Awaiting the Moon

Elizabeth Stanwycke is leaving her home in England to work as a tutor in Germany. She will be staying at Wolfram Castle near the little town of Wolfbeck. She is employed by the very sexy Count Nikolas von Wolfram who lives with his kooky aunts and uncles. On her way to the castle Elizabeth's coach halts and she sees a naked girl being chased by a man on a black horse deep into the forest. To her dismay she tries to help but is stopped by the coach driver as it is not safe to go into the woods, there are wolves afoot, maybe even werewolves.

As with any gothic tale there are plenty of family secrets, a gypsy curse, and things going bump in the night. From the very beginning Elizabeth is strongly attracted to the very sexy Count Nikolas, and believe me he is very sexy indeed ! The attraction is mutual and very soon they are rolling around in bed together. The story then turns to a full blown Mills and Boon. Elizabeth should have known better than to fall for the count so quickly as she had only just left an awkward situation concerning a man. I think the expression is out of the frying pan into the fire. However if you take away the cheesy names and and most of the silly sex scenes the plot is not too bad. I acquired this book thinking it was going to be a gothic werewolf tale, not realizing it is actually a paranormal romance. I am just glad that I didn't keep this yarn for one of my Halloween reads. ( )

Opening Sentence: '…”I’ve heard that werewolves roam the woods of Germany,” Elizabeth Stanwycke said, peering out of the carriage window into the dark wintery woods, the snow on the ground gleaming in the moonlight…’

Awaiting the Moon is delicious gothic. There is a castle, woods which mustn't be entered into, a mad aunt, the usual assortment of odd relatives, villagers who are frightened, a heroine who's an outsider, and the dark and brooding hero. Oh and the werewolf stories.

Nikolas is the classic gothic hero. He has the complimentary physical attributes (you know...tall, dark and handsome), but he also has an absolute sense of honour in carrying all the burdens for his family. He is a weary, tormented, and resolute.

On the other side we get Elizabeth...beautiful, poor and orphaned. Due to circumstances, and affair with the brother of a rich household, she gladly accepts the offer to tutor Nikolas' niece. She is a woman ahead of her time - too bold, too inquisitive and not afraid to speak her mind, and to contradict her employer. Unfortunately she hasn't learned from her sexual dalliance and starts one with Nikolas!!!

I actually had problems with Elizabeth's character, the whole I was used as a sex toy so will go where I can rescue my reputation - oh look another hottie I'll jump straight into bed with him thing was wrong!!! Considering that she desperately needs this job to start a new life, she constantly disregards explicit warnings and wanders around whereever, and whenever she wants. I am torn between admiring her fierce bravery and wanting to smack some sense into her. Still it is only a story :) ( )

http://jacescribbles.blogspot.com/2007/08/awaiting-moon-by-donna-lea-simpson.htm... ( )

a delicious gothic. The castle, the woods, the mad aunt, the assortment of odd relatives, the heroine who's an outsider, the dark and brooding hero (yes, I know I said I didn't like brooding--he makes up for it, and demonstrates that there's an exception to every rule), and most of all the air of mystery. I've loved gothics since long before I knew they were romances, and this is an excellent one. The excerpt at the back shows a sequel--I've never seen a gothic with a sequel. I can hardly wait ( )