Kitty and The Midnight Hour

Kitty Norville, Book 1

By: Carrie Vaughn

Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

Length: 7 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Kitty Norville is a midnight-shift DJ for a Denver radio station---and a werewolf in the closet. Sick of lame song requests, she accidentally starts "The Midnight Hour," a late-night advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged. After desperate vampires, werewolves, and witches across the country begin calling in to share their woes, her new show is a raging success. But it's Kitty who can use some help. With one sexy werewolf hunter and a few homicidal undead on her tail, Kitty may have bitten off more than she can chew.

©2005 Carrie Vaughn, LLC (P)2009 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Fresh, hip, fantastic.... Don't miss this one. You're in for a real treat!" (L. A. Banks, author of he Vampire Huntress Legends series)

Voice Of The Night

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Love the sarcasm and the deep midnight calls. Great radio scenes. Great start to a paranormal series. Story filled with sarcasm but not humor, and can be a bit on the dark side.
Thxs to 1st in series sale for a preview of this author.

What other book might you compare Kitty and The Midnight Hour to and why?

If you like this story, see modern Marcia Clark's series of Racheal Knight. Another great book with sarcasm. Reader January LeVoy knocks it out of the ballpark

Which character – as performed by Marguerite Gavin – was your favorite?

Ozzie as he is the great agent. Actually all the characters in this story are good. I just got hooked on Ms Gavin and her Kate Shugak/Alaska series.
Kitty in this story has the same determined strength as does the Kate series. Strong women who do the right thing, no matter what.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

a bit tearful at the ending, but it certainly makes you want book #2

Any additional comments?

note: I use the new 1.25x speed to match the author's intent

A refreshing heroine

What did you like best about this story?

An unexpected heroine, a DJ tired of putting up with bullies. Kitty is more like a regular woman, well except for the fact that she is a werewolf. The lowest member of the Denver pack, decides to keep a controversial radio talk show on the air. Her life goes from simply accepting her position in the pack to standing up for her believes regardless of the consequences.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. The fact Kitty is not the typical kick ass heroine, was a refreshing change. A very smart young woman fights her way through all odds to come on top.

Which character – as performed by Marguerite Gavin – was your favorite?

The main character Kitty Norville

Fresh, exciting, engaging take on being a werewolf

Some books slide right into my mind as if there was already a slot there, waiting for them. My imagination lights up like a fairground, my mouth smiles, my eyes are fixed on the movie screen in my head and the world becomes a barely registered background noise.

"Kitty And The Midnight Hour" had this effect on me. It soothed me with a light, fun, fresh tone and then gripped me with darker themes, handled for their human impact, not their sensational value.

Kitty Norville is a werewolf (yeah, yeah, the name came first, what's a girl supposed to do about that?) and a damaged young woman, unsure of herself, habitually but unhappily submissive, living in the ruins of the life that was taken from her when she was turned against her will.

She has survived by grace of being part of a Pack which offers her protection and companionship as long as she accepts her status at the bottom of the hierarchy and keeps her true nature secret.

Kitty's main source of solace and personal identity comes from hosting an unremarkable late-night radio show playing old, sorry, classic pop music. One night, she decides to take calls from listeners and accidentally creates "The Midnight Hour. The show that isn't afraid of the dark or the people who live there". When the talk-show takes off Kitty's life grows more and more complicated as the demands of her Pack and of the supernatural powers that be conflict with her desire to go on with a show that is drawing attention to a world that is supposed to be secret.

I've grown used to books imposing pack behavior on werewolves so I was almost as slow as Kitty in understand that her Alpha is truly abusive, no matter how much the wolf in her wants to roll on her back and show him her belly. Kitty's personal growth in the face of this abuse is one of the most interesting things in the book.

The book is packed with action, including multiple fights between the wolves, which Carrie Vaughn describes vividly, sustaining excitement without resorting to too much gore.

The radio show itself is wonderful. If it was on the air, I'd be a regular listener. The tone is exactly right for a good talk-show and it provides a great vehicle for getting to know the supernatural world and its denizens.

The audiobook, and this is a PERFECT novel for an audiobook, is narrated by Marguerite Gavin (go HERE to read an interview with her). I've spent hours listening to Marguerite Gavin narrating the Kate Shugak books. I has stupidly assumed that I knew what her voice was like. Now I realize that I was listening to what she thinks Kate Shugak (a thirty-something Aluet with a damaged voice) sounds like. Marguerite Gavin's Kitty is younger and, of course, has a great voice for radio. It's a great achievement and it means I'll be looking hard at the (many) 0ther books she's narrated.

I'm hooked on Kitty Norville now. The first book provides lots of teasers on what might happen next and I want to hear more episodes of Kitty's show, so book two, "Kitty Goes To Washington" will be pushing its way to the top of my TBR pile very soon.

Good enough if you like werewolves

I am generally not a huge fan of post-Buffy urban fantasy, particularly the "hot chicks in leather" genre. The only reason I decided to try the first book in the popular "Kitty Norville" series is that I've heard good things about the author, Carrie Vaughn, and also it was on sale on Audible.com.

Well, Kitty and the Midnight Hour is well-written and not as schlocky as I feared, but it did not change my mind about the genre, nor am I likely to continue following the series. I found the story entertaining mind candy, but it's certainly nothing that stands out from the crowd. Also, I got so tired of Kitty groveling, whining, submitting, etc. By the time she finally did grow a pair -- sorry, grow some claws -- I just wanted to see the designated Love Interest werewolf hunter shoot her. I wanted to see more vampires and werewolves and learn more about how their world works, not listen to endless tedious angst about how much it sucks to be a lycanthrope. Shades of White Wolf!

The story is split into several different threads: Kitty's renegotiating her place in the supernatural world (and in her pack), a rogue werewolf who's killing people, and an evangelical preacher who claims he can "cure" the supernatural. None of these plot threads are completely resolved by the end of the book, so obviously you're meant to read the next installment. I wish I could say that the strength of Kitty's character was enough for me to want to find out what happens next, but it's not. The most entertaining bits were Kitty's on-air advice to lovelorn (and/or seriously delusional) supernaturals and supernatural-wannabes, but this was also too thin a premise by itself to keep me engaged with the series.

Not a bad read, certainly, but I'm becoming increasingly judgmental about well-trodden genre novels, and this just didn't have enough Win to overcome my aversion to "hawt vampire-boinking chick" series. (Okay, in fairness, Kitty doesn't boink any vampires... at least not in this book.)

The performance by Marguerite Gavin was fine, and she gave Kitty in particular plenty of personality and a snarky attitude, and handled what must have been a difficult job of narrating two and three-way on-air conversations quite well. She did seem to like giving every male character a European accent, though.

Great Book... Horrible Reader

I like to listen to books at work and I was excited to see unabridged recordings for some of my favorite urban fantasy books. However, I have found myself fighting to stay in the story as it is read because of the formality and lack of character matching on the part of the reader. The publishers could not have found a more inappropriate reader for these books if they tried. All the wit and humor is lost with her stiff and formal delivery, and the action sequences are dry and lifeless...nothing like the book itself which is filled with tension and excitement, broken up with just the right amount of biting wit.

I certainly hope there is a better reader for the rest of this wonderful series.

Kitty is my type of girl!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

If they like this genre of books,,,then yep!

What did you like best about this story?

Her time on air during her shows...she is a great DJ!

What does Marguerite Gavin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I love MG...I listened to all the Rachel books and she was awersome, and that was one of my draws to this series....

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I practically did!! lol

Any additional comments?

I was iffy on this book at first, but because MG narrates it I tried it...the reviews were not great, but not bad...so I just bought book 1...after the first 3 chapters I bought book2 and am planning on buying a few more before this sale ends....I like Kitty...she is cool!

A fun light hearted quick listen

I won't proclaim that this book will change your life in anyway, but if you are looking for a good light listen about werewolves mostly, with a few vampires thrown in, this one is a good one. My favorite parts were the actual radio show sections, I really enjoyed the calls and responses from Kitty.

Amazing Choice in Voice

The reader of this book was amazingly well selected. She brings the main character to life and has exactly the voice I would expect to slink through the radio, welcoming listeners to the Midnight Hour. #Dark #Gritty #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

Supernatural First Contact

🦇 “If vampires ever spend less time playing theatrics and living down to their stereotypes,
they might actually take over the world some day.”
Okay, yes, so this is yet another urban fantasy with vampires and werewolves.
The lack of creature originality was a bit disappointing.

🐺 “Sometimes we have to listen to the human side”
On the other hand, I love that this series dives deeper into what it means to be monster versus human.
DJ Kitty asks many of the questions that keep me up at night after I put down my latest listen.
I also like that the series is set as the world is waking up to the realization that monsters are real and walking among us.

⛔️ “I always cowered … not this time.”
One of the annoyances of books featuring werewolves is the pack-mentality and this book is no different. There are potentially triggering scenes of dominance, including sexual assault. They were not that detailed and I felt they were necessary for Kitty’s evolution. This book was also more on the grittier end, without enough humor to balance things out.

Still, there were enough fresh plots for me to move on. The series improved over the next few books.
The next books 2 - 8 drop the sexual assault themes, feature only fade to black naughty bits, and provide a much better balance of action, fun, and paranormal mystery. At book 8, there’s a logical stopping point for those seeking self-contained paranormal procedurals in each book.

Books 9 and 10 lean heavier into a series arc called The Long Game (with a few breadcrumbs having already been dropped in the earlier books). Books 11 and 12 were exclusively connected to the series arc, and in my opinion could be skipped. Book 13 detours for a Cormac mystery, but ends up reconnecting to the series arc in rather dull fashion, making this another skippable installment. Book 14 closes the series out okay, albeit with a lot of convenient assists and without any real plan.

Great fun...

What goes better together than a great author and great reader. Carrie Vaughn is smart as hell or she could not possibly add more to the sci-fi/horror genre. I was a big fan of Buffy and grew up on Anne Rice...so I was a little skeptical of a protagonist werewolf. Carrie kicks open the door to this subterranean genre with wit and insight that make her characters believable. Kudos to her.