Product Description

Kitty Norville is a midnight-shift DJ for a Denver radio station?and a werewolf in the closet. Her new late-night advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged is a raging success, but it?s Kitty who can use some help. With one sexy werewolf-hunter and a few homicidal undead on her tail, Kitty may have bitten off more than she can chew?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4436 in eBooks
• Published on: 2008-01-09
• Released on: 2008-01-09
• Format: Kindle Book
• Number of items: 1

From Publishers Weekly
Vaughn's entertaining fantasy debut introduces Kitty Norville, a closeted werewolf who hosts a popular Denver radio program called The Midnight Hour. During her show, Kitty takes phone calls from listeners (not all of whom are human) while trying to maintain her secret identity. Unfortunately, the local vampire crime family wants her show canceled and has hired someone to kill her. In fact, it's during the course of Kitty's dramatic on-air conversation with her would-be assassin that she reveals to listeners that she is, indeed, a werewolf. Eventually, local police enlist her to help track down a serial killer who exhibits werewolflike tendencies. While Kitty's occasional neediness, snide tone and attempts at werewolf wit can grate, this remains a surprisingly human tale. Blurbs from Charlaine Harris and L.A. Banks will cue their readers. (Nov..)
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Customer Reviews

Pretty okay w/ a couple drawbacks
Always on the hunt for a good urban fantasy, I picked up Kitty based
on a number of recommendations and good reviews (specifically one that
compared this book to vintage Anita Blake) and for the most part, its
pretty good.

Kitty herself is likable, neither too self-deprecating nor too
self-absorbed. The writing is good too. And there aren't any
gratuitous sex scenes that so often plague this genre.

A couple of things bothered me. The werewolf pack dynamic: it was
pretty abusive and unpleasant to read about. Also, a personal pet
peeve of mine is portraying Republicans/Christians as either evil or
legalistic hatemongers. I mean come on already.

Not sure how I feel about this book....
I liked Kitty as a character because I felt she was trying to grow. I felt that her victimness was part of her character because of how she became a werewolf; I just don't like that it took her three years to become more than just a victim. I also didn't like that she was raped (by Bill the human), that her werewolf attacker (Zan) got away with effectively raping her humanity from her/killing her old self, however you want to say it. The pack didn't punish him for attacking a human, and turning her into them against her will. But then, the pack was not exactly about fairness and justice. Carl, the leader, basically used his power to get sex from Kitty, and that's a kind of rape. He was supposed to be protecting her, and he wasn't... he was just victimizing her in another way. Kitty's wolf is so in love/adores the leader so much that she'd do anything to make him happy... but in humans, that translates into making oneself a willing victim to someone else's desires - I almost felt that Kitty was trying to make excuses for Carl using her like that and perhaps any enjoyment she got from his touch (which is because of the wolf in her). (Sometimes part of the shame of being raped is that you may have enjoyed part of it before it turned bad... like enjoying kissing but wanting to go no farther and having someone say you asked for it because you kissed the guy.)

I hated Meg. She was also supposed to be protecting her pack, and she betrayed it in so many ways, and I can't see how Carl could ever let that be. He seemed so controlling and abusive with Kitty, I don't see how he wouldn't be so with Meg. Meg was also a coward, afraid of Kitty. The way Carl was willing to kill Kitty for Meg, and with Meg helping him didn't seem to fit his original image either. So I feel Ms. Vaughn characterized Carl inconsistently.

I hate that a certain someone dies in the end, as he was my favorite character throughout the book. I hate the amount of abuse Kitty has gone through. I hate that she's the submissive wolf in the pack, and that everyone picks on her. I feel like Zan being able to continue to pick on her after she was turned because of him was like him being rewarded for bad behavior. Same with Carl and Meg's actions against her, and Carl's lack of a backbone when standing against Meg (for the most part anyway). The pack was just messed up.

What I did like was that Kitty was a radio host, and that the book is dealing with the uncovering of the paranormal. I liked that her human friends didn't abandon her when she was outted as a werewolf. I like that she isn't as pigheaded as some other women I've read about - she listens to people, and thinks about things. I like that she's trying to learn to stand up for herself. I like that she's not a cold blooded killer trying to convince herself she's not a monster, and whining about it all the while. I like that she doesn't have a harem of men (aka a hisem) following her around, licking her boots, and whining about THAT all the while (not quite a subtle dig at one of my old favorite book series). I liked her compassion.

There were some other things I liked and disliked about the book, but I feel like those were the most important.

I'd check this out of the library, or buy it used. I've gotten a lot more picky about which books I buy, and I'd heard so many people praise this series, I thought it'd be worth it, but now I'm not so sure.

Kitty and the Midnight Hour
I really liked this first book of the Kitty Norville series and I think it shows a lot of promise for the series as a whole.

Kitty is a disc jockey at a radio station and has taken over the midnight shift since she also happens to be a werewolf. One night when she's feeling bored Kitty takes a caller who brings up some paranormal activity. Kitty plays it cool like the whole idea of vampires and werewolves is a really good joke but her frank commentary and easy acceptance or dismissal of ideas (and callers) makes her rating soar and all the sudden Kitty has her own syndicated show.

Of course no one on the radio knows that she's a werewolf - well until someone sends out a hitman to take her out while she is on the air. Kitty manages to talk down the killer (she points out that someone is playing him) but admits on air to being a werewolf. Kitty's ratings (and problems) go through the roof at her admission.

Most of her problems are pack related - keeping the right "people" happy is tough and Kitty refuses to give up her show to make others happy.

The best part for me was seeing how much of what happens in Kitty's life is luck. A lot of what she does would be really impressive, if she had meant to do it that way. But as with most other things in life, for Kitty it's guesswork and being in the right place at the right time and being open to other possibilities.

I also liked the author's sense of humor which translated to some of Kitty's snarky on-air commentary. And having a werewolf named Kitty is just ironic.