Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This was a very unique book. I will say it instantly gave me vibes of Where The Crawdads Sing.
A long and slow moving novel with a strange theme. Murders and skulls showing up. An intense religion and some occult themes thrown in.
A lot going on in this book but it all weaves together by the end. A town full of secrets.
I was a bit surprised by the ending but at the same time I think it was the best choice because there was no going back at that point.
Narrator did a great job. Great atmosphere too.

Set in a small Louisiana swamp town, this follows the daughter of an extremely conservative preacher as the town is upended by a possible serial killer in their midst. There’s religious trauma, spot on teenage girl commentary, and a Twilight inspired romance that sounds ridiculous but somehow worked?? That ending was a wild choice that I can’t help but respect. I know this won’t be for everyone, but I absolutely loved it.

Ashley Winstead is back! This time with a stunning Southern Gothic just in time for the Halloween season.

Young Ruth dreams of a life beyond her small town. The daughter of a fire and brimstone preacher, she was never expected or allowed to fly too far from the nest. Ruth is desperate for real love and the spiciest thing she's ever read is Twilight, which is a recurring theme throughout the book which makes me giggle.

One night out by the swamp, the town outcast saved her from a bad situation and it kicked off a lifelong friendship. The events of that night are held by them alone until a skull is discovered years later. Will their secret finally be revealed? Maybe, but other residents should be far more concerned.

This is hard to even summarize because it had so much going on, yet it was still easy to follow. I think part of it was that many of the mysteries didn't take a genius to untangle(don't get me wrong, many things I never saw coming!), but innocent Ruth is our narrator and the story stays true to her perspective.

I really liked this! It covered a lot of interesting religious dogma while not being what I would consider offensive. It came off believable. I'm not religious myself but I don't like for it to be bashed just for the sake of it. So that's not what happened here and it isn't political.

I usually don't care for Southern stories because they come off-at best, cheesy like Crawdads- or at worst, too nostalgic for a time that was brutal for so many people. That's off-putting to me.

All of this author's books are so different so I never know what to expect but she's done it again and this is another hit! She can do anything.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review.

Having loved this authors previous works, i may have had expectations. This one was a disappointment for me. It was a bit convoluted and i also just felt like i was missing something most of the time. Like why were they so up in arms. I felt like in the beginning nothing was explained well enough to make me understand the characters and their actions.

The people were horrible and i was really bothered by the men were in power religious nonsense. I get it’s a story and you can’t like all the character but it was disturbing, it was just bothersome.

I also was annoyed by the constant twilight talk. I was definitely into twilight and still enjoy the movies now but i wanted to eye roll every time it was brought up.

Personally i was just kind of bored by the story and thought it took too long for things to happen.

I also wasn’t a fan of the narrator. I didn’t like the accent or the way she portrayed the main character. Made her sound so young.

Midnight Is The Darkest Hour is a generally entertaining read. The story kept me engaged from start to finish, but not exactly on the edge of my seat. The twists were mostly what I expected. And I often felt like I was on the outside looking in- for instance, there were numerous references to Twilight, mostly lost on me, having never read or watched the series. And the revelations re: religion and self-proclaimed holy men also reminded me of my atheistic/ skeptic outsider status and thus were none too surprising. So while I enjoyed this tale, I couldn’t help but feel that it might be far more impactful to others more squarely within its target demographic. Still an easy-breezy, slightly spooky, enjoyable way to kick off October.

Sarah Welborn did a serviceable job narrating the audiobook.

Thank you Ashley Winstead, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for providing this ALC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

5/5 stars
Thank you netgallery and Ashley Winstead for this book..I listened to the audiobook and it was fabulous. Not what I expected from a book compared to Verity (which I hated).

Midnight is the darkest hour takes place in the deep center of the bible belt country. Ruth was not the character I expected at all, especially for a girl who grew up in a cult like religion.

Her love and reference of twilight was adorable and at the same time made me see why she was turning out the way she did

Every time I expected this book to go one way, it completely did a 180 and threw me off.

And holy Molly that ending. Just BAM.

Ashley Winstead writes such a great variety of books which means there’s a good chance you’ll find some you love! But also means there may be some that don’t work for you and this was a miss for me - decided to DNF at about 30%. I found I’m a third into the book and am bored - I don’t really care what will happen and each time I set it down I have to remind myself what was happening. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free audiobook.

Thank you Netgalley and Tantor Audio for the ALC.

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narration: ⭐️⭐️
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Midnight is the Darkest Hour is the latest from auto-buy author Ashley Winstead. It follows librarian Ruth who lives in a small town in Louisiana. The townspeople believe in the myth of the Low Man, a vampiric figure said to steal into sinners' bedrooms and kill them on moonless nights. The town is thrown into chaos when a skull is found in the swamp. Ruth and her old friend Everett are the only ones who can figure out what the true evil is that lurks in their town.

Winstead refuses to stick to one genre and somehow masters them all. This will probably be a very divisive read, but in my eyes, Ashley Winstead can do no wrong. Part Twilight. Part Midnight Mass. Can’t wait to see what this author writes next!

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the narrator for the audio. While I absolutely loved the book, the audiobook performance fell a bit flat for me.

ALC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Pros: I was interested to read this book because I liked reading the author’s previous books In My Dreams I Hold a Knife and The Boyfriend Candidate. My favorite part of this book was its examination of religion and the power and corruption that come with it. I both read this on Kindle and listened to it on audiobook and liked both formats.

Cons: As someone who lives in Louisiana, I really wanted to like the Louisiana setting, but it didn’t feel accurate.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, RB/Tantor Audio for the opportunity to read this book.

I want to be clear that it was the narrator that I did not like, not the book. I didn’t last more than 20 minutes into the audiobook; the contrived southern accent and the mispronounced vocabulary was like fingernails on a chalkboard for me. I’ll try reading the book instead

3 stars

Fans of Winstead's will enjoy this, and even those who are new to this writer will still likely find it engaging. To be transparent, I had some real struggles with this one but still found it entertaining enough to listen to nearly straight through.

Ruth is a smalltown girl who experiences a lot of expected situations: a creepy underbelly, religious people who are entirely corrupt, and a sense of being out of touch with modern society. There can be a fine line between naive and not smart, and Ruth sometimes crosses over to the unfortunate side of this line. One particularly distracting detail? Her obsession with _Twilight_. Is this a somewhat understandable situation for people of a certain age when they are very young? I suppose so. Is it acceptable for an adult? Ugh. On a related note, there are glaringly obvious issues going on in this town, with individuals, etc. It takes Ruth too long to put the pieces together. I do not enjoy a dumb woman character, and there were just too many times when Ruth's behavior and lacking awareness seemed signs of foolishness rather than youth or sheltering.

This one took some turns that made me more forgiving of some of the character lapses, but if your preference is mysteries/thrillers that feature stronger, more self-sufficient women characters, this might not be your top pick.

I'll be back for more from Winstead, but I'll hope for more from the characters next time.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced audiobook copy..
This is my fourth book I have read from Ashley Winstead. I enjoyed the narrator. I enjoyed the slight southern accent.
As for the book, I enjoyed the dual timelines. I liked the past more than the current. I didn’t care for the ending.

Another dark psychological thriller from Ashley Winstead that skirts a razor thin edge of what it means to be good and evil with a LITERALLY cliff-hanger ending that will leave you breathless!

I loved the small town, deeply Evangelical Southern setting that sees Preacher's daughter and librarian Ruth Cormier trying to cover up her part in the death of the man who tried to rape her and protect her childhood best friend. Told through flashbacks we get to see her friendship with Everett evolve over the years as their bond grows deeply and gets tested.

I love how nothing is black or white in Ashley's books! She tackles tough topics like domestic abuse, violence and revenge with another cultish subplot and a Twilight loving librarian heroine. Great on audio this was another standout for me and definitely worth the wait as one of my most anticipated 2023 thrillers!!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Midnight is The Darkest Hour
5🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

Another fantastic novel by Ashley Winstead. This southern Gothic thriller is set in a small town Louisiana called Bottom Springs.
Ruth Cornier is the shy daughter of the local preacher.
🌙🖤
Ruth is under incredible pressure to act a certain way and is under the strong thumb of her dad. She loves Twilight books and has to hide stuff because everything is a sin to him. She is friends with an Everett who is from the wrong side of the tracks and the only one who understands her.
🌙🖤
Everett leaves after a conflict, but comes back for yearly visits to see her. She is now seeing someone else, but he is also controlling.
🌙🖤
Bottom Springs holds so many secrets. A skull is found in the swamp along with symbols in the forrest. Everett and Ruth start investigating and discover secrets about those close to them. They also have secrets they want buried.
🌙🖤
This novel is GRIPPING and kept me glued to the pages from the first page until the explosive conclusion. My heart was pounding in the end!
🌙🖤
Winstead always delivers a fabulous read and writes in a couple of genres.

Ashley Winstead’s thrillers are hit and miss for me. I loved one and was so-so about another. But this one was not it.

Part of this is a me problem. I don’t really enjoy books where churches are heavily featured. And Ruth’s parents were absolutely awful. Her dad is reverend in this town and he is doing all the horrible things. And letting horrible people get away with horrible things.

I did like Ruth and Ever’s relationship. They were in this together. Ashley Winstead also writes romances and you can tell with these two and their love for one another.

I found the rest of this book to be so incredibly boring. It was drawn out and the reveals IMO were messy and made very little sense. I like slow burning mysteries but this one wasn’t what I liked.

I think I will continue to read Ashley Winstead’s mystery thrillers, I do like the writing.

Thank you NetGalley for ALC of this book

Good grief, this book was a doozy!

Very different from Winstead’s other books, I enjoyed the path she took with this one to the very end.

I loved how she shone light on the corruption of religion in the form of power and influence, without making it out like religion is inherently bad. I personally am an atheist so I don’t subscribe to any forms of faith-based teachings and the hold it can take, but I appreciate the comfort it brings to people who hold it so close to their hearts.

This was about people and the reasons they do bad things, the way that having a high standing in something as powerful as religion can give them the platform and the skewed belief they are above all. And it was glorious!

There was a slight supernatural element to this that I enjoyed in the way she let it play out, while ultimately maintaining that human evil aspect.

This was such a fun listening experience. The narrator’s southern charm and cadence was fantastic. I especially enjoyed the way she said window, “winduh” and got a chuckle every time. All in all I loved this book and I cannot freaking wait to read what Ashley Winstead brings us next!

My most anticipated book of 2023 was Midnight is the Darkest Hour by the amazing Ashley Winstead and I was extremely lucky to receive an early copy from Ashley and will be forever grateful that she always finds a way to get me an early copy! This book was like a great trip you plan. So much anticipation building up to it, having the most amazing time during it, then afterwards it’s just sad and nothing more to look forward to. 😭 Until the next trip, or in this case, Ashley Winstead thriller. And after this one, I think I definitely need time to process what I just read and that ending!? 🤯 Midnight is the ultimate fall/ spooky read, and I will recommend it to everyone! Labeled as a southern gothic thriller, there are many important topics that are relevant and deserved to be highlighted and discussed. Ashley is the queen of not only thrillers, but taboo subjects that people tend to avoid to get too deep with. Ashley goes there and I am here for it! Her books are meant to spark conversations and make you think! The amount of scriptures quoted and poems in this book, I can’t imagine the time that went into research for this!
Also, are Ruth and Everett my new favorite? 😍 Twilight references were a constant throughout the book, and even though I have never read the books, it didn’t take away from my enjoying Midnight! So I know a lot of Twilight fans have loved it, but if you aren’t necessarily a Twilight fan, I would still recommend trying it!
And as always.. check out the Trigger Warnings for this book.. or if they’re not your thing, don’t!