Despite a wobbly less than beleivable start, I ended up liking this book more than I thought I would. Sunny's take on the vampire is refreshing and original and her characters are well written and beleivable. I can forgive the beginning, it's a difficult task to bring paranormal into the normal world, quickly get the story started and still come off as beleivable. I felt some serious influence from both of Laurell K. Hamilton's series who she credits for her inspiration. However, I think she's done one a little better than either of Hamilton's, by not wandering so far afield with the sex for the sheer sake of sex. I can see this series being fun and interesting for many more books and Sunny having a long and prosperous career. I will be looking forward to the next in this series. ( )

What happens when you toss "Sailor Moon," Anne Bishop's "Black Jewels," and LKH's "Merry Gentry" into a bowl and stir it all up with a big, naughty spoon? You get this book. What does that mean? Some good stuff: larger than life characters, steamy pages, incredible world-building, and a good dose of violence to shake things up. Also some bad stuff: melodramatic language, improbable relationship development, and plot shoved into the backseat of sex scene's car. If all that is your steaming cup of tea, you'll like this series. ( )

I really wanted to like this. I love the genre and was excited to find a new author writing it.

The premise was clever: a young nurse with a bit of a healing touch discovers that she's half human and half Monère--a race of beings from the moon. Not only that, but she's a Queen, and the first mixed blood Queen ever.

When I was about a third of the way through the book, I described it like this: "It's like the offspring of Queen Betsy and Jaenelle was raised by Merry Gentry." Betsy because she's an unexpected queen with powers unusual for her kind. Jaenelle because the male Monère have a need to serve a Queen, and because there's a tendency for the Queens to become evil and mistreat the males. And Merry Gentry because sex = power.

I don't mind parallels in books. If you get a narrow genre like this, there are bound to be parallels. Even though I was very familiar with the Black Jewels books and the Merry Gentry books, the two series this is most like, I could still have enjoyed it without thinking it was a copycat. I still don't think it's a copycat.

What I do mind is characters who can do no wrong, and situations that resolve themselves way too easily.

Mona Lisa has no flaws, and thus, no character. I liked her initially, liked the young woman being thrust into a completely foreign and dangerous situation, while at the same time getting that feeling of "finally! I'm not alone!" But she always does the right thing. Everyone loves her, particularly the males, who are inclined to worship her. She's madly in love with the first Monère male she met, and she's staunchly monogamous, but she's willing to take one for the team when sex is required to heal one of "her" men. Even the council holds her in awe. Except for the evil Queens, who fear and despise her because she's so good.

What's even worse, though, for me, is the way the plot skipped from one "dangerous" situation to the next, only the situations weren't apparently all that dangerous, because Mona Lisa never had any trouble getting out of them, or saving her people. She either charmed her way out of danger, or called on some brand-new power that popped up just in time to save her.

I'd have liked the story much more--in fact, I'd probably have been raving about it--if it had had only about a third of the plot situations, and they'd been explored more thoroughly. If Mona Lisa had needed some help figuring a way out of a dilemma. If she'd had to use her wits instead of a handy-dandy paranormal-power generator. If there was some reason to believe she'd fallen completely in love with Gryphon, instead of just having the hots for him.

All these complaints sound very familiar to me, which leads me to my conclusion: if you like the latest Laurell K. Hamilton books, you'll love this one. ( )

I had actually read Mona Lisa Awakening by Sunny awhile ago, but it was before I started Literary Escapism, so I decided to re-read them again so I can post reviews. With that said, I LOVE this series. It’s such a new take on shapeshifters that it’s refreshing. Before I go on, let me show you the blurb. I know I usually give you my own synopsis, but I don’t want to give anything away and I’m afraid I will if I try. So here it is…

From the time she was an orphan child, Mona Lisa knew she was different—but she never knew how different until a man of otherworldly beauty arrived during her night shift in the ER. Gryphon is hurting and hunted…and he attracts her as no man ever has before. He is a Monère, one of the children of the moon—and what’s more, so is she…

Sounds different, doesn’t it. I love the spin Sunny gives for her shapeshifters. Children of the Moon and they spend each full moon “basking” in it’s glory.

It’s very easy to get involved with this story. It may seem like Mona Lisa easily accepts this new lifestyle she has blindly fallen into, but it’s like she’s always known there was something out there that was missing and everything just clicks for her. Instead of a damsel who has been thrown into an impossible situation, she goes with it. She accepts everything that is thrown at her and deals with it as she’s able.

As for the plot, it was done really well. The story flows evenly and it’s not hard to find yourself inhaling the story in mere hours. I know I did. I had forgotten how effortless the writing seems and how all the transitions work to keep you steady on the plot.

Overall, Mona Lisa Awakening will definitely make you want to continue reading about Mona Lisa and her new found family. With the first novel, we’ve seen her get established in her new position. In Mona Lisa Blossoming, we’ll see how her new subordinates take to her new leadership and how well she adjusts to all the new pressures. The Monere series is one that once you read the first novel, you’ll instantly want to go out and get the following books. So I definitely recommend buying all the novels in this series and then starting it. It would be well worth your money.

Mona Lisa Awakening is followed by a story in the anthology Over the Moon; then goes to her second novel Mona Lisa Blossoming; continues with the story in On the Prowl; goes back to her third novel, Mona Lisa Craving; and will continue with her fourth novel, Mona Lisa Darkening, in January 2009.

http://www.literaryescapism.com/2008/... ( )

One of the worst books I've ever read. The only thing that kept it from being downright unreadable was that it was so bad it was hilarious. Reading this book was like sneaking a peak at someone's secret erotica, it was like this should be scrawled down in a spiral notebook and carried under the arm of some socially retarded highschooler. The main character was the most obvious Mary Sue I've ever seen and the secondary characters were either just excuses for the main character to have sex or to point out how fantastic and awesome the main character was.

Despite how awful this book was, I would recommend this to people, just for that fact. "Hey! You wanna read a really shitty book? It's got Werewolf things in it! And romantic fisting!" I'd probably also recommend it to anyone who loves to write but doesn't think they're good enough to ever see their work in print.

Anyone that honest to goodness likes this book has incredibly poor taste. And likes to read sexy accounts of fisting and almost-fisting. ( )