You. Guys. WHAT is HAPPENING? This year has been nothing but a series of… well, series endings that have DISAPPOINTED ME. I am so nervous for Queen of Nothing (which, at the time of writing this, comes out in A WEEK). Finale, Capturing the Devil, now Midnight Beauties… It wasn’t that I hated, or even disliked any of them, they just all fell so very, very short of the potential that the author (and plots) had, in my opinion.

So, here we go.

To be frank, there is a lot to dissect in terms of specific things that egged me on with this book. However, it all comes down to the same issue that I had with Sheperd’s previous series (The Madman’s Daughter), she had an incredible plot, and all of that came out half-bake, weak-sauce because of the romance (mime puking here). YA so quickly gets dissolved down to hormone-induced, weak sauce romance, while teens and new adults can, and enjoy, reading more than that. The beginnings of these series, prove that. Anyways.


I like romance–I think it can help to add flair and depth to a story. However, in the few books that disappointed me this year, it is because the original plots were pushed aside for romance, which was left to push forward the entire book and the remaining plot development. And, I think in the case of all three of these series conclusions, it was just because there wasn’t much “left to work with” in terms of creating an entire additional novel. Or, maybe more appropriately, there wasn’t anything “easy” to fill the last book with.

At the beginning of this novel, we had Anouk finding herself going through the trails to become a real-life witch which could’ve been very cool if it hadn’t been mushed into 100 measly pages, and then pushed aside to 200+ pages of people sitting storage at the British Museum being angsty and talking about making out. Like, cmon y’all.


Then to add, we had several character deaths that were… totally unnecessary, and just eliminated the potential plot and depth that could’ve come from them and their relationships. Don’t even get me started on Anouk with that hawk… like, shouldn’t she have had more qualms with killing a bird considering her origins?

Anyways. This all comes down to Divergent-syndrome (if you know, you know), which loosely translates to great plot being pushed aside for fan-servicey drama and romance. In this particular case, I think this series really could’ve been a trilogy. If they had let the trials expand into one book, and then pushed the conclusion (and the reversal of the crew’s curse) into a third book, they could’ve developed some of the actually interesting characters (oof, sorry but not sorry) and give us a bit more to work with.


I dunno. Like I said, I didn’t hate this novel. I think part of this, is I see how easily this book could’ve been strengthened, and I am disappointed that this is how the series ended. If you want to see the fate of Beau and the other transformed peeps, it’s kinda worth a read. However, I feel that the atmosphere and plot of the first book were much stronger on their own than with the addition of this book.

Great sequel to the first book - Grim lovlies

Definitely recommend this duology! The skill in writing went up tremendously between this book and the last. While there were still some things I would change, it did not stand out to me the way it did in Grim Lovelies. The only issue I had with this book was the crux was too easy to figure out. I knew it from the beginning and just wanted to scream it into the book the whole time. Other than that, the reading was very enjoyable. I LOVED the magic system, it was very unique and well thought out and executed. Overall, pick this up and you are sure to have a pleasant experience!

Loved the setting and worldbuilding, could not get behind the romance. All the secondary characters were way more interesting than the main characters. The conclusion didn't really feel like a conclusion, but apparently that was it?

The bare bones of this series were good. The plotting, character development, and world building felt off. Midnight Beauties felt like the author had ideas for a multi book series but was forced to wrap it up in a sequel.

Positives: The short time spent at the witch academy was interesting and I found myself wishing we had spent more time there.

A lot of the big reveals felt unearned. Beau and Anouk’s romance had no fire or real foundation and I found myself wondering why I should care if he was a dog forever. Rennar and Anouk’s relationship had the foundation for something interesting. However, the lack of build there made Rennar’s last minute duplicity feel like a cheap way to pave the way for Beau and Anouk’s happy ending.

I would have loved more development of the beasties relationships, more world building, and less rush.

4.5

A duology that actually left me wanting more, and I’m grateful to NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication.
Anouk is desperate to save those she loves, and her resolve has her making bargains with those she feels little for in order to try to get things back to how she wants them. Determined to save her friends, Anouk heads to the wilds so she can take the test and prove herself worthy of magic.
Nothing is quite what you expect here, but it was a story that became increasingly interesting.

Midnight Beauties was a great conclusion to the Grim Lovelies Series. I believe that I enjoyed this novel much better than the original. It began where the previous novel left off, with Anouk and her desire to become a witch to save her fellow beasties. She goes on an extraordinary journey and what happens on that journey is not what you would expect. The end of this book rattled me; it was all so surprising. However, the last two chapters felt very rushed and unexpected, which is why I didn’t give the book 5 stars.