Lies, like dreams, tended to turn into nightmares.

Stolen Midnights by Katherine Quinn

My Review

When the clock chimed midnight on an Aurilian’s eighteenth birthday, a remarkable and utterly beguiling event would occur.

It’s a little later than I intended, but it turned out I had a lot of feelings about this book. And unfortunately, for me at least, Stolen Midnights didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Don’t get me wrong, there were definitely some things to like – and even love – about this book. But I found myself annoyed more often than not by just as many other things, if not more. I have a lot to say about this novel, as I mentioned, so strap in!

The Characters and Story

There was no question in my mind that Wren Hayes and I had been destined to meet. And without a doubt, our lives were now tied together in a way that would be impossible to unravel.

Wren Hayes is our female lead. At the start of the novel she’s a rich girl expecting the accustomed gift of a magical object that the elite receive on their eighteenth birthdays. But she is left wanting, as it has been stolen by Damien, the male protagonist to this story. He’s basically your typical thief character, sassy and suave (or at least he thought so) with a vulnerable side. And unfortunately, I didn’t care much for either of them. Especially early on – Wren is pretty bratty and naive, and I don’t like the way Damien flirts with Wren for the first half of the novel. But, I do think both of them grew some by the climax of the novel, and I was rooting for them at that point a little. I just wish they’d both stop making stupid decisions.

I found the side characters more interesting this time around, like Ruby and Grayson and Everett, and I was honestly more interested in their backgrounds and stories than I was the MCs. The antagonist kind of came a little out of nowhere for me, though it made sense it was them, but I was screaming at the characters constantly about how the villain’s accomplice was right there stop being stupid it’s so obvious. But I digress – that’s how it goes sometimes with these kinds of novels.

The plot for Stolen Midnights was pretty decent, though it got bogged down a little bit by the main characters and their antics and stupidity. It’s also a relatively simple story with a bit of a mystery going on throughout, and the latter is honestly the only thing that kept me going for a while. Until the missing persons part of the plot was introduced, then I had to know what was up. The author was pretty good at seeding along a mystery, and I wish that that had more focus on it. But instead it was the romance.

The Romance and Writing

A finger pressed into my chest, startling me. “You’ve been watching me,” Wren accused-correctly-doing her very best to sound intimidating. Such an adorable yet incompetent attempt.

“Obviously.” I shrugged, pressing deeper into that little finger of hers. “You were practically begging to be robbed.” Again.

“You would be the expert,” she snipped.

I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t like the romance here. I didn’t think Wren and Damien had any chemistry with each other, at any point in the novel. I also hated how they were constantly sniping at one another. And yes, I get that this was (an attempt at) an enemies to lovers plot, but then I’d rather there wasn’t literal immediate insta-lust happening. Like seriously immediate – basically as soon as they have their first proper conversation. And then it just didn’t stop. This should’ve been more of a slow-burn. But it wasn’t, and I think that the romance suffered for it.

The writing was… okay. It certainly could’ve been better, but it was YA, which doesn’t always have the best quality. It’s not an excuse, because I think YA deserves better, but it is what it is. The prose seemed almost middle grade though, which felt at odds with the numerous cringe worthy lust filled scenes throughout. What I mean to say is: the writing felt like it should’ve been more mature, to match Stolen Midnights tones and themes.

The Cover and World Building

One day our world would change, and all it took to start a revolution was one person.

I know it might be hard to believe at this point, but there were things I quite enjoyed about this book. The cover art and sprayed edges for one thing, are absolutely phenomenal. I almost passed on this novel, or at least put it on my tentative TBR for later, but I couldn’t just walk by that book cover art and ignore it. And combined with the title, there’s a downright lethal combination there. This book was very, very pretty. But I’ve already gushed about the cover art enough in another post.

The world building and the magic system are also interesting. I really liked how the characters frequently talk about places outside of the city of Andalay, and that there’s a map at the beginning of the book. I love maps in books.

The magic system is also intriguing. I found myself invested in the way the knowledge of it evolved as the characters discovered more about how it worked.

The lore and history sprinkled all over Stolen Midnights was also fascinating. I loved the little excerpts at the beginning of some of the chapters, predominantly Wren’s. Not just because it distributed relevant lore for each chapter or two, but also because it tells the reader that Wren is also interested in the history of her world, and that’s one of the few things I liked about her.

The only thing I felt was odd about it was how the lore and the divine leaders of Andalay – the Fates – affected the way the city was run. It’s a patriarchy and women seem to have hardly any rights, but the Fates are women as well. It just seems weird to me that the society is structured that way, especially since the Fates themselves also live in the city with everyone – it doesn’t seem like it should be a patriarchy at all. I understand that they manipulate certain things about how Andalay is run, but nowhere in the book is it mentioned that they’re manipulating it into a patriarchy. I guess we as the reader are just meant to infer that? I don’t know, it seemed a little sloppy is all.

Final Thoughts

But I often got ahead of myself. First I needed to find where Wren Hayes had run off to.

Something told me I should’ve had one more glass of whiskey.

Though I didn’t enjoy a lot of what Stolen Midnights had to offer, there were a few things that I really liked about it. There’s a lot of stuff set up for the sequel here, too, and it seems like it might be more lore and magic focused (though there’s definitely still going to be a lot of romance as well), so I might enjoy it more, if I decide to read it. This book really feels like one half of a whole, or a very long prologue.

Also, I couldn’t find a place to mention this earlier, but several aspects of this novel reminded me of Once Upon a Broken Heart and its sequels. Down to one of the big twists in the book, as well as the big event that happens at the ending. I think it shares the most similarities with the second book, and I suspect the sequel to this book might share some with the last book in the trilogy. They also had a lot of the same vibes and some of the same tropes. I think that a lot of that stuff, however, was executed a little better in Once Upon a Broken Heart. If you like Stephanie Garber’s works, though, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy this book.

Anyway, as always, thank you to everyone so much for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

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