LitPick Review
Kylie's life is breaking down around her: her parents
consider divorce, her boyfriend dumps her and immediately
starts going out with another girl, and a stalker has been
introduced into her life. It isn't until Kylie gets caught at
a party -- with under-aged drinking and drugs galore -- that
her life gets turned completely upside down. Her Ice Queen
mom decides to send her to Shadow Falls Camp, a
psychologist-recommended institution for troubled teens. And
soon, Kylie discovers herself stranded in the midst of
brainwave-reading paranormal creatures that couldn't and
<i>shouldn't</i> exist. Confused but feeling an undeniably
weird sense of belonging, Kylie begins to realize just how
special she really is. Kylie's stalker also starts to make
sense -- a startling relief after all the anxiety. But then
trouble invades the camp, and the paranormals are pointing
fingers at each other. Beware, happy little campers, someone
has an agenda of their own, and they are <i>quite</i> the
determined bunch.
Opinion:
C.C. Hunter's debut, <i>Born at
Midnight</i>, was attention-grabbing and hard to put down.
However, the plot started out incredibly slow. It is
slightly understandable, as the author has to first describe
the characters and the setting of this new series. But the
predicament, which should be central to every novel, was
brief and felt like an after-thought. Imagine this: pages
after pages of descriptions and little action, a few
chapters devoted to the build-up of tension, the short
resolution, and then the end of the novel, which ends up
feeling like accidentally running smack into a brick wall
and maybe losing a few teeth in the process.</p><p>And onto
the apparently mandatory element of a YA PNR book: the love
triangle. The one that exists in this book felt pretty much
superfluous. There was no reason for its creation in the
first place, and Kylie's indecision and fluctuating feelings
becomes a bore to read about after a while. Girl, it is not
right to be lusting after three guys (her ex-boyfriend
included) at once, especially if you alternate between
thinking about kissing one boy and then switches to thinking
about the hotness of another a second later.</p><p><i>Born
at Midnight</i> is a nice read, not entirely original, but
still interesting nonetheless.
Explain your content rating:
Teen pregnancy and drug use
KEYWORDS
Read more reviews by this Litpick Book Reviewer: CLi