Rainbow Rowell is a CBR treasure so naturally I had to seek out Almost Midnight, two short stories published together in the UK, by cleverly giving it to my sister for her birthday and then borrowing it. I had already read “Kindred Spirits” but I had not read “Midnights” before.
I have already read and reviewed “Kindred Spirits “ but it was fun to reread it leading up to the release of Last Jedi this Friday. My husband and I bought tickets a month ago but then he was unexpectedly sent to China this week so now I am seeing it with my dad this Friday and will see it with hubby Sunday afternoon, Elena would be proud. I had forgotten how much I hated the fake out ending. Also, the addition of the illustrations is really fun. More books should be illustrated.
New to me, “Midnights”, was about Mags and Noel who met several years ago at a mutual friend’s New Year’s Eve party and became best friends. Each year they go back to the same party with the same people and each year Noel kisses a new girl when the clock strikes midnight. This year, the first year since they’ve been away to college, Mags is hiding out from Noel as the clock approaches midnight. I think I preferred “Midnights”though, partly because it was new to me (although not a new short story apparently) and partly because the story seemed a bit less cloying although more predictable. Ok, maybe it was a bit cloying and I just really hated the fake out ending in “Kindred” enough to overlook the cloying in this one…
Reviewing novellas, if these are even long enough to qualify as a novella vs a short story, presents more challenges than reviewing full length books does. Do I tell too much and spoil the fun or tell too little and fail to persuade you to pick up a copy?
Overall my review for both stories is simply: I desperately need Rowell to write a full length novel because these snippets are not enough. I know she has been writing for a series of graphic novels but i A. Don’t really read graphic novels and B. Even if I did she took over an established series so that is a lot of backlog to read before getting to the Rainbow Rowell stuff.
Perhaps I’ll be rereading some Rowell for cbr10 to fill the void.
I so love these, and am saving my copy for a pick me up soon.
But Rainbow Rowell has written full length novels… She has a few. They’re fun, generally light reads. I haven’t read her novellas so can’t compare.
I should have clarified. I know she’s written novels, I’ve read all of them, but she hasn’t published one since Carry On in 2015 (which I didn’t like) and I wish she’d write a full length novel again instead of the graphic novel series she’s been doing and these short stories.