Until Midnight ⭐⭐⭐💫

Until Midnight by Luanne Rice

NetGalley About Summary

Rhode Island’s picturesque Ocean House is the perfect setting for Kate Woodward and Conor Reid’s fairy-tale wedding weekend. But there may not be a happily ever after.

When an old friend of Conor’s disrupts the rehearsal dinner and reveals a blindsiding secret—a claim that she and Conor share a child—Kate calls off the wedding, thinking things can’t get any worse. Until the next morning, when that same woman is found with her throat slashed.

As investigators close in and suspicions mount, the evidence points to a mystery deeper than anyone imagined. The soundproof boat with telltale signs of something sinister. The mansion on the hill that lures in young girls and doesn’t let them go. A secret society whose members might be more familiar than not. And the truth of the dead woman’s past that draws Kate and Conor into a nightmare.

Genre: Fiction, Mystery & Thrillers

The How/Why: NetGalley

⭐⭐⭐💫 (rounded up to 4 in GR and NG because half stars not available)

🎉 Overall Storytelling? 🎉🎉🎉🎉

🎣 Did it grab and keep my attention? 🎣🎣🎣 Yes and no, see pacing.

🗣️Would I recommend it to anyone? Maybe 🤷 however check trigger warnings first.

🕮 Would I want a sequel? No ➖ 

📚 Would I want to read more books by this author? Maybe 🤷 

💣💥 📢 Content Warnings?  KidnaƤƤinᵷ & Humɐn TrɐꞘꞘickinᵷ, Grɐṕhic Vi0lɇncɇ & MŪrdɇr, AbŲsɇ, Infïdɇlïty & BɇṪrɐɎɐl

 🌶 Spice? No

🌪 Plot Twist? Yes

👟 Pace? Started off with a bang, slowed in the middle, but overall average

💻 Tidbits ~ 

  • It was a perfect day for a wedding... until it wasn't.
  • A fairy-tale romance, upended.
  • A soundproof boat, a private island, a secret club.
  • High-society secrets with intense family loyalty.

This started out as a fast paced psychological thriller that hooked me in from the beginning. No time was wasted shattering the picture perfect wedding! An old friend shows up with lifechanging news that Conor is her baby daddy. The devastated bride-to-be runs out and the wedding is called off! 
It doesn't take long before the baby momma is found lifeless wearing the bride's dress, her throat slaṤhed and the heirloom veil slaṤhed into shreds!

Let the whodunit begin. Was it Kate's revenge? Conor's fury? Or someone else looking out for the family name and protecting dark secrets?

The pacing does bog down in the middle transitioning from the wedding fallout. The story takes a dark turn and the plot becomes an investigation into an underground ring of Humɐn TrĂꞘꞘickinᵷ and a secret society expL0itinᵷ girls. Complete with a soundproof boat and a private island, its very unsettling. At times difficult to read as the fictional story starts to sound like real life headlines.
That's not a spoiler by the way. The author agreed in interviews with the description "Epstein Island meets Rhode Island". 

Despite the mid-book slump, curiosity kept me going. Is Conor able to clear his name and win back Kate's heart? Can they find their happily ever after? And the girls who are the real victims here. Can they be saved and their monsters stopped?  NO SPOILERS HERE! 

Not included in the book, here's my PSA. If you suspect suspicious activity, need help, or want to get involved in the fight against:
National Human Trafficking Hotline is available 24-7.
1 888-373-7888, or text 233733.
Or contact The Tim Tebow Foundation @ timtebowfoundation.org. 

📱📚 eBook format. Not my usual. It wasn't available in audio and I wanted to try out the NetGalley App "Read Aloud" feature. 

🎧N/A - the apps Read Aloud doesn't indicate time, it indicates page x of x. Cuz, book! Ya. 
🕮 379 pages

Just published 6-30-2026 (but was still available on NG)

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the free "read now" ARC in exchange for my honest review.

30 and counting


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