ARC Review--Midnight Hour by C.C. Hunter

After captivating millions across the globe, the Shadow Falls saga reaches its final—and most unforgettable—chapter yet! Prepare to fall in love all over again...

Being a dyslexic witch is a curse in itself, but Miranda Kane’s time at Shadow Falls has helped her harness her magical powers. Now, just as she’s finally mastered them and is preparing to graduate with her friends, a near-death experience threatens to ruin it all.

Miranda awakens in the hospital with a mysterious tattoo that no one can explain. As she struggles to make sense of it – and questions her feelings for a certain irresistible shape-shifter and a hot new guy – the strange markings begin to spread all over her body, leaving her desperate to find answers. But before she can solve that problem, a new one arises: her sister is missing.

Has her sister been kidnapped? Miranda will risk her life to find out. Will she live to share the day she’s worked so hard for with her friends? When the clock strikes midnight, will Miranda make it to her graduation at Shadow Falls?

C.C. Hunter brings The Shadow Falls saga to a spectacular conclusion in this thrilling finale: Midnight Hour!

I received this ARC from the author for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review. 


This is it you guys, the final book in C.C. Hunter’s Shadow Falls & Shadow Falls: After Dark series, and this time, it’s Miranda’s turn at the helm! Midnight Hour brings a conclusion to the series but I feel like there could definitely be room for novellas should C.C. ever feel nostalgic…hint, hint! There are plenty of characters I’d like to know more about but anyway, let’s move on to the story!

In this one, we not only get Miranda’s point of view (third person) but also Perry and Shawn’s as well. The ultimate love triangle scenario. We basically get to see what everyone is thinking about this rather awkward situation. And I say awkward because if you recall from her novella, Miranda was still heartbroken when Perry left her, again. Shawn, an FRU agent who works with Burnett, as well as Lucas and Chase, is her current boyfriend. But before you want to start playing the “choose a team game” I can honestly tell you that that doesn’t happen here at all. I can’t remember how I felt about adding Shawn into the mix in the novella, he’s a nice guy and all but since he just seems to pop up he never really cemented himself—to me—as a player for Miranda’s heart. Add to that, we don’t really see any Miranda and Shawn time because once the chaos ensues, Shawn is off to work.

Then there’s Perry who decided to find his parents. While his end goal is unclear to himself in the long run, he does know he wants them to pay for their crimes. For his father, at least, is one of few who are robbing banks and other stores. Perry is “undercover” playing the prodigal son returning to be with his parents when he’s really working a case to help the FRU put his parent away for good. And it’s around this time that Perry suddenly pops back into Miranda’s life and ensuing the emotional chaos that was abound to happen from the getgo the moment he left her.

But Miranda has her own issues going on, after an outing with her half-sister, Tabitha, goes terribly wrong and ends with them being in the hospital, Tabitha goes missing. Things are quite chaotic in this one with the two cases and all the extenuating details. But it’s never overwhelming or confusing or too much. In the meantime, Miranda goes through personal issues as well. She’s dealing with being dyslexic and trying to master her powers, learn to defend herself, and of course trying to pass the SATs so she can go to the same college as her friends Della and Kylie.

All in all, I really really liked this one! It was a nice way to say goodbye to some favorite characters (ignoring that I still need to read the latest set of novellas). Although I did have one little bitty issue that continued to nag at me every time it was brought up. And yeah, I’m talking about the issue of sex. Lol. First off, I have nothing against sex in YA. As long as it’s done well and right and all that jazz. But when it comes up with Miranda and how she’s still a virgin, I felt like it was getting a little too…I’m not sure what the word is. Miranda wanted to wait until she met the right guy and had the right moment. Which is great! Truly. But I recall what feels like a moment of pressure is on her. I mean, both her friends have already had sex with their true loves and she was going to college (hopefully) soon. I felt like it was suddenly her goal to not start college as a virgin. That it was extremely important to have sex soon, but again, with the right guy at the right moment. Just that both said guy and moment better happen soon. It wasn’t that she was sex craved or anything, but I couldn’t help but feel like she was thinking she couldn’t start college as a virgin. Maybe it’s just me and how I was reading things, but it’s just one of those blaring reminders it seems that all teenagers should be having sex in high school or something. Like waiting is such a bad thing. Again, maybe I’m just reading too much into it, quite possibly, but after reading a lot of YA and seeing sex in it, you start to see trends and see how you like to see things and how you don’t like to see things. Clichés vs good writing. And for me, this one had a teeny bit too much cliché. But it didn’t detract my enjoyment from the story that much!

I really loved watching Miranda and Perry together again. Not that they get together right away, as I said, you can pretty much tell from the getgo who Miranda winds up with based on the things I mentioned earlier. You see this even when changing points of view as few times as we did in the beginning of the book. Miranda and Perry had their nice bantering going on again. And of course Perry was determined to win her back from Shawn anyway, so he knew he had to be at his best. And he was quite charming. Though I felt like he had a moment of hypocrisy at the end, and while he vaguely acknowledge it, he still held to his qualms. And I wanted to slap him for it. But again, just a little tiny thing.

I really enjoyed seeing Miranda at the helm this time around! She was a fun character and I love that she is so different from Kylie and Della. We really got a variety with these three friends and their stories. They’re all different, not just by paranormal type, but in other ways too. I feel like I can relate to all of them because I see a bit of myself in all of them as well. It was enjoyable series finale that ended on all the right notes.

Despite being sad to say goodbye to these characters (but again, still hopeful for secret novellas that may or may not exist. Like one with Derek! And maybe Shawn too!) I am happy with where they all ended. And I am most excited to see what C.C. Hunter will cook up next! It’s going to be quite the adventure, that much I feel sure of!

 
Overall Rating 4/5 stars
 

Midnight Hour releases October 25, 2016