Born at Midnight review

Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter

4 out of 5

It's harder for me to review books that I liked. While I can point out all the reasons I have for not liking a book, I find it much more difficult to articulate why I like something. Often, the books have a lot of the same problems as ones that I don't like but there was something else that helped me overlook them. This was one of those books.

I feel like there were quite a few problems with this book. Kylie (#1 problem- I don't like that name in books) is sent to a camp for "troubled teens" by her mother after one night of being somewhere where she might have done something bad, but in fact did not. I'm not a parent, but I don't think I'd send my generally good teen who was in the wrong place at the wrong time to a camp that, as far as I knew, was for kids with major problems- even if it was strongly suggested by the kid's therapist. I'd know my kid wasn't a problem and maybe made a bad decision based on the poor reaction to her father leaving.

Anyway, Kylie is sent to Shadow Falls and she's immediately judgmental about the other people on the bus because they look weird. She's only non-judgmental about Derek because he's good-looking and is averagely dressed. I suppose that this is to eventually show how much Kylie has grown, but she's kind of annoying here. Still, something is weirder than she imagined as she begins to notice some of the strange things about the other campers. When she gets to the camp and they are divided into groups, she finds out that they are really a camp for supernatural creatures like vampires, werewolves, witches, etc.

While it's hard to deny that there are supernatural creatures after a demonstration by a shapeshifter, Kylie refuses to believe that she is one. Sure, she can see ghosts, but she's rather it be a brain tumor than supernatural heritage. She's pretty insufferable about this. I'm not sure she actually believes it in the end, either.

There are also two "love interests" and an ex-boyfriend that causes drama. I actually put "love interest" in quotes because, to me, they aren't really love interests. Hot boys you feel like jumping when they are around do not make love interests. And Kylie wanted to jump them a lot. This was, for me, the book equivalent to The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Sex was almost another character. It was the reason Kylie and her boyfriend broke up. The reason she didn't want to get back together. The only thing she could think about when with 3 different guys. The reason her dad became such a deadbeat.

It actually sounds like I hate this book, but I don't. In fact, I really did like it a lot. I think the author did a good job of dragging out what Kylie is (we still don't know) without making me so frustrated that I just don't care anymore. It's obvious Kylie is going to be special, but she didn't develop any insane superpowers. We did find out about her ghost and I hope this leads finding out more. The book's self-contained mystery was kind of blah, though.