I loved this book so much! I enjoyed watching Winnie come into her own and who doesn't love Jay. The mystery and challenges they face...the monsters...the crow! The plot thickens and I can't wait for the final book to find out what happens! I know it's going to be epic!!

Another Susan Dennard success, and a great kick-off to the 2024 reading year! As in The Luminaries, the atmosphere of The Hunting Moon was paramount to my enjoyment of the story, though we spent less time in the woods and more time in the small town of Hemlock Falls, newly reframed for Winnie by 1, the trauma of both the Trials and the about-face of everyone's attitudes toward her and her family, and 2. her confusion/the mystery surrounding the nightmare she calls the Whisperer and figuring out what happened with her dad and the Dianas. Again, there's a tone of foreboding, with Winnie being on-edge and therefore making the story feel tense even during "safe" times, because she has a brand new space to renegotiate her existence within. I love that sort of vibe in YA novels especially, where teenaged protagonists are learning who they are in their social contexts and often bucking up against the laid out expectations of their peers and culture. For Winnie, that feeling is magnified because she was forcibly excluded by those peers and culture for so long, wanted to get back in those good graces, and is only now slowly having the wool pulled off her eyes as to all of the ways this culture fails everyone included within it (yes, even her with her newfound popularity borne of exemplifying Being A Great Young Luminary as far as everyone knows! In fact, being put on a pedestal when she's actively reeling from her trauma and being expected to keep a happy face on is Bad Actually!)

I very much enjoyed Winnie's quiet internal arc of learning to trust her friends to have her back and accepting their apologies when they fail her, as well as realizing that she's not the only one who's had problems and that she may also have failed her old friends in turn. It doesn't make any one party "in the right;" it just makes relationships complicated things that need to be worked on by all parties, and that nuance was really refreshing, especially when paired with the ticking-clock plot of finding out 1. where/who the werewolf is, 2. what's up with the (new?) presence of Dianas in Hemlock Falls and what do they have to do with Winnie's dad's assertion that he was framed, 3. what's up with Jay and Winnie's feelings for one another, and 4. will the Wednesday family get re-inducted into a society that cast them out? The balance of fast- and slow-pace, spooky tone, and complex character interrelationships made this book so enjoyable for me, and I cannot wait to see how this story concludes.

Another great instalment in this series. I absolutely adored The Luminaries, so so was excited to read this one. I really enjoyed this one too. It was exciting and a fast read. The perfect YA mystery / fantasy. I loved Jay and Winnie!!

4 stars

The second book of The Luminaries series is a bit special to me since I took part of the choose your own adventure on twitter "back in the days" before all went down with the MElon takeover and I was eager to continue Winnie's story.

Unfortunately my kindle had pixel issues and I was not able to submit this feedback before the book was released.

* Hero(s) - 4/5
* Heroine(s) - 4/5
* Secondary Characters - 4/5

* Plot/Storyline - 4/5
* Romance/Steam - 3/5
* Drama/Conflict/Angst - 4/5
* Worldbuilding/Atmosphere - 5/5

* Writing Style - 4/5

I want to preface this by saying I liked the book overall, and will be continuing the series. However, this book is not as good as The Luminairies. I find the storytelling in the sequel extremely repetitive. I know it’s from Winnie’s point of view and her own thoughts, but it honestly got quite boring after a while. She is repeating so much to herself. The entire book is only about 1 week of events and it feels like months based on her droning on and on about the same things, it is so incredibly slow.

I generally feel like there could have been a lot more things happening in this book, if only Winnie's thoughts weren’t repeated on every single page. And I don’t actually mean her talking from her knowledge on the compendium, I mean her obsessing over the same exact words again and again. Like how many times do I have to read the words clusterfuck and whisperer. Also so much of this book is looking back and repeating the same storylines that we went through in book one. I caught myself thinking "if only there was a skip summary” button.

Despite all this, it was an interesting story. I read it very quickly and although I guessed a few of the plot twists, I didn’t guess everything. I feel like if more time had been spent on the actual plot and less in Winnie’s head, I would have liked it better. The first book had a better balance between the two, and I hope this will improve in the third one.

I love this series - it is so unique and different from other YA fantasy stories, in such a great way. Can't wait to read the rest of it (I was given only a sneak peak!)

Susan has done it again, folks. Can she do anything wrong? I loved her first series, I loved the Witchlands, and I love, love, love the Luminaries. Happy feels? Oh yes. Creepy creeps too? OH YES. Annoying characters you love to hate? Ding ding ding! (I adore Jay, really). Winnie is wonderful. It has the right amount of all the tropes you like with Susan's little sass sprinkled in. Y'all. I can't compliment it enough and I can't wait for the next book either. 10/10 would recommend. 5 out of 5 stars because how could it not be?

The formatting was off on this excerpt for me. It didn’t look Right on my kindle, iPad or iPhone. It mismatched where the words aligned and made it very difficult to read. From what I read I did enjoy it and I did preorder the book so I am excited to see where the story goes.

The book continues basically where the last book ended. Which also means we need to buildup to the big stuff again. The first 15 chapters are entirely made for the buildup. Some key points have been introduced and I can't wait to find out more!

Winnie Wednesday is back. The Hunting Moon is a rough start for Winnie. A lead hunter is dead and no one believes her about what is stalking the woods. I can’t wait to read the rest of the book, very cruel to have the teaser stop right at when Jay arrives and Winnie is going to confess. I will pick up the book when my copy arrives. Thanks to the publisher for the teaser. I will post my full review once I see where this goes.

Thank you Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. My review is my own and not influenced by others.

I just finished reading the excerpt of The hunting moon and I can’t wait to read the rest of this book.

I loved this sequel preview, and cannot wait for the full book to come out! I can see that all of my questions from book one are going to be addressed (I think), along with new mysteries too. It feels like the pace is a little quicker in this book. Winnie's connection with Jay is already getting interesting and complicated, and the secrets to track down and to hide promise to keep the tension high. If you haven't read The Luminaries yet, do it now so you're ready when the Hunting Moon releases! (You can pre-order, too.)

Great followup excerpt to The Luminaries. It shows how much more indepth the reader will be learning about the world while still focusing on the the interpersonal relationships Winnie has with her peers and other Luminaries without dismissing her trauma (though many people in her life do that exact thing so far). Book 2s tend to be my favorite in series and this looks like it will be right up there with what is expected with a book 2.

The first book wasn't my favorite, but I wanted to give the sequel a chance before I pass my final judgement. The excerpt has grabbed my interest enough that I'm hopeful all the loose ends from book 1 are likely to tie up. I'll be reading the finished copy when it comes out.

Thank you for gifting me a copy of this book’s extract.

The first 90 pages of this second book were more focused on information/research and on building some leads that will be used later (for example the dad).
There was almost no action, which is understandable as these first 90 pages allow the reader to come back into the world, its systems and also to remember the names and fonctions of everyone.

I liked it and I am glad that I got to read the first 90 pages as it showed me that I wasn’t as into it as I was with the first book.

In a surprising twist, book 2 is far improved from book1. While book 1 felt incomplete and rushed, book 2 better filled out the world and the characters far better. The dilemmas Winnie faces are stronger and more believable. They’re also more entertaining.
Add on top of that, figuring out jay’s secret and starting to put pieces together really helped excel this book to be better than its predecessor.

I was given an extended excerpt of the first third of the book by NetGalley and all opinions are my own.

The Hunting Moon is off to a good start, continuing right where we left off in book 1. Like with The Luminaries, the writing is very accessible and perfect for younger YA audiences. The prose is very similar to book 1, so if you enjoyed the writing before, you will be pleased. While the first third of the book doesn't answer many questions, the final chapter does leave me intrigued to read on. I suspect Jay and Winnie's slow-burn relationship will further develop in this novel, and that should be nice to read. As of this excerpt, I think my rating for this book could be anywhere between 3-4 stars.

Susan Dennard knows what she is doing by letting us read this much. I need more. Overall I love it. I have two mild complaints. 1) I don't like the way Jay talks to Winnie sometimes. Like "What a question to ask me" feels manipulative. But not everyone talks the way I want them to in real life and it isn't the end of the world. Along with it though, it feels as if their relationship took a few steps backwards without any particular reason. 2) The book is really short. I just read a third of the book and it was barely anything. I've seen pictures of the physical arc and I'm wondering why the book is so small. Please give us more.

Can I please be approved for the full book?! Because I NEED to know what happens.

Susan Dennard knocks it out the park with the opening segments of this book. I cannot wait for mysteries to start unraveling. Winnie Wednesday is back where she wanted to be but still feels like an outcast because she is still reeling from all the events that happened during her trials. I highly enjoyed the few scenes with Erica and delving deeper into their relationship, and how Winnie is more comfortable with her Wednesday friends. The pacing was fantastic and I always marvel at how Susan’s writing is top notch.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for making this extended excerpt available to readers! It's about a third of the book, and it's made me so excited to read the rest in November.

It picks up almost immediately after the first book ends, and is centered around Winnie dealing with the consequences of her trials while trying to figure out if her dad's message was real. Will she solve the mystery of her dad's betrayal? Will she find the Whisperer and the werewolf? Will her and Jay finally makeout? Can't wait to find out.