A Midnight Clear

A Midnight Clear (2020) Kaje Harper

This was another pleasant surprise.

This was another book from the Winter Wonderland giveaway of holiday stories, and after the first story I read, I didn’t have the highest expectations for the rest of the books. But this one was also quite good.

Adric and Royce are roommates studying for their EMT certifications–Adric wants to eventually become a paramedic, but this is his first step. Adric also has a huge crush in Royce, but doesn’t have a clue if Royce even likes guys.

My first surprise with this story was that it wasn’t a short story. At 204 pages it’s a novel–albeit a short one. So I kept expecting the story to end–and it didn’t.

My second surprise was how much I enjoyed it. Both Adric and Royce and young–18 and 19 at the start of the story. And both of them make a lot of mistakes–mostly because they are so young. And normally I don’t much care for stories with really young characters (especially romances) but both were studying for a professional certification and that does make a difference. Even if they did occasionally reader older than their ages.

The other surprise were the complex lives the two had outside of their relationship. Adric’s extended family is T.E.R.R.I.B.L.E and Royce’s immediate family has their own issues. So (like normal humans) those issues were part of Adric and Royce’s stories, which made it a much richer book that I was expecting. Of course, those complicated family members also helped drive some of the terrible choices made, but, again, the two are young.

This wasn’t 100% the kind of story I normally go for, but I will definitely look for other stories by the author going forward.
Rating: 7.5/10

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