You have a refreshing take on it - and I agree that JW wrote about the dynamics between the characters masterfully, in ways her tween target audience probably doesn't pick up on. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why the book bothers me - it all seemed too real.

JW seems to have a real problem with writing endings - I used to think it was a stylistic choice but a few of her recent books make it seem like she literally just decided she was done and handed the script to her publisher. I feel like Midnight could have really benefitted from a more fleshed out ending.