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Midnight Secrets #1
The Temptation
Kendra dreams of an attractive man called Revell, who tells her she is his, but when she moves to her unexpected new stepfather's house she realizes that she and her sister Lauren are in danger
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 4, 2026
So I'm going to review this in two ways. First as a teen from a rural area who was only able to get books from her small town school library while school was in session and who was desperate to read and loved horror. Second as an adult who has since grown her own library to five hundred or more and had read many many books. Both masterpieces and utter trash.
My teen self would have given this book five stars. I remember LOVING it. Short chapters, short read, to the point, interesting, and employed all the innocuous high school drama tropes and characters I needed to relate with. It wasn't scary but intriguing. It wasn't horror-filled but made me yearn to read the next. So teen Amanda gives it *****
Adult Amanda can compare it to classics like War of the Worlds or Frankenstein. I can rate it against extremely well-written books like The Devil's Queen and books that really intrigued me like Sapkowski's. Adult me on these merits would give this book two stars for its entire plot of telling and not showing, for how I felt thoughts, feelings, words, and names were constantly repeated, and because character dialog and actions sometimes seemed out of character. But because my past self loved it so dearly and because it has a few pros like being a quick, easy read and being interesting enough to keep going, because it didn't drag out and bog down with information, adult Amanda gives it *** Which I don't think is all that bad.
My teen self would have given this book five stars. I remember LOVING it. Short chapters, short read, to the point, interesting, and employed all the innocuous high school drama tropes and characters I needed to relate with. It wasn't scary but intriguing. It wasn't horror-filled but made me yearn to read the next. So teen Amanda gives it *****
Adult Amanda can compare it to classics like War of the Worlds or Frankenstein. I can rate it against extremely well-written books like The Devil's Queen and books that really intrigued me like Sapkowski's. Adult me on these merits would give this book two stars for its entire plot of telling and not showing, for how I felt thoughts, feelings, words, and names were constantly repeated, and because character dialog and actions sometimes seemed out of character. But because my past self loved it so dearly and because it has a few pros like being a quick, easy read and being interesting enough to keep going, because it didn't drag out and bog down with information, adult Amanda gives it *** Which I don't think is all that bad.
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June 21, 2019To be honest, I read this when I was 11, which was 15 years ago. So...I can't give an honest review as I don't quite remember everything that happened. But for whatever reason, I was always so determined to come back to the series and finish reading it. So now that's what I'm intending to do. And reread the first one. So I guess it made enough of an impact for me to hunt it down 15 years later(I literally forgot the book title but knew keywords temptation and midnight was in it, and then I remembered a girl in a red outfit with hair blowing in the wind was centered on the cover so....definitely memorable haha that's the only way I ended up finding it).
January 14, 2011
L'un de mes livres préférés quand j'étais adolescente. Obviously very easy and quick to read. I was glad it was a trilogy.
August 14, 2026
First, let's address the author's name.
Obviously, this is a nom de plume unless they had really out there parents.
IMHO, Wolff Ryp is a woman writing under a more masculine name. Another theory is it could be a male author writing under a pseudonym. Who are we as readers to judge a work by gender, you know?
This falls in that genre where I could call it romance but it clearly is not. The lead character, Kendra, does have an on and off again boyfriend named Neil, but they don't focus on that.
It fits more into the title: temptation. Want to go more mature you would be apt to call it seduction instead. This may be YA, but it is far darker and mature so probably the closest example would be LJ. Smith Night World more than Vampire Diaries.
The cover doesn't really convey that because Kendra is supposed to be seventeen and looks far younger. She has a sister who is fifteen, but this looks more like a thirteen-year-old girl and is kind of...off putting.
Kendra lives in New York City with her sister Lauren and their mother, Dinah. Kendra's father died in a storm at sea where Kendra was supposed to be with him. The only reason she didn't is because ever since she was young, the birthmark on her hand always throbs before danger happens.
Despite this, Kendra goes to school with her sister, her boyfriend Neil and her bestie Hallie and has a happy life. Until her very frivolous, vain and self-involved mother drops a bombshell on the sisters.
She has married a man named Graham and they will be moving to his mansion and leaving their apartment behind. Lauren and Kendra aren't happy at first to leave but they really have no choice, but it isn't too bad.
The house is hidden behind an under-construction apartment and has its own private cemetery, but it is so big the girls will have their own floor. The housekeeper, Mrs. Stavros is not exactly friendly, but it is made up for with a black Lab named Max and his waggy tail. Another thing is their stepbrother Anthony, good-looking and friendly home from college to meet his new family.
That first night in the mansion, Kendra wakes up with a powerful thirst and sees a man standing in the corner of her room, surrounded in golden light. He is handsome, in between being her age or older, with blazing blue eyes and golden hair. Kendra finds herself in his arms and kissing him as if against her will.
He tells Kendra he has watched over her since she was born at the last stroke of midnight. He is responsible for the rose birthmark on her hand, having kissed her tiny hand, to offer her protection until the day he could come for her.
Kinda of icky but he also claims that he will be a teacher to her as she has powers of a Sensitive. My knowledge of the paranormal tells me she can sense ghosts and those not of this world. In this book, anything that Kendra thinks happens.
A pitcher of juice for her thirst out of thin air but soon, it shows a darker side.
A guy named Rob who has a crush on Kendra almost chokes on a fry being a jokester and on her visit to the mansion, Hallie becomes lost. Kendra was hoping she would get lost so Kendra could be alone with Neil. When the man comes to her again that name, he tells Kendra to call him Revell.
Sensing danger, Kendra tells him to leave her alone, but Revell is adamant that they belong together.
He tells Kendra that if she doesn't come to him like she is supposed to then things will happen to the people she loves.
Besides the plot involving Revell, the Vanderman mansion has secrets of its own. Graham has been married before and his wife before Dinah tragically died in a plane crash along with their daughter.
Graham gifts Kendra with a bracelet belonging to his late daughter, Syrie, which is a little weird, but I suppose better than collecting dust. When Kendra finds a grave in the cemetery with her own name on it, she thinks it is Revell being evil to torment her.
Turns out it is Anthony's birth mother. Helen was his stepmother and Syrie his half-sister.
Kendra learns that Revell is not used to hearing no because soon, the groundskeeper of the mansion is found dead. The poor man happens to be Mrs. Stavros' husband, and he tried to warn Kendra to stay away from an old shed on the property one night. Garden shears are found pierced through his body, but an autopsy reveals he had a heart attack and must have fallen on the shears.
Is Kendra really putting everyone in danger by resisting Revell?
The Temptation is Gothic YA at its core and to find out all of the Midnight Secrets is living up to its name as in the next book...The Thrill continues.
Obviously, this is a nom de plume unless they had really out there parents.
IMHO, Wolff Ryp is a woman writing under a more masculine name. Another theory is it could be a male author writing under a pseudonym. Who are we as readers to judge a work by gender, you know?
This falls in that genre where I could call it romance but it clearly is not. The lead character, Kendra, does have an on and off again boyfriend named Neil, but they don't focus on that.
It fits more into the title: temptation. Want to go more mature you would be apt to call it seduction instead. This may be YA, but it is far darker and mature so probably the closest example would be LJ. Smith Night World more than Vampire Diaries.
The cover doesn't really convey that because Kendra is supposed to be seventeen and looks far younger. She has a sister who is fifteen, but this looks more like a thirteen-year-old girl and is kind of...off putting.
Kendra lives in New York City with her sister Lauren and their mother, Dinah. Kendra's father died in a storm at sea where Kendra was supposed to be with him. The only reason she didn't is because ever since she was young, the birthmark on her hand always throbs before danger happens.
Despite this, Kendra goes to school with her sister, her boyfriend Neil and her bestie Hallie and has a happy life. Until her very frivolous, vain and self-involved mother drops a bombshell on the sisters.
She has married a man named Graham and they will be moving to his mansion and leaving their apartment behind. Lauren and Kendra aren't happy at first to leave but they really have no choice, but it isn't too bad.
The house is hidden behind an under-construction apartment and has its own private cemetery, but it is so big the girls will have their own floor. The housekeeper, Mrs. Stavros is not exactly friendly, but it is made up for with a black Lab named Max and his waggy tail. Another thing is their stepbrother Anthony, good-looking and friendly home from college to meet his new family.
That first night in the mansion, Kendra wakes up with a powerful thirst and sees a man standing in the corner of her room, surrounded in golden light. He is handsome, in between being her age or older, with blazing blue eyes and golden hair. Kendra finds herself in his arms and kissing him as if against her will.
He tells Kendra he has watched over her since she was born at the last stroke of midnight. He is responsible for the rose birthmark on her hand, having kissed her tiny hand, to offer her protection until the day he could come for her.
Kinda of icky but he also claims that he will be a teacher to her as she has powers of a Sensitive. My knowledge of the paranormal tells me she can sense ghosts and those not of this world. In this book, anything that Kendra thinks happens.
A pitcher of juice for her thirst out of thin air but soon, it shows a darker side.
A guy named Rob who has a crush on Kendra almost chokes on a fry being a jokester and on her visit to the mansion, Hallie becomes lost. Kendra was hoping she would get lost so Kendra could be alone with Neil. When the man comes to her again that name, he tells Kendra to call him Revell.
Sensing danger, Kendra tells him to leave her alone, but Revell is adamant that they belong together.
He tells Kendra that if she doesn't come to him like she is supposed to then things will happen to the people she loves.
Besides the plot involving Revell, the Vanderman mansion has secrets of its own. Graham has been married before and his wife before Dinah tragically died in a plane crash along with their daughter.
Graham gifts Kendra with a bracelet belonging to his late daughter, Syrie, which is a little weird, but I suppose better than collecting dust. When Kendra finds a grave in the cemetery with her own name on it, she thinks it is Revell being evil to torment her.
Turns out it is Anthony's birth mother. Helen was his stepmother and Syrie his half-sister.
Kendra learns that Revell is not used to hearing no because soon, the groundskeeper of the mansion is found dead. The poor man happens to be Mrs. Stavros' husband, and he tried to warn Kendra to stay away from an old shed on the property one night. Garden shears are found pierced through his body, but an autopsy reveals he had a heart attack and must have fallen on the shears.
Is Kendra really putting everyone in danger by resisting Revell?
The Temptation is Gothic YA at its core and to find out all of the Midnight Secrets is living up to its name as in the next book...The Thrill continues.
March 9, 2023
Not the worst of these types of books. The biggest problem is a complete lack of tension. Kendra doesn't really seem all that tempted by Revell--which, on the one hand, I appreciate, since I roll my eyes at female protagonists who go all weak-kneed at the dangerous man who's threatening their entire family. At least Kendra demonstrates a few ounces of strength and willpower. But Revell doesn't seem all that powerful by comparison and spends the whole book making empty threats. Also the narrator keeps referring to Revell as a "golden man" so I was definitely picturing C3PO.
January 26, 2025
I remember reading this book when I was in middle school and loving it. I forgot about it until I randomly remembered it now. It's a decent quick read and definitely not a complex storyline at all. Lightly creepy, paranormal suspense for a young adult. I plan to give to my neice when she is a teenager. I think she would enjoy it.
November 1, 2016
Kendra is romanced by a mysterious spirit in the new house she has moved into with her mother, sister and new stepfather. However, she soon clues in to the fact that Revell could be evil!
Good introduction to the trilogy. Kendra's mother's self absorption is hilarious!
Good introduction to the trilogy. Kendra's mother's self absorption is hilarious!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews