Dark Moon Wolf, Calling the Moon, Sarah E. Stevens
Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews
Genre: General Fiction, Sci-fi and Fantasy
Well, I love paranormal/Fantasy, and wolf shifters in particular appeal to me. I was keen to read this, a first in what hopefully would turn out to be a new and fun series.
I'd made the mistake of thinking this was romance, isn't not classed as that, simply my error and not looking carefully enough. That's not a game-changer though, I read books other than romance too :-) Just that it came as a surprise to find out some things early in the story.
Its an interesting read, Sarah has put a slightly different slant on shifter practicalities and categories which was good, kept that part fresh.
The story though didn't really work totally for me. There was just so much in it, the search for Carson's dad, meeting the new people, finding out about werewolves and witches...Julie was incredibly blase about all the new things she was learning.
Then the murders. there was a lot of action, lots going on and I just had a hard time believing things would play out as easily as they did.
Don't get me wrong - there was struggle, lots of it but given Julie is human and new to all this supernatural stuff she did really well. the other werewolves too has a very hard task solving the murders, they'd been cleverly done by someone who was clever and had lots of backing, and I just couldn't see things playing out quite the way they did without Huge, Massive repercussions.
I didn't guess who was involved til quite far on when there's a really - to the reader- obvious clue but Julie completely misses it.
It looks like a debut novel, I can't find any more books. Its well written but I just felt there was a little too much packed tightly into a novel that was just a bit too short for it. If the story was a bit longer so the action could have been made more realistic, and not have “Clue, and wow - here's the Perpetrator” plots that these shorter novels need I think its one I'd love.
A first in series has a hard ask too, setting the scene, introducing new characters, and in the case of fantasy/paranormal, other types of people, and all the while leading a story to keep the readers interest. This one does OK for me, but of course will be perfect for others. That's how it goes, we don't all want the same thing thankfully!
Stars: Three, a good start to fiction writing, and a new series, but for me needed a little more reality and practicalities.
BTW Full/Lily: does she remind anyone else of Dolly Parton? For some reason she's all I see each time Full comes into the story
ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers