This is one of my non-stop till the end read. Enjoyed it immensely, the story drew me in right away. I wanted to find out the plot immediately, as soon as I learned of Rose's mum's illness I was making guesses at what could make her that way. Was it Supernatural? Will Rose find a cure? I've never been so anxious to get to the nitty-gritty of a story before. When the story got to the supernatural it really took off and was packed with action and mystery.

Loved the characters, Rose was no shrinking violet and I loved her for that. My most favorite character interaction was between Flo and her eight year old son Erin, those two were so hilarious. Loved the supernatural elements and how it's weaved together in the story. There was so much going on in Crimson Midnight that kept me tuned in and awake. You need to be wide awake with how much story is in this story, yeah I was truly surprised, didn't expect to have so much happening in one book. The authors did a really good job pacing the story building and world building. Towards the end of the book I saw the story taking on a darker edge and I wonder what direction will it be going in. Now I'm anxious to find out where the story is going because of the way it ended, very surprising end. ( )

I got this book for free from Making Connections. Get your copy here.

What I liked about this book:
the beginning-Rose's reaction to her cheating boyfriend is probably what every girl wishes how she'd react, if she were cheated on!

the humor in the story was done nicely.

the werewolf hierarchy was written very well as were the problems that came along with it.

i really liked Erin,not only was he cute but his reaction to finding out about the supes was exactly how a kid would react. An adult would worry over the implications or even doubting the possibility but a kid would just accept it!


What I didn't like:
the book was a little too detailed-scenes like conversations on the phone or even between people could have been mentioned and done with. Instead, they were described in detail.

everybody and I mean everybody was pretty-too pretty!

the vampires didn't do it for me at all-they were too touchy feely and not the predators that I'd imagined they would be-though maybe other readers would like way they were portrayed because it was different.

there were too many characters- I get that the Fae needed the representatives of all the races but maybe a werewolf or two could have been dropped?
( )

This book is right up my alley, it has all the Urban Fantasy elements that I love:

 Crafty and powerful Witches and Warlocks (check!)
 Strong and pretty friendly vampires (check!)
 Hot and steamy werewolves (check!)
 Deadly and somewhat unhinged fairies (check!)
 Unknown superpower as the main character (check!)
 Some nasty demons (check!)
 Action and adventure (check!)
 A good fast paced story line (check!)
 And a great city to host all the paranormal activity (check!)

Crimson Midnight is one of those books that once you pick up its hard to put down unless absolutely necessary. You know which ones I’m talking about, the ones that you eat while reading because you can’t stop; yup, one of those.

Rose Carmichael is a survivor. She was assaulted at age 15 and thanks to her father’s help she has come out of it a stronger person. Now, a 21-year-old, Rose is ready to move on with her life. She moves, with best friend in tow, from the country side to the busy city of London searching for her freedom and a chance to leave her past behind while forging a new future. Shame destiny has other plans for her.

Although the book revolves mainly around Rose, the other characters (and there are plenty of other characters) take the spotlight occasionally as the story goes back and forth between them. Upon reaching her destination Rose begins to hang out with her godmother’s son and his group of friends, who unbeknownst to her are all of the supernatural kind. But when she is attacked by a demon, she finds herself diving head first into a world she never knew existed. Unfortunately for her, her attack wasn’t the only one. Someone is kidnapping members of the supernatural community as well as humans. Rose and her friends are against the clock trying to decipher this unknown threat; and to make matters worse she is lusting big time for Roman, the sexy werewolf son of Flo, Rose’s godmother. If only Roman wasn’t Thistle’s boyfriend Rose wouldn’t be so worried about hurting her vampire friend’s feelings by actin on her own.

I enjoyed this book and love the setting of the story; London has always been one of the cities I want to visit at some point in my life. The fast pace keeps you glued to the kindle while the various scenarios make you want to know more about the characters.

I did have one small problem but I’m not sure if I should chalk it up to the ebook’s formatting. The story has various intertwined points of views (POVs) constantly shifting. Sometimes the point of view shifted mid paragraph or mid action which made it just a bit confusing, but as you read you could quickly get back in track. The rest of the times there is a clear (spatial) division from one POV to the next. It could be that at sometime during formatting a few spaces were skipped or something.

My favorite character of the entire book is in fact one of the one with the least screen time, but every single time has some of the best comic lines of the book. Flo, the mother figure in the book, is one of the few humans in the story and her attitude had me laughing or smiling in every scene she was in. She reminds me of my mother:

Erin’s shouts cut through the serenity. “NO! NO! NO!” There was a crash.

“Erin!” Flo stood hands on hips.

Erin came skulking into the kitchen. His face was red with anger “This stupid bloody game!”

“Don’t you dare swear in my house!” Flo yelled. “And don’t slam that controller on me coffee table!’

“You say bloody all the time,” said Erin matter-of-factly. “And anyway, bloody ain’t swearing.”

“I will do as I please. This is my house and it’s my rules. And bloody is bloody swearing. And its ‘isn’t’ not ‘ain’t’ remember?”

“You’ve just said it twice!” Erin cried in exasperation.

“I’ll have none of your lip. I’ll take the bleedin’ game away from ya if ya gonna be like that.”

Erin huffed and stormed out of the kitchen.

“Bloody kids. Sorry, luv,” Flo said.

Rose bit back her laughter. “It’s okay, really.”

“I’ll apologise now for the rows to come.”
(Crimson Midnight; Kindle Locations 853-867)

The bottom line is that this is a great story that I truly recommend to all Urban Fantasy lovers. It has a great world construction that I can’t wait to see where the authors take it.

This review also appears on my blog, Journey with Words ( )

*Received e-book through Read It and Reap program from the Shut Up and Read! Goodreads group from author for an honest review
**Also posted on Amazon.com and Smashwords under Leanne

Crimson Midnight starts with Rose discovering her boyfriend in a compromising position in bed and deciding to move to London for a fresh start with her best friend, Faye, in tow. Right before she leaves, her comatose mother wakes up and warns her to “beware the shining stranger.” Not knowing how to interpret this, she goes ahead and moves in with her godmother, Flo, and her sons, Roman (adopted) and Erin. As sparks fly between her and Roman, who just happens to be a werewolf, she is drawn into the supernatural world in which not everyone is who they appear or who they say they are. After an encounter with a demon, Rose’s powers are brought to the surface and she must learn who she is and why she is being hunted.

I believe the writing team of Amos Cassidy succeeded in presenting a new entry in the paranormal fantasy/urban fantasy genre that can stand on its own. I loved Rose’s character from the first paragraph, especially when she punched her cheating boyfriend in the face. She was a no-nonsense, tough character (teaching self-defense even!) and loyal to her friends, especially Thistle. I thought that the friendship that developed between them was pleasantly surprising and heartwarming. In addition, I found Raven to be a multi-dimensional character as a gay werewolf dealing with being second-in-command (reminiscent of Warren in the Mercy Thompson series). Lastly, I enjoyed the scenes from multiple points-of-view that added depth and context to the secondary characters, tying the plot together to the ending.

On the other hand, there were a couple of things I didn’t like about the book. I didn’t feel that Rose’s romance with Roman was that believable or engaging, although there was more insight in Thistle’s and Roman’s open relationship. Likewise, I thought Rose’s friendship with Faye almost non-existent and her predictable romance with a bad boy werewolf a bit of a cliché. Both of these views, unfortunately, led to the ending of the book to be a little anti-climatic and not as impactful as it could have been.

Overall, Crimson Midnight was a fast-paced, interesting read with a few flaws. There were still enough unanswered questions that I would read the sequel. I would recommend this book to teen and adult fans of paranormal and urban fantasy, such as those by Patricia Briggs and Charlaine Harris. ( )

Originally posted on my blog: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/352744138

Review:

I got a copy of Crimson Midnight from from the Making Connections group on Goodreads so thanks to the mods and the author for making it available. I had to take a couple of days after reading it to write my review, there were parts of the book I really liked and other parts...well...not so much. Urban fantasy is what I read more than anything else and this had all the elements hot werewolves, fae, vampires and demons, sadly though the story was just ok and there were some technical issues that made it a bit irritating to read, but a good edit would clean all that up.

The story is told from the first person and centers mostly around the character Rose, Rose was an interesting character and I liked her immediately. Rose and her friend Faye are leaving their homes and moving to London to start a new life, Rose goes to stay with a friend of her mother's while Faye shares a flat with some students. Rose meets a bunch of new friends in London, but doesn't realize right away that they are all supernaturals. When Rose discovers her friends are all supernaturals, she also finds out that she is too but no one knows exactly what she is.

Like I said the novel is told from the first person and it jumped from person to person often, so much so that it left me kinda confused and it was a weird way to introduce new characters. Overall I liked the story, but it needed a good edit, there were chapters that seemed to serve no purpose to the overall plot and there were also issues with timing. Rose arrives in London eats, sleeps goes to work comes home and it still her first day in London, then we move to 3 months later, it just made it confusing and left me wondering what the hell I missed. The whole chapter of a vampire wedding served no purpose to the storyline and I kept waiting for it to tie in to the rest of the story and it never did.

I did enjoy the story and the characters. I found all the werewolves interesting and I liked how they interacted with each other. Rose, from the very first chapter I thought was great and I loved her sarcasm. The ending...*sigh* I can't express how much I hated the ending. I understand cliff hanger endings even if I hate them but you want your audience to buy your next book so they can see what happens, but this ending left me with more questions than answers. I was left scratching my head going WTF...that's it?! I will more than likely read the second book just to see how they wrap up all my unanswered questions.

♥ ♥ ♥ 3/5 It was ok worth the price at Amazon ( )