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A review by justinkhchen
Midnight Is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead
4.0
3.75 stars
An inconsistent mystery-melodrama that ultimately did win me over, reading Midnight Is the Darkest Hour was unexpectedly turbulent, with my sentiment oscillating from deeply invested to couldn't care less in span of pages.
Going in I was not aware how thorough this novel is echoing Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, and I hypothesize one's familiarity (and affinity) towards Bella and Edward's romance will directly influence one's overall enjoyment regarding many aspects of this novel. Personally, I missed out on the whole Twilight craze, so the parallels and callbacks throughout Midnight Is the Darkest Hour feel a little overdone, and I would've preferred the story standing on its own, rather than relying so hard on readers' nostalgia for the 2005 novel. However, if you have fond memory of Twilight, I can say this is a solid, more mature interpretation on the same theme (and its inclusion does make logical sense from a character development perspective)—I'm just not the ideal reader to appreciate it.
Ashley Winstead's lyrical writing really shines through—her prose precisely captures the dread and the foreboding mood of a religious, seemingly self-governed small town in the South. The mystery unfolds with some twists and turns, while serviceable, offers nothing earth-shattering. However, I ended up being fine with it as it paved the path towards the ending scene, which is easily my absolute favorite thing about Midnight Is the Darkest Hour (I'm pretty confident the scene itself is also referencing a film—but mentioning it will spoil it). It will 100% divide readers into love it/hate it camps, and I appreciate the boldness in choosing to wrap up the story this way.
Now looking at the full picture, I can appreciate Midnight Is the Darkest Hour for what is it: a gothic (lite) mystery + romantic suspense that is heavily Twilight coded; but going into it expecting a 'gothic Southern thriller', I was slightly annoyed by the heavy emphasis on romance, and the slow-moving plot that revealed more than concealed. But the excellent writing had me staying, and the ending wrapped things up on a high—so as long as you know what you're getting, I can see this being a perfect read for some!
An inconsistent mystery-melodrama that ultimately did win me over, reading Midnight Is the Darkest Hour was unexpectedly turbulent, with my sentiment oscillating from deeply invested to couldn't care less in span of pages.
Going in I was not aware how thorough this novel is echoing Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, and I hypothesize one's familiarity (and affinity) towards Bella and Edward's romance will directly influence one's overall enjoyment regarding many aspects of this novel. Personally, I missed out on the whole Twilight craze, so the parallels and callbacks throughout Midnight Is the Darkest Hour feel a little overdone, and I would've preferred the story standing on its own, rather than relying so hard on readers' nostalgia for the 2005 novel. However, if you have fond memory of Twilight, I can say this is a solid, more mature interpretation on the same theme (and its inclusion does make logical sense from a character development perspective)—I'm just not the ideal reader to appreciate it.
Ashley Winstead's lyrical writing really shines through—her prose precisely captures the dread and the foreboding mood of a religious, seemingly self-governed small town in the South. The mystery unfolds with some twists and turns, while serviceable, offers nothing earth-shattering. However, I ended up being fine with it as it paved the path towards the ending scene, which is easily my absolute favorite thing about Midnight Is the Darkest Hour (I'm pretty confident the scene itself is also referencing a film—but mentioning it will spoil it). It will 100% divide readers into love it/hate it camps, and I appreciate the boldness in choosing to wrap up the story this way.
Now looking at the full picture, I can appreciate Midnight Is the Darkest Hour for what is it: a gothic (lite) mystery + romantic suspense that is heavily Twilight coded; but going into it expecting a 'gothic Southern thriller', I was slightly annoyed by the heavy emphasis on romance, and the slow-moving plot that revealed more than concealed. But the excellent writing had me staying, and the ending wrapped things up on a high—so as long as you know what you're getting, I can see this being a perfect read for some!