Early Review: Blood Moon by Lisa Kessler

7:00 am 12 December 2014

Blood Moon
Series: Moon #3
Author: Lisa Kessler
Publisher: Entangled
Published on: December 15, 2014
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Werewolves
Format: 243 pages, eARC
Provided by: Publisher

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A lone wolf...

Gareth Takoda is the last surviving member of his family. Guilt, grief, and bitterness have isolated him from his Pack, and driven him into his own private purgatory.

A new Pack member...

Nadya Dalca was bitten by a genetically-altered werewolf from Nero's top secret Lycan Squad, a death sentence for every wolf in the project. Her empathic abilities and fighting spirit have helped her survive her first full moon, but the poison in her veins is pushing her body to its limits.

'Til death do they part...

In an effort to save Nadya's life, the door is opened to Nero. But will the experiment save her life, or push the Pack in deeper with the enemy? One kiss and Gareth's course is changed forever. He'll face down death once more, but this time, he's planning to win.

BLOOD MOON had a lot going for it including terrific characters, innovative boinking, and a sweet romance, however it did have one significant flaw that was impossible to overlook: the rushed story. Gareth’s action/reaction turnaround time was too quick, and the mythology was glossed over which made Nadya & Gareth’s tale difficult to buy into, and as a result their HEA came off as uninspired. I’m sad that I didn’t enjoy this novel as much as I’d hoped because Kessler wrote it as a tribute of sorts to her mother’s recovery from cancer, and that resonated with me, I just wish I could say the same about the book.

I enjoyed reading from the heroine’s POV quite a bit; Dalca’s positive attitude and courage were remarkable given her looming expiration date. Instead of dwelling on her impending doom, she’s decided to live in the moment, and to make every second count. For the most part, Nadya stayed true to her course, although she did hit a couple of emotional hurdles which was to be expected, but that only further endeared her to me. It also made her mate bond with Gareth easier to accept, and justified the rapid progression of their relationship. I was happy that she found someone to spend her final days with who would hold her hand through it all.

My issue with this novel was the male protagonist’s POV; the moment he discovered that Dalca was his one true match, he ran for the hills. I was ok with that seeing how his entire family was lost to him, and he didn’t think he’d be able to survive another death. However, he came to his senses entirely too swiftly in my opinion, I wanted to witness more of Gareth’s internal struggle. Then, he discovered that he has a rare ability, visits his godmother to gain some insight, and what should have been a lengthy dialogue was dumbed down to a few sentences. Two missed opportunities for character and world development that were very noticeable.

The plot could have used more oomph as well; it was extremely linear with no curves or surprises to speak of, except for maybe the ending, and even it was foreseeable. Also, there were a lot of sex scenes; some of them were creative, I’ll give the author that, but after a while they just screamed filler. I wasn’t a big fan of Jason either because a seemingly brilliant doctor was reduced to instigating romantic drama via a mock love triangle. I did like that we got to reconnect with the two previous couples in this series, and getting to attend Sasha & Aren’s wedding was a nice perk, their twins were cute too.

BLOOD MOON was a respectable Paranormal Romance, but nothing to howl at.