Review--Almost Midnight by C.C. Hunter

Novella Collection

Nestled deep in the woods, Shadow Falls is a secret camp where teens with supernatural powers learn to harness their abilities and live in the normal world.

Independent and strong-willed Della Tsang did not believe in vampires...until she became one. Chase Tallman is the newest member of Shadow Falls, but what made him into the sexy, mysterious vampire he is today? And what led him to Della Tsang? And for Miranda Kane, magic has always been something she's struggled with, but when an opportunity to test her powers takes her to Paris, she'll have to prove that she's a witch to be reckoned with and belongs at Shadow Falls.

Fans won't want to miss these four remarkable stories of love, magic and friendship.

I decided to pick up C.C. Hunter’s Almost Midnight as my next read! It’s filled with all the novellas she’s written for the Shadow Falls series. I had read most of them already when they were in ebook format, but for some reason that I can’t recall, skipped Chase’s novella and of course, there’s the brand new (and even longer) novella that stars Fredericka that I just had to read as well! So for this review, I will only be reviewing those two remaining novellas.


Unbreakable

Unbreakable is the story of how Chase became a vampire and I must say it was quite a sad story! It’s been ages since I read the Shadow Falls series, but I remember Chase having a tragic past where he lost his family. So going into this story, I already know the outcome. Sometimes that makes it harder to read because you have this hope that things will turn out differently than they did. You almost forget what’s about to happen.

Chase and his family, plus his sister’s best friend and his crush, Tami are taking a min vacation in the mountains or near the mountains at least. They had just finished participating in some research study that required blood donations when the three teenagers decide to check out the town’s Halloween Festival. Chase is more interested in trying to get closer to Tami, who might in fact return his affections, but then he notices his sister has caught the eye of a local, Eric, and he’s got nothing but bad feelings about the guy.

As I said, this was a rather hard story to read just because I already knew the outcome. Chase and his family must leave the town as quickly as possible because there’s a storm coming…and well…yeah, if you’ve read the Shadow Falls: After Dark series than you might know what happens. This is how Chase will become the vampire we all know and love who will have to work extra hard to win Della’s affections and heart!

Rating 3.5/5 stars


Fierce

This story. Wow! Just wow! Fierce is Fredericka’s story and it was definitely one of the most unexpected stories! If you’ve read the Shadow Falls series, you’ll recall Fredericka wasn’t well liked in the beginning. She was a capital B with an itch, but she wasn’t necessarily evil! When she started sticking around, she kind of grew on you, even though she was still a little stingy. I vaguely recall that she was starting a potential relationship with the new history teacher who was also a werewolf, he’s only two years older than her, so it wasn’t creepy or anything.

That’s kind of where we start with Fredericka as she expects to spend the summer with Cary, until he drops the bomb on her that he’s going away to Europe. And this was after she just gotten the news that the father who abandoned her had died, well and truly. She was dealing with mixed feelings over that and had come to talk to Cary about it and he basically started talking about himself and brushed off her thoughts and opinions on things. He was a total douchebag to be honest. I can’t remember what I ever saw in the guy, and neither could Fredericka for she ends whatever tentative relationship that they had.

Fredericka has found her passion and it’s jewelry-making, she even finds herself a job at shop in town where she could sell her pieces if the owner liked them enough. That owner is one Brandon Hart and right away Fredericks feels a connection of sorts with him. He has his visible scars and Fredericka knows all about scars since she bares her own, even more astonishing is that she can’t get a read on him to see “what” he is. He seems human, but more, it’s definitely a mystery, but not the only one that you will find in this story as there’s some “funny” going on at the shop that he is trying to spruce up before his grand opening.

This story was by far one of the best! True, I read all the other ones in this book years ago, I remember loving/enjoying them all, but something about Fredericka’s story just held me riveted! You really start to feel compassion for this girl who just wants to find her place in the world. She has done a lot of growing in this series and this book is truly her chance to shine! But when Fredericka is slammed with horrific problems, she feels like she can’t turn to anyone because no one would believe her given her history, and this is where our favorite trio steps in to prove her wrong! Yes, Kylie, Della, and Miranda are in this one too just enough to remind us of our first favorite gal pack! Their friendship is one I will envy to my dying day because they all grew so close to one another and have been through a lot and overcome so many obstacles! It’s definitely a friendship to aspire to!

I don’t want to discuss too much about the rest of the plot since it’s a short story, but I have to say that it was a most exciting one that moved at a remarkably quick pace to hold you riveted! It was a most enjoyable story and I wish this wasn’t the end of the series…as it is I have one more novella to read that was a pre-order gift, for this book I believe, that will be the final goodbye and I am not sure my heart can take it!

Rating 5/5 stars
 

If you’re a fan of the Shadow Falls series you do not want to be without this book! It has all the novellas from the series minus the pre-order bonus one. Though, oddly, if you need to start the series, I would recommend reading this particular book in parts! And while I did initially write the order of the novellas and where they fall, I realized it could be confusing to new readers, so I would direct you to Goodreads and look at the series pages for both series to see where the novellas fall, otherwise you might encounter a spoiler or two!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars—I’m keying in the other novellas as well, even though I didn’t re-read them for this collection!