Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter

Born at Midnight
(Shadow Falls series, Book #1)
by C.C. Hunter

Genre: Young Adult | Paranormal Romance

Kylie Galen has had a lot of crap tossed in her lap lately. Her parents are getting a divorce for who the heck knows why. Her boyfriend broke up with her because she wouldn't put out. And her grandmother died because . . . well, older people do that. But now, Kylie's acquired a stalker and she hasn't a clue what he wants or how to get rid of him . . . and she really wants to get rid of him because apparently she's the only one who sees him. Thinking she may be losing it, her parents send her off to see a psychologist who gets Kylie sent to Shadow Falls Camp. Kylie and her parents think it's a camp for troubled teens.

They thought wrong.

Kylie's surrounded by vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches and shape-shifters. And if she believes what they tell her, she's one of them. They're just not sure exactly how she fits in. As Kylie struggles to cope with the realization that these creatures even exist, and the fact that she might not be human, she's got two hot guys, a werewolf and a half-fairy vying for her attention. And they can just keep vying. Kylie's determined that before she lets her heart loose on love, she needs to unearth the truth. What does the ghost want? Who can and can't she trust? And most of all . . . What is she?

Kylie gets innocently caught up in some questionable situations upon her parents sudden divorce and gets sent away to a delinquents (aka "freak") camp for the summer . . . or so she thinks. Yet, when fellow campers begin asking "What she is?" instead of "Who?" and magic/blood become something she shockingly learns to deal with on a daily basis--Kylie beings to examine her meaning behind the word "freak" and becomes worried she may just be one herself. Throughout the challenge of discovering her past in hopes of identifying just what her supernatural status is, Kylie becomes awakened by her new hidden talents (i.e. sensing/seeing ghosts, etc.) and easily gets infatuated with two extremely different guys: 1. Derek, a sweet-tempted half-fairy who was one of her first friends at camp and 2. Lucas, a darker older werewolf who Kylie actually has a history with. Thus, with so many things in Kylie's life crumbling, can Shadow Falls Camp actually become a bitter-sweet surprise?

At first, this story came off as a bit too juvenile for my taste, but as the plot progressed and Kylie's adventures in camp became more complex -- I found myself becoming more and more intrigued. The whole story timeline accelerates quickly, happening within the span of only a few weeks, thus it becomes easy to get caught up in the overall tale. Kylie has a lot of troubles becasue of friends back home, friends in camp, family, etc. that the story never goes dull, but it can become a bit too much at times. The romance in the book is all over with many of the side-characters (young and old) heating up the pages while Kylie herself gets captivated by two guys -- so yummy relationships throughout. All in all, this was a surprising read that I found myself jumping right into Book #2 as soon as I finished Book #1 -- plus Book #3 comes out this April, yayy.

Likes: If you're a fan of paranormal/supernatural characters--this is a fun read that pretty much covers them all!

Dislikes: Kylie can have only so much drama on her plate at one time before she gets spread pretty thin and then, due to becoming overwhelmed, avoids or cuts short different parts of the story that the reader would wish to have extended. Frustrating!!

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