Review: Kitty and The Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn

Kitty Norville is a midnight-shift DJ for a Denver radio station - and a werewolf in the closet. Her new late-night advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged is a raging success, but it's Kitty who can use some help. With one sexy werewolf-hunter and a few homicidal undead on her tail, Kitty may have bitten off more than she can chew!

ebook.

Full-length novel.

First person - single pov.

Kitty's relationship with her alpha is 100% abusive.

No, book one in a series!

No.

Werewolves... So, yes.

This was an odd one for me in that I finished the book the same day I started it for I couldn't put it down but I'm not entirely sure I like Carrie Vaughn's take on werewolves.
In fact, I pretty much hate the world that has been created.
I hate the pack structure, I hate that the alpha male gets to fuck whoever he wants - even though he is mated! - because pack structure makes it so.  I hated the simpering adoration of a male who doesn't deserve a single iota of respect... Alpha's are supposed to be protectors. Not in Kitty's pack! Her alpha is an abusive asshole and the pack acts like a bunch of slavish automatons with no thought for themselves.
It made my skin crawl.

I was also not entirely sure about Kitty in the beginning.
I mean, I liked her, she was fun, but I hated how timid and submissive she was! I hate how she panted after an abusive knobhead because her wolf made it so even though she knew it was abusive!
“If we were human, and this was a human relationship, I'd have been expected to leave
him. This was abuse.”  
No shit Sherlock! The alpha pair was whacked!
I spent more than half the flipping book wanting to scream in frustration.
She was like two different Kittys! Sassy, spunky fun kitty when she was away from the pack and doormat whimpering idiot Kitty when she was close.

However, her submissive annoyance gave way to a mild sense of satisfaction when she started to grow into something stronger and push back... If she continues to develop, she could become a character I like very much but there is a long way to go.

One thing I did like was Kitty’s openness about the world. There’s no super psycho mandate that they - the paranormal creatures - be kept secret but it’s no society where the supernaturals are out and living free. It just is what it is. You choose to tell people or you don't with most people believing you’re insane if you do.

The whole novel is kinda surreal... You learn about this new world mostly through Kitty's radio show. You meet the supporting characters mostly because of Kitty's radio show. Kitty gets pulled into a police investigation hunting for a serial killer, because of her radio show. Kitty's radio show is the catalyst for Kitty finally growing a pair.
The radio show is the star of the book! And I love how the theme song for it is Bad Moon Rising.
I love that song.

All in all, I'm intrigued enough to continue.
I'm curious as to what comes next for Kitty given the events at the end (which I can't comment on because it'd be all spoilerish) and I'm crossing my fingers that we get to see more of the crazy but awesome werewolf hunter Cormac.

It's old school UF. I like it!

💬

“Next caller. Betty, you're on the air. What's your question ?"
"Hi, Kitty. I just wanted to know, are you going out with that Cormac guy from last month?"
My jaw dropped. "What?"
"Are you going out with that Cormac guy?"
"We are talking about the same Cormac who tried to kill me on the air, yes? the guy who hunts werewolves for a living ?"
"Uh-huh."
"And you want to know if I'm dating him ? Why on earth do you think that's a good idea?”

💬