Born at Midnight (Shadow Falls, #1)

by C C Hunter

Kylie Galen has had a lot of crap tossed in her lap. Her parents are getting a divorce. Her boyfriend broke up with her because she wouldn't put out. Her grandmother died and now Kylie's acquired a stalker. Unfortunately, she's the only one who seems to be able to see the stalker. And that gets her sent to a psychologist's sofa. The kooky psychologist gets Kylie sent to Shadow Falls Camp. Kylie and her parents think it's a camp for troubled teens. They thought wrong. It's a camp of supernaturals: vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches and shape shifters. And if she believes the camp leader, Kylie is one of them, too.

• ISBN10: 1250046807
• ISBN13: 9781250046802
• Publish Date: 12 July 2013 (first published 29 March 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 7 December 2021
• Imprint: St. Martin's Press
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I liked Born at Midnight, in a way, but I do think I found it more ridiculous and fun than good. Kylie's parents are getting divorced and her father has just moved out. She goes to a party to escape, but it's broken up for a drug bust. Kylie wasn't drinking or doing drugs, but under her psychiatrist's suggestion, her mother sends her off to a camp for trouble teens. Well, Shadow Falls isn't really that kind of camp. It's for supernatural teens to come together, bond, and learn to use their powers. Kylie doesn't believe in that stuff, but eventually she must accept that she's one of them. Except no one can tell what she is exactly other than a ghost whisperer.

Born at Midnight had all the makings of a great YA paranormal novel, but it didn't really use any of it. From the beginning, it reminded me of Fallen, but less frustrating. It does use the camp setting a lot better than the former, but other than that, I was underwhelmed. Kylie is the typical good girl, upset about life, and being punished for something she didn't do. She's also super special, although no one knows why she's special. Immediately, there are two mysterious boys fawning over her, and she makes quirky new friends within a day. Cliche, after cliche, after trope, after trope. It was a bit much.

The plot of Born at Midnight was my main issue. It's more like a lack of plot. There's some mentions at the beginning about the camp being shut down, but it's always in whispers and half-heard conversations. No one knows why the camp is being threatened. During the last quarter is when this mystery comes to the front, but by then it felt tacked on for the sake of plot. The camp is in jeopardy for very stupid reasons. I couldn't even roll my eyes because it was so ridiculous. It's also solved and righted almost as soon as it gets rolling.

I don't even know about Born at Midnight. I really liked some parts of it, but I think it failed in general. I liked Kylie well enough, but I couldn't care less about her romance, since I couldn't even keep the guys straight. The plot is non-existent, and everything else has been done to death (and better). I did like how Kylie's mom went from the worst ever, to kind of great, since a lot of YA lacks parents in general. There was a twist that I didn't see coming, so I liked that, too. I am interested enough to want to continue the series, especially since I'm a sucker for "special" school settings.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Chelsea]

I was super happy after reading this one! I really enjoyed it and I’m excited to finish the series! The characters were mostly all enjoyable. Obviously I loved the super hot werewolf and the main character wasn’t too bad. She was going through her parents getting a divorce and got sent to this camp where she finds out she isn’t human. She’s got a pretty good excuse not to be perfect but I still liked her anyways.

The plot was a little boring sometimes. It was mostly about Kylie trying to fit in and whatnot but then they threw this whole animals escaping thing at the last minute. I thought that part was a little rushed but i understand that it kinda needed to be in there. I just wish it was a little better written that’s all. But overall I really liked this book!

I really enjoyed this book and I couldn't put it down and just finished it as fast as I could. And rushed into picking up the second book to find out what happens next.

I love the characters that were introduced, the premise of the plot, and the main character. There is a certain amount of mystery that it keeps you reading to find out what happens next. I like Kylie and reading from her POV as she's trying to figure out who she is.

Loved this!! Born at Midnight was so addicting that I'm dying to read the next book right now! This is definitely one of the better paranormal books out there.

[wyvernfriend]

Kylie Galen's parents marriage is falling apart and she's in the middle. She also has been seeing people that aren't there, her psychiatrist suggests a camp for troubled teens and after an incident with a party where she winds up smelling of booze, her mother agrees. She finds that the camp is for people with special abilities and is roomed with a vampire and a witch. There's also a love triangle that's all sorts of messed up.

I enjoyed the story, Kylie is desperately clinging to normal for as long as she can and you can see where she's coming from and the revelation of who the ghost is, was super.

Looking forward to more of this series

[Kelly]

I thought it was a quick, fun read. I can understand the concern in regards to how the author has portrayed the teen characters and how they interact, but it's based or normal teenage responses, rather than trying to instill morals. If you enjoyed the Darkest Powers trilogy, you'll enjoy this.

[Raven]

Kylie’s life is falling apart. Her boyfriend dumped her because she wouldn’t put out, her grandmother died, she is having night terrors, she is being stalked by a guy no one else can see that landed her with a shrink, and her parents are getting divorced. In a fit of rebellion, she goes to a party, which of course gets busted by the cops, landing her in jail. Despite the fact that she wasn’t drinking or doing drugs like many of the other kids, Kylie’s mother is furious and decides that she will spend her summer away at Shadow Falls, a camp for “troubled teens”. The kids aren’t “troubled”, just “supernatural”, and they swear that Kylie is one of them, they just don’t know what kind. She has never really fit in, but does she really fit in with a bunch of fae, werewolves, vampires, witches and elves? She sincerely doubts it! But the longer she spends with them, the more it becomes clear that they just might be right. Now if only she could figure out what kind of supernatural she really is.
The plot is annoyingly simple. It actually feels like it drags. You go through so much of the book and then still, nothing has happened and very little is building up for the climax. I have a rule about not rating a book for two hours after I read it, just to avoid an incorrect rating, a rule that was a saving grace for this book. At the immediate end, this would’ve been a firm two stars book. During the digestion process, I see why I really liked it.

The plot is an agonizingly slow build up. When you take the step back and look at it though, it’s actually incredibly smart. You are slowly building on things. You can tell right away that you will end up tired of Kylie before the series is completed though. Finding out what she is is going to drag and drag and drag. That may or may not be a bad thing. Stretching it out can either kill it for the reader, or fill the anticipation to busting. The climax being small is helpful also, in that it helps connect you to the camp. The one thing I didn’t like was the prose. Unlike most of the stories I fall in love with, I didn’t feel sucked in. I felt like I was watching it happen instead of living through it. Usually, I can smell the trees and feel the wind. Instead, I felt like I was watching reality television, with just as much drama.

The character are the real winners. Kylie isn’t brilliant. I actually dislike her as the main character. She is hypocritical, and annoying confused, and her emotions are all over the place. There were enough times when I felt like she was bordering Mary Sue boredom in her character development. Sure, she had flaws, but they were boring. She was boring. She was almost annoying more often than not, and I found myself wishing we were seeing someone else, anyone else, telling the story. Her roommates are amazing and I loved them right away. Sadly, they felt more developed than Kylie. I know Kylie is lost and finding out what she is, but that doesn’t justify making her annoying in the process. The love square was useless and annoying. Trey is the ex who wants her back, Lucas is the werewolf who she used to know and represents nothing but passion and danger, and Derek is the sweet half-fae who just wants to love her. Out of them, I liked Derek the best, but even then, I felt like none of them were rememberable enough to even deal with. Not to mention that they made Kylie talk about her breasts way way too often. I am all for discovering your sexual side, but you can get really bored of hearing about a girl’s boobs. Unless you’re a guy I suppose. I think it goes back to how I wasn’t sucked in. If I had been, my boobs would’ve tingled when hers did, but instead I just read about it. It all fell flat on the page.

Despite feeling disconnected to the story, I did enjoy it very much. I laughed, I cried, I fell in love with a few of the characters, rooted for others. Time will tell how the series continues, but for now I like it very much.

Read this and other reviews at my blog.