Midnight Curse

By: Melissa F. Olson

Narrated by: Amy McFadden

Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

Scarlett Bernard is used to cleaning up messes. As a human who cancels out any magic around her, Scarlett's job is to keep the supernatural world hidden - at any cost.

But on the eve of the Vampire Trials, a two-day tribunal that allows the otherworldly community to air their grievances, Scarlett receives a blood-soaked message from Molly, her estranged former roommate. Molly, a vampire, had been living with 12 human college students...and in one terrible night, she slaughtered them all.

Scarlett believes Molly's been set up, but no one else in the Old World agrees with her. Meanwhile, the true perpetrator is determined to make sure Molly goes on trial for the massacre - and the penalty is death.

With less than two days to prove her friend's innocence, Scarlett calls on former LAPD detective Jesse Cruz to help her dig into Molly's past. But no one - Molly included - wants Scarlett and Jesse to bring the terrible truth to light.

©2017 Melissa F. Olson (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

This is not the first book.

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

I spent most of the book feeling like I was on book three or four of a series, not on book 1. It was frustrating. Turns out all the rehashing of backstory actually had its own series, that is now kinda ruined for me because I read this book first.

Would you recommend Midnight Curse to your friends? Why or why not?

Read the Scarlett Bernard series first.

12 of 12 people found this review helpful

Entertaining story, Good narration.

This story was entertaining enough. It was a bit long at 11 hours and could have been shortened a bit.

It did keep my attention and started out good. There just seemed to be a little bit of things thrown in that didn't need to be there. The romance portion was really non existent.

The story line and plot was good, but like I said the book could have been shortened and I did figure out who the bad vamp was after the first clue. LOL so it is not a very good mystery or surprise if your looking for one. There was a lot of dialogue throughout which I really liked.

The characters were okay. I liked Jesse the most to be honest. Scarlett was okay for the most part. This book was written partly in the first person and partly in the third person, which made it better than if it had been completely in the first person.

As for the narration, it was great. I really like Amy McFadden. She does a great job on the male voices and reads with emotion. She has a great reading voice and is a pleasure to listen to.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Scarlett is back nulling and voiding.

Confusion - Disrupted Magic and Scarlett Bernard are both a series about Scarlett Bernard. If you are like me and like things chronologically, start with the Scarlett Bernard series. There is another series Boundary Born that is in the middle of the Scarlett Bernard and Disrupted Magic. Below is the suggested reading order from the author, Melissa Olson.

1. Bloodsick
2. “Sell-By Date”
3. Dead Spots
4. Trail of Dead
5. Hunter’s Trail
6. Boundary Crossed
7. “Malediction”
8. Boundary Lines
9. Boundary Born
10. Midnight Curse
11. Blood Gamble

I have read all the Scarlett Bernard and can fumbled through the Boundary series references that cross in both Scarlett stories. I do like the cross over characters.It makes the world according to Melissa F. Olson, vast and provides an opportunity to demonstrate growth in her characters. Yet, Scarlett repeatedly mentions that, she is an adult. That has never been an issue in the Scarlett series. There is animosity between Lex and Scarlett. May be Scarlett’s immature characterization was address in one of Lex’s books.

This is a very good Scarlett story. It is great to have Molly back in Scarlett’s life. Little Molly is more than a sweet vampire. She has a fire in her; after she stops crying. Jess is back in the old world solving crimes and now has a vote on case outcomes. And Eli… you must read that for yourself. Shadow, the dog but not dog, is the absolute best. Shadow needs to tell Scarlett to back off. In her loving concern for him, when he gets hurt and she runs to him, her presence eliminates his healing capabilities. Back off Scarlett! This bullet in my ass won’t be a problem if you back off.

Suffice to say that our girl Scarlett has done some growing up and acquired a few fighting skills. She is loyal to the extreme. In this situation, she flirts with the ideal to save one which could result in species war. Yep loyal to a fault.

The action happens in the first 20 minutes and continues. Jess is a great partner with Scarlett. In a two second phone conversation with Lex, we discover there is a paranormal ability that can twist the mind of a vampire. Olson has developed a paranormal hierarchical that is unique to her worlds.

Olson has played the theme,” I had an evil mentor” for three of the female characters. This topic that has been mention before. I am giving her a pass this one time. I hope that we don’t have that as a story point in other stories.

It is low in the romance and that is fine. What is not fine? When you have the characters interjecting sexual thoughts. For instances, Scarlett is in a relationship with Eli. Why is she going through toes curling, or tingle sensation when with Jess? That has no value to the story.

I enjoyed the story and will use a credit on the next one.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Null and Void Are Back

This is a continuation of the Scarlett Bernard series. It is full of action, conflict and witty conversations. I started to read this book in the morning and listened to it all day until it was finished. Melissa Olson did a great job writing this book. I look forward to the next book.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Null & Void!

Another fantastic Scarlett story! I wish it had continued where it ended, i want to know more!! Melissa Olsen is a fantastic writer, her books are easy to read and keep my interest. i also look forward to her next Allison Lex Luthor book also, I like when she crosses series with these characters.
I look forward to getting her next books as soon as thet are out.
This book is absolutely worth the read!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

love this book and the author

love the book and all the others I love that all the books tie in together.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

loved it!

so far I've loved each of melissa's books and they just keep getting better. This last one just came out and now that I've finished it I can hardly wait for the next. The characters grow mature learn and evolve you can't do better then that

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Welcome back Scarlett!!

So excited to jump into Melissa's world again! Story was fast paced and compelling. All of our favorite characters are back. Narrator was very good as well. I highly recommend this title!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Hmmm...

So I'm not really sure how I feel about this series. It's like dating a sweet guy who just doesn't give you that "WOW" feeling. You want to stick with its because you could see yourself really liking it, but there are times when you just want to let it go. ... lmao... that how I feel about Scarlett. Sometimes I feel like her story is about to get deeper and really pull me in. But then she says something truly stupid that doesnt fit with the story... or the author contradicts something she has set up in the past.

But there are things I like about where the story is going. Shadow is a good addition. She gets excited about killing people. That's hilarious. It's not written like other fantasy stories with close pets. Most other books the dog is a good guy and pushes the character to do good things. This is a new twist. I likey.

My troubles stem from the foundation of the story line. Scarlett is a Null. She voids out magic. But there are times when her null Ness works and times when it doesnt. At one point she is in the room with two vampires fighting... they remain vampires. But during the same time Jesse pushes another vampire again a wall and because Scarlett is inside the vampire becomes human.... WTH.

The story for this book was the best of the series. There is a real mystery for Scarlett to solve. Her relationship with Eli seems very realistic. The book was interesting enough that I will buy the next. But it will have to get me more invested in the characters to become a favorite.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Scarlett & Shadow, Her 180 Pound Magic Dog Return

Not sure how I missed this series with Scarlett Bernard cleaning up the vampire’s messes but I will pay better attention from now on. I listened in Audible by Amy McFadden and got the excitement through her narration. She is very good. I also read on Kindle. Love it! This is another terrific book by Melissa Olson with Scarlett and her faithful 180 pound magic dog, Shadow, saving LA from bad vampires. Her former roommate, Molly is in trouble. Molly is accused of killing her 12 roommates and then turning 4 of them into vampires. Oops! Bad action for the safe supernatural groups in LA. Of course, Scarlett jumps into find out what really happened because Molly would not behave in this way. There is a fast investigation with much magic involved, the Supernatural Trials being held in the LA convention center must be held, so Scarlett and Jesse Cruz save the day. Yes, Jesse Cruz returns because Scarlett asks him for help. Eli, her current werewolf boyfriend, behaves in the worrisome way he has in the past. Eli wants her to be a good domestic partner and stay home and out of trouble. Not how Scarlett sees the world. It is a delightful escape and now I can move on to Books 2 and 3 with no angst in between. Needless to say, Scarlett finds out what happened and is on the way to save the newly turned vampires back into humans. She is a Nul Witch and that is one of her talents. I love this author!

It is a Scarlett Bernard book

For some reason they have decided to place this book under another series called Disruptive Magic as far as I am concerned it is a continuation of the Scarlett Bernard books only 3 years later. So if you liked those books continue to this series apart from yet again the over use of the word "incredulously" this book is fully of action. Scarlett is gutsier than ever and all of the characters are back yet more seasoned. I love the fact that their are links to the Boundary Magic books so if you haven't listen to these already make you give them ago so you understand one of the characters that keeps on being mentioned.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good book well narrated

Where does Midnight Curse rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's a good book better than average but not in my top 10

What did you like best about this story?

The way characters had developed from the earlier series

Which character – as performed by Amy McFadden – was your favourite?

Can't quite decide between Scarlett or Jesse, though I also just love Shadow the "dog"

Any additional comments?

This book follows on about 3 years after the original Scarlett Barnard series and also features a character and information from the boundary magic series so well worth reading those first. Looking forwards to the next one in this series as I like the way Scarlett has grown.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great Series

what a great series of books. Well written characters and story that develops with plenty of twists that keeps you entrowoled throughout. Highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

3 years later

A lot of time has passed since Hunters Trail. we get caught up quite quickly. A few shock parts, no major spoilers. It’s a good start to a new trilogy. Molly is super cool as always, i was worried she would not be apart going forward in this story line but you just can’t stay away from Scarlett’s!

Scarlet my hero! (And shadow too)

I love, love, loved this book!
The characters are strong and well built with an intricate story. Our favourite null scarlet is young but has some experience in the old world dealings, it was nice to learn about the old world (I.e. Vampires, werewolves, etc) and the way in which everything fitted together!
Jessie a sexy Latino ex-cop is her side kick and eye candy along with shadow (her mutant dog) , to be fair shadow is my favourite character and the idea is so new and novel I fell in love with this ugly but adorable doggie killing machine!
I would heartily recommend this book to vampire, werewolf, supernatural, witches, etc fans as the take on them is slightly different from the usual especially the witches!
The only character I wasn't fussed on was her boyfriend a werewolf (I can't remember his name as he was so insignificant) but I think that was the whole point, the book wasn't the all about sex as some tend to be (no sex scenes at all) but you can feel the romance/ friendship building between scarlet and Jessie whether anything happens is yet to be seen.
So excited now onto book 2!!!!!!!!!

Midnight curse

Wonderful book this is my second review as I can't get rid of book looking forward to book two