Review – Born At Midnight (Shadow Falls, Book 1) by C. C. Hunter (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Length: 416 pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Release Date: March 29, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-0312624675
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Shadow Falls series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars
“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…”
I have been wanting to read this series for quite awhile. This is the first of five books in the Shadow Falls series. I finally decided to bring the book with me on vacation and read it on the plane. This ended up being a pretty typical paranormal YA book. However I enjoyed the mystery behind the main character’s developing powers and also enjoyed the characters in the book. There wasn’t a lot in here that was new or creative, but it is a well done paranormal YA book that I enjoyed reading.
The main heroine in this book Kylie can see ghosts and has horrible nightmares (although as the book continues you find out it’s more than that). Her parents are going through a messy divorce and in order to allow her to cope better Kylie’s mom signs her up for Shadow Falls camp; a camp for troubled teens.
The whole idea of sending a young adult off to camp or boarding school is done quite a bit in paranormal YA books. Additionally the cast of characters in this book (vampires, werewolves, and witches) is also pretty typical. There are a few interesting additions to the mix; Derek can commune with animals and nature and Kylie’s powers seem to be something different altogether.
The plot alternates between Kylie trying to figure out what she is and a mystery involving animals being stolen from the neighboring wildlife refuge; this is very much a mystery/investigative story.
Despite the fact that there isn’t anything super original in here I enjoyed the book. I haven’t been reading much paranormal YA lately and this was a good one. The book is well written, an easy light read, and there are hints of some more interesting plot developments to come. This was just a fun and quick paranormal read.
Overall this was a well done YA paranormal book that was an easy and fun read. I plan on reading the next book in the series and, if I enjoy that book even more than this one, I will continue with the series. I would recommend to fans of YA paranormal books.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
– Paranormal Reading Challenge
– YA Reading Challenge
