Maggie Parker seventeen almost eighteen years old prefers her own company, she likes to read. Her famous mother Dee Dee wants her to go out more. The only one going out that night is Dee Dee though. She blows Maggie a kiss, leaving her in charge of her little six year old brother Kit.
It gets to the midnight hour when Dee Dee is usually home, but she’s not.
Where is their mother? Where is Dee Dee?

The book is set in two timelines, 1998 and 2019. In Notting Hill London and Paris.
A book of family secrets, mystery and romance, moving between the chapters filling in some of the blanks, and finding myself guessing at some of the others from little clues dropped.
I wasn’t that keen on the characters, I didn’t feel as if I got to know Kit’s character in any depth. I would have liked to have known more about Wolf and Cora, they seemed the most interesting of the bunch.
Set in the era that the movie Notting Hill was filmed.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for an advanced e-book copy. Opinions about the book are entirely my own.

A dual timeline story featuring a cast of intriguing characters, a well plotted story, and a lot of secrets and mystery.
A young girl who lose her mother and must mother her brother, an ally from a very different world, a tightly knitted plot.
I enjoyed it and it's recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Enjoyed reading. So many secrets within the family centred around a house in Notting Hill. Beautifully written and emotional in places.can we have a sequel please to find out what happened next for Maggie.

The Midnight Hour by Eve Chase is a family drama with layers of tension and secrets that are sure to keep the reader guessing, and of course turning pages while they do so.
In 1998 Notting Hill Maggie's glamorous Mum heads out for the evening, leaving the seventeen year old in charge of her six year old brother Kit. So far so normal but when her mother does not come back naturally Maggie starts to freak out. In her attempts to figure out where she has vanished to Maggie meets Wolf, a young antiques dealer with some dubious connections . The pair quickly become infatuated as he tries to help Maggie uncover the truth, a truth that will take all of them down a very dark and dangerous path.
In 2009 Maggie is a writer living in Paris. Her relatioship with Kit is a little strained and she hasn't heard from Wolf in years- until she gets a phone call she has been dreading for decades. The new owner of her old home in Notting Hill is renovating and both she and Wolf know what , or rather who, he is going to find under the patio.
With incredible grace,precision and delicacy Eve Chase weaves together these dual timelines , painstakingly dropping clues and shifting perspectives until the reader thinks they know where the story is heading before pulling the rug from under them and leaving them more intrigued than ever. The prose is beautiful, evocative and descriptive while the characters are sympathetic and well rounded and all of them feel believable.
If you love a family drama laced with secrets, this is the book for you.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher,all opinions are my own.

Notting Hill, 1998. When seventeen-year-old Maggie Parker's mother does not return from a night out, she finds herself in sole charge of her six-year-old brother, Kit, and at a loss to explain her disappearance. As the days go by, and their mother does not reappear, Maggie is forced to confront the truth that their lives may have unravelled a bit more since the death of her father than she has been prepared to acknowledge. With Kit in tow, Maggie wanders the streets of Notting Hill looking for her mother, where she meets antique dealer Wolf, a young man unlike any other she has met before - a meeting that takes them on a rocky path...

2019. Twenty years later, Maggie now lives in Paris and makes her living as a romance writer. She has regrets, but is more or less content, until a shocking phone call brings the past rushing back. The new owner of the Notting Hill house where she once lived is digging up the basement, and Maggie is terrified of what they might find. She must return to London and face the consequences of the events that brought her and Wolf together, and then tore them apart...

Eve Chase is one of those authors who knows now to write about messy families and secrets to utter perfection, and The Midnight Hour is a delicious showcase of her talents. Unfurling in two timelines from the perspectives of both Maggie and Kit, this novel weaves between 1998, when their mother went missing, and 2019, when the consequences of this disappearance come back to throw the lives of those affected into disarray.

Chase's plotting is superb, with layers of mystery that are peeled back over the course of the story. The little pieces of the puzzle come together ever so gradually, with Chase using the intense relationship that develops between Maggie, Kit and Wolf, in 1998, to explain how it shaped them into the people they are twenty years later. The disappearance of Maggie's mother proves to be the catalyst for everything that happens, flooding the whole book with reflected themes, in the past and the present, about secrets, lies, love, loss, expectation, memory, and how the weight of things unsaid has warped the dynamics of this family.

The characterisation is gorgeous, beginning with the beautifully written central characters and branching outwards to family and friends who each have an important role to play in how the twists and turns develop. Maggie is especially well-written, flipping between the emotional turmoil of her seventeen-year-old self, as passionate feelings of first love conflict with the fear of her situation, and the grown woman filled with thoughts of what-could-have-been and terror for the future. And Kit is portrayed with such vulnerability that it is impossible not to feel a tenderness for him - something that puts your heart firmly in your mouth in the latter, gripping stages of the book.

The fear of spoilers prevents me from waxing lyrical about how cleverly Chase manages every single aspect of this novel. With perfect pace, she carries you along on a thrilling tide from the intriguing hook of the opening chapter, to the tear-jerking finish - and I loved the little mentions of the filming of the movie Notting Hill along the way. I consumed it whole!

I have read some of Eve Chase’s other books so I thought I would enjoy this. There are dual timelines of 1998 and 2019 so I find it amusing that it has been classed as ‘Historical’ by the big river site. There is a mystery/crime element to this but it felt more like a family drama albeit a family with a lot of secrets. There wasn’t a particular character that grabbed me but I was rather smitten by the house with the pink door. I found this a fairly slow paced book but lots to enjoy on the journey through it.

It took me a little while to get into this book. There were so many secrets within the family and friends. The story is a dual timeline story, which I enjoy. It is set in 2019 and the earlier time of 1998. The main characters of Maggie, Kit and Wolf were all likeable. Maggie and Kit’s mother was a famous model in the earlier period but Maggie always had the feeling that there was a secret she wasn’t aware of. When Maggie and her younger brother,Kit, first meet Wolf, they feel an instant connection. However, things don’t go smoothly, there is a villain who causes trouble. I did feel for Maggie when a good amount of responsibility was placed on her when she was 17 years old. This became an engaging read, once some of the secrets were told. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

In Notting Hill, 1998 Maggie Parker is seventeen years old when her famous model mum, Dee Dee leaves for a night out and doesn’t return and Maggie is left looking after her little brother Kit, fearing it will be reported to the authorities she keeps it a secret from her mum’s friends. Then she meets Wolf, a young antique dealer, working for his uncle, Gav Out Back, and he becomes her ally when a stranger starts hanging around. Fast forward to May 2019 and Maggie is an author living in Paris, under the pen name of Margaret Foale when she receives the phone call that she’s been dreading for twenty years and she knows that she must return to London to face the music and warn her younger brother Kit of what is to come…

The Midnight Hour is told across two timelines and from various perspectives of the main characters. It is a tense, multi-layered family drama in which young Maggie has been seemingly stranded by her mum and left holding the baby, so to speak. This is a well-crafted story, concentrating essentially on family and friendships and the secrets withheld over the years that could potentially destroy them in the end. The author builds this tale slowly and then strips the layers back one by one to reveal a very satisfactory ending, giving Maggie and Kit the answers they have been searching for all this time. This is the first I’ve read by this author and I look forward to reading more of her work.

I’d like to thanks Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House and Netgalley for the approval, I will post my review on Amazon and Goodreads

We start in May 2019 when Maggie, an author living in Paris, gets a call from London. This call brings the news she has been dreading. Work is being done on the Notting Hill home she lived in as a child.
We then go back to the 90s when Dee, former model and mother to two children, leaves for a night out but does not return. Her teenage daughter Maggie is left looking after younger brother Kit. An excursion takes them out on a walk where they bump into Wolf, a young man who works at an antique shop. They strike up a good friendship and he helps them, as well as opening Maggie's eyes up to the world! But this friendship, and the lack of a mother figure, soon also brings about some darkness, eventually leading to them fleeing to stay with Aunt Cora in Paris...
All a little convoluted and busy... well yes it is a bit, but no more than I could handle. There are also quite a few incidental characters who all have their parts to play, all of whom are well crafted and do their jobs well. But you do have to have your wits about you as the story meanders in the present with excerpts from the past brilliantly inserted for clarity, illustration, and progression of the main narrative.
The story is compelling and contains just enough obfuscation to keep my attention nicely as well as adding a healthy layer of intrigue along the way. We have family secrets as well as lies and more than enough dysfunctional behaviour to keep me guessing all the way through. OK so some of the characters and their behaviour were a bit annoying and I did roll my eyes on the odd occasion but, given their upbringing, I can easily forgive. And it did make them feel more real if that makes sense. Their truth, as it was exposed, peeling back the layers, well... at the end of the day, when it was all laid bare, it left me wholly satisfied. All quite emotional on occasion too.
All in all, another winner from an author who, if you have not already read, also has an impressive back catalogue for you to discover after you have read this one. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Really enjoyed this book. A great story and well written. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance digital copy.

An outstanding book, so well crafted and captivating til the end. I loved the Notting Hill/ Love Actually vibe that ran through to the final scene but there was a lot of more serious stuff going on as well. A dual timeline and some deep dark secrets that are slowly revealed kept me gripped.

Maggie and Kit have had a unusual childhood. They lost their father and a few years later lost their mother.
What happened in between has cast a shadow on their lives until now.
Now living in Paris, Maggie receives a call that could change their lives forever; the house that they lived in in Notting Hill has been granted permission for a basement. A secret that has lain dormant for 21 year could finally be revealed and place someone Maggie loves in danger.
The story flits between the present (well 2019) and 1998. The reader gradually has the full picture, but the big reveals are not until near the end.
Well written and enjoyable.

I received a copy of this book for a free and unbiased opinion.
I couldn’t put The Midnight Hour down and I finished the book in one sitting. The story moves seamlessly between two timelines- 1998 when Dee-Dee, a glamorous widow goes missing and in 2018 when a gruesome discovery is about to be made at Dee-Dee old house.
Maggie is the main character, and we watch her story unfold as a confused 17-year-old suddenly left to look after her 6 year old brother and as thirty-seven still dealing with trauma from 1998. The unfolding mystery abut Dee-Dee’s disappearance is the main theme of the book but the story itself powerful exploration of the love and connection between people and how this shapes our life. From the passionate teenage love between Maggie and Wolf, the complicated relationship between Kit and his mother, and the fierce loyalty of Dee-Dee’s friends, the book captures the complicated nature them all.
The story has plenty of twists and turns with ending that took me completely by surprise.
I haven’t heard of Eve Chase before, but I have placed her backlist on my TBR list

This dual timeframe story really was a slow burner to start of and took me some time to really engage with it. However, the second half improved and I fairly whizzed through it. The story focuses on central characters Maggie and brother Kit and transitions back and forth between 2019 and 1998, set mostly in Notting Hill, London. When DeeDee the model mother walks out of their home and disappears without a trace Maggie tries to hold things together for her young brother Kit. Into their lives enters Wolf. As Maggie and Wolf begin to fall in love over the summer a shadow lurks in the periphery in the form of a man asking questions about DeeDee and the family.
Without giving too much away here life begins to unravel and follows the siblings across time and into adulthood when events of the past come back to bite them. There are plenty of family secrets, some of which surprised me towards the end.
All in all a reasonable read and worth finishing.

Notting Hill, 1998: Dee Delancey - loving mother, grieving widow, sometime model - heads out for the evening, blowing a kiss before vanishing sown the crescent. She doesn't come home that night, Nor the night after. Her reclusive teenage daughter, Elfine refuses to accept that she's gone - no one loses both parents in two years, do they? Forced to keep house and mother her maddening little brother Kit, Elfine shuns the help of Dee's chaotic small circle of friends, fearing the news reaching the tabloids and authorities. But she finds an unexpected ally in Wolf, an older boy with boxers fists.

This story has a dual timeline - 1998 and 2018. They are intricately woven together, covering topics that include - love, hate, family secrets, joy, pain, and scandal. The story follows siblings Elfine and Kit as they try to find out what happened to their mother. Elfine's life gets a bit better when she meets Wolf. In the present day, Maggie lives in Paris, she's an author. The characters were realistic. This is a beautifully written story that pulled me in after reading a few pages.

Published 27th June 2024

I would like to thank #NetGalley #HarperCollinsUk #OneMoreChapter and the author #EveChase for my ARC of #TheMidnightHour in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It’s a dual story set in 2019 and 1998. It’s part love story, part mystery and part family saga. We meet Maggie who is now an author and her sensitive younger brother Kit. We go back to 1998 when their mother DeeDee receives a phone call, goes out and doesn’t come back. We meet Wolf who Maggie falls in love with at 18. What follows is a journey that reveals family secrets that have consequences for Kit especially. There are lots of other characters Cora the aunt , Cooper the villain and Gav the friend. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and thought it was a page turner. I have never read this author before and this is her fourth novel. If you like a dual time frame and secrets galore then this is a recommended read.

I've read a few books by Eve Chase before and always find them very captivating, and The Midnight Hour did exactly the same.

It took me a little while to really get into this one, as the first half of the book is very slow-moving. But I engaged with the characters so much that I needed to know what happened in their past and how this would affect their future.

The second half picks up with more developments, and I was soon completely invested in the story. I loved following the characters' highs and lows, the friendships, the family bonds and the first loves. It's a beautifully written story, and you can't help but root for the characters.

With two timelines developing side by side, there's also a touch of mystery. It's quite a domestic story, but you'll be eager for answers all the same.

Overall, this is an enchanting and warm story with hints of historical fiction and mystery, a perfect summer read.

I liked the premise of the book, so decided to try it. It was ok, but not one of my favourites. The characterisations weren’t believable, and Kit, the younger brother is downright annoying even as an adult. The mother, Dee, is not much better.

The story starts in 1998 when Maggie and Kit’s mum Dee disappears, and Maggie is left, at 17 left to look after her much younger brother. She then meets Wolf, a local boy who works for his Antique dealer uncle, and she falls head over heals in love with him. Maggie, Wolf and Kit end up living together in the mum’s house until something happens that threatens all of their safety. Twenty years later Maggie hears from Wolf that the basement in their old house is being dug up, and this threatens to unearth secrets and things better left hidden.

This took longer to read then it should have, probably because a couple of the characters were so annoying.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6564272353
https://maddybooksblog.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-midnight-hour-by-eve-chase-i-liked.html

This novel sweeps you in immediately. Even before the 1998 event happens my stomach is in knots, kind of knowing, but hoping it not to be true. The way Eve paints the characters make then so believable. You are rooting for the truth.

I loved the dual timeline, and that the historical timeline was 1998. Did it help that I was the same age as Maggie? Yes, of course. It was a very nostalgic read and I loved the entwining of the filming of 'Notting Hill'. I loved Aunt Cora - Please can she be my Aunt? The prose really evokes the sights and sounds of 1998 London, and present day Paris. The tale gave me a little of everything - mystery, romance, family drama. A great read.

I have read previous books by Eve Chase, but this one felt different to me. I wasn’t sure about the story line, I found the characters to be rather flat, their backgrounds were limited and added little to the story. I was okay with the dual time lines, but this time, they really slowed the flow of the narration, and it made for frustrating reading.
The story concerns a missing mother, Dee Dee, who goes out to a party and never returns to daughter Maggie and son Kit. The story moves from this event set in 2009 onto 2019, where Maggie is an aspiring writer in France and Kit is based in London. Both have differing recollections of this disappearance, and Kit appears to be at the very heart of this mystery.
When Maggie finds out that the old family house has been bought and being renovated, she rushes back home, with a feeling of dread.
When remains are found, everything that Maggie has believed in about her family is thrown out of the window and many painful secrets are revealed.
It is a real twisty novel, but it never really gelled with me. Aunt Cora is the most interesting character, and boy, she is keeping a most unexpected secret. She is the crux of this mystery for me.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Michael Joseph, Penguin and Random House for my advanced copy, freely given in exchange for my honest review. Three star rating only. I will post to Goodreads and Amazon UK on publication.