Shattered Midnight

The Mirror: Book 2

by Dhonielle Clayton

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Shattered Midnight by Dhonielle Clayton is the second book of a four-book series of fairy tales, each written by a different author. It’s a captivating story of one family over several generations, beginning in 1848 with a childless couple granted one very big wish. Fast forward to 1928 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Eighteen-year-old Zora has been sent to live with her aunt and cousins under an assumed name, escaping what she’d done back home in Harlem, New York.

As a black woman in the South during segregation, falling in love with a white man is one of the worst things she could do. The other was killing a wealthy white woman, and she’d already done that. It had been an accident – her magic bursting out to defend her mother. It was still murder, though, so her mother had sent her away.

When her magic flares again in New Orleans, her aunt sends her to a conjure woman who says she can help Zora be rid of her magic, but the price is her music. She’ll never be able to play or sing again. She would have to trade something she loves to be rid of the thing she hates.

Zora has time to decide if it’s worth the price, and during that time she sings at a jazz club under the name Sweet Willow. Phillip, a fellow musician who is taken with her at first sight, pursues Zora despite the differences in their skin color and social classes. It’s a disaster waiting to happen, but neither can help themselves.

Like the first book, Broken Wish, Shattered Midnight does not have a happy ending. It does still have the same tendrils of hope and intrigue strung throughout, leading the reader to want to read the next book. I’m interested to see where the series goes, and eagerly await the next book.

I had a chance to get my hands on an ARC of the audiobook version of Shattered Midnight, on that’s what this review is based on. Narrated by Adenrele Ojo, the audiobook has a slow, Southern, jazzy feel to it that perfectly suits the book. It’s an immersive experience.

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Visit the author’s website and follow her on Twitter.

Advance Reading Copy of the audiobook version provided by Disney Audiobooks via Netgalley at my request.