The Midnight Girls – Review

Hello everyone! Today I’ll be sharing my review of The Midnight Girls, which is a Sapphic enemies to lovers villain story! This releases on December 28th, and I highly recommend picking up a copy

The Midnight Girls
by Alicia Jasinska
Series: Standalone
Release date: December 28th 2021

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ★★★★☆

The Wicked Deep meets House of Salt and Sorrows in this new standalone YA fantasy set in a snow-cloaked kingdom where witches are burned, and two enchantresses secretly compete for the heart of a prince, only to discover that they might be falling for each other.

It’s Karnawał season in the snow-cloaked Kingdom of Lechija, and from now until midnight when the church bells ring an end to Devil’s Tuesday time will be marked with wintry balls and glittery disguises, cavalcades of nightly torch-lit “kuligi” sleigh-parties.

Unbeknownst to the oblivious merrymakers, two monsters join the fun, descending upon the royal city of Warszów in the guise of two innocent girls. Newfound friends and polar opposites, Zosia and Marynka seem destined to have a friendship that’s stronger even than magic. But that’s put to the test when they realize they both have their sights set on Lechija’s pure-hearted prince. A pure heart contains immeasurable power and Marynka plans to bring the prince’s back to her grandmother in order to prove herself. While Zosia is determined to take his heart and its power for her own.

When neither will sacrifice their ambitions for the other, the festivities spiral into a wild contest with both girls vying to keep the hapless prince out of the other’s wicked grasp. But this isn’t some remote forest village, where a hint of stray magic might go unnoticed, Warszów is the icy capital of a kingdom that enjoys watching monsters burn, and if Zosia and Marynka’s innocent disguises continue to slip, their escalating rivalry might cost them not just the love they might have for each other, but both their lives.

This is my first book from this author and I’ll definitely be going back to read her first book The Dark Tide at some point! This books strong point is it’s characters, especially Zosia and Marynka! I also highly enjoyed the wintery 18th century Poland setting.

Marynka and Zosia are fighting with each other to literally win the princes heart, one to eat it herself and one to prove herself worthy to the witch she is a servant for. Both girls are equally monstrous, in fact, they can even change form into the monsters of Midday and Midnight, respectively. They’re both complete opposites of each other, with Marynka being fiery, wild, and reckless and Zosia being cold, restrained and calculated. It’s no wonder the two are enemies, but when they finally meet each other (without realizing who the other is) they learn that they have more in common with each other and maybe perhaps even feelings for each other.

I really enjoyed getting this story from the villains rather than the heroes, and seeing how they became what they are and how it’s impacted their lives and experiences was fun to read.

Originally, I had wanted to know more about the kingdom of Lechija and the situation it’s in and how it related to the story of these two girls, but then I realized that if my schooling had covered other countries histories instead of just it’s own, I might actually have been able to spot connections from this book to actual history, and since that failing is on me and not the book it didn’t impact my rating in any way.

This was a little bit on the slower side, but as I said, the characters were so intriguing that I hardly noticed and got through the book rather quickly. I did also enjoy the writing style, it was very easy to read and follow along with.

While this is a standalone and it works well that way, there is definitely room for a sequel or even a companion novel, which I would definitely read if one was ever announced!

Overall, if you like character driven stories, monstrous girls and enemies to lovers then I definitely recommend you check this one out!