Midnight Is the Darkest Hour

A Novel

De: Ashley Winstead

Narrado por: Sarah Welborn

For fans of Verity and A Flicker in the Dark, Midnight is the Darkest Hour is a twisted tale of murder, obsessive love, and the beastly urges that lie dormant within us all . . . even the God-fearing folk of Bottom Springs, Louisiana. In her small hometown, librarian Ruth Cornier has always felt like an outsider, even as her beloved father rains fire-and-brimstone warnings from the pulpit at Holy Fire Baptist. Unfortunately for Ruth, the only things the townspeople fear more than the God and the Devil are the myths that haunt the area, like the story of the Low Man, a vampiric figure said to steal into sinners' bedrooms and kill them on moonless nights. When a skull is found deep in the swamp next to mysterious carved symbols, Bottom Springs is thrown into uproar—and Ruth realizes only she and Everett, an old friend with a dark past, have the power to comb the town's secret underbelly in search of true evil.

A dark and powerful novel like fans have come to expect from Ashley Winstead, Midnight is the Darkest Hour is an examination of the ways we've come to expect love, religion, and stories to save us, the lengths we have to go to in order to take back power, and the monstrous work of being a girl in this world.

©2023 Ashley Winstead (P)2023 Tantor

It wasn't for me

The plot was predictable and drawn out, but it certainly had a great atmospheric "vibe". I had to listen at 1.55x speed because the narration was a bit slower than I'm used to.

Why so many Twilight references though? It was too much

Naive Heroine, Slow to Develop

I felt the narration was very slow; had to speed it up to 1.2x to make it feel “normal.” I kept waiting for the main character to become more endearing, but that didn’t happen for me.

worst narrator I've ever heard.

why would you pick a narrator so DULL!!! The story is intriguing and I was soooo excited about this book, but such instant regret when I listened to the voice... I should have gotten a physical book or the kindle version because I can't listen to the dullness past chapter 5. I really am disappointed.

so far the story is very interesting but I can't get passed the voice.

Painfully Twangy

Did not like the narrator and the story was just weird. Agree that the twilight references just made the character seem deranged.

This is an example of where narration can make or break a novel

I think I would have given this book a higher rating if I would have read it instead of listened to it because of how awful the narration was. The way the main character was narrated made me absolutely hate her which made none of the plot twists worth it in the end.

Overall it was entertaining enough. I might have enjoyed it more if I read it instead of listening.

The narration was awful. Slow and hard to get into. I wished I would’ve sampled the book first, I would’ve known the narrator was not for me.

Dull Narrator

This narrator is extremely difficult to listen to, monotonous tone, boring, no expression. I've restarted this audio numerous times trying to get through it, but not sure I can. I'm sorry for the narrator; maybe she can pick up some pointers from the many others I've listened to that were amazing and entertaining.

Strange and boring

The girl character was kind of annoying, plot felt too religious or supernatural and the only twist was at the end.

I’m glad no one could hear what I was listening to

I started out liking the book despite the cheesy narrator. But then it started to take on the feeling of what I would imagine a young adult book feeling like. At times I had moments of first and second hand embarrassment for myself. I’d recommend this to a 16 year old girl who needs a beach read on vacation with her parents.

great story, not my favorite narrator...

the story was perfectly fine, but unfortunately the narrator drove me insane. she talked so slowly and most of the time to me she seemed like an AI or robot doing the reading.