Jennifer Harlow: MIDNIGHT MAGIC MYSTERY SERIES

Author:  Jennifer Harlow
Series:  MIDNIGHT MAGIC MYSTERIES   
Plot Type:  Soul-Mate Romance (SMR) with a dose of Paranormal Chick Lit (CH)    
Ratings:  Violence—3; Sensuality—4; Humor—3 
Publisher and Titles:  Midnight Ink (Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.)
          What's a Witch to Do (3/2013)
          Werewolf Sings the Blues  (3/2014)

          Witch Upon a Star (3/2015)

This ongoing post was revised and updated on 3/25/15 to include a review of Witch Upon a Star, the third novel in the series. That review appears first, followed by an overview of the world-building and a review of the first two novels. 

                 NOVEL 3:  Witch Upon a Star                 

     An author's note states that "The events in this book begin twenty years before the events in Mind Over Monsters, [the first F.R.E.A.K.S. SQUAD novel] and twenty-one years before the events in What's a Witch to Do?" [the first MIDNIGHT MAGIC MYSTERIES novel]. Since What's a Witch to Do takes place over a 49-year period, I'm not sure exactly how to interpret that statement.

     This novel turns away from witches and concentrates on vampires, particularly on a centuries-old male vamp named Asher and his human ward, Anna, who later becomes his lover. The novel is constructed chronologically, although it begins with a prologue that takes place when Anna is 29 years old. The story then flashes back to when she was nine. From that point, we check in with Anna every two years or so until she is back at 29 years of age. The final chapter then jumps to Anna at age 49. Once again, Harlow has the heroine tell her story in the first-person voice using the simple present tense (my least-favorite story-telling tense).

     In the prologue scene, Anna is living with her husband, Nathan West, and their two sons in the suburbs of Garland, Texas. Both Anna and her husband are former F.R.E.A.K.S. agents. She is a witch, and he has electrical powers. Suddenly, a masked man teleports in and tries to inject Anna and her sons with sedatives. He has also brought along a gun to kill Nathan. Fortunately, Anna is able to get the best of the intruder, and by the time Nathan comes charging to her rescue, the man is dead. Anna is terrified because she now realizes that Asher, her former vampire lover, did not die ten years ago as she had hoped—that he is alive and he wants her back, along with her children.

     Now, we're back in the 1970s when Anna was nine years old. She lives with Sven Olmstead, her drug-dealing dad and his girlfriend, who allow her to be abused by some of Dad's friends. Sven knows that Anna has some valuable witchy powers, so he sometimes hires her out to do various sketchy jobs. One night, Asher comes to the house and hires Anna to raise the spirit of his long-dead lover from her grave so that he can say good-bye to her. As soon as Anna sees Asher, she falls for him and realizes that he is her way out of the horrible life she is living. The two spend the next decade traveling the world, with Anna constantly trying to seduce Asher and Asher always resisting. Eventually, Asher succumbs, and Anna becomes his official consort when she is thirteen. Asher then forces Anna to wait two more years before they consummate their relationship. Although their early years together don't always run smoothly, Anna is always sure that they will be happy together forever. Unfortunately, soon after Asher and Anna's relationship is official, his ex-girlfriend, a sociopathic vampire named Christine, makes it very clear that she has other plans for Asher, and he doesn't disagree. Eventually Christine drives a wedge between Asher and Anna, and Anna runs away. Bad things happen after that—to Anna and to the people who help her. In the midst of all this, she meets Nathan and they go off to their HEA believing that Asher is dead and that Anna is finally safe. Obviously, based on the Prologue, Asher didn't die, and Anna and her family are in grave danger. 

     This book is totally unlike the previous two novels in that it reads like a throwback to the bodice-ripper romances that were so hot thirty years ago. All of the characters are thinly developed, extremely melodramatic figures. Even though Anna comes from an abusive childhood, she is so immature and self-centered for so many years that I never had much sympathy for her. Even when people try to warn her about Asher's womanizing, she refuses to listen, always telling them—and herself—that she is different from all the other women, that she is his one true love. Asher comes across just like every egotistical, arrogant ancient vampire you've ever seen in a paranormal romance novel. He has only disdain for most humans, and he wants what he wants when he wants it, no matter who gets hurt in the process.

     For me, this was a disappointing book. For starters, it is so unexpectedly different from the first two books that I thought at first that it was part of a different series, but the author's web site says that this is truly book three of the series. The witches of Goodnight, Virginia, and several members of the F.R.E.A.K.S squad turn up late in the story, but mostly, the story just follows Anna and Asher as they wend their debauched way across Europe and eventually find themselves in the U.S. for the fiery climax. I suppose that the author means for the theme of this book to be the corruption of innocence and the poison of obsession, but I never really got that from Anna. Yes, Anna lost her innocence, but she lost that very early during her years with Sven. She never saw Asher as a father figure; she always seems to believe that their relationship will inevitably end in a long, romantic life and perceives him as a sexual partner very early in their relationship. Anna's life during her teen years is quite sophisticated and she is aware that Asher has a pattern of taking various women to bed, including her dance teacher, so it is very hard to believe that she would hold on so long to her blind certainty that Asher will settle down into a contented, monogamous life. Sorry, but this one just didn't work for me. To read an excerpt from Witch Upon a Star, click HERE to go to the book's Amazon.com page and then click on the artwork. 

         

                 WORLD-BUILDING                 

     This series is set in the same world as Harlow's F.R.E.A.K.S. SQUAD INVESTIGATION SERIES, which I have not read. In any case, this world has witches, werewolves, and vampires living among mundane humans but hiding their true natures. The F.R.E.A.K.S. squad is the preternatural law enforcement agency: the Federal Response to Extra-Sensory and Kindred Supernaturals.  


     According to the author's note at the beginning of Werewolf Sings the Blues, the action in that novel takes place eight years before the events in What's a Witch to Do? and seven years before the events in F.R.E.A.K. SQUAD's Mind Over Monsters. It's difficult to recommend which order to read What's a Witch… and Werewolf Sings…. On the one hand, I generally prefer to read novels in chronological order, rather than publishing order. But the author has written the romance story line (between Adam and Mona) in What's a Witch… in such a way that knowing some of the details from Werewolf Sings… might spoil it for you if you read it first. Nevertheless, I'm still going with my gut instinct here by recommending that you begin reading this series with Werewolf Sings…. Meeting Adam in that book and learning more about Adam and Jason's personal history will give you a deeper understanding of some of the difficult decisions Adam has to make in What's a Witch….  

     The first two novels in the MIDNIGHT MAGIC MYSTERIES SERIES are set in or near the village of Goodnight, Virginia, near the Maryland border, where everyone knows everyone else and most are related to one another in a distant-cousin sort of way.

     In this world, true witches have about fifty official covens in the United States, and they conceal their true powers behind the label of "Wiccan." They do practice the Wiccan religion, but they are much more powerful than the Wiccan wannabes who come to their shops and use their websites. These modern-day witches are so up-to-date that they buy and sell their charms and potions through the Internet.


     Werewolves in this world have the usual allergic reaction to silver and always change into their animal forms at the full moon. Their Changes take about half an hour to complete and are extremely painful. There are two types of werewolves: those who are born of werewolf parents and those who began as humans but were then bitten by a werewolf in its animal form. The werewolf population of America is relatively small: approximately 150 werewolves. 

     The novels in the MIDNIGHT MAGIC MYSTERIES SERIES are set in or near the village of Goodnight, Virginia, near the Maryland border, where everyone knows everyone else and most are related to one another in a distant-cousin sort of way.

     The witches have about fifty official covens in the United States. They conceal their true powers behind the label of "Wiccan." They do practice the Wiccan religion, but they are much more powerful than the Wiccan wannabes who come to their shops and use their websites. These modern-day witches are so up to date that they buy and sell charms and potions through the Internet. 

     The werewolves in this world have the usual allergic reaction to silver and always change into their animal forms at the full moon. Their Changes take about half an hour to complete and are extremely painful. There are two types of werewolves: those who are born of werewolf parents and those who began as humans but were then bitten by a werewolf in its animal form. The werewolf population of America is relatively small: approximately 150 werewolves. 

                 NOVEL 1:  What's a Witch to Do?                     

     Ramona (Mona) McGregor is a 35-year-old with too much on her plate and too many pounds on her hips. For the past five years, Mona has been the High Priestess of the local coven of 150 witches. She is also raising her sister's two young daughters; she runs her own occult shop (Midnight Magic); she serves on the local supernatural council; and she is heavily involved in most of the activities that take place in the village of Goodnight, Virginia. The chapters in this novel take place on succeeding days of the week, and each is prefaced by one of Mona's extensive to-do lists. Within each chapter, the scenes are sub-headed by the various tasks for that day—a literary device that gets old very quickly. (By chapter 3, I had stopped reading the lists.)  


     One of Mona's major flaws is that she never says "No" to anyone who asks for help. Then, after she adds each new duty to her to-do list, she indulges in endless interior monologues griping about how overworked she is and how much she hates her life. Oddly, although she has plenty of friends, they never step up to help her out. Instead, they just keep asking for more favors without any reciprocation. At one point, she rants, "My entire life has been about others since I was a kid. Their wants, their needs. I am a good friend, a good sister, a good aunt, and a good spiritual leader….I am raising children that are not my own by myself. I help women reach their full potential, and I'm happy to do it, I really am. I'm good at it….But what about me? It's never been about me. I don't get what I want, hell I barely get what I need…I need to believe that something good can happen to me. Because if it can't…then why the hell am I fighting so hard to stay alive?" (p. 95)

      Mona also spends a great deal of time moaning about how fat, unattractive, and unlovable she is, and most of her friends reinforce her pathetic self-image. Mona's constant self-flagellation and her friends' total absence of support are the two elements of the story that turned me off the most.

     On Sunday, the second day of the book, Mona is awakened in the middle of the night by a badly injured werewolf. Adam Blue tells Mona that someone has put a hit out on her and that he was captured while he was trying to determine who and why. Mona can't believe it. Who would want to kill her? After all, she has given her entire life over to the people of Goodnight, and she has tried hard to be a good and helpful High Priestess, etc., etc. Adam and Mona decide that he will stay with her and the two girls while they work together to figure out what's going on. Unfortunately, the plot is so transparent that I was able to figure out the villain's identity very early on—all you have to do is pay attention to the half-hidden clues. Needless to say, the villain is eventually unmasked, but not without a few violent scenes, one of which puts Adam at the brink of death. 

     As Mona and Adam investigate the threat on her life, they begin to fall for one another, although Mona is so romantically and socially naive that she doesn't pick up on the signals until nearly the end of the book. A complication in their blossoming relationship is that he is a werewolf sworn to his pack, and if he stays with her he can never return to that pack. To complicate matters even further, the handsome new doctor in town has suddenly and inexplicably become romantically interested in Mona. Dr. Sutcliffe has been in town for several months and has never shown any interest in Mona, but all of a sudden he's sending her flowers and dropping by her house and her occult shop for conversations filled with sexual innuendo. Why does every paranormal romance novel have to start off as a love triangle?  

     Harlow begins the book with a multi-generational family tree that indicates which are major characters, which are minor characters, and which are eligible for the position of high priestess. That last designation is important to the plot of the novel because Mona realizes that one of those women could be the one who wants her dead so that she can take over as High Priestess.

     Harlow has Mona tell her story in the first-person voice using the simple present tense (one of my least-favorite story-telling tenses): "I roll down the car window…," "I glance back at the girls…," "Her lips purse with disapproval…," "I roll my eyes…."

     Parts of this story held my interest (i.e., much of the plot, some of the quirky characters), but much of it did not (i.e., Mona's endless, dreary litany of self-loathing; her friends' selfish attitudes toward her). Also a problem is the fact that although Adam is supposed to be her protector, he never really fulfills that role, mostly because Mona has quite a few TSTL scenes that end badly because she goes off on her own, leaving Adam behind. To read an excerpt from What's a Witch to Do, click HERE to go to the book's Amazon.com page and then click on the artwork.

                NOVEL 2:  Werewolf Sings the Blues                   

     As noted in the "World-Building" section above, this novel takes place seven years before What's a Witch to Do? The novel is divided into two parts. In Part 1 ("The Road"), the lead soul-mate couple meets for the first time and immediately takes off on a danger-filled road trip from Southern California to Maryland. In Part 2 ("Home"), the gang of thuggish rogue werewolves who have been pursuing the lovers attacks the Maryland compound of the good-guy werewolves.


     The soul mates are Vivian (Vivi) Dahl (human) and Jason Dahl, werewolf Beta of the Eastern Pack, which has 32 werewolves as the novel begins.  Both have had the requisite tragic childhoods. Vivi never knew her biological father, who left the family when she was just a young child. Her mother and step-father doted on their own daughter and either ignored Vivi or subjected her to constant criticism. Naturally enough, Vivi rebelled in the usual ways when she became a teenager. By the time she was sixteen, she had turned her life into a melange of sex, drugs, and music. Currently, Vivi has her own band: Vivian and the Dolls. Mostly they play for weddings, with Vivi as the lead singer. Just days away from her 30th birthday, Vivi is hitting the alcohol and cocaine pretty hard, realizing that she will never have the singing career she always hoped for. 


     One night after a wedding gig, two men claiming to be U.S. Marshals attempt to kidnap Vivi. When she is rescued by a tall, blond, and handsome man, she can't help but notice that one of his hands is actually a furry, clawed paw. Jason has been sent by Vivi's father to get her safely back to Maryland until the werewolf war is over. How can Vivi be human if her father is a werewolf, you ask? Sorry, you'll have to find that out by reading the novel. Of course, this whole werewolf business is news to Vivi, but she has to believe it because she can see Jason's hand/paw with her own two eyes. Jason spent his childhood in the grip of his cruel father, who killed his mother and abused him. After Jason's biological father killed some innocents, he was captured and executed by the F.R.E.A.K.s, who found Jason cowering in the closet. Frank Dahl (Vivi's biological father) adopted him, and when Frank became pack Alpha, Jason became his Beta. On page 55, Vivi sums up the events of her first few few hours in Jason's company: "I settle into the seat of our stolen car. I may have just committed a felony, I may be on the run from both police and homicidal werewolves, I may be riding shotgun with a killer, but damned if I'm not enjoying myself a little. Just hope this walk on the wild side doesn't end at a cemetery."  


     Although Vivi has hardened her heart to emotions like love and trust, she is increasingly attracted to Jason, and as they keep saving each other's lives on their road trip from hell, the two become closer and closer. But each time Vivi believes that they are making a break-through, Jason suddenly withdraws and turns into the dark and silent warrior that he was when they first met. She doesn't understand what's going on, but the reader can figure it out very early in the story.




     Also easy for the reader to discern is the identity of the traitor within the Pack, the one who is tipping off the enemy to Vivi and Jason's location while they are on the road. At the end of Part 2, the inevitable showdown scene is almost anticlimactic (although extremely violent and bloody) because it is over so quickly and because it doesn't have much dramatic tension. 


     Once again, Harlow writes in the first-person voice and in the simple present tense—my least favorite voice because it always comes across as awkward and unnatural. As Vivi tells her story, she does a better job than Mona did in the previous book. Perhaps that's because the story has more drama, suspense, and action. 


     Although Vivi is constantly saying that she avoids self-reflection at all costs, she certainly indulges in lots of it. She has a terrible self-image, believing herself to be a total loser at just about everything. At one point, Jason asks her, "Why do you hate yourself?…You don't eat, you drink too much, you engage in reckless behavior, you…give yourself freely to strangers. In my experience only people who have little regard for their life engage in such activity. Even when you sing, the majority of the time there is no joy in it." (p, 87) At first, Vivi tries to deflect: "I don't hate myself….I don't eat because I have to stay thin. No one…hires fat singers….I drink because I work in a bar and the tips are better if I drink with the customers. And I give my body freely to strangers, as you so judgmentally put it, because I enjoy sex…" (p. 87) Then, she gets to the heart of her problem: "I turn thirty in a few days. In show business if you haven't been discovered by then, you have a better chance of winning the lotto while being struck by lightning than getting signed....You can only live on hope for so long before real hunger finds you.…I'm stuck on a damn treadmill with no stop button….I have nothing else. No husband, no kids, no college education….all that surrounds me is uncertainty, desolation, and the fact I just wasn't good enough." (p. 88) 

     Both of the romantic leads are interesting, but Jason's character is underdeveloped and somewhat flat. Vivi has more charisma than Jason, but she vacillates between being a smart, streetwise survivor and an impulsive idiot who causes one crisis after another with her TSTL actions. For example, she knows exactly how to steal a car, but she isn't smart enough to know that phone calls can be traced. She knows how to plan a route that will avoid the police, but she thoughtlessly makes an enemy of a hotel manager who hits on her (and then takes out his anger at Vivi by notifying the police of their whereabouts). 


     The quality of the copy proofing in this novel is poor, with quite a few fragmented words and incorrect usages of apostrophes and other punctuation. Unfortunately, that's a big problem in most mass-market publishing these days. To read an excerpt from Werewolf Sings the Blues, click HERE to go to the book's Amazon.com page and then click on the artwork.