came out a week ago! How am I supposed to wait for a sequel? Grumble, grumble. show less

I really like the concept of this book, but sometimes there were words or phrases used that sounded so modern that it pulled me away from the fantasy. (And like others, I too thought this was a standalone, so that "epilogue" threw me.)