Thank you very much for the opportunity to read this book early! I really enjoyed it. I thought the writing was very well done, and the story kept me interested. I believe my students/patrons would also love this book and will be acquiring it for the library!

Wow! What a trip! I had no idea they way this book would turn out. Although it was a little out there, it was still a fun and atmospheric read-a great October book. Ruth lives in a southern small town and is the daughter of the church's pastor. When a skull is found in the swamp, the town is turned upside down as secrets are uncovered and Ruth learns that people aren't really who she believes them to be. The town has a powerful Christian church, stories of witchcraft, and passed down story of the Low Man-a vampire like creature who will kill you in your sleep on moonless nights. This book hit the the mark for a spooky, thriller book that contains a bit of romance and also has some cult like topics.

Whoa. What. An. Ending.
Midnight is the Darkest Hour is my second read by Ashley Winstead. I adored The Last Housewife and couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book.

Initially, I was utterly annoyed by Ruth's apparent need to please her parents instead of being her own person. But as the story progressed and more things were revealed, I understood why her annoyance was so important.

In the last 25% of the book, my jaw was just permanently open, and I legitimately screamed when things came together.

The mix of pop culture (go team Edward) and movie classics was such a fun take on this book, and I’m glad I didn’t let Ruth annoy me to the point of dnf’ing.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and it’s a great spooky time thriller!

This book was everything you want out of a thriller and Ashley Winstead continues to demonstrate her ability to dig into her characters.

I loved every minute of this book. It was such an interesting exploration of our deeply held beliefs, the way we see our loved ones and communities, and the way fear can be exploited.

I was biting my nails as the story barreled to a close and my jaw was on the floor for a good 5 minutes after I finished.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC. All opinions, bitten nails, and dropped jaws are mine.

🌙 Midnight Is the Darkest Hour - Ashley Winstead

3 ⭐️ - Ugh this pains me. I wanted to like this more than I did. I’m in the minority for this book. I liked some parts and some parts I just didn’t.

Ruth Cornier has always felt like an outsider in her God-fearing folk town of Bottom Springs, Louisiana. The people of Ruth’s town only fear two things more than God; The Devil and The Low Man who is a mythical creature that folks believe come into sinner’s bedrooms and kill them on moonless nights. When a skull is found in a swamp in town, Ruth, and her only friend Everett, realizes that they are the only people who can comb through the towns secrets to discover the true evil.

So, I wanted so much more than I got out of this one. This sucked me in from the beginning. I was hooked and determined to try to figure out where it was going. In the middle, it lost me. It felt so farfetched and honestly, I felt confused. The end was mindblowing. I was torn on how to rate this one. The parts I liked, I really liked. The parts I didn’t like, well, I didn’t like. Due to that, this one lands somewhere in the middle for me.

BUT please keep in mind, some books aren’t for everyone and this one has been getting a TON of fabulous reviews. It just didn’t click for me. On to the next! Definitely add this to your spooky season TBR and give it a try.

OBSESSED.

It's eerie and suspenseful and just all the good things I love in a spooky season read. Well done.

This was definitely a good read with underlying messages that I really liked. Twisty and creepy just like I like. I didn't know where this was going throughout the whole book, but it didn't disappoint. The ending was great - I love endings like this one (no spoilers mwah-haha).

Darkness and twisted are understatements. I had goosebumps on my goosebumps throughout the book as I navigated this good vs evil type story that will dig into your mind! I think this is her best work yet!!

A big thank you to Ashley Winstead, Sourcebooks Landmark, NetGalley & RB Media for the gifted digital and audio ARC of this book.

Okay, the thriller queen is AT 👏🏼 IT 👏🏼 AGAIN 👏🏼
& I am, as always, here for it! 😍

This atmospheric & haunting thriller examines religious extremism and its impact on the town of Bottom Springs. Even in making that simple statement, I feel like I’m not scratching the surface of this book - as it is complex in the best of ways, always bringing me to a deeper understanding of pressing sociological issues & the impact they have on the world. I don’t want to give too much away, but just know that- YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!

With themes of Twilight and a setting likened to Where The Crawdads Sing, you won’t be able to put this one down! When I tell you I was able to full on picture myself in Bottom Springs - I mean it! Ashley’s writing is top notch and somehow seems to be getting even better?! How does she do it?!

In addition to being the thriller queen, I think Ashley deserves another title - the queen of badass female characters - written by the badass she is her self! 🤯🙌🏼 I am consistently impressed by the depth, strength and complexities that Ashley brings to her characters & I consistently finish her books with a sense of female empowerment - which is simply phenomenal.

Snag this book ASAP! You won’t regret it! 😍

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one! I’ve loved Winstead’s other books and felt really lucky to receive an ARC of this one, but it was just okay for me. Like, I love Twilight as much as the next millennial woman, but this was a little much?? The plot meanders too much for my liking as well, that may be because I’m in a weird reading headspace right now.

I think this is a book I will definitely revisit down the road because I do love Winstead’s books and writing so I think it deserves another shot.

This one disappointed me, sadly. It started out strong and I was really invested, but at about the 50% mark, it seemed to fizzle out and didn’t pick up again.

3.5-4⭐️ Ashley Winstead is a phenomenal writer, whether she is writing cult thrillers or political romcoms. While there was quite a bit I enjoyed about this one, including the atmospheric setting, love story, and a book loving MC, the shifting timelines felt jarring at times and prevented me from ever fully connecting. That said, I will forever and always read anything Winstead writes.

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark and Tantor Audio for the gifted copies

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for this read. This was quite good. This is the first novel that I found had slow parts in it but was still interesting to read. I do not think Ashley Winstead needs help recommending her books but I do think this one is a go ahead read.

This book gave me Where the Crawdads Sing vibes. I loved the twists and turns as well as the various characters portrayed in this small town in Louisianna. Midnight is the Darkest Hour is about a skull that is discovered in the water in this small town and how the main character Ruth and her best friend Everett are forced to confront an even that happened to them when they were in their last year of high school. The book goes back and forth between the present and the past to tell the story. Ruth is convinced that the town will learn of what happened years ago. As Ruth tries to find out why another skull has also been unearthed, she begins to learn of the unsavory goings on in her town.
This was a great read for those who are into small town secrets and some scrupulous characters.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Ms. Winstead for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

This is my first book by Ms. Winstead and it won’t be my last. Ms. Winstead has a beautiful way with words:

We were together through all seasons, but at our best in summer, our most alive when spring growth turned overripe, dizzy and fecund; when the air burst with so much hot, sticky life that you knew it was unsustainable, and fall would have to come and temper it soon.


Or this:

Maybe I was destined for this: self-immolation in the rain.


Gorgeous.

The sense of place here is magnificent: deep South, a small town surrounded by woods and swamp and filled with nosy neighbors and strong (even extreme) Christian faith. You can practically hear the buzzing of the insects and feel the oppressive wet blanket of the heat and humidity. Of course, there are secrets buried in the bucolic small town, and perhaps the occult lurks in the shadows as well. I got some really strong True Detective vibes from this. I don’t know why, but I find this sort (deep South, claustrophobically small town, overgrown woods/swamp/bayou, generally ominous vibes) to be pretty much the most frightening setting, horror-wise. Ms. Winstead nailed it with the setting. The characters are good too: Everett, called Ever, who grew up the abused son of the town drunk and who has only one friend: Ruth, the sheltered, introverted, secretly rebellious only child of the town minister. There are lots of secrets here: there’s almost no character without one. I really liked Ruth’s friend/coworker Nissa, but I’m pretty much professionally obligated to support a fellow librarian.

Plotwise, the mystery wasn’t that mysterious – I am not a person who likes to parse out whodunnit as I read but I had this one pretty much figured out – but the overall creepy factor and the general feeling of impending doom kept me reading at top speed. I did not love the ending but I guess it was fitting, all things considered. I wish things had turned out differently though. Nonetheless this was a great pre-Halloween book and I will definitely seek out more by this author. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was a 5-star book for me that will not be a 5-star book for everyone. It has incredibly strong themes of religious fundamentalism and weaponizing belief and faith. If these could be triggers for you, I highly recommend skipping this book.

But for those of you who wish to read it, you are in for a wild ride. In this book, Ashley Winstead builds a horrifyingly believable small town in Louisiana with a multi-generational lore about a vampiric being named the Low Man. You're drawn into this town, the townspeople, and their stories while following Ruth as she's challenged to relearn and revise her entire belief system.

It's dark. It's twisted. It's not easy to read. But it's important - because at the end of the day, Ashley Winstead writes books about women struggling to navigate a world that wasn't built by us and the consequences of choices we make while simply trying to make it through. If you've ever listened to her talk about her experience as a Ph.D. student and her frustration with whose stories were told and whose theories we're taught to believe, you'll see some of those themes represented in this book. She's so bright and her books are so so so SO poignant.

In addition to these heavy themes, she also delivers an entertaining book that at face value, I couldn't put down. As someone who read Twilight as a teenager, I absolutely LOVED the references and reminder of how formative books can be and therefore the importance of having access to so many.

Five stars and a standing ovation. She can't miss.

This one was a lot different than The Last Housewife, but Ashley Winstead is a drop everything auto-read author for me, and I absolutely loved it.

Ruth lives in the Bible Belt and is the daughter of the town's Pastor. Ruth has always felt like an outsider but for her bestie, Everett. When there is a murder in the town, Ruth and Everett team up to figure out what is going on. The book deals with a mix of religion and the occult and handles the topics flawlessly. Be prepared for a lot of twilight references.

Be prepared and make sure you check the trigger warnings first. Although this book isn't quite as triggering as Last Housewife, there is still quite a bit in there that could be sensitive to some people.

Overall, I absolutely love Winstead's writing and will continue to devour all of her thrillers.

Almost any book that's based in Louisiana I'm guaranteed to read and enjoy. And wow, the atmosphere and setting of this book was impeccable. This was my first Ashley Winstead book and I was blown away by this one. It was mind blowing, complex, dark, and I ate up every last word. I loved the religion in this book, it added so much to the story and made it so much darker. I loved the mythical vampiric figure haunting this town, it spooked me quite a few times. Definitely read the trigger warnings before going into this book because it's DARK. As I have never read any of her other books (but I plan to now) I have nothing to compare it to as far as writing style and plot but man, after reading this I can't wait to dive into her other works. This book was absolutely fantastic.

*Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for the gifted copy for my honest review*

Yes. This had everything I wanted and more. Honestly, I am not going to say too much because you just need to read this and I don’t want to spoil anything. The biggest issue I had with this was knowing that I now have to wait another year or so to read a new book from my girl. @‌ashleywinstead could write a to do list and I would probably still give it five stars. Thankfully, she has another banger on her hands so I can easily recommend this one!

Midnight Is The Darkest Hour
By Ashley Winstead

I screeched like a banshee when I got the approval for this ARC- have been anxiously awaiting for this release! I really enjoyed this mix-up of Twilight & The Vampire Diaries story! So atmospheric felt as if I was in the bayou. Winstead really has a gripping way catching your attention with her stories and this one really is one of my favorite of hers. Definitely check your trigger warning if you struggle with religion, occult, family trauma. Furthermore, highly recommend especially going into the fall.



📚 Expected release date October 3, 2023📚
❤️Thank you Sourcebooks, NetGalley, & the brilliant author Ashley Winstead. I’m super appreciative & gave my honest opinion❤️