The struggle of reading books ahead of publication is not having people to talk to about them for months. I try not to get too far ahead, but I failed this time thanks to being picked for the C2E2 Book Club. The group got the chance to read Midnight is the Darkest Hour in March and be part of a conversation with author Ashley Winstead at the convention. It sounded interesting, but I was not prepared for how hard it would be to not spoil the ending. Don’t worry, this is still a spoiler-free review.

Midnight is the Darkest Hour [Buy Bookshop Amazon] takes us down to Bottom Springs, Louisiana. It’s a small town where the church kinda rules the roost through shame and guilt. Ruth knows that better than anyone since she’s the pastor’s daughter. Ruth has been pressured into fitting the mold of a model woman her whole life and hates it. She’s spent her teenage and adult years stealing away little moments of rebellion, as well as being friends with someone deemed on the questionable side due to his alcoholic father.

But this book starts with a skull being found in the swamp and Ruth just might know how it got there.

This story is so much fun, especially if you loved Twilight [Buy Bookshop Amazon] back in the day. Ruth secretly picked up a copy from a donation box as a teen and read it over and over again. There are several references to Twilight and it ties into the story in an interesting way.

Midnight is the Darkest Hour is a richly woven story of secrets, crime, shame, control, religion, rebellion, and so much more. There are many twists along the way, but nothing like the ending. Y’ALL. THE ENDING. The last 60 pages or so was such a wild ride that I did not want to put it down. I mean, the who is predictable, but the why and how it all wraps up is epic. It is freaking intense and I need someone to talk about this with ASAP. Find me on Instagram once you read it and we can chat about it. Lol.