THE MIDNIGHT WITCH is a tale of magic and good versus evil. Though the story combines elements of fantasy, historical fiction, and romance, overall it fell a bit flat. As the new High Witch of her coven, Lady Lilith has A LOT to learn. Some of her choices and actions were questionable at best. The supposed grand romance between her and Bram felt forced. The world building was interesting, including the mystery surrounding the coven’s precious Elixir. In the end, I did wonder what the point of their magic truly was. The pacing was slow, though I think listening on audio made the story more entertaining.

I originally got an ARC of this book through Amazon Vine many years ago, but it slipped through the cracks and never got read. The physical copy is long gone, so I decided to grab the audiobook from the library. ( )

Disappointed in this book after thoroughly enjoying The Winter Witch. The story just never came together for me. ( )

The first half was kinda boring but it did pick up eventually. I didn't feel like I got to know any of the characters so I don't have any deep connection to this story. Lilith annoyed me most of the time to be honest. The love story didn't really develop until the end of the book which was disappointing. I think a lot more could have been done to jazz up that relationship (I'm trying not to spoil this for everyone lol). The most memorable parts if the story were the darkest moments and I wish there had been more of them. This book is more of a romance than anything else and even that fell flat. I need a bit more witchery to hold my full attention I guess. It wasn't a bad story but it wasn't the best either...... Very forgettable. ( )

Lilith takes over as Head Witch for the Lazarus coven after her father's death. The coven is threatened by the Sentinels, a group of sorcerers who want the from the Lazarus coven the Elixir that can bring people back to life. Lilith also meet Bram a painter whom she falls in love with even though she is engaged to another witch.

For me, this book didn't work. The witch part was ok, in the beginning, but the love affair destroyed for me any chance of enjoying the book. It was so boring, so predictable, so annoying that I loathed every scene with Bram. If Paula Brackston had focused on the witches and their struggle with the sorceress it would have made the book better, well a bit better, the story was quite predictable and boring also in the end. The mole in the coven? I wasn't surprised a bit when he was reviled.

I skimmed the last part of the book just to get through with it and to be able to move on to something better. I loved the cover and the blurb was interesting to bad the book was so bad.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review! ( )

I have completely loved every novel that Paula Brackston has put out. I devoured The Witch's Daughter and absolutely adored The Winter Witch. While reading "The Midnight Witch" I felt as if a completely different author than Ms. Brackston wrote this.

This novel is about Lady Lilith Montgomery. Lilith lives in London in the Regency era it appears. She is beautiful and comes from a wealthy family. She is also a witch. Her recently deceased father was the Head Witch of the Lazarus Coven which practices necromancy. After her father's death Lilith is preparing to become Head Witch even though a new threat starts to move against her coven. Additionally, though Lilith is engaged to a fellow witch she finds herself being drawn to Bram who is a painted recently moved to London.

The plot of this novel really did sound interesting but I just think something fell apart in the final execution.

First, all of the parts of the novel dealing with Lilith's brother Freddie were just boring to me. I know why we needed that details due to events later in the book, but he was a strictly one dimensional character throughout the entire novel.

Second, the threat from the Sentinels was not scary at all to me. I needed to feel more fear for Lilith. I remember reading "The Winter Witch and being totally afraid for Morgana. The final scene with her fighting for her life was so well done. I don't know why I was not caught up in fear for Lilith while reading this. Instead I found myself just counting page until I could put the book away. Quick aside, I don't know why but every time I read Sentinels I started cracking up thinking about the Sentinels that tried to kill the mutants in the X-Men comic books. I doubt that Ms. Brackston was trying to call up that image for readers but that kept popping up in my head.

Third, I also think that having the novel told from the first person point of view for Lilith and then shifting back to third person points of view for Bram and another character in this novel did not work at all. I honestly think the book would have been stronger to have it told from first person the whole way through and completely cut out the other passages.

Fourth, there was way too much detail in this novel. You would be reading about Lilith preparing herself for going out and it would take two paragraphs due to the describing of what she had on and what she had to take off and her hair and undergarments and it just got to be too much information for me to process in a sitting.

I would definitely recommend "The Winter Witch" and "The Witches Daughter" but I would suggest readers pass on this novel if this is their first foray into Ms. Brackston's writing.

Please note that I received this novel for free via the Amazon Vine Program. ( )