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A review by lezreadalot
The Midnight Hunt by L.L. Raand
3.0
This was okay. It wasn't as fun as I was hoping it would be, but I did enjoy some aspects of this paranormal world for the time that I spent in it, and there were some great relationships and romances in it. We're following a werewolf alpha, a vampire, a human doctor and a human reporter as they investigate the mystery of missing girls and a concerning illness from different angles.
One of the things I liked most about this was the world building around the werewolves' society. The pack was this giant family, centred around the alpha, and I loved how tactile and caring she was with all of them, and how her role as a leader was about protecting them, not just being protected. That sort of physical closeness that doesn't come with any kind of romantic or necessarily sexual attraction, but just speaks of how close they are and how loyal they are to her... I don't know, that part of werewolf society just really did it for me. But actually, the romance that I enjoyed more was between the vampire and the reporter. We're only in the beginning stages of that relationship, but I love the chemistry and the tension between them, that push and pull. Becca was my favourite character because she was so tenacious and determined to get what she needed for her story. Her reactions to how attracted she eventually became to Jodie were also so great.
Cons... this was an older book and it had some of the most egregious head hopping that I've ever read in a book, and I really really hated it. It was so distracting and constituted a big portion of why I didn't enjoy this as much as I could have. I say it all the time, so I won't harp on about it now. But I just really wish we could have confined the POVs to one person per scene. This is also just a matter of taste, but the erotica aspect of this didn't really work for me either. Some of the words used... eh. Also, for a large portion of the book, Sylvan and Drake are denying their attraction and their bond, and at a certain point it became annoying, especially since it seemed like Sylvan was almost willing to put her pack in danger rather than claim her mate. That kind of back and forth really didn't work for me. There was so much delayed gratification and heightened tension, it eventually stopped feeling exciting and just felt sort of... boring? That's just me, perhaps.
Listen to the audiobook as read by Maxine Michelle, and it was pretty good. Not a tonne of different voices, but it was still entertaining narration. I could maaaaaaybe see myself continuing with this series in the future, but it's a pretty big maybe.
One of the things I liked most about this was the world building around the werewolves' society. The pack was this giant family, centred around the alpha, and I loved how tactile and caring she was with all of them, and how her role as a leader was about protecting them, not just being protected. That sort of physical closeness that doesn't come with any kind of romantic or necessarily sexual attraction, but just speaks of how close they are and how loyal they are to her... I don't know, that part of werewolf society just really did it for me. But actually, the romance that I enjoyed more was between the vampire and the reporter. We're only in the beginning stages of that relationship, but I love the chemistry and the tension between them, that push and pull. Becca was my favourite character because she was so tenacious and determined to get what she needed for her story. Her reactions to how attracted she eventually became to Jodie were also so great.
Cons... this was an older book and it had some of the most egregious head hopping that I've ever read in a book, and I really really hated it. It was so distracting and constituted a big portion of why I didn't enjoy this as much as I could have. I say it all the time, so I won't harp on about it now. But I just really wish we could have confined the POVs to one person per scene. This is also just a matter of taste, but the erotica aspect of this didn't really work for me either. Some of the words used... eh. Also, for a large portion of the book, Sylvan and Drake are denying their attraction and their bond, and at a certain point it became annoying, especially since it seemed like Sylvan was almost willing to put her pack in danger rather than claim her mate. That kind of back and forth really didn't work for me. There was so much delayed gratification and heightened tension, it eventually stopped feeling exciting and just felt sort of... boring? That's just me, perhaps.
Listen to the audiobook as read by Maxine Michelle, and it was pretty good. Not a tonne of different voices, but it was still entertaining narration. I could maaaaaaybe see myself continuing with this series in the future, but it's a pretty big maybe.