It Happened One Midnight

*4.5 STARS.

(Review originally posted here at The Book Barbies.)

Julie Anne Long has done it again. She had my expectations all tied up in knots for this one. Her last two books in this series were AMAZING, thus I wanted this one to be just as fabulous. However, I wasn't crazy about the gypsy prophesy element, and foremost, I logically knew that hitting it out of the park three times in a row was extraordinarily unlikely. But she did it. Boy, did she.

It Happened One Midnight was a story unlike any I'd read before. At first, I thought it was going to be more in the vein of the first one in the series. A little more of a suspense-adventure plot than I usually prefer in my books. But it wasn't! Nor did the gypsy prophesy really have much to do with anything. I can't talk about the subplot specifically, due to spoilers. But it was interesting and totally fit with Tommy's character. It added a unique element and driving force to the book without taking over and stealing the show from the characters, which is a difficult feat to accomplish.

I really liked both the hero and heroine. Tommy was honest and forthright in many ways, but mysterious and secretive in others. She was slow to open up, but understandably so. I loved learning more about her as the story progressed. She was so strong and tenacious, but never obnoxiously so, and she was never so secretive as to incite frustration. Jonathan was a man with natural instincts and talent as a businessman. He was confident in his abilities, but he also struggled with desire to prove himself to his father, who was unable to respect Jonathan or take him as anything more than a joke.

While both the plot and characters were good, the thing that made this book magic was the dynamic between Tommy and Jonathan. I cannot fully explain it. They had an almost instant kinship despite appearing so different, but the early foundation of that kinship was that they did not care about each other. Which sounds odd, but it worked for them. They were both intelligent and stubborn and witty and hilarious, and it made for some of the best banter I've ever read.

“Dear God, tell me you didn't just say that again. No. I've no interest in the affairs of complicated, circumspect, ginger-haired women. No.”

“And you know very well I've no interest in the affairs of currently penniless rakes.”

Well.

“I ought to say ‘ouch,'” he said gingerly.

“You would, but you don't care what I think any more than I care what you think. Since we share a particular interest, I do however think you'll be interested in a business proposition I'd like to share with you.”

“And every grain of sense I possess tells me I'd be wise to pretend I never heard you say that.”

“How many grains of sense do you possess?”

“Let me see...three grains, at last count. I used to have four, but I forfeited one when I agreed to accompany Argosy to this salon. Again.”

“That's such a shame! Three grains is one fewer than you need to prevent you from a trip to the Half Moon Theater at midnight.”

no

Between the Devil and Ian Eversea