Review: Midnight Runes by Celeste Buie

Midnight Runes

Author: Celeste Buie

Series: The Bestowed Ones

Publisher/Source: Self – YA Bound

Release date: May 2014

Pages: 265

Amazon

Synopsis (Goodreads)

WHEN YOUR FUTURE’S AT STAKE, DO YOU FOLLOW YOUR HEAD OR HEART?

Brynn Emerson has always been in control of her life—until a mysterious stranger invades her dreams and her boyfriend, Trevor, suddenly dumps her.

Life gets more complicated when secretive newcomer Landon shows up at school. The playful and handsome Landon is somehow connected to Brynn’s ex-boyfriend.

Determined to find out how they know each other, Brynn draws closer to Landon…only to realize too late that she's risking more than she thought possible.

Meanwhile, a person of power has his sights on Brynn. Will Trevor and Landon work together to keep her safe? Or will she be pulled against her will into their mysterious world?

Review: 3 out of 5 stars

Midnight Runes is the first book in The Bestowed Ones series by Celeste Buie.

Our main character is Brynn Emerson who is having a few problems with her hot & cold boyfriend Trevor; he is behaving in a strange way, not showing up when they make plans, has a mysterious tattoo, is evasive and then suddenly breaks up with her without a valid explanation.

Brynn was a likeable character, sassy and witty. I felt she was too forgiving of both the evasive boys in her life – her boyfriend and the mysterious Landon who shows up at her school after a prior brief meeting; despite there being an obvious love triangle happening I never had a preference as to who she should end up with as both were equally interesting but I didn’t see them as anything special.

Midnight Runes is a character driven book rather than plot driven; I don’t mind this but the mystery of what was going on did leave me feeling frustrated until around the 77% mark (on my kindle) when things were revealed; prior to this I had no idea and if it wasn’t for mention of Runes in the title I’d have been clueless up until this point.

I would have liked more background details; everything was unfortunately glossed over.  Particulars about what and who the Bestowed Ones were and also about the runes weren’t fully explained, we know they are there but besides mention of protection we don’t really know much about their purpose and when Brynn finally finds out what is going I feel she accepts it too easily, I think the necessary emotions were absent. The world-building was unfortunately lacking in depth that I feel is necessary for this type of book.

Overall, while the plot and world-building wasn’t strong I was kept entertained enough with the unfolding character drama to stay interested and I will continue with the series to find out what is going to happen.

Thank you to YA Bound and Celeste Buie for the opportunity to read and review Midnight Runes.