This book was just WONDERFUL!!
My first rodeo with Ashley Winstead and honestly it wont be the last... the writing, the atmosphere, the vibe and the undertones was amazing - I will be picking up the backlist of this author and I hope to read more from her soon. Loved it

5 stars

My first book from this author and I immediately want to read everything they've written. I had no idea where this book was going until it got there but I was along for the ride from the first page.

This was a slow burn to begin with set in a rural town run by the local preacher who keeps his congregation on a tight leash. We follow Everett and Ruth as the town begin to fear that the Low Man is killing people and pagan rituals are being practiced.

I loved every sinister page as we explored Ruth and Ever's relationship and the murky past of the town and its residents.

Even though this author is a huge talked about thriller author this is the first book I have picked up and I was not disappointed, this book captivated me from the very first line to the end. It was creepy, its was anxiety fuelled, it was tense - I especially loved the multiple timelines and also multiple stories which all came together perfectly by the end and by the time I had worked out what was happening I couldnt put the book down until i finished it.

I will for sure be exploring all of the backlist by this author. Hugely enjoyed and an amazing read.

5 stars

Twisty, dark and gripping. I fell in love with Ashleys writing style during her previous novel, In My Dreams I Hold A Knife. This? On track to becoming my favourite book of 2023. You NEED to read it!

(3.5 stars)

This book was just.. not it for me, it had me for so long and then I got to the ending and it lost me completely, the ending seemed so ... odd and like it just came out of nowhere, some of the decisions that were made by the author there just did not hit the spot for me, like.................. GIRL WHAT?

I was looking for a dark and creepy thriller for Halloween, and I got it in this one. I am not familiar with the author, but I know that horrors based in Louisiana are usually hot, dark, and steamy, and this is exactly what I got.

Ruth is the Pastors daughter; she feels like an outsider and lives quite an isolated life. But Ruth has a fire in her and an instinct to survive. Thrown into events she never expected she has an amazing capacity for resilience, forming an unlikely friendship with Everett. The good-looking tough guy who comes from the wrong side of town.

The novel unfolds through secrets and events. There are hidden motives and people who are not all they seem. All in a steaming Southern hot bed of myths and legends.

I got that that I could not put this novel down, and I will be looking up Ashley Winstead for further page turners.

Thank you to Netgalley for once again introducing me to another favourite author.

I really wanted to read this book after hearing that Ashley Winstead writes incredible books.

Sadly for me I did not enjoy this book as much as I hoped. It was a Young Adult type of book with heavy emphasis on the book and movie series Twilight. Ruth being Bella and Everett being Edward.

With this vampire theme it also had a cultish vibe too, which I wasn’t very invested in. I can see where Winstead was going with this, but sadly it didn’t give me the goosebumps I wanted.

Thank you Netgalley and Head of Zeus for the digital copy of Midnight in the Darkest Hour for reviewing purposes.

😍😍😍

Brilliant, but that ending 😱 is going to be like marmite 🤣

This was an atmospheric and dark thriller that kept me wanting to keep reading right to end. I went into this blind and I'm so glad I did.
Had a great time reading this.

Thank you to Netgalley, Head of Zeus, and Ashley Winstead for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was my second read by Ashley Winstead, the other being The Last Housewife and I saw similarities between the two for sure.
This book felt super slow paced but the storyline was intriguing and kept you hanging on.
The FMC Ruth was a good character but her best friend Everett peaked my interest the whole book.
I really questioned who he was and what he was hiding the whole book.
The Twilight SUPER FAN in me appreciated the (many) references in this book! I blame Twilight for my unreal expectations about where this book was heading haha!

This gripped me from the beginning. Sometimes books with a heavy use of religion can be a miss for me. But here it worked. Seeing how easy it is for someone to use religion to gain power over a group of people and use it for bad.
While there really isn't good people in this book, I was just hoping she got away.
I kept going back and forth when it came to Ever. But also who was behind what death and why.
This kept me gripped until the very end.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
4.5⭐️ My first Ashley Winstead and I’m not disappointed. This book was atmospheric, dark, twisted, and surprisingly romantic. The pace started at a crawl with some amazing, intense world-building, then graduated to an insanely face-paced thrill ride. I absolutely loved reading this. And truly, hell is a teenage girl.

Firstly, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I picked this up after quite enjoying In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, and I have to say this is completely different tonally. This book tackles some quite dark themes of religious indoctrination, persecution, belonging and abuse of power. We follow Ruth, the daughter of a preacher in a super-religious small town in Louisiana. The book switches between “now” and a previous timeline, and the flashbacks are very effective at portraying life growing up in this very religious community and endearing Ruth to the reader.

I felt that the plot itself was secondary to the themes and messages of the book - it’s really about Ruth, challenging the religious upbringing that has been so entrenched in her. To me, the mystery aspect itself played more of a supporting role, providing a catalyst to her development as a character.

This delivered much more than I expected going into it, and I think the topics were handled quite well, in my opinion. The differences between this book and the author’s previous book (In My Dreams I Hold a Knife) highlights the author’s versatility and I look forward to reading what they release next.

Content warnings for religious indoctrination and off-page abuse (all sorts).

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC! In my Dreams I Hold a Knife is one of my favourite thrillers so I was stoked to receive this! Sadly I was disappointed.

This is a thriller/mystery novel following Ruth who lives in a very religious town that is basically ruled by her Reverend father. One day a skull is pulled from the swamp and the town fears that “The Low Man”, a beast that steals souls at night, has struck. Only she and her old friend Everett, a man the town hates, have the power to discover what really happened.

So like I said I was so looking forward to this. I did enjoy some aspects, I love Ashley Winstead’s writing and the mystery aspects were well plotted and put together. I wasn’t particularly bored at any point and it was very atmospheric.

But the main character Ruth. Oh Ruth. She. Was. INSUFFERABLE. I wanted to SHAKE her. She was greener than a freaking broccoli. I kept screaming at her to put pieces together and she was just so naïve and stupid. Even towards the end she STILL wasn’t putting obvious facts together and even after knowing what she knows she still trusts the local authorities to help. Ummm. The decisions that were made folks, they were not good ones. There was also the cringey Twilight stuff. Now I’m not bashing Twilight, I personally think those books and movies are gold but my GOD. There is a scene where she sleeps with a guy (not going to say who) and then when he asks her how it was she DEADASS says “it was everything Twilight promised”. I’m sorry but no. And that ending? So unsatisfying.

I will still read this authors new releases but this was a miss for me. it was released on 12th October if you want to check it out but in my opinion it’s not a must read. I’m sorry Ashley I still love you.

Midnight is the Darkest Hour is set in Bottom Springs, a small town in Louisiana and centres around Ruth, the reverend's daughter and Everett, the town outcast, who fall under suspicion when a skull is found in the town's swamp. This book explores themes of morality, religion, revenge and the supernatural.

I absolutely adored this book! The story was really fast paced and had so many twists that I didn't see coming- I'm still reeling from the ending. I think the dual timeline worked really well for this book and it was a great way of building up the suspense and making the reader question the true motivations and personality of every single character. I loved the eerie, claustrophobic atmosphere created in this book and thought the Southern US town made the perfect backdrop for the discussions around religion. The dynamic between the two main characters was fascinating and I've never read anything like it.

My only complaint is that a lot of side characters were introduced and at times I found it difficult to keep up with who was who. However the central cast of characters are all well-developed and interesting so I didn't find this detracted from my enjoyment of the story too much.

Overall, this book was absolutely incredible and I'm definitely going to go back and read everything else Ashley Winstead has ever written!

I’ve found a new favourite author!

Set in Bottom Springs, a small Louisiana town is haunted by a killer known as The Low Man. Is it a mystical vampire creature or is one of them?

Ruth is the town librarian and the daughter of strict, overbearing Pastor James Cornier of the Holy Fire Baptist Church.

The town is thrown into chaos when a skull is found in the swamp, surrounded by ominous, carved mystical symbols.

Seventeen years earlier, Ruth befriends Everett. A boy that the town and her father judge as from the wrong side of the tracks. An unlikely friendship develops between the two as they both share a dark secret.

Alternating between past and present timelines, we follow Ruth and Everett’s stories as they try to uncover both truths while attempting to hide their own.

Combining romance, small town narrow mindedness, prejudice, biblical female oppression, fundamentalism and the occult - this incredibly atmospheric and twisty thriller is a tour de force!

Many thanks to @librofm and @netgalley for advanced reader/ALC copies 🎧💌
Ps, the narration of the audiobook by Sarah Welborn was fantastic 🤩

“And then I found Twilight. … It was the ultimate contraband: a story both occult and romantic, and meant for girls like me. In Bella, I found a mirror. We were both shy and overlooked, with the smallest of lives, hemmed in by circumstances outside our control. And in the vampire Edward, I found everything I’d ever wanted in a man.”

My thanks to Head of Zeus - Aria & Aries for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Midnight is the Darkest Hour’ by Ashley Winstead.

In the small Louisiana town of Bottom Springs librarian Ruth Cornier has always felt like an outsider. Her father, Pastor James Cornier, regularly rains fire-and-brimstone warnings from the pulpit at Holy Fire Baptist. Ruth had a strict upbringing though found comfort in her secret reading of forbidden books, especially the Twilight series.

In Bottom Springs the only thing that the townspeople fear more than God and the Devil are the folklore that haunts the area, such as the story of the Low Man, a vampiric figure said to steal into sinners' bedrooms and kill them on moonless nights.

When a skull is found deep in the swamp next to mysterious carved symbols, Bottom Springs is thrown into uproar. Yet Ruth has a different perspective and reaches out to Everett, an old friend with a dark past. They each have secrets linked to the swamp and set out to seek their own answers. No further details to avoid spoilers.

This was my first experience of Ashley Winstead’s writing. It was pure Southern Gothic in its setting and themes. I found it quite a slow burn that stressed character development over flashy twists. There were revelations along the way though I felt that these rose organically from the narrative.

I experienced this as a thoughtful novel that considered concepts of morality; examining the degree to which the behaviour of Ruth and Everett were reactions to the strict moral codes that are the norm in the community and promoted by Pastor James Cornier.

I appreciated Ashley Winstead’s closing ‘A Conversation with the Author’ in which she discusses her intentions and choices in the novel. It especially put the novel’s shocking final pages into context as well as her reasons for the inclusion of the Twilight references. A Reading Group Guide is also included.

Overall, I found ‘Midnight is the Darkest Hour’ an impressive work of psychological horror that examines the effects of lingering superstitions, crime, small town politics, and religion upon the lives of its characters. It made me curious to read her other writings.

As a fan of Ashley's previous books, I was very eager to get into this one. I did find it different to others, with different pacing though. It took to around 30-35% to actually get moving enough to engage me and keep me held reading. I did stall twice in that time. However, once it moved past that and into more of the story, I binged the end in the day. I enjoyed the small romance factor - it's not often you come across thrillers with a romantic aspect and I appreciated that it still fit with purpose and wasn't just a 'romance grab'. The Bonnie and Clyde feel was such an interesting take on a story like this. My only concern was the ending for me. I wasn't sure how to feel and it's taken me quite some time to put the words together to get a review out.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ashley Winstead for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Midnight is the Darkest Hour is perfect for fans of Alice Feeney and Kate Alice Marshall. Midnight is the Darkest Hour is available now.

I loved this book so much! I loved both of our main characters, Ruth's character development was amazing. This was the first book in a long time that I didn't want to stop reading. Normally I don't really get excited by stories that deal with themes like religion and mystical creatures, but this was different. I'm really grateful that I got to read the ARC and highly recommend it! Now I have to read all the other books Ashley Winstead has published!

Read if you like;
-Twilight x bonnie and Clyde
-Murder mystery
-Religious aspects
-Multiple timelines

This was the first book I read by this author, so I had no idea what to expect!

A southern gothic thriller, with murder, romance, small town, religious fanatics and cult/ folklore undercurrents.

There was so many deep layers, that your constantly trying to peel back to find out the truth.

At times I found Ruth super annoying and rolled my eyes at her reactions some of the time. But I had to remember that this is a girl who was brought up with very strict religious parents!

I really enjoyed seeing Ruth and Everett’s friendship develop through the years. The two oddest pairs of the town forming a relationship that stands the test of time and distance.

Unfortunately I felt that the twists, whilst good weren’t shocking or have me reeling! The pacing was a little slow and drawn out at times but I did not find that it effected the story too much!

In Midnight is the Darkest Hour we follow librarian Ruth, daughter of the local priest trying to live a normal life in her small home town. When a skull is discovered in the swamp Ruth's past returns to haunt her as she and her outcast friend Everett try to get to the bottom of the mystery.

This was such an atmospheric read and my first time reading Ashley Winstead and it did not disappoint.