Official Review: Silence at Midnight by Tonya Royston

ALynnPowers · Post by **ALynnPowers** » 07 Mar 2016, 07:53

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Silence at Midnight" by Tonya Royston.]

4 out of 4 stars

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After reading the first book of Tonya Royston’s paranormal thriller/romance Sunset Trilogy, I was more than excited to have the opportunity to read and review the second installment in the series, Silence at Midnight. The book seamlessly picks up the story right where it left off in the first book. In fact, these two books that I have read feel more like one single story that has been chopped into two parts. While some of the events from the previous book are mentioned, this book probably would not work well as a stand-alone novel. If I hadn’t read the previous book, I might not have enjoyed this book quite as much. That being said, I am still glad that I have read both of these books, and I fully plan on reading the final book of the series.

Just as in the first book of the series, Laken has the ability to communicate with animals and is dealing with the consequences of secretly having a wolf as a pet and the unwanted attention she receives after rescuing a young boy from a mysterious kidnapping. She is also juggling boy troubles; her boyfriend Noah, a deputy who works for her father, seems a bit distracted from their relationship, and bad-boy Californian surfer Xander is determined to get Laken to go out with him and just won’t take no for an answer.

Laken and Xander are paired together for a History project, and research leads Laken to uncover some interesting facts about her own family history. Though this new information might shed some light on her ability to communicate with animals, Laken is distraught and turns to Noah for support, which might have been a mistake. Xander seems to know a lot more about Laken than he should; there is definitely more to him than he is letting on. On top of that, Laken might have a stalker who is hanging out in the shadows around her house.

If you’re one of those readers who absolutely must have a fast-paced story, then this probably isn’t going to be a very exciting read. This book is much more character-driven than action-driven. The pace of the story is slow and steady; there are a lot of details about every-day activities. A few times in the story, I actually expected certain details to be more important than they turned out to be. For example, on a couple of occasions, Laken mentioned placing her purse/bag in a certain place – I was almost certain that this was some kind of foreshadowing to a future event such as her bag being stolen, but it ended up not being an important detail at all.

There is a lot more focus on the romance and love-triangle between Laken, Noah, and Xander than in the previous book, and much less focus on the beautiful, mysterious connection that Laken has with nature and animals. However, to be fair, there is one powerful scene in this book that involves a wild moose, and this is easily my favorite part of this whole story. Despite the lack of action in the story and the relatively slow pace, I still finished this book in just a few sittings because the suspense that builds up page after page makes it impossible to put down. The characters are well-developed and complex, and they help to make this such a fun read –- there is still so much more that I want to know about Noah and Xander that hasn’t been revealed yet.

Don’t be fooled by all of the “negative” remarks I have made in this review. These are all extremely minor “problems” I had with this book, and putting them all together would cause me to deduct maybe 0.3 stars. At the end of the book, my love for Laken still remains, and I am dying to know what happens next in her story, especially after enduring another cliffhanger of an ending. I award this book a rating of 4 out of 4 stars.

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Silence at Midnight
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Post by **bookowlie** » 07 Mar 2016, 18:21

I enjoyed reading your balanced review. What a treat that you had a chance to read the second installment after enjoying the first book in the series!

ALynnPowers · Post by **ALynnPowers** » 07 Mar 2016, 22:01

Yes,I was super lucky! And I know from stalking the author's Twitter that the third book has already been written and will be out soon. Can't wait!!

PashaRu · Post by **PashaRu** » 08 Mar 2016, 22:30

It's awesome when you love a book so much that you can write such an enthusiastic review. There are a lot of duds out there. And here too, haha. Great review, and congratulations to Tonya Royston.

Heidi M Simone · Post by **Heidi M Simone** » 09 Mar 2016, 06:22

Nice, well-rounded review! Seems like an interesting read

. Glad you enjoyed it and congratulations to the author for a positive review!

Gravy · Post by **Gravy** » 09 Mar 2016, 07:26

ALynnPowers wrote:Yes,I was super lucky! And I know from stalking the author's Twitter that the third book has already been written and will be out soon. Can't wait!!

That always makes my day. I love finding out the next book in a great series is almost available for my greedy, greedy hands

kimmyschemy06 · Post by **kimmyschemy06** » 09 Mar 2016, 08:03

Sounds like an interesting book. I'm into paranormal stories and 'ability to communicate with animals' seems like a a very interesting plot for a book. However, I think it's best to read book 1 first. Great job on the review. Congratulations to Tonya Royston for such a well-written book.