Born at Midnight [Book Review]

Stats:
#1 in Shadow Falls series

Kindle Edition, 417 pages

Published March 29th 2011 by St. Martin's Griffin

ASIN: B004L2LGOC

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Synopsis:

Don’t miss this spectacular new series that will steal your heart and haunt your dreams,  Welcome to Shadow Falls camp, nestled deep in the woods of a town called Fallen…
 
One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever.  Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls—a camp for troubled teens, and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just “troubled.”  Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, witches and fairies train side by side—learning to harness their powers, control their magic and live in the normal world.

Kylie’s never felt normal, but surely she doesn’t belong here with a bunch of paranormal freaks either.  Or does she?  They insist Kylie is one of them, and that she was brought here for a reason.  As if life wasn’t complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas.  Derek’s a half-fae who’s determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas is a smokin’ hot werewolf with whom Kylie shares a secret past.  Both Derek and Lucas couldn’t be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart. 
Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs…



My Thoughts: 
There are definitely some flaws to the writing in this book, namely, the POV tense is just awkward. It was difficult for me to keep straight who "she/her" was a lot of the time.

Kylie is a 16 year old who suffers night terrors (and hallucinating a dead guy that's stalking her) and is having a hard time coping with the loss of her grandmother, her parents constant fighting while proceeding with a divorce, and her boyfriend dumping her. She joins her best friend, Sara, at a party, but it ends up getting busted and while she didn't drink or partake in any drugs, Kylie gets taken down to the police station like the rest of the teenagers present at the party. Her mom decides to send her away to a summer camp called Shadow Falls Camp.

The bus ride to Shadow Falls is hard enough - she's stuck with a bunch of delinquents and freaks. At the camp, she's even more weirded out by the other teenagers there. Then she discovers that these delinquents are supernaturals. Yep, she's surrounded by vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, witches, and more. She finds out her hallucinations aren't really hallucinations, but rather she is a supe too. She sees ghosts. Kylie doesn't swallow that pill very well and it takes her a long time to actually come to terms with her ability in the book.

I have to say I'm more a Della (her vamp roommate) fan. She's probably my favorite character. I loved the hamburger joint analogy she used to make a point about vamps' hunger. Kylie is kind of frustrating throughout the book. She's too stubborn to the point of stupidity. However, the story still sucked me in and I am definitely continuing this series. The ghost that stalks her is a huge selling point for me. I cried when [spoiler: it's revealed who he was and the story about her mom] - and I'm DEFINITELY Team [spoiler: Lucas]. 

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