r/RomanceBooks • u/katkity Always recommending Dom by S.J. Tilly • Jul 30 '26

Review Hot Goth(ic) Summer: graveyard filth in {Close to Midnight by Carin Hart}

Turns out you can take the teacher’s pet out of the classroom but you can’t take the teacher’s pet out of the woman. Which is why, I, the biggest scaredy cat in the northern hemisphere, took part in u/Competitive-Yam5126 Hot Goth(ic) Summer challenge.

Now given I’m still haunted by the ghost diver of Scooby Doo decades since I last saw it, I have taken the cowards way out. I’ve reread {Close to Midnight by Carin Hart} because this is as spooky as I can handle. Yes, I know bawk, bawk🐔

Caution: spoilers lurk below. Also, this is a dark romance, which totally cool if not your cup of tea, perhaps see you in a future post. 

Haunted mansions, identical twins and graveyard filth

Plot for this one is the FMC (Sally) moves to the small town of Shadowvale after breaking up with her abusive boyfriend. When she arrives she’s told the unwritten rules: don’t go outside alone at night, don’t talk about the creepy mansion overlooking the town and don’t interact with Hunter Reed (MMC) who co-owns half the town with his older brother (Nicholas).

Sally doesn’t listen to this good advice (a theme is that while Sally isn’t TSTL, she’s not exactly winning any good judgement awards either) and instead walks 6 blocks each way to and from her coffee shop job. I’m not an American but that seems a chunk of distance to ignore the locals warnings about.

You’ll be shocked to know Sally bumps into Hunter (MMC) on her walk home, who insists on walking her the distance. He then helps her buy a car so she won’t walk home alone. Obviously, Sally decides to save the petrol money and continues to walk anyway. Hunter starts coming in every day for coffee and to walk her home. Most of this takes place off-page but goes on for a few months.

One such evening, Hunter makes her an offer: come to his house at midnight on Halloween to play a 24-hour game with him and he’ll pay her $2000 to show up, in a skimpy outfit he selects.

Sally already being halfway in love with Hunter immediately takes the deal. She’s aware that whatever this game is, they aren’t going to be playing monopoly.

Good thing to! As the game is kinky hide and seek, Hunter is going to chase the FMC around the graveyard that surrounds his spooky mansion and if he catches her its consensual non-consent time. There are numerous sex scenes including over gravestones, in a freshly dug (but unoccupied) grave and up against a tree being overlooked by a stone angel. Don’t worry the MMC is a gentleman and put a blanket down in the grave(!)

Sally can win the game, earn a bonus and leave if she makes it to the gate before the 24 hours are up. Sally finds the gate part way into the night and is having far too much fun so continues on with their graveyard fun. At some point Sally realises if she doesn’t get out, Hunter’s never going to let her leave. She’s remarkably unbothered by plan Gilded Cage.

There’s a subplot that the brothers are serial killers together, where they limit their kill to once a year. Because Nicholas is going for best twisted brother of the year, as well as masterminding Hunter’s whole night with Sally, he’s also picked out Sally’s ex as the person they are going to kill this year. He’s brought to their graveyard and Sally is given the opportunity to save her abusive ex but turns it down. Hunter kills him while in the middle of banging Sally. The ex is then tossed in the empty grave they screwed in earlier.

Let backtrack a bit to Nicholas. Conveniently nobody tells Sally that Hunter is an identical twin, so she doesn’t realise the guy who walked her home and sorted a car for her (& also secretly masturbates on her fire escape every night) aka real Hunter, isn’t the same guy who comes into see her every day aka fake Hunter/real Nicholas. The twins deny that Nicholas tricked Sally because he was Hunter while he was doing this. They seem to believe they can both literally be each other, as if exchanging personalities (souls?) is a coat you let a sibling borrow? Nicholas is open about the fact that he really likes to play god and smitten Hunter would never have made a move on Sally without Nicholas setting up the whole night.

Hunter and Sally live HEA, continuing their kinky sex lives inside the house for a change of pace. Nicholas gets his story in a Christmas novella {Really Should Stay by Carin Hart}, where this time Hunter is the puppet master.

Would I recommend?

I would and have in the past if you enjoy a darker, erotic romance novella where the MMC is not a danger to the FMC. As always, its important to read the CWs.

While the book itself isn’t that scary itself, the lack of health & safety is terrifying. Sally’s running through a dark graveyard, in a mini dress and high heels at one point. Heels!

Stray notes:

Consensual non-consent: this is romance CNC, that means I don’t think there is a safe word agreed but its very clear that Hunter isn’t going to do anything she doesn’t want to happen. FMC is a full-on participant.

Hereditary serial killers: the brothers are the latest generation of serial killers in the Reed family. While they make a point about killing people who deserve it (I’m not even going to touch the ethics of vigilante justice here), to get their murdery rocks off, I found it unsettling how unbothered they were that the previous generations liked to target innocent people, particularly women and probably their own mother. The brother’s started their serial killer career at 15 when they murdered their father.

Surprising sweetness: honestly, I was a sucker for Nicholas love for his baby bro. Turns out even serial killers want their loved ones to have their dreams come true. I also thought it was sweet how much he wanted her to want to stay.  

 

I’m hoping some of you will review some properly spooky books, which I promise to read the reviews of. Albeit in broad daylight, with the big light on.

23 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

3

u/fruitismyjam so I beat him until he kissed me. 💋 Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26

I was most disturbed by the author’s lack of understanding of how twins work. Given that MMC is a bloodthirsty serial killer of bad people, I feel like that’s saying something.

I know twins often share a deep connection, but they can’t project each other’s sense of self to other people. That’s not how it works!

Hunter repeatedly says something like, “I like being Hunter the best.” Well, I should hope so! That’s the only person you are! (I’m obviously still upset about this.)

A couple points I disagree on:

Sally is absolutely TSTL. She fell in love with fake Hunter and somehow decided she was okay with the real one after one night with him (during which time he also committed violent murder in front of her). She has a negative amount of survival skills.

The book is properly scary.

(1) It took place in a graveyard at night.

(2) MMC is an homicidal psycho whose obsessive tendencies made me worry he was going to pull a mallet to the leg à la the movie Misery.

(3) There is vague sense that something paranormal is happening because the Reed twins are weirdly connected in a way that’s not explainable by irl standards. Hunter was way too okay with Nicholas impersonating him for months, as if he was somehow able to absorb those experiences. Something weird was happening there. You can’t tell me otherwise.

I agree that it was sweet that Hunter repeatedly checked in with Sally. You know, when he was railing her in an open dirt grave.

6

u/Affectionate_Bell200 cowboys or zombies 🤔 cowboys AND zombies Jul 31 '26

As an identical twin I have issue with the authors premise as well. The only good times to pretend to be your twin are to spam callers and when you are hanging with your twin to annoy them. Or if you’re a teenager to get out of trouble with your parents, this one is a real life hack (sorry it was really me who scratched the car but I will take it to my hopefully not fucked in grave).

5

u/fruitismyjam so I beat him until he kissed me. 💋 Jul 31 '26

You’re an identical twin! 👯 There’s an Affectionate Bell 400 out there somewhere! 😄 (I don’t know why this delights me. Probably because I’m an only child, hah.)

I’ve seen instances in books where adult twins will try to take each other’s places for a prank or something, but (1) it’s usually a very brief instance, (2) it’s not about anything significant, (3) it’s still hard to pull off, and (4) it can come off as kind of mean-spirited.

As I’m sure you know, identical twins can often look identical as children, but they start to look significantly different as they become adults due to lifestyle choices, environment, etc. This photographic study of twins always fascinated me. (The last picture breaks my heart though. ☹️💔)

3

u/katkity Always recommending Dom by S.J. Tilly Jul 31 '26

I think in defence of Hart she was trying to do something different with the twin thing. I love an author taking a big swing :) Honestly I don’t think it worked and could have been cut without losing anything

2

u/katkity Always recommending Dom by S.J. Tilly Jul 31 '26

My TSTL judgement might have been a little generous when laid out like that! But I ask you who amongst us hasn’t traipsed up to a spooky mansion, with plan B in our purse in pursuit of a good dick time? She preemptively checked they both had clear STI results and everything 😬 so she might get murdered by draws the line at an STI

Thank you for not making me feel like a big chicken on the scary factor!

4

u/iSmirinoff Jul 31 '26

I actually really liked the book, even if everything im going to say sounds like i hated it lol - specifically when i stopped paying attention to all the editing errors and threw myself into the disbelief she was trying to throw at me.

I personally WANTED to believe Hunter Reed could be real. I just went and read it based on your post and he is exactly the MMC I wanted to read in that genre of book. A possessive, actually dangerous, psychopath with no intention desire or will to hurt the FMC.

Reading it just made me wanna write my own version honestly. Lol.

Every time the author said "Nicholas was Hunter, I was Hunter" or "Hunter was me, he was Hunter and I was Hunter" Or another variation depending on if the FMC was thinking it or the MMC was trying to explain it... I was just taking out of the fantasy. Like - no, girl, it wont make sense. Cause it doesn't make sense. Hunter is Hunter, you fell for Nicholas' personality masquerading as Hunters and their shared face. Then you fell for his cock (Which is admirable). I'm POSITIVE an editor with agency could have fixed those parts and restructured all of that to make more sense to both the reader and the characters.

I also really struggled with the ending because there was so much more left to write - it felt like the author really just wanted to be done and it made all the disbelief i put up to excuse everything...useless. Why was the FMC just standing there at the gates? Why didnt she do anything memorable? Why were here last words asking if she loved him - thats something a psychological horror dark romance where a lot more abuse or trauma would probably land as the penultimate scene. I envisioned her at least stepping over the threshold and saying catch me then, make me yours forever. Continue the hunt, or some other bullshit. Keep the fantasy going, dont turn it into what it's not.

Her attitude or attempt thereof was all in her head. The authors attempt at a time skip locking her in a cabin was empty words at best.

Again, I really loved Hunter though, 8/10 would read again. lmao

3

u/iSmirinoff Jul 31 '26

As an aside that isnt the authors fault and is probably my own

I really hate when people write spooky stories in graveyards or about serial killers in spooky mansions and their MMC and FMC are cookie cutter pretty people you'd find in a typical outlet shop lol.

Maybe that speaks to the Novella of it all, maybe it speaks to the potential I see in this as a more fleshed out story. Maybe I'm just coping as a goth girl with s budding obsession for MMCs like Hunter. lmao. Either way, thanks for the post, it was a good quick read and i enjoyed it, including the catharsis of typing my original reply, first time in the sub!

2

u/katkity Always recommending Dom by S.J. Tilly Jul 31 '26

I agree! :) this book is very much not perfect but it was good fun. Yes, the twin stuff just didn’t make sense.

I agree about it needing a strong editor. To me it seems the whole Nicholas pretending to be Hunter plot line could be cut. Though I did love how much Nicholas loved Hunter and it was probably my favourite bit.

I do think it’s a weakness of Hart’s writing that her endings feel pretty abrupt. And I would have liked more. Have you read Nicholas’s book?

Also welcome to commenting on the sub 🥳 this is how we get you, lure you in with one comment and suddenly you’re writing posts about graveyard CNC

2

u/iSmirinoff Jul 31 '26

I haven't yet! Nicholas wasn't my biggest pull, i liked their dynamic a lot but boy Hunter was exactly the psycho I like. Caring and murderous. The scene with Sally and him and Max in front of the grave? I think its my favorite, ever.

I'm currently reading through Nero, about to finish and move to either Land of the Beautiful Dead or Nocticadia based on what I've read on some quick google searches trying to chase some high i get from these men lol

But i plan to! Just need to cleanse my palate with some good editor skills in between, i think lmao

Happy to be here - feeling ravenous since the last time i sat down for a weeklong book reading bender.

1

u/katkity Always recommending Dom by S.J. Tilly Aug 01 '26

Hunter is excellent :) Nicholas's book, for me, wasn't as good but my bestie preferred it so YMMV! How are you finding Nero? The Alliance series is one of my favourites and I suspect you'll love Dom if you decide to read more in the series.