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mattdoylemedia's review
4.0
Background: Rian Durant is an author of many published works, primarily within the M/M romance category. Midnight Twist is her second title with NineStar Press, and follows Jaydon, and young man hopelessly in love with his bratty ex. He cuts a deal with a demon named Eluin, and soon finds his life flipped upside down as a result of the encounter.
The Good: The lead human, Jaydon is easy to get behind. He’s long suffering, and you kinda want to shout at him for being so Hellbent of regaining his ex’s affections, but you can’t help but feel for him in it all. Meanwhile, Eluin is a fun little blighter of a demon, who serves up a nice mix of sweetness, cheekiness, and demonic power. There’s definitely a charm to him. Meanwhile, once we hit the time skip and we meet Eluin’s brother Eluel and his love Sam, we get to see a different type of relationship playing out, which not only adds a different feel to the story, but also allows us to see how Jaydon and Eluin have developed together.
With the short page count, this is a tale that speeds by. As such, we essentially get two quick fire story arcs. The first half does an effective job of introducing our main protagonists, and the second introduces a few other paranormal elements and lore. The lore in particular was interesting, as it gave a little insight to Eluin’s world. Outside this though, the story is perhaps best described as fun. It has some humour and some feel good moments. That makes it an easy read.
The Bad: There aren’t any content warnings needed here, as nothing gets explicit and there isn’t any bloody violence.
My only criticisms here come down to personal opinion more than anything. The characters tended to use words like ‘sweetie’ and ‘love’ quite a bit. I know that some readers enjoy seeing these terms of endearment thrown about quite regularly, but my personal preference would have been for it to be toned back a little. That’s not a big issue though.
Outside this, I can see the time skip being an issue for some. It essentially plonks us in the middle of a story involving Eluel and Sam. The execution is fine, but I would have liked to have seen a little bit more in the middle here. Maybe a short arc so that we can see Eluin and Jaydon grow even closer and get an introduction to Eluel before the story started. As it is, it has the potential to feel like two different stories in one collection rather than one novella.
Final View: Midnight Twist is a fun paranormal romance with a nice sprinkling of humour. It’s quick and easy, making it a good way to spend your free time. It’s only real fault is perhaps that the story is such that you want there to be more there to read, though this is in part due to the parts that are there being enjoyable already.
The Good: The lead human, Jaydon is easy to get behind. He’s long suffering, and you kinda want to shout at him for being so Hellbent of regaining his ex’s affections, but you can’t help but feel for him in it all. Meanwhile, Eluin is a fun little blighter of a demon, who serves up a nice mix of sweetness, cheekiness, and demonic power. There’s definitely a charm to him. Meanwhile, once we hit the time skip and we meet Eluin’s brother Eluel and his love Sam, we get to see a different type of relationship playing out, which not only adds a different feel to the story, but also allows us to see how Jaydon and Eluin have developed together.
With the short page count, this is a tale that speeds by. As such, we essentially get two quick fire story arcs. The first half does an effective job of introducing our main protagonists, and the second introduces a few other paranormal elements and lore. The lore in particular was interesting, as it gave a little insight to Eluin’s world. Outside this though, the story is perhaps best described as fun. It has some humour and some feel good moments. That makes it an easy read.
The Bad: There aren’t any content warnings needed here, as nothing gets explicit and there isn’t any bloody violence.
My only criticisms here come down to personal opinion more than anything. The characters tended to use words like ‘sweetie’ and ‘love’ quite a bit. I know that some readers enjoy seeing these terms of endearment thrown about quite regularly, but my personal preference would have been for it to be toned back a little. That’s not a big issue though.
Outside this, I can see the time skip being an issue for some. It essentially plonks us in the middle of a story involving Eluel and Sam. The execution is fine, but I would have liked to have seen a little bit more in the middle here. Maybe a short arc so that we can see Eluin and Jaydon grow even closer and get an introduction to Eluel before the story started. As it is, it has the potential to feel like two different stories in one collection rather than one novella.
Final View: Midnight Twist is a fun paranormal romance with a nice sprinkling of humour. It’s quick and easy, making it a good way to spend your free time. It’s only real fault is perhaps that the story is such that you want there to be more there to read, though this is in part due to the parts that are there being enjoyable already.
ellelainey's review
2.0
Book – Midnight Twist
Author – Rian Durant
Star rating - ★★☆☆☆
No. of Pages – 54
Cover – Cute
POV – 1st person, one character
Would I read it again – No
Genre – LGBT, Contemporary, Paranormal
** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **
I'm sorry to say that this one just wasn't for me. I was really intrigued by the blurb, I've been on a demon reading sprint these last few days, and it just didn't stack up. Most of all I just sat there thinking WTF, after I'd finished.
To start with, this needed some beta readers or a different editor, or something. The writing style was okay, there weren't huge spelling/grammar errors, but there were serious issues with word choice, unnatural phrasing and a HUGE issue with the plot.
There were no chapter headings, no scene dividers and a vague timeline that wasn't always obvious. The characters acted half their age, like teenagers, and spoke like thirteen year olds. It was disconcerting, to say the least. Not to mention that we have insta-love between a human and a demon, a very quick rebound relationship, and TWO stories that have been put into one. The first half is the first paragraph of the blurb – which is cut in half the same way the book is, neither with a clearly defined division and admission that they're two stories – and takes fifty percent of the book. It's all about Jaydon and how his boyfriend leaves him because he can't/won't buy an espresso machine. I'm not kidding. That's the reason. A demon shows up, Jaydon signs away his soul against the ability to get his boyfriend back, decides he doesn't want him and ends up with the demon. That's the entire first half. Then the second half is the arrival of said demon's brother and his lovesick partner.
Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. It was too confused, too jumbled with two different plots trying to pretend to be one. The characters were vain, selfish, bratty, childish, and spoke like twelve year olds. Everyone was just super, utterly, impossibly beautiful and adored by all – every character was irresistible and being drooled over by everyone else. The MC was so perfect that everyone wanted him, even trying to steal him from his lover. The writing style was confused, the word choices odd and out of place, there were a lot of info dumps, Jaydon referred to himself as a 'puppy' – and I have no idea what that is about, because there was no hint of puppy play – and there was absolutely no mention of the resolution to the ridiculously inappropriate bet – that Jaydon never even agreed to! – that caused the demon to show up, nor an actual explanation of why the demon was allowed to stay. There was zero world building, with none of the demon rules, laws or practices explained. Often it felt like the author was about to tell us something important about the demons – particularly when it was revealed Jaydon could keep his 'sexy' demon for himself – but then they never did. There was always a 'hint' of there being something we should know, that was never explained.
It needed a lot more work on the plot, which could have been helped by at least one or two beta readers, and an editor who dealt with content and plot gaps.
Sorry. While there were one or two nice moments in the second half, between the established couple Jaydon and his demon became, it wasn't enough to salvage this one, for me. There were just too many issues.
Author – Rian Durant
Star rating - ★★☆☆☆
No. of Pages – 54
Cover – Cute
POV – 1st person, one character
Would I read it again – No
Genre – LGBT, Contemporary, Paranormal
** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **
I'm sorry to say that this one just wasn't for me. I was really intrigued by the blurb, I've been on a demon reading sprint these last few days, and it just didn't stack up. Most of all I just sat there thinking WTF, after I'd finished.
To start with, this needed some beta readers or a different editor, or something. The writing style was okay, there weren't huge spelling/grammar errors, but there were serious issues with word choice, unnatural phrasing and a HUGE issue with the plot.
There were no chapter headings, no scene dividers and a vague timeline that wasn't always obvious. The characters acted half their age, like teenagers, and spoke like thirteen year olds. It was disconcerting, to say the least. Not to mention that we have insta-love between a human and a demon, a very quick rebound relationship, and TWO stories that have been put into one. The first half is the first paragraph of the blurb – which is cut in half the same way the book is, neither with a clearly defined division and admission that they're two stories – and takes fifty percent of the book. It's all about Jaydon and how his boyfriend leaves him because he can't/won't buy an espresso machine. I'm not kidding. That's the reason. A demon shows up, Jaydon signs away his soul against the ability to get his boyfriend back, decides he doesn't want him and ends up with the demon. That's the entire first half. Then the second half is the arrival of said demon's brother and his lovesick partner.
Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. It was too confused, too jumbled with two different plots trying to pretend to be one. The characters were vain, selfish, bratty, childish, and spoke like twelve year olds. Everyone was just super, utterly, impossibly beautiful and adored by all – every character was irresistible and being drooled over by everyone else. The MC was so perfect that everyone wanted him, even trying to steal him from his lover. The writing style was confused, the word choices odd and out of place, there were a lot of info dumps, Jaydon referred to himself as a 'puppy' – and I have no idea what that is about, because there was no hint of puppy play – and there was absolutely no mention of the resolution to the ridiculously inappropriate bet – that Jaydon never even agreed to! – that caused the demon to show up, nor an actual explanation of why the demon was allowed to stay. There was zero world building, with none of the demon rules, laws or practices explained. Often it felt like the author was about to tell us something important about the demons – particularly when it was revealed Jaydon could keep his 'sexy' demon for himself – but then they never did. There was always a 'hint' of there being something we should know, that was never explained.
It needed a lot more work on the plot, which could have been helped by at least one or two beta readers, and an editor who dealt with content and plot gaps.
Sorry. While there were one or two nice moments in the second half, between the established couple Jaydon and his demon became, it wasn't enough to salvage this one, for me. There were just too many issues.
shellysbookcorner's review
The story started off with a lot of potential but it ended up not working for me and I lost interest.
lillian_francis's review
3.0
This story needed to be much longer than it was to reach its full potential.
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