Hunter's Moon (Insolita Luna, #2) in Read with Pride Northwest

Jul 11, 2012 ttg rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviews, m-m

3-3.5 stars. Pretty readable m/m shifter romance about Miles, a creative writing student in New York City who is rescued from a mugging by a giant wolf. He doesn’t understand why, but he feels a connection to that wolf, but then the animal runs off into the night. Later, Miles meets a young man with golden eyes, and again feels that strong connection, a bond solidified with a kiss, and from that point, both their lives are changed.

What I liked about this story:

- I was drawn to this book because 3-3.5 stars. Pretty readable m/m shifter romance about Miles, a creative writing student in New York City who is rescued from a mugging by a giant wolf. He doesn’t understand why, but he feels a connection to that wolf, but then the animal runs off into the night. Later, Miles meets a young man with golden eyes, and again feels that strong connection, a bond solidified with a kiss, and from that point, both their lives are changed.

What I liked about this story:

- I was drawn to this book because I had heard about this intense bond/connection between Miles and PC, a link so vital to them that they feel pain when they’re away from each other. I found that to be such a fascinating device to add conflict to the story, and it was really interesting to see how both MCs fought against and accepted that connection. Even though their relationship could be classified in the "fated" category, I still liked reading about the development between them and their growing trust and intimacy.

- This is a sequel to another book, Blood Moon, which focuses on the characters of Zach and Noah who are also in this book as supporting characters to the MCs. I hadn’t read that book, but I didn’t feel penalized for it. The author did a good job of clueing you in to what happened before, so you didn’t feel too lost. (This is a paranormal story though with vampires, lycans, etc, so if you’re unfamiliar with reading about supernatural beings and require more world-building to buy into it, you may need to read book 1.)

- The author added some twists that I didn’t see coming. There was a lot of set-up for things that made me think the story was going to go one way, but the author took it into another direction, so props for all the surprises.

- The author did a nice job on the female characters, whether it was PC’s mom or his roommates. It’s always nice to have interesting women in an m/m romance. I did feel that Lisa, a friend of Miles’s from school, came off more as a hanger-on character and I didn’t really understand her purpose to the story.

Why this story was 3-3.5 stars for me was the narrative style and Miles’s POV. It was hard for me to pin down what was bothering me, since I’m fine with first-person POV. I found his voice very over-telling and over-narrated, and It reminded me of a style more found in YA novels (except this book has sex in it, so wouldn’t be good for a YA shelf.) If you took out the sex, it probably would have been fine as a GLBT paranormal YA romance.

I wouldn’t call the style simple, but there’s a simplicity in the voice and the way the plot moved from point a to b to c to d that didn’t really work for me. I had a hard time feeling engaged with the story, and I started skimming to finish the book.

So, even though I liked the ideas in the book, especially the conflict around the bonding between the MCs, and there were some interesting surprises, this was just an okay read for me, and I’m not really feeling the pull to read book #3 or try book #1. What issues that bothered me may not bother you though so if you’re looking for an m/m shifter romance, this may fit the bill for you.

Also as a heads-up, this book is not 600+ pages, which is what GR says on the book page. It’s around 220+ pages. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 03, 2021 Shelley Chastagner rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Miles is sweet and quiet, longing for some excitement in his life. Boy, does he ever get some! He easily accepts PC and his friends. PC, on the other hand, acts like the seventeen-year-old he looks like. Selfish, stubborn, and hurtfully lashing out at Miles for disrupting his world. I wanted to smack him senseless more than once. There is a bit of intrigue, and a lot of action, some major hurdles for them to get over, and rules that need to be broken. Getting to see Noah and Zack, along with the ...more

Like · see review