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A review by jessmarticorena
Bring Me Your Midnight by Rachel Griffin
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.5
As a Rachel Griffin book fanatic, I could not put this book down. This was sold to me as an atmospheric story full of forbidden love (which it had in abundance <3), but the most impactful part to me was the theme of Tana finding her own future.
Tana has had her destiny laid out for her since she was a young child. She was going to wed the governor's son and protect her island, the only safe haven for witches. In a world that fears witches and their magic, an alliance between the mainland and the Witchery would open up resources and protections that hadn't been afforded to the island since the witches had been persecuted and banned from the mainland. Tana feels bound by duty to her island and community to do this for them. But when she meets a boy on the beach at midnight, everything changes. Suddenly, Tana finds herself torn between dark magic and low magic, love and duty.
I loved so much about this book. Tana is an incredibly relatable character who is lost within herself, trying to understand who she is separate from all of the expectations that have been put on her. My favorite part about her self discovery was that she had so internalized others' expectations of her that she couldn't figure out where their wants stopped and her own began. All of the confusion and constant negative self-talk felt relatable in a way that was so unique. In her mind, she owed so much to so many that she felt she had to apologize for being herself. Her growth journey was incredible to follow and had me tearing up at multiple points. Rachel Griffin always manages to nail mental health in such relatable ways, and it makes me so happy to have these characters to relate to and grow with.
Another strong point was most of the relationships! I was crying over Tana and her best friend Ivy (Tana refers to Ivy as her soulmate <3), and I love the relationship between Tana and her dad. I love seeing present parents in YA books!
I know that it's an unpopular opinion, but I didn't love the romance in this... I felt that it was very insta-love and the intensity happened way too quickly, so it was hard for me to believe. Which is a shame because I was obsessed with the romance subplots in Griffin's first two books! Overall, it just felt a little unbelievable to me, and I wished that we could have seen a lot more building up of their relationship instead of being told about it or having it instantly get intense. My only other complaint is the world-building. I felt like the Witchery and the mainland were on their own little planet, and I was confused about if the world was contemporary or historical. I would have loved more depth into the rest of earth in this fantasy world. But those two things are my ONLY complaints!
Overall, I loved this book. Rachel Griffin creates compelling characters with complicated inner worlds and a healthy dose of witches. And I always love how significant saving the environment is in each other novels. A+ to Rachel Griffin for major themes of mental illness/unique mental health difficulties and saving out planet! I recommend this and her backlist <3
4.5 rounded up
Tana has had her destiny laid out for her since she was a young child. She was going to wed the governor's son and protect her island, the only safe haven for witches. In a world that fears witches and their magic, an alliance between the mainland and the Witchery would open up resources and protections that hadn't been afforded to the island since the witches had been persecuted and banned from the mainland. Tana feels bound by duty to her island and community to do this for them. But when she meets a boy on the beach at midnight, everything changes. Suddenly, Tana finds herself torn between dark magic and low magic, love and duty.
I loved so much about this book. Tana is an incredibly relatable character who is lost within herself, trying to understand who she is separate from all of the expectations that have been put on her. My favorite part about her self discovery was that she had so internalized others' expectations of her that she couldn't figure out where their wants stopped and her own began. All of the confusion and constant negative self-talk felt relatable in a way that was so unique. In her mind, she owed so much to so many that she felt she had to apologize for being herself. Her growth journey was incredible to follow and had me tearing up at multiple points. Rachel Griffin always manages to nail mental health in such relatable ways, and it makes me so happy to have these characters to relate to and grow with.
Another strong point was most of the relationships! I was crying over Tana and her best friend Ivy (Tana refers to Ivy as her soulmate <3), and I love the relationship between Tana and her dad. I love seeing present parents in YA books!
I know that it's an unpopular opinion, but I didn't love the romance in this... I felt that it was very insta-love and the intensity happened way too quickly, so it was hard for me to believe. Which is a shame because I was obsessed with the romance subplots in Griffin's first two books! Overall, it just felt a little unbelievable to me, and I wished that we could have seen a lot more building up of their relationship instead of being told about it or having it instantly get intense. My only other complaint is the world-building. I felt like the Witchery and the mainland were on their own little planet, and I was confused about if the world was contemporary or historical. I would have loved more depth into the rest of earth in this fantasy world. But those two things are my ONLY complaints!
Overall, I loved this book. Rachel Griffin creates compelling characters with complicated inner worlds and a healthy dose of witches. And I always love how significant saving the environment is in each other novels. A+ to Rachel Griffin for major themes of mental illness/unique mental health difficulties and saving out planet! I recommend this and her backlist <3
4.5 rounded up