Blood Moons by Alianne Donnelly
Futuristic Romantic Suspense
September 27, 2010
E-Book, 190 Pages
Liquid Silver Books

Reviewed by Mandi

Favorite Quote: “Lie to me,” she said. Tell me everything will be okay.”

“No.”

Dara is a telepath who has been inside the mind of a killer. For that reason, she knows intimate details of his victims, but is too scared to reveal how she she knows the circumstances of the murders. However, because she knows these details, she is charged with murder, and sent to New Alaska, a planet far away from Earth, to prison. For reasons unknown, she chooses to be housed in the Wolf district, one of the cruelest sections of the prison and becomes bunk mates with Tristan Hunt. Being a telepath, she gets bombarded with other people’s thoughts constantly, except she gets no read on Tristan.

Tristan can’t believe he is being housed with a female. Worse, he discovers from the start that she is a telepath – just like himself. Tristan has been in prison for a decade and has been through a lot. The prisoners have been exposed to experimental medical testing, and as a result, he has been physically and mentally changed. He is stronger which is always triggered when he is angered, so he is not in control of his new abilities. He sees Dara, housed with the worst criminals and feels protective. She looks so innocent in his eyes.

Once Dara realizes he is a telepath, they have this shared relief that they can trust each other and lean on each other for support. Tristan immediately starts training Dara to be stronger, but time is running out. Another murder has occurred, and since Dara is in prison when it happened, the authorities want to investigate her again. Meanwhile, Tristan’s mutations are increasing at an alarming rate.

Blood Moons is the debut book by Alianne Donnelly and I really enjoyed it. Set in the year 3028, it is a futuristic, paranormal romance with a strong suspense element. Sounds like a lot but it all really flows together nicely. The thing that stands out most in this book is Tristan’s alpha male, overprotective status. Once he claims Dara as his, all bets are off. He becomes the growly, “don’t even breathe in the direction of my woman” hero, and it really worked for me. Dara is somewhat fragile with her telepathic ability and she needs someone like him to help her – but she also teases and gives it back when he goes into uber alpha male mode.

The romance is very hot with some very erotic scenes. A little more oomph is added since they are telepaths and they can be in each other minds as the smexy is occurring. While they are in prison, sharing a cell can make for some very sexy times. The unit they are in is notorious for housing the worst criminals and I think Dara doesn’t get harassed as much as she is set up to be. Tristan does claim her and makes it known no one is to touch her, but at the same time if these criminals are truly as evil as we are told, I would think they would find ways to be a bit more underhanded.

This book surprised me in that it takes a turn I didn’t see coming. It is not just Dara with her telepath skills tracking a serial killer, nor a love story between the two of them. A big part of the book is Tristan’s journey discovering himself and this new “being” he has now become. He battles external forces from the authorities and other medical personnel constantly testing him, but internally he is battling with intense protective feelings – walking a fine line between keeping Dara safe, and going out of control crazy – which puts her in harms way.

I don’t read a lot of futuristic romances, but this one really worked for me.

Rating: B

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