Blood Moon by Ellen Keener
Paranormal Romance
September 2010
E-Book, 147 Pages
Decadence Publishing

Reviewed by Mandi

Favorite Quote: “Baby, if you don’t put that where it will do both of us the most good in the next two seconds, I will explode.”

Aria has been on the run for a year. After secretly mating with the alpha Lukas Macleod, she watched him die that night. She blames herself, knowing her father’s prodigy, Haemon is out to get her and planned the attack. He has claimed her as his mate, although Aria wants nothing of the match. Aria is the last purebred female shifter, and Aria claims her father and the council want them to produce heirs. Although Haemon has captured her twice in the past, Aria has escaped, but not without scarring. Now as an Outcast, she is on the run for her life. Still devastated over the loss of Lukas she barely eats nor sleeps. As she is on the run, she sees another shifter getting severely beaten. Unable to pass by, she stops, runs off the attackers and drives him back to his pack barely alive. Once at this pack, she is not allowed to leave. But soon the surprise of her life will be before her eyes.

Lukas Macleod did die the night he mated with Aria, but he didn’t stay dead. He was mysteriously brought back, and has been searching for Aria for months. Haemon soon took control of the territory near Lukas’s pack, and needing to protect his pack above all else, he had to give up the search for Aria. But now she is back, at his home, and she isn’t happy. She fears her presence will bring Haemon back around, and she can’t bear to see Lukas injured or worse again. Much has changed in the year they were apart, but their intense feelings for each other are still right under the surface. Both stubborn, they each refuse to give an inch. Lukas wants to have an official mating with Aria right away. Aria, needs more convincing. Soon, the Council comes to interfere in their lives and Haemon rears his ugly head. Aria discovers a new home, and she can’t keep love under wraps.

Blood Moon is a solid paranormal romance. It gives us a very alpha male, in Lukas. The alpha of his pack, he is a very strict, stern leader yet Ellen Keener gives us many supporting characters that lighten the mood. The other pack members can get away with the smart ass comments and slight disobedience which makes the pack very enjoyable to read about. Thaddeus in particular. The pack’s third, he has the exuberance and silliness to him that made me smile more than once. I love when there are solid supporting characters that give great weight to a story. They interact so easily and I was impressed by how well they are all written.

I think Aria outshines them all. A heroine who has to discover love and trust again now that her mate is back from the dead. I really enjoyed her journey from total distrust and fear, to eventual acceptance and love, to the end where she is fiercely loyal to her pack and will do anything to protect them. When she first is reunited with Lukas I was curious as to how their love story would play out, but since he died/went missing the night they were mated, she is still a virgin. So we still get that slow, sensual build up to their eventual mating.

For as evil as Haemon is portrayed in the beginning, I expected more from him at the end. He is still is conniving and has his evil ways, but he acted with more obedience than I expected. I think more background concerning the council and their overall role in werewolf politics would have been beneficial as well. Towards the end, the story does start to drag a bit, although the very end picks up and there is a nice conclusion.

Overall, I recommend Blood Moon and will definitely be checking out Ellen Keener in the future.

Rating:  B-

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