Born at Midnight

This book was four hundred pages of meandering garbage. The story sucked, the writing sucked, the characters sucked. Everything about it sucked. But I had to read it because I won an advance copy from Library Thing Early Reviews.

Kylie is a sixteen-year old girl shipped off to a camp for "troubled teens" after being caught by the police at a party during a drug bust. (But our sweet Kylie wasn't doing drugs or drinking or committing any other bad behavior, of course. Because she's boring.) Turns out that the camp is actually a haven for paranormal teens, like werewolves, vamps, witches, fairies and shape-shifters. Oh, but why oh why is Kylie there? We don't know, and neither does she. Except that she can kinda sorta see ghosts. It's not show more described very well. But she's in denial about the whole thing anyway, and would much rather have a brain tumor. In fact, I'd rather she have one too. It'd make for a far more interesting read -- or at least a shorter one.

Kylie spend about 375 pages in denial that she is "special" -- all while dealing with her parents' lame-o divorce and her off-screen best friend's lame-o pregnancy scare -- and about 10 pages making the great connections that I figured out 300 pages ago.

Kylie is also a bit of a tramp, as she kisses no less than three guys over the course of the book, because she doesn't know who she wants to love. (And it's written so poorly that I don't even know who the hell I'm supposed to root for.) But she's a virgin, so that makes it all ok!

Then there's tons of cliffhangers and loose ends (both gaping ones and itty-bitty ones) that seem purposely left open so you buy the next book. Because it's a series. And, oh, how I hate that.

Red alert, red alert - steer clear of this one. show less

I think Kylie has to be one of the luckiest unlucky girls around. She gets in trouble when she's not at fault, she has parents that aren't really there for her and then she gets shipped off to a camped for troubled teens. It seems bad, right? Yet, it's probably one of the best things that could have happened to her.

From the very beginning of this novel, you can empathize with Kylie. When she's not happy with someone, you're not happy. If she's panicked, then you're in a panic. If she's happy, well... you get where I'm going with this. Kylie's character and voice is very strong in this novel and that makes the story that much easier to get into. Kylie definitely had her fair share of moments where you pitied her, but I think the friends show more and discoveries that she made at Shadow Falls more than makes up for everything else.

Throughout the story, I found myself wanting to be at Shadow Falls. Not only is it eerily fascinating, but the people there are equally as enthralling to me. From Miranda to Della to the camp counselors and fellow camp mates, the characters - big or small - took on lives of their own, each with their own distinctive attitudes and personalities. Aside from Kylie, I think I have to say that my second favorite character is Della. Although it seems that Della wouldn't be such a stand-out character in the beginning, she really did pop out for me. She and Miranda make the perfect friends for Kylie in their own individual ways. And their fights with one another? Classic. The love interest(s) was also a thing to be reckoned with. It looks like we might be setting up for a love triangle, which at this point could go either way. Surprisingly enough, I didn't detest it as I typically do with love triangles.

The ending actually caught me off-guard, which is encouraging and definitely welcomed. From the characters to the plot, everything in this story was wonderfully written. I love the voice that C.C. gave to her characters and I'm eagerly awaiting Born at Midnight's sequel, Taken at Dawn, to see what happens next with all of my favorite characters. show less

PUT THE BOOK DOWN! Trust me, you do not want to read this book. I felt obligated to read it because it was on my "to read" list for years, and I thought there must have been a good reason for that. NO!

The writing is atrocious- simple, repetitive, unnatural, grating.

The heroine is the most stubborn, whiny, judgemental girl ever to walk the planet. She gets sent to a camp for supernatutals (disguised as a "troubled teens" camp), and spends the whole time INSISTING she must be human, for no apparent reason. And her power, seeing ghosts- BORING! She does nothing special with her power either.

This is also one of THOSE stories, where the heroine has too many hot boys lusting after her- three to be exact. That is super hard to pull off, and show more the author of this book does not succeed. Kylie doesn't really do anything worthy of their desire except act like a total idiot, and they are all way too "mysterious" or "dangerous".

I promise you, if you have even an ounce of taste you will not like this book. I've read alot of Teen/YA fantasy, and this is one of the worst I have ever come across. If you think you liked this book, just stop for a minute and pick up pretty much any other book of its genre. This book just doesn't match up in any way. show less

I did not make it all the way through "Born at Midnight." I stopped reading approximately 85 pages in when the main character's reaction to a teenage shapeshifter doing his level best to cuddle her bosom contrasted to everything I had come to expect from her.

Shortly put, Kylie Galen is a two-dimensional, judgmental, hypocrite. The word "freak" is bandied about due to the rest of the cast's clothing choice ("all black" and "goth," though not further elaborated upon) and dyed hair color. Male characters are potential love interests and the female characters that hang about them are "slutty." There are no gray areas in the minor characters' characterization or, it would seem, in the love interests' characterization.

What I found to be show more particularly disturbing was the blatant slut-shaming Kylie imposes on her so-called best friend. Sara is described as a good girl gone bad, who used to value her chastity until discovering sex, at which point she became a party girl and a terrible friend who attempts to cheer Kylie up by shoving drinks at her. When Kylie is shipped off to camp, Sara has a pregnancy scare. We are led to believe that the pregnancy scare is a natural extension of her slut-hood.

Kylie, of course, has three boys drifting about to choose from: her ex-boyfriend (they broke up because Kylie wouldn't put out), a half-Fae boy at camp who looks like her ex-boyfriend, and a seemingly intimidating werewolf boy who once ate her cat. Her ex is manipulative and needy, the half-Fae boy is two-dimensional but otherwise apparently harmless, and the werewolf boy does not come across as intimidating as Ms. Hunter would have him seem.

Overall, "Born at Midnight" was not worth the sale price I paid for it and I wish I had never bothered to pick it up. show less

Vampires are very popular with young adults and this is series is a favorite. Additionally, the author is a Texas author and a SPOT (Spirit of Texas YA author) (i served on this TLA Committee and got to personally meet the author).

Kylie Galen has had a lot of crap tossed in her lap lately. Her parents are getting a divorce for who the heck knows why. Her boyfriend broke up with her because she wouldn't put out. And her grandmother died because . . . well, older people do that. But now, Kylie's acquired a stalker and she hasn't a clue what he wants or how to get rid of him . . . and she really wants to get rid of him because apparently she's the only one who sees him. Thinking she may be losing it, her parents send her off to see a show more psychologist who gets Kylie sent to Shadow Falls Camp. Kylie and her parents think it's a camp for troubled teens.

They thought wrong.

Kylie's surrounded by vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches and shapeshifters. And if she believes what they tell her, she's one of them. They're just not sure exactly how she fits in. As Kylie struggles to cope with the realization that these creatures even exist, and the fact that she might not be human, she's got two hot guys, a werewolf and a half-fairy vying for her attention. And they can just keep vying. Kylie's determined that before she lets her heart loose on love, she needs to unearth the truth. What does the ghost want? Who can and can't she trust? And most of all . . . What is she? show less

Kylie is having a really bad time. Her beloved Nana died two months ago. Her boyfriend, Trey, broke up with her for not giving in to his request for sex. The ghost of a bloody dead soldier seems to be stalking her and no one else can see it. Between that and the night terrors she’s sent for counseling. And now her parents are getting a divorce and the father she is close to is moving out, leaving her with her Ice Queen mother.

On the day he moves out she’s at a party that gets raided by the police. Even though she was found to be alcohol and drug free, her mother ships her off to a camp for problem teens. Only the camp isn’t for kids who get into trouble, but for vampires, werewolves, shifters, witches, the fae and other things show more thought to be just myth, to help them learn about themselves and how to integrate their new abilities. Kylie is obviously in the wrong place. Or is she?

No one knows exactly what she is, other than a ghost whisperer. She finds it astonishing that all of these scary people are afraid to be around her if a ghost is present and spends a great deal of time in denial as she tries to prove that she’s just a human and doesn’t belong here.

Interesting story and I loved the characters. She’s got a vampire and a dyslexic witch for roommates and is attracted to two guys, a werewolf and a fae that can manipulate other’s emotions and talk to animals. She’s afraid of the first and not sure she can trust what she’s feeling for the second. The camp counselor is a good mentor as Kylie starts learning more about herself, her relationship with her parents, and finds that this place is the first where she feels like she belongs.

There is also somewhat of a mystery taking place that could get the camp closed. The counselors aren’t sharing this with the kids, so when they stumble on it, of course they have to get involved.

Great start to a new YA Urban Fantasy series. show less

Kylie has this problem where she sees this military dude and no one else can. Then her boyfriend breaks up with her because she won't put out. THEN her parents announce that they're getting a divorce. To say that the year is a bit sucky is putting it mildly. But, oh yeah, it gets worse. Her mom, after the recommendation of her shrink, sends her to a summer camp for problemed-teens. And she has a problem all right. A problem with the camp.

Because it's really a camp for unique teens. And by unique I mean paranormally different. Vampire? Werewolf? Fay? If you're young and finding out for the first time, then this camp is for you. They'll help you with the transitional process. Kylie's sorta hoping that they're wrong and she has a brain show more tumor.

Only a bit hoping.

Born at Midnight is a slow leisurely paced book that I enjoyed more than I thought I would. The differences in the teens new abilities provided for an interesting examination of biases and cliques that most teens will be able to easily identify with. I also thought it was pretty cool that Kylie wasn't stoked about her abilities and instead met it with fierce resistance. Her awkwardness and inability to grasp that her roomies include a vamp and a werewolf are so Real. And Yay for realness in a totally unreal concept.

And because I know you're gonna ask, yeah there's a love triangle. But it's not the central plot line which means I can overlook it. Plus the actual plot was pretty normal. And hello for normal in an abnormal book.

Once again it's a series that took me by surprise. (What is up with picking up a book and not knowing it's a series? Can't they have bright yellow stars on them or something??) I'll be checking out the next one for sure. show less