Title: Blue Moon
Author: Lori Handeland
Series: Nightcreature #1
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Paranormal romance, Urban fantasy, Werewolves
Dates read: 5th – 11th January 2020
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Year: 2004
5th sentence, 74th page: I could have savored another cola in the Sportsman, which was what I usually did when I ate there.

By the light of a blue moon, danger prowls –
Miniwa, Wisconsin, is under siege, but not by the usual summer tourists. The area’s normally shy wolf population has begun stalking human prey, and their victims have been disappearing…or worse. Something is happening in the woods. Something no one can explain…

and desire is unleashed…
Officer Jessie McQuade has seen plenty in her years on the force – but nothing as intriguing as the gorgeous, naked man she encounters while tracking a rogue wolf. Professor Will Cadotte is a Native American activist. He’s also the only man capable of distracting Jessie from her work. And for a cop, distraction – no matter how pleasurable – can be deadly. It’s against Jessie’s better judgement to accept Will’s help in her investigation, yet she soon finds herself doing exactly that – and more. Will’s dark, penetrating eyes see into a part of Jessie’s soul she never knew existed. It’s exhilarating…and terrifying. Now, as a town’s deepest secrets come to light, no one is safe: not friends, lover, or strangers. And as Jessie follows a trail to the shocking truth, she’ll have to decide who she can trust when the moon is full…

Yeah. This book was brilliant. And fun. I could put it down though, which made me happy, because I have a number of other things that I needed to do. Unlike other books which seem to absorb my whole consciousness (they’re sometimes good), this one was always in my mind. But never all consuming. It let me take my time over the book which I normally wouldn’t be able to do. And, taking that extra time made me feel somehow more connected to Jess and Will.

I read a lot of fantasy books, and especially love stories which feature werewolves. This is the first book in a really, really long time that actually featured werewolves as an evil entity. I loved the change. Especially since there is now going to be an entire, evil werewolf army that is now on the loose. Alright, one evil culprit was killed off. But there are going to be so many more… I also didn’t actually guess who the culprit was going to be… which was a whole other level of surprising.

Most stories that you read which feature a romance has a gorgeous woman, and she’s most likely a virgin or just inexperienced. Thank god, Handeland didn’t go down this route. Actually, she kind of went with the flipside. Instead, they’re both experienced (but not in any insane way in either direction). Yet, the woman is the one who is considered plain and way too normal to attract a gorgeous man, which is what Will is. I love that Will’s looks are also his point of insecurity. One of the things that I often see today is the fact that men won’t “settle” for the plainer women in their lives, thinking that they can “get” a supermodel… it was nice that this expectation was completely flipped.

I don’t have much to do with Native American culture. I don’t have many books which feature it, and it’s something that I want to expand on in my shelves. I do have at least one more book that features such a topic (Stormwalker), but it isn’t something that I often come across. I love that alongside the Native American character and rituals, there was also an incredibly intense history of Nazi experimentation and hunting the evils of the world. I seriously can’t wait to see what the future of this series holds!

Image source: Goodreads