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)

Pleasantly surprised

Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I went into this expecting a cookie-cutter urban fantasy. I was pleasantly surprised. Though this predates many of the current genre standbys, it manages to avoid many of the tropes that have made some aspects of the genre seem tired.

Kitty Norville is a radio DJ on KNOB. She's also a werewolf. One night, she wonders aloud about Bat Boy, the tabloid staple, and asks people to call in with their stories. Calls pour in, and her boss asks her to make it an ongoing theme. Soon, she's syndicated across the country, doling out advice about dating a werewolf, and pissing off the local vampire and werewolf leaders.

The werewolves in this series are about more than just furry animalism. The pack politics that make it so hard for her to disobey her higher-ups highlights several points in our world about consent, power, and bullying. Carl, her pack leader, is adamant he doesn't want her to continue doing the show, because to do so shakes the very foundation of his authority. But she continues, because she needs the show as much as the callers need her to continue putting it on.

Kitty's strength isn't always in her fighting, though she does make a point to take a self-defense class so she can take care of herself. The two most tense moments in the book are defused through her words.

The book sets up a lot of subplots for later exploration, but that's also a weakness. So much of the book is setup, with so little payoff, that it's hard to feel invested in any of the plots at all. The ones that end up getting addressed this book weren't the ones I would've guessed.

I plan on listening to the next book in the series. I'm looking forward to hearing what else Kitty can get up to.

I listened to this book on audio, narrated by Marguerite Gavin. She has an excellent radio voice, and I could believe that Kitty would have her husky alto. But her cadence was sometimes off, changing the meaning of some of the dialogue, and I'd have to mentally fix it.

Kitty book 1

Ms. Marguerite Gavin made for a enjoyable narrator and the book an enjoyable listen, the end.

fun

love the characters. the world build was fun.
look forward to the next one.

Love Kitty

Well, I thought I'd be embarrassed or at least bored reading a book about a DJ wolf named Kitty, but it was on sale and I figured, why not?
It was hugely surprising. The writing is funny. The main character is... well, actually she starts out the kind of girl you really want to hit, but grows into someone you'd want to hang out with, except that everything that could go wrong, does around her.
I've finished the series, and just like her more and more in every book. Among other things, she has this... O.K., I realize the whole world is falling apart around me and hitmen/demons/crazed religious zealots/whatever else could possibly be horrible in the world is after me, but I've still got to do the show, attitude that makes you shake your head and smile.
Some people don't seem to like the narrator, but I do. I understand the complaints, but think her narration makes Kitty funny, if a bit older than she is supposed to be. I'm even thinking of getting other books from this narrator based on her appeal.
Can't wait for Kitty's next adventure.

Wasn't expecting much and was pleasantly surprised

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

Kitty. She was believable and someone I might like to know in real life, minus the werewolf motif of course.

Any additional comments?

Good story from this genre. Was imaging it to be just another of this type and it was on sale so I tried it, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover it was quite good. Worth listening if you enjoy this genre.

Very Entertaining, action, characters, and PLOT

Characters, plot, action, voice acting AAAAA++++. Throughly enjoyable I would Recommend to other readers. Going to continue on with the series.

Great to finally hear the story

I enjoyed the performance as much as I did the story. .one of my favorite other world series. kitty rules.

love the Kitty books

I love Margaurite Gavin with some other series, but I have to say I wish she wasn't doing this one.

not sure why she gave a British accent to the alpha make wolf. I don't recall ever reading anything that would indicate that. ah well, that's what I get for listening to a book I've already read.

One of my very favorite series!

I forgot how much I love this book! I’m rereading the Kitty Norville series as part of One Book Two’s current read-along, and it’s been fun to meet Kitty, Cormac, Ben, Rick, and TJ all over again.

I think my favorite scenes in this book are between Kitty and Cormac. I love the end of the assassination scene where Cormac finally looks around the doorway at Kitty and says, “That you, Norville?” I can just picture big, bad Cormac, loaded with weapons, seeing this tiny blonde girl hunched in the corner with headphones on. You wonder if he could have killed her, looking like that, even if he wanted to.

I also love the scene where Kitty’s call-in listeners are asking Kitty whether she’s dating Cormac. First, she can hardly believe her listeners would think it’s okay to date someone who tried to kill her, then Cormac calls in and tells her to change the subject right now! He’s obviously amused and playing with her, which just gives Kitty’s listeners more fuel for their imagination.

Those are the light-hearted moments in the book. The rest is pretty intense, from the twisted, dependent psychology of the wolf pack to the fear that drives Kitty from her hometown. It’s less disconcerting this time around, though, since I know how much better Kitty’s life becomes over the course of the next thirteen books.

I love Marguerite Gavin's narration. For some reason, her voice just makes me happy. Maybe because she's the voice of both the Kitty Norville series and the Hollows series, two of my favorites.

This is one of my favorite books in one of my favorite series. It gets a shiny fat five from me.

Purchased. Review courtesy of onebooktwo | one book, two reviews.

Fur, Fangs & Fun

Once again, I come across a book that has been languishing on my to be read pile for a decade that I kick myself for taking so long to read. This is the first book in a series by new to me author Carrie Vaughn, about a young woman who is trying to find her place in the world while coming to terms with her life as a werewolf. Kitty is a DJ and her show, “The Midnight Hour,” has attracted the attention of many and displeases her Alpha. Playing by the rules doesn’t come easy for Kitty Norville and she has no problem stepping on a few toes, even those of her Alpha male and Alpha female, to achieve her goals. She also comes face to face with Cormac, a hired assassin, trained to kill lycanthropes. Kitty joins forces with Cormac to find a rogue werewolf attacking humans while trying to avoid becoming a target from those who feel she is a threat.

I really liked Kitty. She is a character I found easy to relate to and could empathize with on a grand scale. Learning how she became a werewolf was a little hard to read, but Kitty is a fighter and survivor. She doesn’t adjust well to pack politics and though she knows she needs the pack, she seems to prefer to do things on her own. I also liked Cormac. The chemistry he and Kitty share was very intriguing and I hope to see more of him in future books. He comes across as very cold-blooded when he is initially introduced, but he is a very complex character that will take time to get to know and understand. Kitty’s friend and pack-member, TJ, is also a great character. I love how he has her back with the rest of the pack and is always there for her to help and protect her.

Overall, this was a good start to the series and I am intrigued to see where the series takes Kitty next. I recommend this story to readers who like strong characters who are survivors and not afraid to stand up for what they believe in.