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sj9642's review
4.0
I think I may have enjoyed this one the best. I really liked Mal and Claire. I thought the Gypsies were neat and Claire's story was compelling. I kind of wish there had been more detail and conflict with Logan - not that I liked him, I totally hated him - but more of the story could have made me feel more for Claire. Good story though. I liked it a lot.
gudzilla's review
4.0
Reading these novels - reminds me of Good old days!
Remember when Internet was just come into our life and we used pay ‘cyber cafes’ in order to use it, on hourly basis! I was in college then and it was such a blast….
I don’t know why I remember old days, maybe because small town tales, mature and aged hero or quite and simple life….mebe…
This is story of small town, its residents and their mayor Clair Kennedy. Of course, you have to throw Gypsies, werewolf and other paranormal elements into mix to get your superhit PNR.
I agree with other reader that ending seems bit abrupt but knowing Handeland, Clair and Malachi will bound to show up in other novel and I wasn't disappointed when I started with next in the series [b: Thunder Moon|1904217|Thunder Moon (Nightcreature, #8)|Lori Handeland|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1311995874s/1904217.jpg|1905954].
gerd_d's review
3.0
I really enjoyed this book a lot, the characters are likeable, apart from the bad guys who are not, and personally I didn't see the end coming. Originally I gave it 4 stars because I think it's easily up to the first book in the series "Blue Moon".
What led me knock off one more star from the rating is Lori's use of a particularly unsavoury romance trope; i.e. the "Healing Penis."
In short Claire overcomes her rape trauma through having fantastic sex with Malachi. That is one bitter tasting, hard to swallow bite there in the book and it’s only owned to Lori’s otherwise easy flowing writing and her charismatic lead characters that the book hit the wall at that point, literally.
Another stopper was the vastly underdeveloped conflict between the leads.
As Claire so correctly points out it’s not sex if it’s not freely given, it’s rape. And yet after having been betrayed once before by a man she thought to love her, she simply takes the fact that Malachi manipulated her into falling for him and having sex with him in stride; Shrugging it off with a “Ah well, but now he does love me” attitude.
Claire is not quite as passive a character as Crescent Moon’s Diane, but by the end of the book she’s still too caught up in her victim act, showing still to much co-dependency, for a believable happy end.
Bottom line, it’s a fine story in my opinion, but wrought around a too weak, rather anti-feminist lead character.
What led me knock off one more star from the rating is Lori's use of a particularly unsavoury romance trope; i.e. the "Healing Penis."
In short Claire overcomes her rape trauma through having fantastic sex with Malachi. That is one bitter tasting, hard to swallow bite there in the book and it’s only owned to Lori’s otherwise easy flowing writing and her charismatic lead characters that the book hit the wall at that point, literally.
Another stopper was the vastly underdeveloped conflict between the leads.
As Claire so correctly points out it’s not sex if it’s not freely given, it’s rape. And yet after having been betrayed once before by a man she thought to love her, she simply takes the fact that Malachi manipulated her into falling for him and having sex with him in stride; Shrugging it off with a “Ah well, but now he does love me” attitude.
Claire is not quite as passive a character as Crescent Moon’s Diane, but by the end of the book she’s still too caught up in her victim act, showing still to much co-dependency, for a believable happy end.
Bottom line, it’s a fine story in my opinion, but wrought around a too weak, rather anti-feminist lead character.
vkemp's review
3.0
Claire Kennedy left Lake Bluff GA for a career in journalism in Atlanta. After being raped, she returns to Lake Bluff to hide out and recover. She ends up as mayor by default because her father died in office and the Town Council asks her to fill out his term. Her former best friend is the police chief, so Claire and Grace McDaniel are buy trying to organize and run the annual Lake Bluff Hidden Moon Festival. Claire's assistant, Joyce, has hired a troop of gypsies to entertain the festival but there is much more to these gypsies than meeets the eye. Their leader is Malachi Cartwright and he makes Claire think of the spring rain. But who is killing tourists in Lake Bluff? As an eclipse nears, the hidden moon may reveal more secrets than the town wants to know.
wyvernfriend's review
4.0
Claire Kennedy left Lake Bluff, Georgia for Atlanta, now, she's moved back, a little older and a lot wiser, and determined not to let another person break her heart. She's also determined to make a success of the job of Mayor, stepping into her fathers footsteps isn't the easiest of tasks.
Malachi Cartwright is a gipsy, part of a troupe brought in for an annual festival, and she's quite attracted to him, as he appears to be to her.
Then there's a tourist found mauled by, he claims, a wolf, something not seen for years in the area. Malachi has secrets, things that he doesn't want to reveal and Claire's past comes to haunt her.
It's pretty predictable but quite readable.
Malachi Cartwright is a gipsy, part of a troupe brought in for an annual festival, and she's quite attracted to him, as he appears to be to her.
Then there's a tourist found mauled by, he claims, a wolf, something not seen for years in the area. Malachi has secrets, things that he doesn't want to reveal and Claire's past comes to haunt her.
It's pretty predictable but quite readable.
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