Book – Midnight
Author – J.V. Spreyer
Star rating - ★★★★☆
No. of Pages – 74
Cover – Pretty!
POV – 3rd, one character
Would I read it again – Yes
Genre – LGBT, Contemporary


** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **


This was a great story! I absolutely loved Brandon and his journey. The charactisation was so good that I was able to feel for him right off the bat, feeling his angry and the hurt over what Adrian had done to him. I loved the way he grieved for what he'd lost, but he stuck by his guns and did what he thought was right, even in the face of all of Adrian's ridiculous behaviour. I love that he found a way to continue, even when he felt like his world had ended, before finally seeing the light at the halfway mark.

I couldn't believe Adrian would go so far as to become a stalker, but it was handled well and slipped in with gradually increasing concern, from one incident to the next. Sadly, the whole taking off in the middle of the night, taking every piece of furniture and doing it all when Brandon was at work out of town is not an unfamiliar story to me, as it happened to a friend, so the realism was well done.

I loved Greg, who was such a great friend right from the beginning. I could feel how much he really loved Brandon from the start, always stepping in to make things easier for him and so forth. I love that he was able to reveal to Brandon the way that Adrian tried to manipulate all of their friends, with lies that were believable and logical, under the circumstances.

The rest of Brandon's friends made for a great cast of secondary characters, all of whom picked a side early on a stuck to it, without ever prying for the full story from Brandon. Yet, at the same time, when Brandon started seeing the light about halfway through the book, I could see that maybe his friends already knew what was on the cards, which was a nice little addition.

There was a great balance between exploration of scenes. Sometimes the parts I want to read are less detailed than other parts, but this one had a nice balance of detailing the important scenes and skimming over the not-so-important parts. There was also a nice balance between showing and telling, when it was needed, which meant that we got a lot of story in just 74 pages, without losing any of the importance of the plot. There was a good deal of detail given to the furniture buying, the wedding and the bar scenes, but they were all necessary and given in the right amount.

The chemistry between Brandon and (someone I can't name, without giving it away) was brilliant! I felt it right from the start, even if Brandon was a little blind to what had always been there. Yet, at the same time, it completely made sense that he'd be oblivious and that it would take the time it did for things to progress. I liked that it happened organically and in a way that made sense to the timeline, to Brandon's emotional journey and through the way Adrian had been acting.

I'll admit, that I did cry a time or two, when Brandon was feeling particularly broken in the first half. I could feel his pain and his inner turmoil, I could see the way Adrian was behaving and it just tore me up.

The negatives? There were some editing issues and there was one moment of pure racism and stereotyping that caught me off guard (labeling a taxi driver a “the dark-skinned cabbie” before going on to say that his country would hang Brandon for being gay – not only presumptuous about the cabbie's ethnicity and where he was born, but distinctly rude and racist). I also had a problem with how it was claimed that Adrian didn't know how to have a grown up relationship just because he'd had to stay in his closet in his younger years, whereas Brandon had been able to be out and proud all of his life. That's a gross misinterpretation of how life works and I'm pretty sure that all the men and women who were stuck in a closet for ten to twenty years would argue that they are not incapable of having an adult relationship or behaving like an adult. I felt that this was supposed to sort of redeem Adrian, in a way, when it was neither necessary nor made any sense. I couldn't excuse any of it, so I removed a star because of these issues.

Overall, I liked the story and I'd be happy to read it again, but I couldn't excuse the negatives enough to give it five stars.