The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter Review

**I was sent this book for free in exchange for an honest review**

The Midnight Queen is the first book in the Noctis Magicae Series and it follows Graham Marshall (Gray) on a journey involving magic, history, and at times love. The plot of the story was sort of hit or miss to me, but I have been in the mood for a good magic story so I was ready to pick it up. Off the bat I thought Sylvia Izzo Hunter's writing was really beautiful and she has this way of decribing people and places that was both complex and easy to read. 

The book switches between Grays point-of-view and a girl names Sophie's point of view. Sometimes the changes in point of view I felt were a little too sudden. Perhaps I just have not read enough romance (I understand the quick changes are sometimes normal in the romance genre). Even after a few paragraphs sometimes we would change perspective and that took some time to get used to. 

The romance perspective of The Midnight Queen is not the kind I typically favor. It is very much a gradual relationship. I do think it was handled very well and it was great that we got to know Gray and Sophie as individuals before we got to know them as a couple, but at some point it kind of dragged on for me. Once everyone around them could see what was going on and Gray and Sophie were still oblivious it kind of ran dry for me. 

The basic plotline of the story is tricky, as aforementioned. It is sort of a cliche. A princess, a prophecy, a 'chosen one'. In that regard I did not think the story overcame the cliche quite enough. 

Overall, I enjoyed the book but it sort of fizzled here and there and I can't say I'm too eager to continue the series, although I am sure I will pick it up at some point.

3/5

My Favorite Writing Apps

As promised this is another installment in the "My favorite writing..." series. Now I love apps when it comes to writing because my brain functions at 100% even when I want it to relax. However, that does mean I'm always thinking of ideas, plots, and characters. So since I always have my phone with me it is great at keeping me jotting these ideas down before I completely forget them.

Now I do have an IPhone, and an IPad so all the Apps I'm talking about are found in the Apple App store, but I'm sure at least most of them have Android and other downloads as well.

1. A Novel Idea: A Novel Idea has been my favorite writing app for probably about three or so years. It is very simple to navigate, which I find is increasingly difficult to find these days. It lets you basically organize characters, locations, and ideas for as many stories as you're thinking of. I mostly use it to organize my characters. I gives you a little sort of questionnaire where you fill in physical descriptions of your characters as well as their hobbies, motivations, and likes and dislikes. I think something like this is a must-have because I consistently forget characters eye-colors and which character is taller than which other character. This app has been a life-saver for me.

2. Werdsmith: Werdsmith is even more practical than A Novel Idea. I used to use Werdsmith in a very specific way. Werdsmith lets you set a daily word goal to work on one or more writing projects in the app. I hardly ever used it for whatever novel or looming project I was working on in the big picture. I would set the goal pretty low (around 500-800 words a day) and just write what came to mind every day. I do this just to keep my brain busy, keep writing, and train me to be more creative and think outside the box.

3. Google Docs: Now Google Docs is not really a writing specific app, but as it is one of my must-haves I had to include it. Google Docs became a big part of my life about three years ago when I started College and kept losing my very important flashdrives. As long as you have your Docs log-in you have all your work. It has been a blessing, and aside from schoolwork I also use it for writing between classes or on my phone in my downtime.

4. Writer: Writer is an app I only recently got into. It is very similar to A Novel Idea, but with some upgraded features. I want to talk about why I prefer A Novel Idea first. A Novel Idea is very simple where I find the layout of Writer confusing. The only reason I use Writer is because it allows you to add photos, voice memos, and link to any of your ideas, characters, or locations. And I like to have a visual aid for things like that. In that vain I think Writer is a good app to have.

There are some other apps I use on occasion such as nametrix, wattpad, and Hanx Writer, but the features you find in the apps aforementioned are almost all found in the apps on my list. The four apps I listed are  my must-haves that get me through writing every day. If you look to download them I hope they help you out too.