Publisher's Book Trailer
Kylie's life is breaking down around her: her parents consider divorce, her boyfriend dumps her and immediately starts going out with another girl, and a stalker has been introduced into her life. It isn't until Kylie gets caught at a party -- with under-aged drinking and drugs galore -- that her life gets turned completely upside down. Her Ice Queen mom decides to send her to Shadow Falls Camp, a psychologist-recommended institution for troubled teens. And soon, Kylie discovers herself stranded in the midst of brainwave-reading paranormal creatures that couldn't and shouldn't exist. Confused but feeling an undeniably weird sense of belonging, Kylie begins to realize just how special she really is. Kylie's stalker also starts to make sense -- a startling relief after all the anxiety. But then trouble invades the camp, and the paranormals are pointing fingers at each other. Beware, happy little campers, someone has an agenda of their own, and they are quite the determined bunch.
C.C. Hunter's debut, Born at Midnight, was attention-grabbing and hard to put down. However, the plot started out incredibly slow. It is slightly understandable, as the author has to first describe the characters and the setting of this new series. But the predicament, which should be central to every novel, was brief and felt like an after-thought. Imagine this: pages after pages of descriptions and little action, a few chapters devoted to the build-up of tension, the short resolution, and then the end of the novel, which ends up feeling like accidentally running smack into a brick wall and maybe losing a few teeth in the process.
And onto the apparently mandatory element of a YA PNR book: the love triangle. The one that exists in this book felt pretty much superfluous. There was no reason for its creation in the first place, and Kylie's indecision and fluctuating feelings becomes a bore to read about after a while. Girl, it is not right to be lusting after three guys (her ex-boyfriend included) at once, especially if you alternate between thinking about kissing one boy and then switches to thinking about the hotness of another a second later.
Born at Midnight is a nice read, not entirely original, but still interesting nonetheless. The second installment of the series, Awake at Dawn, will be released in October 2011.
Teen pregnancy and drug use
Reviewer Age:16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Palo Alto, CA US
