Inherit Midnight by Kate Kae Myers Published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA on February 10th 2015
Pages: 401
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley
The Competition:
Outlandishly wealthy Grandmother VanDemere has decided to leave her vast fortune to the family member who proves him or herself worthiest-by solving puzzles and riddles on a whirlwind race around the globe, from the mines of Venezuela to the castles of Scotland. There will be eight competitors, three continents . . . and a prize worth millions.
The Players:
Seventeen-year-old Avery is the black sheep of the VanDemere clan, the ostracized illegitimate daughter. Finally, she has a chance to prove herself . . . and to discover the truth about her long-lost mother.
Marshall might be Avery's uncle, but there's no love lost between the two of them. He's her main competition, and he'll do anything to win-including betray his own children.
Riley is the handsome son of Grandmother VanDemere's lawyer. As the game progresses, Avery falls hard for Riley. Suddenly, losing the game might mean losing him, too.
As the competition takes treacherous turns, it becomes clear there can only be one victor. Who can Avery truly trust? And is winning worth her life?
Well, that didn’t exactly go as planned. First, I should note that I finished this book, but it was my second attempt. The first was in December, and I was just kind of bored, so I decided to revisit later. Well, it’s later. And it wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t amazing either. Let’s break it down, shall we?
The Good:
- The concept is pretty great, really. A bunch of snobby rich kids having to compete for their inheritance? Yes, please.
- It was entertaining, most of the time. The challenges were fun to read about, and it would be a really fun thing to actually be able to do.
- It was pretty fast paced after some initial slowness getting into the story. The bulk of the story (the competition, mostly) was easy to read and moved quite quickly.
The Not-So-Good:
- The characters were flat. Avery and Riley were both kind of…. there. Basically, I kept forgetting who was who. And that isn’t ideal when one is a 17 year old wealthy, black-sheep female and the other is a 19 year old dude who works in his dad’s law firm. Seriously, I should not have ever mixed those two particular characters up, but I did. A lot. Especially since their names were gender neutral, I literally had no idea sometimes. Avery was whinier than Riley, so when someone was complaining of the two, I knew who she was.
- It was so farfetched. Okay, I understand that I had to suspend some disbelief that an old lady was sending spoiled descendants all over the place to play some silly game, and I could do that. But some of it was too much. First, Avery attended this boarding school, and it was some kind of hellish prison that would have been shut down eons ago. (This was where I stopped reading the first time.) Then, everyone is just pleased as punch, and not at all concerned, that this 17 year old is being escorted from hotel room to hotel room with some young man who she basically just met. My grandma is pretty liberal, and even she would probably put the kibosh on that little situation, never mind what stuffy old lady VanDemere would do. Then, Grandmother has all these character traits that everyone should be displaying, but it’s cool when people just start being disgusting excuses for humans (and yes, she knows what is going on).
- Expanding on the last point, these people are awful. Avery’s whining is nothing compared to the nonsense that spews from every other person in this family. They are spoiled, and underhanded, and duplicitous, and all around awful. There is some slight redemption for some, but… mostly not.
- Even the moments that should have been chock full of feels fell flat. Maybe it was because I didn’t care about Avery, but I really think the scenes were just overall not quite there in terms of emotional fortitude. I don’t want to expand on it, because it would spoil a big plot point, but I should have cared a lot, and I only cared mildly. In general, I found the writing to be a bit too simplistic to evoke much feeling.
- The twist at the end didn’t make a bit of sense. There was this “twist” at the end, and while it surprised me, the only reason it surprised me was because it came so far out of left field that no one would have seen it coming. It didn’t have a thing to do with the story, and was so wildly off topic and unbelievable that I just was left confused and wondering what the point was.
- Avery was too “damsel-y” for my taste. Especially in the beginning of the book, she would make some ridiculous decision, or just be acting weak and whiny in general, and she’d basically just lament about her misfortunes until Riley swooped in and saved the day. Girl, pick your own self up. Also, she’d get in some sort of ridiculous tiff with Riley, narrate that she didn’t trust him, and literally two sentences later be swooning over him. Uh, what now?
Bottom Line: It had potential, but it just didn’t work for me on any level. For sheer entertainment value, I will give it 1.5 stars, but I can’t in good conscious give more than that. The negatives clearly outweighed the positives, though the concept was fun.
Okay, how bad is it to admit I sat and stared at the balloon gif for a long long time? BECAUSE I JUST DID, YES.
hehe.
I’m sad about this book because it sounds kind of like The Westing Game which I ADORED as a kid. But bratty whiny characters? They hurt my braincells. So I feel like backing away very very slowly.
*runs screaming*
Well, that is good, the balloon gif was there for your entertainment 😉 I haven’t read The Westing Game, but I have heard this book compared to it. I mean, I LOVED the idea, I just did not love the execution. At all. And I wanted it to be so good, which made me sadder.
What a shame that this book didn’t impress you! It has such a cool premise – I feel like a premise like this would make for an amazing TV show or action film – but given what you said about the characters it’s probably not one I’m going to bother picking up myself. IT’s always disappointing when stories don’t live up to their potential. Great review!
You’ve been tagged in the Taylor Swift Book Tag! 😀
Aw thanks! The tag sounds fun!
And YES- it would have made a perfect show or movie! It still could, if the characters were cleaned up a bit/made sense.
I just couldn’t stop laughing while I was reading this post. I mean, this really sounds like an awful, awful book, but it was very much entertaining getting to know what you thought. Good for you making it through it! =) Great review!
Hahah thanks! I do wish it had been better, but I am glad it at least made you laugh 🙂
VERONICA MARS GIF!!! *DANCES*
The damsel thing is my biggest turn off these days. I can’t read books with damsel syndrome. I mean GOD FORBID WOMEN CAN TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES.
It got a bit better toward the end, but the first 50% (at LEAST), she was running to this dude over every single tiny malfunction. I wanted to smack her, she was like, devolving women more each chapter 😉
Wow! This one really sounds frustrating. The things that would probably kill me the most are the flat characters and unbelievability.
Yep, those were my biggest problems as well. I was sad, I wanted to like this one 🙁
It had such a good concept and cover, too bad it wasn’t well developed. It looked like something I might have wanted to pick up, but now I’ll pass it.
There were a few positive reviews on Goodreads, so it still could be worth checking out. But sadly, I saw more that leaned toward not loving it.
Ahh boo that sucks. But yeah it looks like it would be a really cool concept, but too bad it wasn’t executed nicely. And flat characters no. And what, the grandmother was pulling all the strings? So weird hahahaha.
Awesome review Shannon!
Yep, the Grandma orchestrated this “game” to see who wins the company and the money. And it was all “Survivor” style, someone would get eliminated after every round.
Aww I loved this one! It played on all my loves – competitions and history primarily. But if I were to strip that away I would have to agree that the characters do fall a little flat and maybe the concept is a little out there. Sorry this one didn’t work for you 🙁
Oh, I thought the concept was brilliant! I mean, I would have KILLED to be in the competition myself, that part was fun, but I ended up not really caring because I didn’t care about the characters- like Avery was just the least of the evils, I didn’t particularly like her, I just didn’t DISlike her. I am really glad you enjoyed it thougH! I think others will too, it is an enjoyable premise!
It’s too bad you didn’t like this book. 🙁 I, being a 14 year old, loved it! It has just about everything I want in a book, some action and some romance. Although, I do agree that the characters were a little flat, it was a fun read. Everyone has a different taste in literature and I guess our opinions just differ. Thanks, Alyssa