Midnight Hunt

by Lizzie Strong

Valerie Contempt is a grad student, a sorority member, a witch, and unfortunately for her, mouthy. After back-talking her grandmother one too many times, her magic protections are revoked. She feels feral, ravenous, and worst of all- dangerous. Out of spite, she's resolved to survive the semester 'taking care of it' in the woods with only the moon as her witness. Her main goal is to open an apothecary, not to produce an heir to fulfill her "family duty". But one night, sweaty and unsatisfied she is found by a mob, calling for her head. They're calling her a murderer but she's been in these bushes for hours, she definitely didn't kill anyone.

Naturally, she books it. Running for her life, she bumps into a bear ensnared in a deadly trap. Releasing the beast with her last ounce of strength, she recognizes the druid coming out of wild shape...

"Professor O'Harre"

The problem being, Lochlainn O'Harre, tenured professor and arch-druid can smell the special type of frenzy in his favorite student, and it calls to him. Begging him to hunt her down... and take her there in the woods.



Midnight Hunt is a stand-alone dark academia PNR novella between a professor and his grad student.

167 pages, Paperback

Published December 6, 2024

About the author

Lizzie Strong is A Monster Romance Author, where the monsters are spooky scary, and the romance is cute and cuddly. Queer Representation, Smink ;) friendly, consent heavy. A Florida swamp gremlin masquerading as a functioning human and author. The DM for a D&D podcast, previous retail and restaurant manager, constant worry wort, and romantic, Lizzie is always in between a brilliant idea and a dumb one. Inclusive books with magical nonsense, filled with monsters (you may or may not love) and mayhem. Find out more about her, the books coming out, and her nonsense at lizziestrongauthor.com

Reviews

[Poppy || Monster Lover · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very much more smut than plot and that was fine with me. Valerie was a grad student trying to deal with her breeding season while being accused of murder. She was feisty when pushed but generally quiet around others. Lochlainn was a Druid bear shifter and her professor. He was steady and intelligent, with a kinky streak that complemented Valerie’s. Their forbidden romance was full of intrigue and danger from outside forces, but once they came together, nothing was gonna tear them apart.

Spice: 5/5

Triggers: Mob mentality, threat of burning at stake, involuntary removal of birth control magic by family member, murder, use of the word Hag in a derogatory way, reclaiming of the word hag, Gore, Body horror, undead, zombies, blood, family planning/breeding, pregnancy (non-descriptive), Pregnancy HEA

[Char · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valerie just wants control of her future... and maybe some babies with her druid bear shifter professor.
This is an absolutely fantastic book (of course, it's a Lizzie book). If you're looking for feminine rage where the fmc saves everyone, gets her dream future and babies, then this is the book for you.

[McKayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twisty, fun, spicy!

I loved this so much! Bear shifter\professor MMC and grad student\witch FMC in the midst of a breeding season! It was a perfect book, I also loveddd the plot of mystery and murder! The necromancy aspect was so fun!

[Ciru · Rating 4 out of 5]

“They monologued, didn’t they?”
“Yeah.”
“I hate when people do that.

I loved this. Take Wednesday Addams, mix her with a hag version of a witch, and make her more personable and you have Valerie. Then we have Loch-I-cannot-be-bothered-with-his-last-name-lainn, hot professor, that turns into a bear, that has earth magic. Okay, they both had earth magic.

I loved them! They were cute together. The smut was hot. The frustrated murder was hotter.

The liquid sloshed but it didn’t bubble up or fizz. I hissed under my breath, “Excellent form, well-made tonic, little witch.”

“Oh! You’re complimenting my potions? Who gave you the right to tell me what to do?”

Their banter was sweet when it needed to be, hot when it needed to be, clear/no miscommunication when it needed to be.

The culprit was easy to spot but that didn't take away from the journey of solving the bigger mystery at hand.

I had two issues with the book.

Lochlainn's prose at times, the start of the book was very old fashioned, like you'd think you've time travelled. I had to keep on going back and forth, see email mentioned to understand they are basically in fantasy world but this time frame. Though no mobile phones make an appearance during the story.

The other issue was it being called her breeding time/season. Just call it her heat then mention the breeding but not breeding this and that all the time. Anyway, that just may be a personal preference for me due to reading omegaverse books.

So, loved this. Valerie saved herself. I would have loved more of her being her hag witchy self.

[BriBiscuit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Lizzie Strong knocked it out of the fucking park! Let's GOO!!!! My favorite fictional character to ever exist Halsin(from Bladurs Gate 3) is who inspired the MMC… What more can I ask for? It truly was like Christmas came early! I had been hoping and praying that one day someone would bless me with a wonderful story with a Halsin inspired MMC, and Strong more than delivered she freaking SLAYED! Everything about this story from the main characters, to the setting/world building, the magic, the turmoil and struggles the main characters faced was perfection! The dynamic between Professor O'Hare and Valerie was delicious, and I may be biased but Professor O'Hare was as sweet as honey and as protective as a bear ;D Valerie was stubborn as ever and had the immense power to back it up! I wish the story continued and would never end I loved it so much :") I'd kill to know where their lives continue and would love to see just how many ways the Professor could use his druidic powers to spice up their lives ;D Strong is my favorite author, and I will always be on the edge of my seat waiting to read another one of her tantalizingly addictive books!

10/5 Protective Bear Professors ~ If I could rate this 100/5 I would! I loved this from beginning to end and will definitely be rereading it! What can I say? I can’t get enough of the honey loving druid ;D

[Kelspar · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 rounding up, because why not 🤷‍♀️

In my opinion, this is more of a plot heavy erotic novella. More spice than substance, not that that is a bad thing. This basic books down to a grad student witch being framed for a murder, except it's happening at the worst possible time, her "breeding season". Soooooo it's very breeding kink heavy. She's doing her witchy thing in the woods when she runs into her druid professor. They get it together. So there's also a bit of professor/student stuff obviously, and then there's also some chasing/hunting kink when he's in his bear form.

But all that aside there were some feelings. This only spans a couple days, and it does try to cram a whole relationship in it unfortunately. Just too much going on. It should have been a full length book!!! I could see them eventually being very happy together, but we really only see a small sliver of their relationship (they already knew each other, as he was her professor for several years, so they sorta of just hook up and go straight to I Want To Be With You).

Loved the final fight scene. And the mom's reaction "aw baby's first murder" lol

I had fun, but it was only good not great. But whatever, I finally found a good druid MMC!

[Kuri · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I read that Halsin was the inspiration for the MMC I got super excited, but honestly this was a little too on the nose. It's to the point where there's actually dialogue that's directly from the game. It's altered enough that not everyone will notice, but it really stuck out to me in a bad way.

Unfortunately, it felt like the book didn't know if it wanted to be fanfiction or an original story, and therefore felt like a mediocre version of both. If there wasn't dialogue from the game it would have been different enough for me to ignore, but it honestly just made me wish I was reading fanfiction instead.

[Alexandra Brumley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a spicy, primal, and breeding kink and Halsin is a professor fanfiction that was a fun little ride. If you wanted the bear in BG3, then you'll like this read hahaha. Wish the main plot was a little more thought out and less blatantly obvious in the beginning, but it's a smutty little read, so I can't complain too much.

[Amber Dilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

This was such a great story and I absolutely loved that my name sake was the villain! Whoop!
Definitely a book I'd read again!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

picked this book up from Monsterotica.

[Lorna Hee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose Halsin in BG3 - as a bear - and Lizzie Strong made that into a cheeky little read.

Loved it. The spice, the mystery, both had me turning the page. Sad I didn't find this sooner