So, here’s the deal: Moonshine has finally started to pick up.

Of course I didn’t get my wish of never seeing the word Auphe (or allusions to the battle that never was) again. But, I’ve learned to skim over it; they’re now fewer and further between.

Something else I learned is that you can safely skip over the first six chapters of the book without any damage to the story whatsoever.

Worried you’ll miss something important in those first six chapters? OK then, here, let me get you all caught up: Continue reading »

OK. So, it seems that I was slightly more affected by the let down of Nightlife than I thought. Although Moonshine, book 2 in the Cal Leandros series, had been sitting on my bookshelf for roughly a month, I’ve put off reading it.

My original intention was to snatch it up and consume it the moment I’d finished Nightlife. That’s a trend with me: I did it with Patricia Brigg’s Mercy Thompson series and Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight saga and a few others. It seems rather natural to flow from one book in a series to the next. Unfortunately, I felt no yearning to pick up Moonshine (although it was quite literally sitting next to me) after finishing Nightlife.

Fast forward a couple weeks and here I am deciding that I might as well get it over with. (Not exactly the best mental attitude to have, I know.) In fact, I was feeling rather hopeful. New circumstances, more mature character development, and a clean slate. It could only get better, right? (Cue the cackling.)

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From the Back Cover of Nightlife

There are monsters among us. There always have been and there always will be. I’ve known that since I can remember, just like I’ve always known I was one…

…Well, half of one, anyway.

Welcome to the Big Apple. There’s a troll under the Brooklyn Bridge, a boggle in Central Park, and a beautiful vampire in a penthouse on the Upper East Side—and that’s only the beginning. Of course, most humans are oblivious to the preternatural nightlife around them, but Cal Leandros is only half human.

His father’s dark lineage is the stuff of nightmares–and he and his entire otherworldly race are after Cal. Why? Cal hasn’t exactly wanted to stick around long enough to find out.

He and his half brother, Niko, have managed to stay a step ahead for four years, but now Cal’s dad has found them again. And Cal is about to learn why they want him, why they’ve always wanted him: He is the key to unleashing their hell on earth. The fate of the human world will be decided in the fight of Cal’s life….

Three Quick Points About Nightlife

• Point 1: If you were to remove all the adjectives and adverbs from the book, it would probably shrink by about 60 pages. Being a lover of adjectives and adverbs, it pains me to say this, but there’s a limit to their use. They should be treated like a fine and potent spice–use only as much as necessary or the entire dish could be spoiled.
• Point 2: This Cal character is a sardonically wonderful guy. The novel got heavy at times and it felt like trudging through mud, but the twisted humor injected through Cal’s voice certainly helped to balance it out.
• Point 3: What happened to the climax? The build up is good, the tension is there, and you’re poised, ready to see what dark and ominous creatures spring forth to tear the main characters into shreds, and then…wha…that’s it?

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