#Review - Bring Me Your Midnight by Rachel Griffin #Fantasy #Paranormal

Series: Standalone
Format: Hardcover, 416 pages
Release Date: August 1, 2023
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy / Paranormal

Tana Fairchild’s fate has been planned out for her since the day she was born: marry the governor’s son and secure an unprecedented alliance between the witches and the mainlanders. But when Tana meets Wolfe, a member of the only remaining coven left practicing dark magic, she’s stunned to learn of his existence. She’s always thought the final coven disbanded ten years ago, completely eradicating the use of dark magic.

When unknown magic builds in Tana’s body and she’s unable to expel the magic on her own, she begs Wolfe for help. And as she practices Wolfe’s dark magic, she’s horrified to discover how naturally it comes to her. It makes her feel powerful. Alive.

Tana tries to rid herself of the memories of Wolfe and his magic, throwing herself into her courtship with Landon, the key to the alliance the witches have worked so hard for. With Tana’s covenant ball approaching, their engagement will be officially announced.

But when Tana’s family discovers her use of dark magic and her mother confides in her that the witches are losing control of the currents, and it’s only a matter of time before the sea swallows a mainlander. When that happens, Tana’s relationship with Landon could be the only thing that keeps the mainlanders from turning on the witches.

But Tana can’t stop thinking about Wolfe. And as the tide grows fiercer, and the witches’ relationship with the mainlanders more tenuous, Tana has to decide what’s most important to her: love, or duty?

Bring Me Your Midnight, by author Rachel Griffin, comes a lush, romantic, and unforgettable new fantasy full of sea magic, arranged marriages, and the choice between love and duty. The author also wrote The Nature of Witches and Wild is the Witch. Set on an island in the Pacific Northwest called the Witchery where witches call home, 19-year-old Mortana "Tana" Fairchild's life has been planned out for her since birth. She is set to marry the son of a prominent politician from the Island with the goal of keeping her coven safe by cementing a witches place among the Mainlanders. 

But Tana is different. She is drawn to the water, and that is where she meets the mysterious Wolfe Hawthorne who changes her life forever. First comes the Moon flower which Tana has been told is dangerous to witches. And yet, the Moon flower isn't a harbinger of death, but a source of high magic that was supposed to be eradicated. Wolfe belongs to the only old magic coven left in existence. His coven grows their own food, and when necessity brings them to town, they are always glamoured to look like the numerous tourists who flock to the island every day.

Tana's entire existence changes slowly over the course of the story. She goes from believing everything that her mother, and her coven has told her, to opening her eyes about the fact that high magic, aka dark magic is not dangerous, and Moon flowers are just flowers which is the source of all magic. As the days countdown before Tana's Covenant Ball, and then her wedding, Wolfe is always on her mind. Always in the background. Where magic is forbidden on the Mainland, Tana and others are free to use magic without fear of being persecuted. 

Thoughts: The author tends to mix the real world with the paranormal and gets away with it without any troubles. This book weaves together themes of magic, power, nature, duty, safety, love, wildness, and passion. While the ending ties everything nicely, it's one of those books where the author has left plenty of room to come back and further explore Tana, Wolfe, and the deals that were made at the end of this story. 

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