Kitty and the Midnight Hour (Kitty Norville, #1) (Fantasy/Grand Central Pub)

by Carrie Vaughn

Kitty Norville is a midnight-shift DJ for a Denver radio station - and she also happens to be a werewolf. One night, sick of the usual lame song requests, she accidentally starts 'The Midnight Hour', a late-night advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged. Almost immediately she's deluged by calls from desperate vampires, werewolves and witches from all across the country, wanting to share their woes and ask her advice. Kitty's new show is a raging success, but it's Kitty herself who could use some help, not least because her monthly change is a deep and dark secret to all but a very special few. And when she finds one very sexy werewolf-hunter on her tail, not to mention a few homicidal undead, she realises she may just may have bitten off more than she can chew ...

• ISBN10: 0575100699
• ISBN13: 9780575100695
• Publish Date: 9 June 2011 (first published 1 November 2005)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 22 November 2012
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Gollancz
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Second round going back to re-read because I'd forgotten why I'd rated this one 2 stars originally and thought perhaps my feelings might've changed for the better.

The book -is- well written and quite readable. The author's adept at her craft. The dynamics on the other hand.. the r@pey alpha-werewolf tropes and the screaming misogyny unfortunately were as prevalent and unapologetically vile as the last time I read it.

It's a real shame because I loved the parts written in and around the recording studio when she was on-the-air, and I really like the DJ vibe. Can't get past the abuse and misogyny though.

This had such an interesting storyline that I wasn't sure if I was going to like it and surprisingly I did. This was such an easy to read book and humorous book. I quite like the way the author wrote Kitty and the second book is definitely on my list to read.

[Berls]

My Initial Reaction…
Why did I wait so long to start this series? Although I wasn’t a big fan of Kitty to start with, as Kitty and the Midnight Hour progressed, I got to know her better and love her. And using a radio show to tell big hunks of the story? Brilliant! But I’m ahead of myself…

The Narration…
I came across Marguerite Gavin in the Hollows Series and was iffy about her, but wondered if it was because I already had voices in my head for those characters (I was rereading in audio). Well, now I know that I like her a lot. I don’t love her narration, but it’s a solid B+ for me. Something about her voice for Kitty was absolutely perfect for me – it carried a radio personality perfectly. Her voices for other characters, although distinct, was a little less than perfect for me. Particularly some of the male characters, who came out sounding a bit too forced masculine for my taste. All in all, I loved her for Kitty and her voices for the men weren’t perfect, but good enough that I definitely plan to continue listening to this series.

The Characters…
Ok, so Kitty and I didn’t like each other at first. See, she had all this potential to be someone I could love and then I find out that she’s uber submissive. Like annoyingly, pathetically so. But as the story progressed a few things happened to change my opinion of Kitty. First of all, I learned her back story and that explained a lot. I won’t tell you what happened, because I like the way it’s revealed in Kitty and the Midnight Hour, but how she was changed and the person she was before her change to werewolf really explained why she acted the way she did. Second, and perhaps more importantly, I watched her grow as a character. Through her radio show, she gained an independence and self-worth that she so badly needed and with it she really started to transform. As a character driven reader, this kind of development makes a story shine for me. I loved seeing her transformation and so in the end, I not only love Kitty, but I’m really glad she started the book so annoyingly submissive. Clearly Carrie Vaughn knew what she was doing.

As for the other characters, I have to say that like her radio show, this is really a one-woman act. There are a full cast of other characters and they’re developed just enough for you to have the desired response to them. There’s the best friend that you love, even when he frustrates the hell out of you; the alpha that you’re on the fence about, but think you hate; the stereotypical cop that you respect but wish would stay the hell out of this stuff. Cormac, the love-hate interest, was an interesting figure but sadly a bit forgettable for me. He went from enemy to trusted ally to quickly and easily for my liking, though I absolutely loved their dialogue. I think what I’m getting at with these characters is that, they do the job to move the story forward, but besides Kitty, they’re all a bit predictable and too easy.

The Story…
I loved the way this story was told perhaps even more than the story itself. Kitty is a late night radio host who inadvertently turns her show into a paranormal talk show. And it becomes a major hit. And a major problem. She’s getting syndicated and lots of attention; becoming a real hot shot, making serious money. At the same time, however, some supernaturals (particularly some vamps in her area) don’t like what she’s up to and she’s ordered to back down. That sets up the major plot tension, although a murder does happen that Kitty gets involved with investigating, but for me that was really a back drop. The real tension, for me, was Kitty’s fight to become and remain independent, through her radio show.

Huge segments of the book take place while Kitty is actually doing the show. I loved this. It was so unique and Vaughn writes dialogue so brilliantly that it just works. I also think that listening to Kitty and the Midnight Hour rather than reading it only amplifies the brilliance of this storytelling move because I felt like I was listening to the actual show a lot of the time. Gavin does a great job of showing Kitty’s radio persona/voice as something just slightly different from her regular one, so that made this spectacular. The mystery was solid (surrounding the murder) and I didn’t figure it out until maybe seconds before Kitty, which is always a good sign. That last 15% was fairly shocking, including one heart-wrenching moment, and I gobbled it up.

Concluding Sentiments…
For me, this was a really positive start to a series. The world was pretty much your staple Urban Fantasy and I settled into it quickly. I’m ready to see what’s next for Kitty and I’m hopeful that some of the other characters will have better development as the series progresses.

[ibeforem]

I’ve been meaning to start this series for quite a while, and finally got around to it! It definitely was worth the wait. I thought the story was wonderfully written, much better than the books you usually find in this genre. The story was tight, without a lot of extra analysis or gratuitous sex hanging around. I liked Kitty quite a bit, especially how she grew and got more confident as the story progressed, and I really liked the way the werewolf and vampire cultures were explained. I was trying to think of another book I’ve read that had a werewolf as the main character, and I think this was the first! I’ll definitely be continuing this series, and I highly recommend it for anyone who is interesting in the paranormal genre but wants to ease their way into it.

[Jo]

I've recently been in the mood for more adult urban fantasy over YA so have been reorganising my TBR pile to find them. I knew I had Kitty and the Midnight Hour in there somewhere, and thought I'd give it a go. And now I'm not sure what I think.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, I did enjoy it to a certain degree, but it did feel very much like a first novel in a series. Despite the fact that there was a fair bit of action and excitement, and there was a complete plot. The way it's set up just seemed a little random to me. Kitty's radio show because an almost supernatural problem/discussion show, and because she now has the show, she ends up finding out things, and people want her to help them. It's like things just fall in her lap randomly. Things link together and make sense in the end, but it's how they come to her attention that I found a bit iffy.

There are two main storylines to this book; a rogue werewolf is killing young women, and someone wants Kitty dead. There is another storyline that will follow on, about a preacher who says he can cure the supernatural. Now the problem with the randomly falling into her lap is to do with the rogue werewolf, where as the trouble with someone wanting to kill her works better. Pack dynamics in this book are.. well, disgusting. I was actually moaning to my mate about how the alpha of the pack treated Kitty, and was thinking of putting it down because there is no-way reading it could be enjoyable. Carl, the alpha, is god. What he says goes. You do what he tells you to, when he tells you to do it, or else you get the beating of your life for undermining his authority. So when he says you have to quit your job, you're expected to do it. When he is "teaching you a lesson", you're supposed to take it. When he decides he wants to have sex with you, you allow him. Take out the supernatural element to this, and it's abuse, plain and simple, and it was completely disgusting to watch, seeing Kitty just accept that this is the way things are. It was awful. But when someone thinks the alpha is paying far too much attention to the "cub" of the pack, and might be gaining a bit too much power, well... instead of outright challenging, they're a bit underhanded about it, and trying to get rid of Kitty in other ways.

I have to beonest and say the way the alpha treated Kitty, and how she found out about things has kind of coloured my view of the story, but despite those things, it was actually really good. The action and excitement was spot on, there was intrigue, a possible romance, and certain things left open to carry on in the next book. So yes, through writing this review, I've decided I did enjoy this book, and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, Kitty goes to Washington.