Thanks for the ARC Netgalley! I am genuinely baffled by the high ratings for this new release 🤔. Thrillers are one of my favorite genres yet I somehow hadn’t yet read anything by Winstead. After this, I cannot say I will. I just….didn’t care. It was all telling, no showing. The ending was ridiculous. It tried so hard to be atmospheric like “Where the Crawdads Sing” kind of vibe, but it all felt phoned in and flat.

Ruth grew up in her small southern town under the religious rules of her father, a church leader. A despicable thing happens to Ruth when she’s a teenager, which cements her friendship with Everett. He’s the only one that knows the truth and helps her. Years later, a skull in found in the swamp and it brings up old secrets. The town wants to pin this on Everett, but Ruth knows there are more secrets in this town.

Ruth is obsessed with “Twilight,” which I’ve never read or seen. Constant references to that made me think maybe I’m missing some depth here because of my lack of knowledge of this series? Either way, it was just not my kind of thriller or storytelling. I wish I had more constructive thoughts here, it just felt like such a slog. 🤷🏻‍♀️

✨Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse, Rape, Religious Bigotry, Murder, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Panic Attacks, Animal Cruelty/Death, Adult/Minor Relationship

I love Ashley Winstead books, but this one was a little bit of a miss for me. I loved the premise of the story, but I had issues with the Twilight references. It seemed a bit cheesy. And the ending?? Where did that come from?

Unfortunately, I didn't love this book from Ashley Winstead. However, I do think it was a me not the book issue. She writes her characters with perfect voice but I think I didn't love the main female character. The atmosphere and vibes were spot on. I know people will love this new installment from her and I will continue to pick up her thrillers.

I liked this quite a bit better than the other two books I read by Ashley Winstead. I really enjoyed the setting, the alternating timeline, and the characters and plot. The book as a whole had a True Blood vibe (but sans Eric Northman 😥) which I liked. I was afraid I’d hate the way the author dealt with Christian fundamentalism, but by the end I thought it was well done. Overall, this was a thrilling and fast paced novel about morality and justice. Unfortunately, the plot was predictable at times and I really didn’t like the ending.

One of the most highly anticipated thrillers releasing in 2023 for me was the newest book from author Ashley Winstead. After seeing the cover for Midnight is the Darkest Hour I was literally blown away and could not wait to dive in!

What I didn’t quite expect was so many similarities to other books/shows I’ve loved. As a twilight fan, the references got to be a little excessive. There is a love story within this mystery and he felt like a copy of Edward Cullen. I’m also a huge True Blood fan and I found the swampy country town and characters very similar to Bon Temps, Louisiana.

If those comparisons don’t spoil too much, I’ll let you know that there are a lot of religious zealots, corruption among authority figures, and a main character just like Bella Swan. It was a very dark book and that’s what I loved the most about it, but it’s not really a fast-paced thriller like you may expect.

While I did find the mystery interesting… it felt a little challenging to get there. I did not dislike the book at all, it was just a bit of a slog to get through which really surprised me.

I do, however, think many others would love it and I definitely look forward to her future books!

Thank you @sourcebooks and @netgalley for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

This whole book was a TRIP, in the best way. From beginning to end, it kept me intrigued and had so many twists. This is a thriller and romance wrapped into one is a one of a kind and I loved it!

This was a very atmospheric Southern gothic mystery/thriller! I loved the small town Louisiana setting and how you felt like you were right there with the characters. There were a lot of good twists and turns and surprise revelations along the way. One thing I especially liked is that Ruth works as a librarian and was able to use some of the resources to find answers.

As with most thrillers, I don't want to say too much and give anything away!

Thank you, @netgalley, and @bookmarked for the #gifted earc of this book!

3.5 stars rounded

Ashley Winstead does it again. She has written another story that will keep you up at night wanting to finish and keep you guessing till the end. It is very hard to classify this book, part mystery, part horror, part romance, part thriller and lots of gothic vibes. You will care and root for both main characters, Ruth and Everett, despite their imperfections. It is difficult to review this novel without spoiling the story, so go read it! You will not be sorry! Thank you to the publisher and net galley for allowing me to read and review this wonderful book.

Loved this book so much. The character development was phenomenal! Ashley Winstead is a wizard at suspenseful pacing!

Overall this book kept me interested, but felt a bit far fetched and long in places. The plot could have been sped up a bit, but I enjoyed this read.

Ashley Winstead is an incredible writer with an incredible range. Her way of portraying gray areas and red flags never ceases to amaze me. Midnight Is the Darkest Hour definitely had a crazy plot and the ease at which certain things happen felt a bit YA, which was also an issue in The Last Housewife. But despite that, I found the reading experience to be truly enjoyable. I will continue to read everything Winstead writes!

What appeals to me the most in Winstead's thrillers is definitely the writing. While her plots have twists and shock value, there is always something about her academia background that shines through for me. I especially love the Q&As with her at the end of the book, providing a great discussion section. I feel like she's observed the world and questioned things intimately and I like that she sets her novels to explore an idea and clash different ideologies against each other. I also love the flow of the words. I ended up enjoying the plot in this one better than The Last Housewife and thought the Twilight (and it's definitely not something I was every big on) side of things was an entertaining addition along that went well with the ideas she explored. I also did love how she ended it.

This was the first book of Ashley Winstead I have read and I have already bought two of her other books to read. This was such a wild ride in the best way possible. I didn't see some of the twists coming and I didn't see how the end was going to be. I was happy about that so I was actually surprised. The characters are well written. I would definitely recommend this book!

This was okay. I figured it out super quick and I didn’t love any characters specifically so yeah. I liked it but didn’t love it.

I loved the southern gothic setting of this, and thought it was a very fun fall read. Ashley Winstead is a really strong writer, and shows so much range with her books. The characters in this one weren’t my favorite, but I always appreciate her writing and sometimes in Halloween season, you just need something to enhance the ambiance!

This one is HEAVY. don’t take the content warnings for granted. I really appreciate that they were included. This is by far my favorite book of hers so far, and I have loved everything she has written.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book, the small town Bible thumping vibes were well written. Unfortunately, the book didn't go in a direction that I enjoyed. When everything was revealed and certain characters were confronted it seemed very unrealistic.

I have loved every book that Ashley Winstead has written, and Midnight is the Darkest Hour is no exception.

I struggled to put this one down. The power, potential, and threat of teenage girls is at the heart of this story – but so is the story of Twilight, just to wrap it all together! While the ending at first frustrated me, I realized fairly quickly how perfect it was for Ruth and Everett's story and I wouldn't want to see it end any other way.

Part of what I love about Ashley's writing is that each book truly immerses me in the town she has created – no matter how horrifying. It's absolutely incredible and I can never get enough of them.

In the deep South, can Ruth, the daughter of a preacher, break free and find a life of her own when she's been raised to be obedient and docile? What happens when she shares a secret with the town's bad boy? I enjoyed this book and the vibes were spooky and full of intrigue. I will say, I could have done without the multitude of Twilight references, but I understand what the author was trying to accomplish. Ruth has dreams that will take her out of her town and out from under her father's thumb, but first, she digs deep to find the true history of all of the unexplained deaths that are coming to light, including one she is responsible for. I loved watching Ruth develop and grow into her own woman. As I said, I was tired of hearing how deeply she is Team Edward, but what can you do?

This book is for the twilight girlies, like myself 💁🏻‍♀️
I loved the romance between Ruth and Everett, this book has me NEEDING a paranormal romance after this one. I loved the slow burn, and their friendship is just very sweet.

The mystery is solid. There are a lot of twists, and the tension is pretty consistent as well. So that aspect was great. My only complaint was that it wasn't AS deep into the religious trauma as I was expecting, which is probably a plus for a lot of people. There definitely is some southern christian small town tropes in here, with all the hyper-judgemental townsfolk, and the small town gossiping; but it just didn't quite get as dark in that aspect as I was hoping for. But I was still glued to this one the entire way through. Would definitely recommend to anyone interested!

I also really enjoy that Ashley Winstead's thrillers all are very distinct from each other. She has some serious range. She was already an auto-buy author for me after The Last Housewife, but the variety in these stories has me very interested in what's coming in the future.

As soon as I heard this had Twilight Vibes, I had to snag it and it did not disappoint! Definitely recommend.