Born at Midnight(Shadow Falls 1)Author: C.C. HunterPublisher: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2011
One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever. Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls—a camp for troubled teens, and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just “troubled.” Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapshifters, witches and fairies train side by side—learning to harness their powers, control their magic and live in the normal world.
Kylie’s never felt normal, but surely she doesn’t belong here with a bunch of paranormal freaks either. Or does she? They insist Kylie is one of them, and that she was brought here for a reason. As if life wasn’t complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas. Derek’s a half-fae who’s determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas is a smokin’ hot werewolf with whom Kylie shares a secret past. Both Derek and Lucas couldn’t be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart.
Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs…
My Review:
Kylie’s life is falling apart. She just got dumped, her parents are getting a divorce and she ends up being shipped off to a camp for troubled teens. The thing is she might have more in common with the freaks than she could have ever imagined. Being a ghost whisperer is a rare gift, but for Kylie is more of a curse. Her constant haunt, a ghost she calls Soldier Dude keeps appearing everywhere. His bloody message was pretty scary! If she wants to get rid of him, she will have to find out who he is and what he wants. And trust me, it was a real surprise to discover who Soldier Dude really was.
Shadow Falls camp is a safe haven for supernatural kids to learn more about their powers. There is a legend regarding the falls on camp property that says you can see the shadows of death angels dancing in the falls. Though we never get to see the falls in this book, it’s obvious they will play a bigger role in following books. I always love a good mystery! Right now though, Kylie and her friends will have to do everything they can to keep the camp from being closed.
Della the vampire and Miranda the witch are Kylie’s cabin mates. I liked them a lot as secondary characters. Della’s story was interesting; she wants to be accepted now that she’s a vampire. We don’t get to know much about Miranda’s past, but she seems to have issues with her family. She’s also a very love-obsessed witch. I hope that we get to know more about them in the following books.
Kylie is more reserved than her friend; she has trouble deciding who to fall in love with. She really likes to think things through. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone, or end up hurting herself, and so has a hard time analyzing her feelings for Derek and Lucas. She likes Derek a lot, but there’s always the worry that he might be manipulating her emotions with his fae powers. Then with Lucas she is not sure if its love or lust what she is feeling.
Overall I think Born at Midnight is a great start to the series and I’ll be waiting for the next installment Awake at Dawn, coming this October!
Favorite Quotes:
“‘Oh, stake me!’ Della snapped.
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“She’s right. Nothing is worse than a vampire fart. Except…” She looked at the screen and started typing. “Except a witch’s fart after she eats a bean burrito.”
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“‘That’s the tricky thing about love. It walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and smells like a duck. But after you sleep with it a month or so, or get dumped at the altar by it, it starts smelling more like a skunk.”
