The Midnight Hour (The Midnight Hour #1)

Awesome freaking book ! Thats it !

I read this aloud to my 10 year old son and 7 year old daughter and they absolutely loved it. Each time Id read to them they always begged for more. Each chapter is about ten pages so it made the perfect length for reading aloud but would also be a great length for young readers. My son loves creepy things so I knew hed appreciate this book from the description but my daughter is more sensitive so I wasnt sure if it would appeal to her but there ended up not being anything in the story to bother her. Most of the violence is funny cartoon violence like a vampire who is a bad guy and is constantly getting hurt in over the top ways like being run over by heard of hippos. I love the concept of a parallel world to modern day London where these creatures exist with magic but in city that still seems more like it was during Victorian times. Emily is a great spunky heroine that all kids will enjoy. My son does normally prefer the hero to be a boy or at least in a story where the boy and a girl are the stars but he did not mind at all that this one was mostly all about Emily. She will have a male that will becoming something of a sidekick though if you have a boy that might insist on having more than a girl as the star.

This is a story that for the most part I enjoyed reading to my kids. The story flows well and is interesting but I do take issue and a star away because of the language. The age range is listed as meant for kids 8 years old and up so why add in inappropriate language? There are a lot of exchanges like shut ups, damn its and unfortunately lots more of G-d. Why not a gosh or an oh no? I did my best to edit as I was reading but these are not ways of speaking I want my kids picking up if they were to read this to themselves. That will be an issue if they do make a follow up book which my kids are already asking about.

There are also character issues I wish had been handled better. Emily starts out at odds with her mother and mostly ignoring or unaware it seems of her dad to a sad degree. You would think after finding them missing we would have more of a sense of how much she missed them or appreciated them after they were gone but unfortunately that really does not happen. She goes on her quest for them but the author never gives Emily an appreciation for her parents. As a book for kids I would have liked more of this message for kids. Sure kids and parents may disagree but loving your family and appreciating them is important but I feel like the author chose to spend more time on her bratty tendencies than showing any growth. Again my kids loved this book but I do have reservations so Im not sure Id buy a sequel.

Well here we have another story that takes place in two versions of the same city, in this case it’s London. The main character, a little girl named Emily is living in London, living a relatively normal life. She and her mom, who is very artsy and eccentric have had an argument and she is sent to bed, “grounded forever.” I really like these characters! Emily is honest and believable and I love her sarcasm and sharp tongue though I do wonder how well this will go over with the younger readers this is directed towards. Both Emily and her mother have dry sarcastic senses of humor alot of the times and as a 40 year old, I get it and can laugh, but I’m just not sure younger audiences will do the same.

Anyway the story really starts to unfold when late one night, a letter is delivered to their home. Emily’s parents get the letter and read it while Emily is eavesdropping. Next thing you know Emily’s mom has left to go sort some things out. Without giving anything else a way this is a story about Emily, a young girl who goes on an exciting mission to retrieve her parents. With nothing but the necklace of pennies her mom left her and some things she managed to find that belong to her parents, she heads off with her hedgehog friend to find her parents and discover a whole new world as well as who she is in the process.

I thought it was an exciting and energizing story. Midnight, the alternate London, reminds me of the world of Hotel Transylvania, The Night Before Christmas, and I don’t know….combined lol! I really liked this world of Midnight Hour and I enjoyed reading the descriptions of the characters and reading Emily’s reaction to all of it. I think my younger childhood self would have enjoyed this too. The pace is quick moving, the characters are creative and fun and the story interesting and exciting. In fact I could easily see this coming to the big screen. There is a good story here with wonderful, descriptive characters that would easily transfer to the big screen. This was a fun read and I would definitely be open to reading a sequel.

A fantastic start to what promises to be a brilliant new series. It does suffer a little, like an increasing number of books, from ‘Hero has no idea what’s going on and no one tells them’ which can make a book hard to follow if it’s all from the hero’s point of view. But once Emily starts understanding what’s happening, things pick up and it’s non stop to the conclusion.

I hope this series runs for a long time. It deserves to, and there’s plenty more stories of the Midnight Hour to be told.

I received a proof copy in exchange for an honest review.

When we first meet Emily she is grounded for yelling at her mother. her mother is a free spirited artist who digs through dumpsters for interesting bits for her art, a school mate saw them and started making fun of emily for digging through the trash. And to be honest, I felt for Emily, it would be humiliating and she would be angry. Emily’s dad is a postman, boring and stodgy, or so she thinks.

When her mom is called away and doesn’t come back, she begins to realize how she wishes she could take back her words and how her mom brightens up their life.

After that it goes into an adventure to find her mom, alternate worlds. Emily grows during the adventure. It’s a big scary but never get to the point I think it would be too much for a tween-young teen ager. The book handles subjects like family, greed, and then there are fun bits like the hedgehog.

The book is interesting, fresh, and doesn’t really bog down.

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