The Midnight Girls eARC Review

It’s Karnawał season in the snow-cloaked Kingdom of Lechija, and from now until midnight when the church bells ring an end to Devil’s Tuesday time will be marked with wintry balls and glittery disguises, cavalcades of nightly torch-lit “kuligi” sleigh-parties.

Unbeknownst to the oblivious merrymakers, two monsters join the fun, descending upon the royal city of Warszów in the guise of two innocent girls. 

– GoodReads

My Review

This was such a great book! I cannot stress that enough!!! Perfect villains and perfect f/f enemies are lovers trope (I’d say enemies to lovers but read and find out). I really enjoyed the competitive streaks of both our servant girls to the witches. The Polish lore and dedication to making it so amazing truly made this a strong read.

Both girls are not just competitive but so complex and intricate, when I say that this made my little black heart happy, I am not exaggerating. This PLUS the level of lore that Jasinska put into this, I will be screaming about this book to everyone for the foreseeable future.

It’s a breath of fresh air when I get a book so entrenched in lore and myths of a culture and truly does it justice. Fantasy books are great, a lot of times the sorts I read they’re building their own lore which is just as complex and beautiful but there’s something special about reading lore that exists and having it brought into the spotlight when it may not always be something highlighted (when it should be, there are so many amazing myths and so much lore in our world).

The magic with its balance of holy and ‘un’holy is fantastic and the setting itself is so descriptive that I felt like I was actually there while i was reading. You know what this means? PERFECT WINTER READ. I would say this was so close to my love of Winternight trilogy for winter vibe reads.

The pacing was well done, and as a standalone, Jasinska did what every reader can ask for; gave us a fun and satisfying ending, but also one that lets you know that their world, their story, continues.

There are handsome princes and princesses, history at play and magic both holy and ‘evil.’ Again, so many great things packed into the book.

I do wish we would have had more of Midnight and Midday together, but I get why it was done this way, it’s how the author wanted it and it works. I would say it’s more of a plot focused book, the characters are a huge part of this plot their missions, their competition, and their tension. But as far as getting to know the characters as a couple, that’s not what this is about. This is about the slow burn and them as individuals. Just a heads up in case you’re expecting something different!

Again, great read. I would highly recommend to almost anyone. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.