Stroke of Midnight [Paperback]

Amanda Ashley (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: SAINT MARTINS PRESS (January 31, 2005)
• ASIN: B000K7DPGY
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not Great!!!, November 12, 2004

By 

Traci King (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stroke of Midnight (Mass Market Paperback)

I am a fan of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series so I would never have missed the were-panther story in this book. I agree it was too short and the characters not fleshed out but I still liked it and am glad I read it. Even this short story gave me more information about were-panthers and a little more insight into Acheron. If you haven't read the rest of the series you are not going to get as much out of it, but you should still enjoy the story.

I have read a lot of Amanda Ashley's work and this, of course, was not her best. A little trite but still I enjoyed reading it.

L. A. Banks was not my cup of tea and I would have liked to give this one zero stars. I did not understand it, did not like it and found it quite depressing. Even after some of the reviews explained her seers and guardians I still didn't understand it nor could anything make me like this story. HATE is a more accurate description of how I felt about it and I should have listened to other reviewers and just not read this one. My advice is skip it.

Lori Handland wrote the best story even considering how much I loved reading Kenyon's Winter Born. This one had humor that made it an extremely enjoyable read. I loved Maya and even though I normally would not have liked the first person narrative, I began to really prefer it in this instance. I quickly appreciated Handland's decision to write it that way. A winning story that made me want to read more of this author.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ho Humm, November 3, 2004

By 

Ann "em03" (Northeast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stroke of Midnight (Mass Market Paperback)

I bought this book for Sherilyn Kenyon's story. It was fun but sadly felt a little too quick and a little bit lacking in depth even for a short story. I felt like I could have picked this book up in the bookstore, finished her story in 20 minutes and put the book back,

Amanda Ashley' story was so blah and unreadable. I trudged through it. The ended made little sense and I was left thinking Huh?

The L. A. Banks story I gave up trying to read. Perhaps it is me but for some reason I just cannot get into books that start off in 1979.

Lori Handeland's story I found a little better. Sort of interesting and I was able to read through it without looking at my watch.

Overall I felt like it was not worth the price of the book.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Buy it used, November 7, 2004

By 

FizzySmile (Maine) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stroke of Midnight (Mass Market Paperback)

After reading a few of the previous reviews, I opted to not go into any great detail about this book because much of it would be repetitive. The best story in the book is the offering by Sherrilyn Kenyon, "Winter Born". I did not mind, as a previous reviewer did, that it was part of the Dark Hunter genre Ms. Kenyon writes about because it actually explained some points in it that I had previously been a little foggy on with these Were-Hunter creatures. It did kind of wrap up a little to cleanly, but since it was a novella, I guess it can't be too fleshed out.

"Born of the Night" but Amanda Ashley was a good story, but not nearly as sensual as I would have liked, and I thought it too bad that the werewolf change was considered a "curse" and a bad thing. Guess my fondness for the good guy werewolves prejudices me. But over all, a good story.

Lori Handeland's offering "Red Moon Rising" was an entertaining read, good sensuality, but again, werewolves as the bad guys disappointed me. However, the writing was fast paced, and while I prefer third person narratives, I did enjoy this one in the first person. I like our heroine's spunk.

Finally, L A Banks "Make It Last Forever" while the 3rd in the book, ranks last on my list. I couldn't even read it. As stated previously in the review by Emily Welsh, the 1979 time setting immediately turned me off. Combine that with a very slow start and confusing plotline, I just gave up after about 10 pages and moved on.

If you enjoy paranormal suspense/romance w/some good sensuality, then it is worth at least taking at look at, and if you can, buy it used or borrow from someone like me who thought it would be worth buying new. As much as I did enjoy Kenyon's story, I am not sure this one ranks among my keepers collection.