This story was not good, poorly structured, poorly written, and not at all enjoyable. I would not recommend this to anyone.

This is the first book I've read by Rian Durant and I can't wait to read more. Midnight Twist was silly and sweet, a fast paced and cleverly written novella that is sure to make you smile.

I was amazed Durant could keep up the pace throughout the whole story, but keep it up she did. It was just a whole lot of creative, nicely written FUN.

My only criticism was when the focus left Jaydon and Eluin and moves on to the relationship between Sam and Eluel. It's still all told from adorable Jaydon's point-of-view, but I kept wondering where it was going and how it was going to truly tie in to the relationship between Jaydon and his love. In the end it all works, but IMHO it could have been wrapped up a bit sooner.

Rian Durant is definitely an author to watch, and I do recommend Midnight Twist for a short, and seriously enjoyable, short read.

This book was cute for the most part. It was kind of cheesy, but I liked the characters. I liked the idea of the demons, I just wish it has been a longer book and was built up better. Everything felt rushed.

I would rate this 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3. It was entertaining to read, but very short and under developed. Everyone the lead Jaydon encounters is gay and wanting to at least see him naked, while the main premise of him wanting to sell his soul for his ex is abandoned very quickly. The writing style is very stylistically purposeful, and I enjoyed it for the most part, but the author skips huge gaps of time, intros to characters and introduces an interesting, but rushed backstory that is trotted out seemingly at random. Elements like apple based obsessions could be biblical, but a demon clamoring over apple juice had my brain linking this with Death Note not demonology. Random relatives show up and steal the plot, with gimmicky time based deadlines, and declarations of love that are suddenly overheard by the one who needs to hear it. I liked the attempt to link the entire plot around the object of an espresso machine, and its changing meanings, but ultimately, this needed to be fleshed out more. It was still enjoyable to read, but felt very much like reading fanfiction to a fandom I've never heard of where things are already established.

Book – Midnight Twist
Author – Rian Durant
Star rating - ★★☆☆☆
No. of Pages – 54
Cover – Cute
POV – 1st person, one character
Would I read it again – No
Genre – LGBT, Contemporary, Paranormal


** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **


I'm sorry to say that this one just wasn't for me. I was really intrigued by the blurb, I've been on a demon reading sprint these last few days, and it just didn't stack up. Most of all I just sat there thinking WTF, after I'd finished.

To start with, this needed some beta readers or a different editor, or something. The writing style was okay, there weren't huge spelling/grammar errors, but there were serious issues with word choice, unnatural phrasing and a HUGE issue with the plot.

There were no chapter headings, no scene dividers and a vague timeline that wasn't always obvious. The characters acted half their age, like teenagers, and spoke like thirteen year olds. It was disconcerting, to say the least. Not to mention that we have insta-love between a human and a demon, a very quick rebound relationship, and TWO stories that have been put into one. The first half is the first paragraph of the blurb – which is cut in half the same way the book is, neither with a clearly defined division and admission that they're two stories – and takes fifty percent of the book. It's all about Jaydon and how his boyfriend leaves him because he can't/won't buy an espresso machine. I'm not kidding. That's the reason. A demon shows up, Jaydon signs away his soul against the ability to get his boyfriend back, decides he doesn't want him and ends up with the demon. That's the entire first half. Then the second half is the arrival of said demon's brother and his lovesick partner.

Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. It was too confused, too jumbled with two different plots trying to pretend to be one. The characters were vain, selfish, bratty, childish, and spoke like twelve year olds. Everyone was just super, utterly, impossibly beautiful and adored by all – every character was irresistible and being drooled over by everyone else. The MC was so perfect that everyone wanted him, even trying to steal him from his lover. The writing style was confused, the word choices odd and out of place, there were a lot of info dumps, Jaydon referred to himself as a 'puppy' – and I have no idea what that is about, because there was no hint of puppy play – and there was absolutely no mention of the resolution to the ridiculously inappropriate bet – that Jaydon never even agreed to! – that caused the demon to show up, nor an actual explanation of why the demon was allowed to stay. There was zero world building, with none of the demon rules, laws or practices explained. Often it felt like the author was about to tell us something important about the demons – particularly when it was revealed Jaydon could keep his 'sexy' demon for himself – but then they never did. There was always a 'hint' of there being something we should know, that was never explained.

It needed a lot more work on the plot, which could have been helped by at least one or two beta readers, and an editor who dealt with content and plot gaps.

Sorry. While there were one or two nice moments in the second half, between the established couple Jaydon and his demon became, it wasn't enough to salvage this one, for me. There were just too many issues.

I like this story. It was a quick read. It is a twist on making a contract with the devil.

This had potential to be a fun, devilish (demonish??) read. Unfortunately there were several issues all which could have been solved in the content edits. If you don't want to be spoiled you may need to stop reading here because I can't voice my frustrations without giving things away.
The story throws the reader into the tale in a strange way and I was concerned about the writing style but that settled down a few pages in. However the author was prone to unusual word choices, when something much more commonplace would have made the reading experience flow better. It words had been in the speech of the demon or narrative from the demon's pov I would have found it jarring but in the pov of a contemporary human it came across as wordy and unnatural.
Time jumps - there were some massive time jumps, which leapt over some important points in the story. What happened when Jay returned to work, both with the coworker he'd planned on using, and the one who'd made the bet. How did Lyte (what sort of name is that?) react when he found out he'd been replaced that easily (I doubt he would've liked it)? So Eluin started living with Jay straight away? It would have been nice to see some of that month, how the living together came to be, what happened to the 'contract'. Why did Eluin's brother turn up the first time? I'd have like to see this. Was he trying to ensure the human was good enough for his brother?
As you can see, the story intrigued me and I wanted more of the story, more explanation, rather than just being dumped into random scenes and being expected to make sense of them. This sort of reading experience disappoints me much more than a badly written book, because I can see what it might have been and that makes me sad.
And while I'm on a rant, the blurb is just awful.