Marked by Moonlight

This book had everything-- love, lust, action, suspense, paranormal themes, and even a few laughs. Even though I didn't particularly like the fact that in this world, lycans, aka werewolves, are bad creatures, evil and soulless, I still thought that Sharie Kohler, AKA Sophia Jordan, did a pretty good job of proving that she can write paranormal romances almost as good as she can historical ones!

I liked that the heroine was kind of shy and quiet, mousy is often use to describe her, but she still gets the man and she even realizes that she can stick up for herself, that she is a strong, brave woman. I like that-- I can't stand having a whiny, wimpy heroine, and I'm sorry, but I was getting a bit tired of all the heroines in the previous show more four or so romances I've read being blondes. Yeah Brunettes! *And yes, I am one of them (brunette, that is)...*

The hero was sexy and fierce, and I think he would have made a great werewolf alpha male, but oh well. He had a bit of a bad past, which was what made him join the organization that kills the lycans. And the name... Gideon... Seriously, is there a sexier name out there? Well, okay, so maybe there are a few, but Gideon is still pretty high on the sexy list!

I'm interesting in finding out Darius's story, the ancient lycan that Claire and Gideon 'befriend'. He's not evil and soulless like he should be, and of course he's described as being deliciously handsome. I'm hoping that she's going to write his story. Also, I know that the next book in this series covers Kit's *Gideon's sister* story, which should be good! I cannot wait to read it!

4.5/5 stars! A great story that combines many elements together almost flawlessly and will have you sitting on the edge of your seat! I will say that I do wish she had played up the 'romance' element a little bit more, because it seemed to take a backseat more than a few times throughout the story. Still, even that wasn't enough to ruin the over all book. show less

Claire Morgan is a high school English teacher who is bitten by a werewolf when she tries to track down one of her favorite students who has missed school for a few days. Gideon March is a lycan hunter and has been since his mother who was recently turned killed his father and was killed by another hunter.

Gideon knows that he should execute Claire before the full moon comes and turns her into a killer, but for reasons he can't quite articulate, he decides to help her track down and kill the alpha of the pack member who bit her. At least, that's the plan once he can convince Claire that she actually was bitten by a werewolf and will become one herself at the next full moon.

Claire recognizes some changes in herself. First of all, the show more newly silver eyes aren't what she usually sees when she looks in the mirror. Also, her appetite especially for meat increases yet she doesn't gain any weight on her 5' 2" frame and is in fact getting more muscular. But the biggest change is that she has stopped being the wimp her abusive father trained her to be all her life.

Gideon has his work cut out for him as he tries to convince her that the changes that are happening are because she was bitten. He is also dealing with a change in attitude. He's no longer sure that killing the newly bitten is the right course of action. Maybe some of them can be kept from becoming killing machines.

This was an entertaining paranormal romance with interesting characters. It hit a bunch of the romance tropes in an engaging way. It is also the first book in a series set in the same world -- LA with a paranormal side. show less

Under the abusive hand of her drunk father, the heroine has spent her life as a mousy, quiet woman with no self confidence or desire to be noticed. One, night, while trying to do a good deed and help on her students when he's been missing from school, she's attacked and bitten by what she thinks is a rabid dog. She flees and thinks nothing of it. But it was no dog, and now she's being hunter. The hero has been slaying werewolves for more than 15 years, driven but the desire to revenge his parents. But somewhere along the line, he's become delusional with the occupation. Maybe is was that doubt or maybe is what the fact that he's never known intimate knowledge about a target, regardless, he knows this woman is different. But she's not show more making things easy on him. He only has a limited amount of time to help her before she becomes a monster but she thinks his a lunatic. The heroine, I felt, was quite justified in her denying what the sexy stranger is saying. Sure, she now has silver eyes and a ramped libido but that doesn't mean she's a mythical beast. But she's also growing impatient and she's changing into a woman she's never been before. Running away from the stalker who makes her burn with desire, she's horrified to realizes he's followed her. It takes him shooting her with a normal bullet and her healing in 5 seconds that finally makes her see the truth. Now they're on a race against time. She's got until the full more to find and kill the alpha who changed her else she herself will change and feed and be damned for eternity. The hero knows what he's doing, helping the woman who's supposed to be his enemy, is crazy and that he's betraying the code he's lived with for so many years but there's just something about her that makes him risk it all. I thought this book had a very odd and eerily vibe to it. It starts off with the fact that the heroine is sexual attracted to the man she knows is going to kill her. Second, the fact that the hero himself is attracted to the heroine and knows that if he can't succeed in killing the alpha, he will kill her. Though whole, sex and violence mixture was laced heavily throughout the story. Many times the heroine would slap him or, something like that and they would end up freakin' with great enthusiasm. There were also moments that I found to be disturbing. The heroine putting a gun to her head, meaning to end it all when the future looks dim. Or rationalizing bashing the teenager over the head so she wouldn't be torn apart when the heroine turned. Things like that gave me the chills but it also made for a rather interesting story. I found the characters to be really engaging in this dark and twisted and sometime hopeless romance. It was defiantly a paranormal romance but I'd venture to say it bordered in horror what with the whole werewolf eating people and turning crazy thing. It wasn't one of those sexy male alpha books that typically frequent this genre but it was a nice read. show less

Marked by Moonlight
3 Stars

Claire Morgan, a shy and timid schoolteacher, has no idea that the wild dog that bit her was, in fact, a werewolf. Nevertheless, Claire cannot explain the sudden changes in her appearance and behavior until Gideon March, a member of a secret society of lycan hunters, arrives on her doorstep to kill her. Fortunately for Claire, Gideon finds himself incapable of completing his mission and the two set out to find a way to save Claire before she turns into a mindless monster at the full moon.

Unlike the majority of books in the werewolf sub-genre, the creatures in this series are not powerful heroes struggling with their inner demons. Rather they are the monsters of myth and legend who attack humans show more indiscriminately either for food or procreation.

Unfortunately, this is the only original element in the story. Claire is as naïve as they come, and similar to many PNR heroines, finds it difficult to accept the truth of her situation, which inevitably leads to several TSTL moments. That said, the fact that she ultimately comes into her own and grows both in self-awareness and self-confidence makes her more appealing.

While the tortured hero trope is usually a favorite of mine, it does not work for Gideon perhaps because he is far too eager to relinquish his inner angst. For a man who has suffered so horrendously at the hands of lycans, it does not make sense that he would be so eager to help one that he has never even spoken to. Moreover, his tendency toward running hot and cold when it comes to his feelings for Claire becomes irritating after a while.

The manner in which Claire's furry problem is resolved is also predictable although it does lead to an exciting climax.

All in all, a rather mediocre paranormal romance and I can't see myself continuing with the series at this time. show less

Here's a different take on the werewolf genre. It's not a good/cool thing to be a werewolf as Claire finds out. Very well written and conceived story.

This paranormal romance has everything I look for in a book: great chemistry between the hero and heroine, life-threatening conflict, emotional depth, and a mystery. Great debut

I didn't like this book primarily because I didn't like the way it portrayed werewolves. I've read too many books where they are complex if not positive, to accept them as slavering evil beasts. So I wasn't able to buy into the horror premise of turning into one, or like Gideon too much for killing every one he met. So not buying into their world, it was hard to accept anything else, and I skimmed rather than read, and then stopped skimming and just jumped to the end which didn't do much for me either.