Reviews with content warning for Murder - Midnight Is the Darkest Hour

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Midnight Is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead

54 reviews

lauracatereads's review

dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book was WILD. (P.S. for sure check the trigger warnings on this one).

At no point did I have any idea where exactly it was going until about 70% through in which I knew exactly where it was going and it had the biggest “oh shit?” moment of a book I’ve read in a very long time.

Where to start on this book? First of all, this is for the girlies who were raised in oppressive, fundamentalist churches in the South. Raise your hands my fellow Jezebel spirits. 🙋🏼‍♀️ This book would not have been remotely the same without the setting and what a wickedly beautiful one it is. Swamplands, humidity, supernatural storms, LSU references, Bible bumper hypocrisy, the Piggly Wiggly? You name it, Bottom Springs has it.

These characters were wicked and I loved it. Not morally grey, just straight up kinda morally evil. I had to sit there most of the novel and say “Cool motive, still murder” and yet Winstead writes it in such a compelling way and paints Ruth & Everett with just enough of a sentimental light that you want to sit there and say that it was all justified. (TBH, it kinda was

although Everett was totally a complete and utter psychopath

Also the finale??? should not have given this book any bad reviews, it was FANTASTIC. I love an unresolved ending. If you don’t have the imagination to make an ending for yourself than you simply just aren’t much of a reader. Anyways, nothing good starts in a getaway car 😉

Ruth Cornier, you would’ve LOVED Preacher’s daughter by Ethel Cain. Everett Duncan, you would’ve LOVED I Did Something Bad by Taylor Swift.

The only thing stopping me from 5⭐️ is the combo of Ruth’s naivety and the constant miscommunication trope that could’ve saved them so much.

Content Warnings

gabbyreadstoomuch's review against another edition

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4.0

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alabooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

You may not like this book if you are a fundamentalist Christian, as it deals with some of the hypocrisy of a fictional pastor, I'm sure modeled after some real ones. It also deals with an incorrectly labeled fictional Wiccan sect which was much more Satanist than true Wicca.
That being said it was an excellent book, in my opinion, very dark, but a good romantic thriller. However, the end left me unsatisfied. I'd have liked an epilogue of what happened to the town after, and if the MCs made it through.
I found the journey enjoyable, and it had some unpredictable twists. Overall, an excellent book.

Narrator Rating: 4.25 stars
Well the narrator did a good job, she didn't do enough tonal shifts for different characters' voices.

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tiiiger35's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I really enjoyed this book, I’d have given it 5 stars if it wasn’t for the ending which was open ended.

It’s definitely a southern gothic thriller with an underlying supernatural element.

It’s set in a religiously zealot small town, the author does a great job of describing the hot, humid, swampy, surroundings of the Deep South.

Ruth, the pastors daughter is naive, submissive and too easily influenced. Her blind ignorance towards her surroundings irritated me a lot.

I was very drawn to Evers’ character, a tormented soul who’s been mistreated his entire life. His vulnerability around Ruth is endearing & balances out his lingering darkness.

I see a lot of people slating the Twiligjt references but what they don’t get is that young girls are drawn to books like that and figures Edward Cullen because it’s a love interest outside of society and morality. This cries out to a girl like Ruth confined by religious beliefs & restrictions. It’s no wonder she looked at Ever, as her idea of a dark romance waiting to save her.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book.

It was hard to put down at times and I raced through it.

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