Moon Rise by Marilee Brothers

By: Anonymous on Saturday, March 23, 2013

Title:  Moon Rise

Author:  Marilee Brothers

Series:  Unbidden Magic #2

Published:  July 22nd 2009 by Bell Bridge Books

Page Count:  254

Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Romance

Shelf:  Review Copy

Rating:  ★★★★

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Her mom's still dating losers. Her boyfriend's gone back to Mexico. Dad still hasn't told his wife and kids that she exists. At school, the drama queens and bullies still rule. But worst of all for Allie Emerson--aka the Star Seeker of an old Gypsy prophecy--is that her powers have taken a hike. She can't read minds anymore. She can't move stuff just by looking at it. The other Star Seekers are counting on her psychic gifts more than ever, and the evil Tri-marks are closing in, eager to snatch her magic moonstone necklace while she's helpless. The hot new guy at school is ready and willing to fight her battles, but he comes with some wicked baggage. Dear Diary: I'm a little worried. My new BF is a demon. Welcome again to Allie Emerson's funny, scary, amazing, and always unpredictable life, as the girl voted least likely to save the world from evil.

My Review:

What a brilliant follow-up to Moonstone, and extremely well written. There is enough background to refresh the reader on what happened in Moonstone (or to fill new readers in) without simply regurgitating it or dragging the story back into the past. It follows very nicely in the series, but at the same time is a very different story. I really appreciate that the author doesn’t just make this series one long story with breaks between stories, which seems to have become the norm. Brothers takes many stand alone stories and weaves them together into a series that flows well from one to the next. There is an overarching story to tell in the series as a whole, but so far, each novel can also stand on its own.

Brothers’ descriptions continue to enthrall you throughout this novel. Not only are you caught up in the suspense of the storyline but also in the beauty of the writing and of the world created by this talented author. I really appreciate how thoroughly developed everything in this story seems, while somehow still leaving room for further development in future installments. This avoids any downtime in the storyline where the author is either regurgitating something from a previous novel or a lack of detail because everything has already been said.

In this story we see further development of the main character. Not only does she grow as a person because of her experiences, but the reader also learns more about her past and what makes her tick. We also learn more about some of her friends in this installment. The increase development in the supporting cast gives the story an even more well rounded feel. To top this all off, when new supernatural characters are introduced into the story we get to know about them as people, as well as learning about their species. This leads to a very complete sense of each character.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Brothers threw some twists at me that I didn’t see coming while simultaneously staying true to everything that was developed and laid out in Moonstone. And I must say... I definitely didn’t expect Junior’s latest venture, but am lovin, it all the same.

Buy your copy of this novel online here today!